I decided to do a short overview sheet for an up-coming trip to Nanjing Massacre Museum on 14th Feb, and yes, somehow 38 people picked the most unusual event for the Valentine’s Day. 

The Nanking Massacre or Nanjing Massacre, also known as the Rape of Nanking, was a mass murder, genocide and war rape that occurred during the six-week period following the Japanese capture of the city of Nanjing (Nanking), the former capital of the Republic of China, on December 13, 1937 during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Timeline:

  • Aug 1937, Japanese army invaded Shanghai, Nov 12 Shanghai was captured
  • Nov 22 – The International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone is organized by a 15 foreigners to shelter Chinese refugees, area of 3.86 km², with 25 refugee camps  
  • Dec 1, capital relocation–Chiang Kai-shek left Nanjing on Dec 7
  • Dec 5, prince Asaka appointed as commander and issued an order to “kill all captives”
  • Dec 9, Japanese army arrived outside of Nanjing urging the surrender within 24 hours
  • Dec 10, no response was received from the Chinese by the deadline
  • Dec 12, general Tang Shengzhi retreated, 100.000 untrained soldiers defending Nanjing
  • Dec 13, Nanking fell to the Japanese by nightfall, six-week period of Nanjing Massacre, Japanese troops engaged in rape, murder, theft, arson, and other war crimes
  • Dec 14, The International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone lodges the first protest letter against Japanese atrocities with the Japanese Embassy
  • Dec 18, General Iwane Matsui knew the rape, murder, and looting in the city
  • Jan 1938, the Japanese army forced all refugees in the Safety Zone to return home
  • Feb 18, 1938, the Nanking Safety Zone International Committee was forcibly renamed “Nanking International Rescue Committee”, and Safety Zone effectively ceased to function.
  • Feb 19, 1938 – The last of the 69 protest letters against Japanese is sent by the Safety Zone Committee to the Japanese Embassy
  • Late March 1938, the end of the massacre
  • May 1938, the last refugee camps were closed
  • Mar 10, 1947, Hirohito and Matsui was prosecuted, prince Asaka got immunity

DEATH: Nanjing Massacre total death of 300,000 Chinese.

RAPE: 20,000–80,000 women were raped, including infants and the elderly.

Advertisement