Iris Shun-Ru Chang (traditional Chinese: 張純如; March 28, 1968 – November 9, 2004) was an American journalist, historian, and political activist.

She was the daughter of university professors Ying-Ying and Shau-Jin Chang, who moved from China to Taiwan and later to the United States, and grew up hearing stories about the Nanjing massacre, from which her maternal grandparents escaped.

In 1991, Chang married Bretton Lee Douglas, a design engineer for Cisco Systems, whom she had met in college, and had one son, Christopher, who was two years old at the time of her suicide.

Her first, Thread of the Silkworm (Basic Books, 1995)[7] tells the life story of the Chinese professor, Qian Xuesen (or Tsien Hsue-shen) during the Red Scare in the 1950s.

Although Qian was one of the founders of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and for many years helped the military of the United States debrief scientists from Nazi Germany, he was suddenly accused of being a spy and a member of the Communist Party USA, and was placed under house arrest from 1950 to 1955.

It documents atrocities committed against Chinese by forces of the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and includes interviews with victims.

After publication of the book, Chang campaigned to persuade the Japanese government to apologize for its troops' wartime conduct and to pay compensation.

Consistent with the style of her earlier works, the book relies heavily on personal accounts, drawing its strong emotional content from their stories.

The Rape of Nanking placed her in great demand as a speaker and as an interview subject, and, more broadly, as a spokesperson for the viewpoint that the Japanese government had not done enough to compensate victims of their invasion of China.

[15][16] Chang suffered a nervous breakdown in August 2004, which her family, friends, and doctors attributed in part to constant sleep deprivation, dozens of herbal supplements,[17] and heavy doses of psychologically damaging prescription medication.

While en route to Harrodsburg, Kentucky, where she planned to gain access to a "time capsule" of audio recordings from servicemen, she suffered an extreme bout of depression that left her unable to leave her hotel room in Louisville.

A local veteran, Arthur Kelly, who was assisting her research, helped her check into Norton Psychiatric Hospital in Louisville, where she was diagnosed with reactive psychosis, placed on heavy medication for three days and then released to her parents.

I sensed suddenly threats to my own life: an eerie feeling that I was being followed in the streets, the white van parked outside my house, damaged mail arriving at my P.O.

I believe my detention at Norton Hospital was the government's attempt to discredit me.A report from the San Francisco Chronicle stated that news of her suicide had a strong impact on survivors of the Nanjing Massacre and the Chinese community in general.

The Memorial Hall, which collects documents, photos, and human remains from the massacre, added both a wing and a bronze statue dedicated to Chang in 2005.