Nanking (Chinese: 南京) is a 2007 film about the 1937 Nanking Massacre committed by the Japanese army in the former capital city Nanjing, China. It was inspired by Iris Chang's The Rape of Nanking, which discussed the persecution and murder of the Chinese by the Imperial Japanese Army in the then-capital of Nanjing during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The film draws on letters and diaries from the era as well as archive footage and interviews with surviving victims and perpetrators of the massacre. Contemporary actors play the roles of the Western missionaries, professors, and businessmen who formed the Nanking Safety Zone to protect the city's civilians from Japanese forces. Particular attention is paid to Nazi Party member John Rabe, a German businessman who organized the Nanking Safety Zo