Nanjing Massacre Commemoration Day in China

This historical episode remains a contentious political issue, and is a stumbling block in Japan's diplomatic relations not only with China but also with other East Asian nations, such as South Korea.

The Nanjing Massacre refers to the crimes committed between late 1937 and early 1938 by the Imperial Japanese Army in the city of Nanjing, then the capital of the Republic of China, during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

The Japanese Army moved northward after capturing Shanghai in October 1937, and conquered Nanjing in the Battle of Nanjing on December 13, 1937. The Chinese government, led by Chiang Kai-shek and the commanders of the Chinese Nationalist Army (Kuomintang), abandoned the city before the entry of the Japanese army, leaving behind thousands of Chinese soldiers trapped in the walled city.

War crimes committed during this episode included looting, mass rape of women and the killing of civilians and prisoners of war. It is estimated that between 40,000 and more than 300,000 Chinese died. In 1946, the judgment of the Tokyo War Tribunal estimated that more than 200,000 Chinese died in the massacre. In the death sentence issued against the Japanese army commander in Nanjing, General Iwane Matsui, the figure was set at 100,000. In December 2007, newly released U.S. government documents, which until then had been a state secret, put the total number of dead at 500,000, taking into account what happened around the city before its capture.