Nanking Massacre 1 Nanking Massacre "Rape of Nanking" redirects here. For Iris Chang's book, see The Rape of Nanking (book). "Nankin Jiken" redirects here. For the 1927 Nankin Jiken, see Nanjing Incident. Nanking / Nanjing Massacre Rape of Nanking Massacre victims on the shore of the Yangtze River with a Japanese soldier standing nearby Chinese name Traditional Chinese 南 京 大 屠 殺 Simplified Chinese 南 京 大 屠 杀 Transcriptions Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Nánjīng Dàtúshā Japanese name Kanji 1. 南 京 大 虐 殺 2. 南 京 事 件 Transcriptions - Traditional Hepburn 1. Nankin Daigyakusatsu 2. Nankin Jiken Nanking Massacre 2 Nanking Massacre Battle of Nanking (1937) Nanking Safety Zone International Committee for Nanking Safety Zone Japanese war crimes Contest to kill 100 people using a sword International Military Tribunal for the Far East Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal Historiography of the Nanking Massacre Nanking Massacre denial Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall Japanese history textbook controversies Films The Battle of China Black Sun: The Nanking Massacre City of Life and Death Don't Cry, Nanking The Flowers of War John Rabe Nanking Tokyo Trial The Truth about Nanjing Books American Goddess at the Rape of Nanking The Good Man of Nanking The Rape of Nanking Tokyo The Nanking Massacre or Nanjing Massacre, also known as the Rape of Nanking, was a mass murder and war rape that occurred during the six-week period following the Japanese capture of the city of Nanking (Nanjing), the former capital of the Republic of China, on December 13, 1937 during the Second Sino-Japanese War. During this period, hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians and disarmed soldiers were murdered by soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army.[1][2] Widespread rape and looting also occurred.[3][4] Historians and witnesses have estimated that 250,000 to 300,000 people were killed.[5] Several of the key perpetrators of the atrocities, at the time labelled as war crimes, were later tried and found guilty at the Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal, and were subsequently executed. Another key perpetrator, Prince Asaka, a member of the Imperial Family, escaped prosecution by having earlier been granted immunity by the Allies. The event remains a contentious political issue, as various aspects of it have been disputed by some historical revisionists and Japanese nationalists,[2] who have claimed that the massacre has been either exaggerated or wholly fabricated for propaganda purposes. As a result of the nationalist efforts to deny or rationalize the war crimes, the controversy surrounding the massacre remains a stumbling block in Sino-Japanese relations, as well as Japanese relations with other Asia-Pacific nations such as South Korea and the Philippines. An accurate estimation of the death toll in the massacre has not been achieved because most of the Japanese military records on the killings were deliberately destroyed or kept secret shortly after the surrender of Japan in 1945. The International Military Tribunal of the Far East estimates more than 200,000 casualties in the incident;[6] China's official estimate is about 300,000 casualties, based on the evaluation of the Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal. Estimates from Japanese historians vary widely, in the vicinity of 40,000–200,000. Some historical revisionists even deny that a widespread, systematic massacre occurred at all, claiming that any deaths were either justified militarily, accidental Nanking Massacre 3 or isolated incidents of unauthorized atrocities. These revisionists claim that the characterization of the incident as a large-scale, systematic massacre was fabricated for the purpose of political propaganda.[7][8] Although the Japanese government has admitted to the acts of killing of a large number of noncombatants, looting and other violence committed by the Imperial Japanese Army after the fall of Nanking,[9][10] a small but vocal minority within both the Japanese government and society have argued that the death toll was military in nature and that no such crimes ever occurred. Denial of the massacre (and a divergent array of revisionist accounts of the killings) has become a staple of Japanese nationalism.[11] In Japan, public opinion of the massacres varies, and few deny the occurrence of the massacre outright.[11] Nonetheless, recurring attempts by negationists to promote a revisionist history of the incident have created controversy that periodically reverberates in the international media, particularly in China, South Korea, and other East Asian nations.[12] Military situation In August 1937, the Japanese army invaded Shanghai where they met strong resistance and suffered heavy casualties. The battle was bloody as both sides faced attrition in urban hand-to-hand combat. By mid-November the Japanese had captured Shanghai with the help of naval bombardment. The General Staff Headquarters in Tokyo initially decided not to expand the war due to heavy casualties and low morale of the troops. However, on December 1, headquarters ordered the Central China Area Army and the 10th Army to capture Nanking, then-capital of the Republic of China. Relocation of the capital After losing the Battle of Shanghai, Chiang Kai-shek knew that the fall of Nanking would simply be a matter of time. He and his staff realized that they could not risk the annihilation of their elite troops in a symbolic but hopeless defense of the capital. In order to preserve the army for future battles, most of them were withdrawn. Chiang's strategy was to follow the suggestion of his German advisers to draw the Japanese army deep into China utilizing China's vast territory as a defensive strength. Chiang planned to fight a protracted war of attrition by wearing down the Japanese in the hinterland of China.[13] Leaving General Tang Shengzhi in charge of the city for the Battle of Nanking, Chiang and many of his advisors flew to Wuhan, where they stayed until it was attacked in 1938. Strategy for the defense of Nanking In a press release to foreign reporters, Tang Shengzhi announced the city would not surrender and would fight to the death. Tang gathered about 100,000 soldiers, largely untrained, including Chinese troops who had participated in the Battle of Shanghai. To prevent civilians from fleeing the city, he ordered troops to guard the port, as instructed by Chiang Kai-shek. The defense force blocked roads, destroyed boats, and burnt nearby villages, preventing widespread evacuation. The Chinese government left for relocation on December 1, and the president left on December 7, leaving the fate of Nanking to an International Committee led by John Rabe. The defense plan fell apart quickly. Those defending the city encountered Chinese troops fleeing from previous defeats such as the Battle of Shanghai, running from the advancing Japanese army. This did nothing to help the morale of the defenders, many of whom were killed during the defense of the city and subsequent Japanese occupation. Nanking Massacre 4 Approach of the Imperial Japanese Army Japanese war crimes on the march to Nanking Although the Nanking Massacre is generally described as having occurred over a six-week period after the fall of Nanking, the crimes committed by the Japanese army were not limited to that period. Many atrocities were reported to have been committed as the Japanese army advanced from Shanghai to Nanking. According to one Japanese journalist embedded with Imperial forces at the time, "The reason that the [10th Army] is advancing to Nanking quite rapidly is due to the tacit consent among the officers and men that they could loot and rape as they wish."[15] Novelist Ishikawa Tatsuzo vividly described how the 16th Division of An article on the "Contest to kill 100 people the Shanghai Expeditionary Force committed atrocities on the march using a sword" published in the Tokyo Nichi between Shanghai and Nanking in his novel Ikiteiru Heitai (Living Nichi Shimbun. The headline reads, "'Incredible Soldiers), which was based on interviews that Tatsuzo conducted with Record' (in the Contest to Cut Down 100 People) [16] —Mukai 106 – 105 Noda—Both 2nd Lieutenants troops in Nanking in January 1938. [14] Go Into Extra Innings". Perhaps the most notorious atrocity was a killing contest between two Japanese officers as reported in the Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun and the English language Japan Advertiser. The contest was covered much like a sporting event with regular updates on the score over a series of days.[17][18] In Japan, the veracity of the newspaper article about the contest was the subject of ferocious debate for several decades starting in 1967.[19] In 2000, a historian concurred with certain Japanese scholars who had argued that the contest was a concocted story, with the collusion of the soldiers themselves for the purpose of raising the national fighting spirit.[20] In 2005, a Tokyo district judge dismissed a suit by the families of the lieutenants, stating that "the lieutenants admitted the fact that they raced to kill 100 people" and that the story cannot be proven to be clearly false.[21] The judge also ruled against the civil claim of the plaintiffs because the original article was more than 60 Sword used in the "contest" on years old.[22] The historicity of the event remains disputed in Japan.[23] display at the Republic of China Armed Forces Museum in Taipei, Flight of Chinese civilians Taiwan As the Japanese army drew closer to Nanking, Chinese civilians fled the city in droves. The people of Nanking fled in panic not only because of the dangers of the anticipated battle but also because they feared the deprivation inherent in the scorched earth strategy that the Chinese troops were implementing in the area surrounding the city. On July 31, the Kuomintang (KMT) had issued a statement that they were determined to turn every Chinese national and every piece of their soil into ash, rather than turn them over to the opponent.