 Following the publication of The Rape of Nanking , Japanese critic Masaaki Tanaka had his 1987 book on Nanking translated into English . Entitled What Really Happened in Nanking : The Refutation of a Common Myth , Tanaka stated in his introduction " I am convinced that [ American researchers ] will arrive at the realization that violations of international law of the magnitude alleged by Iris Chang in The Rape of Nanking ( more than 300 @,@ 000 murders and 80 @,@ 000 rapes ) never took place . " 
