Purple Mountain: A Story of the Rape of Nanking

This podcast is based on my 2005 novel When the Purple Mountain Burns, under the new title Purple Mountain, A Story of the Rape of Nanking, aka Nanjing, my hometown. By December 1937, the Japanese Imperial Army had advanced into the heartland of China and reached toward their inevitable climax: Nanking, China's capital and glorious ancient city nestled at the base of the Purple Mountain, was besieged. The government had fled, leaving several hundred thousand civilians and soldiers behind, among them a twelve-year-old girl. To face the unthinkable. An unprecedented historical novel, When the Purple Mountain Burns presents a riveting, profoundly intimate portrait of Nanjing and its people during the first six days after its fall to the Japanese army. Within the city walls are men and women, young and old, soldiers and civilians, Chinese and a dozen foreigners, all caught up in the whirling, turbulent fires of history. The story, inspired by real historical events and people, probes deeply into the souls of victims and perpetrators of war atrocities, and hails its unassuming heroes and heroines. It is a powerful allegory against the folly of war and the horrors of genocide.