 The book depicted in detail the killing , torture , and rape that occurred during the Nanking Massacre . Chang listed and described the kinds of torture that were visited upon the residents , including live burials , mutilation , " death by fire " , " death by ice " , and " death by dogs " . Based on the testimony of a survivor of the massacre , Chang also described a killing contest amongst a group of Japanese soldiers to determine who could kill the fastest . On the rape that occurred during the massacre , Chang wrote that " certainly it was one of the greatest mass rapes in world history . " She estimated that the number of women raped ranged from 20 @,@ 000 to as many as 80 @,@ 000 , and stated that women from all classes were raped , including Buddhist nuns . Furthermore , rape occurred in all locations and at all hours , and both very young and very old women were raped . Not even pregnant women were spared , Chang wrote , and that after gang rape , Japanese soldiers " sometimes slashed open the bellies of pregnant women and ripped out the fetuses for amusement " . Not all rape victims were women , according to the book , Chinese men were sodomized and forced to perform repulsive sexual acts . Some were forced to commit incest — fathers to rape their own daughters , brothers their sisters , sons their mothers . 
