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| Rape of Nanjing | |
|---|---|
| Title | Rape of Nanjing |
| Date | December 1937 – January 1938 |
| Place | Nanjing, Jiangsu, Republic of China |
| Partof | Second Sino-Japanese War |
| Combatant1 | Empire of Japan |
| Combatant2 | National Revolutionary Army |
| Commanders1 | Iwane Matsui, Prince Asaka Yasuhiko |
| Commanders2 | Chiang Kai-shek, Xue Yue |
| Strength1 | Imperial Japanese expeditionary force |
| Strength2 | Nanking Garrison Force |
| Casualties1 | Unknown |
| Casualties2 | Hundreds to thousands of military personnel |
| Civilians | Tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands killed; tens of thousands raped |
Rape of Nanjing The Rape of Nanjing was a period of mass killing, widespread sexual violence, and looting in Nanjing following its capture by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. It occurred after the fall of Shanghai and during the advance directed by commanders such as Iwane Matsui and figures including Prince Asaka Yasuhiko, drawing responses from foreign diplomats, missionaries, and journalists like Mildred Fish-Harnack and John Rabe. The event has been central to disputes involving military responsibility, wartime conduct, and postwar legal reckoning involving institutions like the International Military Tribunal for the Far East.
By mid-1937 the Second Sino-Japanese War escalated after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident and major battles such as the Battle of Shanghai and the Battle of Taiyuan. Japan deployed elements of the Kwantung Army and the 10th Division (Japan) against the National Revolutionary Army led by Chiang Kai-shek and regional commanders including Xue Yue and Zhang Zizhong. Strategic objectives of the Imperial General Headquarters sought to capture the Republic of China capital at Nanjing, formerly the seat of the Kuomintang under Chiang Kai-shek. Western and Asian observers from institutions like the International Committee of the Red Cross and missions such as the Nanjing Safety Zone—organized by diplomats like John Rabe, Robert Wilson, and George Ashmore Fitch—monitored refugee flows from provinces including Jiangsu and Anhui.
After the fall of Nanjing on 13 December 1937, units of the Imperial Japanese Army engaged in systematic operations over weeks involving looting, arson, and attacks on combatants and noncombatants. Eyewitnesses included diplomats from Germany, United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union and missionaries from International Committee of the Red Cross delegations and organizations such as the Riverside Hospital (Nanjing) and American Episcopal Church. Journalists like Harold Timperley and photographers associated with agencies covering Asia documented mass graves and the destruction of sites including parts of the Nanjing City Wall and commercial districts near the Yangtze River. Some Japanese officers, including figures in the Shanghai Expeditionary Army, issued orders later scrutinized by commissions such as the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and Chinese investigations led by the Kuomintang.
Victims included refugees from provinces like Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Hubei, interned soldiers from the National Revolutionary Army, and residents of Nanjing of Han, Hui, and other ethnicities. Relief records from organizations including the International Committee of the Red Cross and accounts by John Rabe and George Ashmore Fitch reported mass burials, hospitals overwhelmed at facilities such as Jiangnan University Hospital, and estimates later cited by scholars from institutions like Nanjing University and Yale University. Chinese government figures, independent scholars like Ikuhiko Hata, and international historians such as Iris Chang and Tokushi Kasahara have provided divergent casualty and rape estimates, with numbers debated in studies published by universities including Columbia University and Harvard University.
Responsibility has been attributed to units of the Imperial Japanese Army, including elements from formations such as the Shanghai Expeditionary Army, the 16th Division (Imperial Japanese Army), and other contingents under the operational command of leaders including Iwane Matsui and staff officers linked to the Imperial General Headquarters. Contemporary Japanese military figures like Prince Asaka Yasuhiko and bureaucrats in ministries such as the Ministry of the Army have been focal in attribution debates. Scholars and commissions—including the Tokyo Trials and postwar historians from Japan, China, United States, and Germany—have examined command responsibility, unit discipline, and the role of military culture fostered by institutions like the Imperial Japanese Navy and educational establishments such as the Imperial Japanese Army Academy.
International actors including diplomats from Germany, United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union raised protests and provided reports; the Nanjing Safety Zone organized by expatriates like John Rabe sheltered civilians. The Kuomintang government under Chiang Kai-shek used the events in propaganda and diplomatic appeals to bodies such as the League of Nations and foreign ministries including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Republic of China). Japanese domestic reactions involved press coverage by newspapers like the Asahi Shimbun and debates within the Imperial Diet, while public opinion in countries including United States and United Kingdom influenced relief and refugee policies administered by organizations such as the American Red Cross.
After World War II, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and subsequent Chinese and Allied military tribunals prosecuted Japanese leaders for crimes including murder, rape, and looting. Defendants such as Iwane Matsui faced charges relating to responsibility for atrocities; tribunals invoked principles of command responsibility alongside precedents from the Nuremberg Trials. Sentences and convictions sparked debate among legal scholars in institutions like Stanford Law School and University of Tokyo about standards of evidence, victim testimony, and the applicability of international law to actions by commanders and lower-ranked soldiers.
Memory of the events has been contested in museums, education, and politics across China, Japan, and internationally. Institutions such as the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall and works by authors including Iris Chang and historians like Tokushi Kasahara, Ikuhiko Hata, Albert E. Mayer, and Akira Fujiwara have shaped public understanding. Controversies involve textbook treatments in Japan, statements by politicians from parties like the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), and diplomatic tensions between People's Republic of China and Japan. Historiographical debates engage scholars from Peking University, Nanjing University, University of California, and Waseda University over source interpretation, including archives from the National Archives of Japan and Chinese wartime records preserved by the Academia Sinica.