A memorial hall dedicated to Iris Chang, the Chinese American author of The Rape of Nanking, opened on Friday in the author's ancestral home of Huaian, East China's Jiangsu Province.

　　The 360,000-square-meter hall is divided into six sections covering the life of Chang.

　　Born in U.S. in 1968, Chang dedicated herself to educating the world, especially the Western world, about the truth behind the Nanking Massacre (1937-1938), during which some 300,000 Chinese civilians were killed by the invading Japanese army.

　　After exploring and collecting a wide range of materials, Chang finished the The Rape of Nanking and had it published in September 1997.

　　A Chinese version of the book was published later that year in December.

　　The book was one of the first English language books to introduce the Nanking Massacre to Western readers. It remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for 14 weeks and sold more than 125,000 copies in its first four months. The book has been reprinted more than 10 times and has shipped a total of more than 1 million print copies.

　　Despite her success, Chang, who was dealing with depression, committed suicide at the age of 36 in November 2004.

　　Chang's parents attended the opening ceremony on Friday.

　　Her mother Chang Ying-ying remarked that her daughter was a person with a strong sense of justice who often said that the truth of the Nanking Massacre is something that cannot be denied.