Nanking Massacre is a name for the brutality committed by Japanese troops against the people of Nanking (Nanjing), China, in 1937. The massacre took place during the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945. This war led into, and became part of, World War II (1939-1945). The massacre is also called the Rape of Nanking. It began on December 13, the day after the Japanese entered Nanking, which at that time was the capital of Nationalist China. The massacre lasted for six weeks. During that period, Japanese forces engaged in widespread cruelty, rape, looting, arson, and murder of unarmed Chinese. Japanese troops burst into businesses, private homes, and even areas under foreign protection to search for Chinese men of military age and for young women. Many of the men were gathered together and then murdered. Many women were raped by Japanese soldiers.
Experts disagree about the number of Chinese injured or killed during the Nanking Massacre. The full extent of this atrocity can never be determined precisely. At the time, the Japanese had no interest in counting the dead, and the Chinese had no way of accurately totaling up their losses. Neutral observers of many nationalities, shocked by what they witnessed, recorded the horrifying details in reports, letters, photographs, and even motion pictures. The death toll probably exceeded 100,000 at Nanking, though some estimates now place the figure as high as 300,000. Rapes of women may have numbered 20,000 or more. Many of these victims were then killed or died from their assaults.
The Nanking Massacre occupied a central place in Chinese efforts to win international support for their cause in the war against Japan. The Chinese stressed the cruel behavior of the Japanese invaders. The wartime Japanese government, in contrast, told its people only that the capture of Nanking, the enemy’s capital and symbol of Nationalist China, was a grand achievement.
After the war, many Japanese were charged with war crimes and punished for the massacre after Chinese military trials were held. The International Military Tribunal for the Far East sentenced the Japanese commander at Nanking, General Matsui Iwane, to death. He was hanged on Dec. 23, 1948.
See also Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945.
