Iris Chang

“Almost all people have this potential for evil, which would be unleashed only under certain dangerous social circumstances.”

“There are now hundreds of thousands of new engineers that are being trained in China. If people start finding themselves losing their jobs, not to the Chinese here but because China has become such a dominant force - then there could very well be a backlash.”

“After working as a journalist I went to a writing program at Johns Hopkins. It was interesting because it was neither journalistic nor historical, but it emphasized writing style, and afterwards I was asked to write my first book.”

“I don't mind solitude. I love talking to other people, but I do need my space.”

“Books are the ultimate way for writers to reach immortality.”

“For some reason, I seem to be bothered whenever I see acts of injustice and assaults on people's civil liberties. I imagine what I write in the future will follow in that vein. Whether it's fiction or non-fiction.”

“Looking back upon millennia of history, it appears clear that no race or culture has monopoly on wartime cruelty. The veneer of civilization seems to be exceedingly thin – one that can be easily stripped away, especially by the stresses of war.”

“It's a wonderful thing to see a segment of our population that is open and eager to learn more about Chinese culture. It has filtered into the mainstream. You see credit-card ads on TV with white couples and Chinese babies.”

“I may attempt a novel. I think that no matter what you write, it requires being honest with oneself, and you have to pull yourself out of the whirlwind of daily life.”

“Racism is always there underneath, but usually it is exploited in these times of economic crisis, and it's hard to find out when one slides into another.”

“We have to keep in mind that it's not just about the numbers of people who died; it's also the manner which many of these victims met their deaths.”

“The worst... was what the Pakistani soldiers did to the Bengali women after their failed rebellion.”