Rape of Nanking: 10 Shocking Facts of the Brutal Japanese Occupation of China

One of the most horrible events in history was the Rape of Nanking. Unspeakable atrocities were committed throughout the Yangtze Delta… And no one knows how many Chinese were butchered since the extent of the atrocities didn’t come to light until after the end of World War II.

But, the memory of this massacre is still alive in Chinese culture – and millions of Chinese people still feel resentment toward Japan after having witnessed or seen all the senseless crimes that the Japanese occupation carried out in the heart of China.

All prisoners and men suspected of being Chinese soldiers were executed immediately

_{Iwane Matsui enters Nanjing. Public domain}

During the rape of Nanking, Chinese Prisoners of War (POWs) and men suspected of being soldiers were executed as soon as they were captured, despite the laws of war and their fundamental human rights. 

Japanese forces were supposed to adhere to the provisions of the Geneva Conventions when it came to handling the POWs. However, they were ordered to kill them all without warning, irrespective of whether they had actually fought against the Japanese or not.

Tens of thousands of Chinese captives were shot, beheaded, and tortured for fun by Japanese soldiers in retaliation for resisting and unfortunately, this was only the beginning of a great massacre that would continue for several weeks.

Women were gang raped by Japanese soldiers

With most of the men already executed and all the soldiers dead, women were the favorite victims of Japanese soldiers. The soldiers used women of all ages for entertainment. They were raped and mutilated with bayonets, sticks, and bottles, among objects until they die. 

Many Japanese soldiers enjoyed forcing families to commit incest – and some Chinese men were sodomized and tortured to death too. So, no matter how young or old they were, they could not escape the fate of being raped. 

The rapes were done systematically as they went from door to door, searching for girls. An estimated 20,000-80,000 women were raped during the occupation but as the data is so imprecise the exact number of victims of the Japanese soldiers, and their sexual crimes committed in this city will never be known.

Those who tried to escape died by crossing the Yangtze River

Shortly after the beginning of the slaughter, the people saw that they had no way out and decided to escape from the city by crossing the Yangtze River. An immense group of refugees attempted to swim across the Yangtze River as no transportation was available. 

Unfortunately, the Japanese quickly noticed they tried to escape and began shooting them with machine guns to avoid leaving survivors. Many others drowned trying to cross while the Japanese prevented them from reaching the shores.

Today, it is believed that the Japanese succeeded in killing 50.000 Chinese civilians in this particular event of the massacre –  and many Japanese soldiers reported that the following day they encountered an immeasurable number of bodies spread throughout the entire river.

Japanese soldiers competed among themselves to see who could kill the most Chinese

One of the most curious events of the Nanking Massacre is that Japanese soldiers participated in competitions to kill the largest number of Chinese civilians and soldiers. 

_{Contest to kill 100 people using a sword. Public domain.}

Toshiaki Mukai and Tsuyoshi Noda became famous for killing more than 100 people each in the contest. Both became famous for their cruelty against the civilian population – and were even portrayed smiling in Japanese newspapers for “their great achievement”.

… But, ten years later, in 1947, Toshiaki Mukai and Tsuyoshi Noda, the two officers responsible for the contest, were arrested, tried for war crimes, and sentenced to death. They were shot on January 28, 1948.

Americans and Europeans created a “safety zone”

At the time, some Westerners were in the city for either trading purposes or missionary trips. Once the Japanese army arrived in Nanking, these foreigners quickly made their way out of the city – apart from 27 who remained. 

They remained in the city and planned a safety zone for civilians. Although the area was quite safe compared to the rest of the city, there were shootings and Japanese troops still entered whenever they wanted to search for Chinese to execute them, use them for target practice, or to commit all kinds of sexual crimes against their women (and sometimes, men).

In the end, the safety zones were not always reliable because people were still experiencing horrendous events within their spaces. However, westerners managed to save thousands of lives in this massacre.

Looting, burning, and vandalism were the norm

The Japanese took all the belongings from the civilians, ranging from jewelry, food, and clothes, among others. The Japanese troops organized the burning of buildings when they knew there were people hiding and they had already taken all the valuable objects. In the end, Nanking, once a beautiful historical city, was burned to ashes in a loot that took about 6 weeks and destroyed thousands of years of historical and cultural legacy.

It is an upsetting situation because this city held many of China’s most important historical treasures of which very few remain today… And anyway, the few architectural treasures and artworks that survived the Japanese attacks were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.

The Chinese forces could have done more to prevent the massacre

In November 1937, Chiang Kai-shek decided to pull Chinese forces out of the imperial capital of Nanking as he knew it was just a matter of time before it fell to the Japanese. For Chiang Kai-shek, it would be counterproductive to sacrifice their elite troops in a futile attempt to protect the city.

So, when Japanese forces approached Nanking, the Chinese troops left the city. Some soldiers remained in the city waiting for a miraculous victory, showing extraordinary courage and determination… Unfortunately, all their efforts were in vain.

Almost all of them end up being killed after resisting the Japanese forces. However, no one expected the Japanese soldiers to behave so brutally because, during the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, the Japanese went their way to treat POWs with mercy.

In any case, some historians suggested that the Chinese forces could save thousands of lives by evacuating civilians from Nanking and demolishing key landmarks to make the city a less desirable target. This would have prevented the Japanese from focusing so much on this city, and hundreds of thousands of lives would have been saved.

The Nanking War Crimes Tribunal condemned to death the leaders of the occupation

In 1946, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East condemned several Japanese military and political leaders for the war crimes they committed. 

They received either jail time or the death penalty. For example, General Iwane Matsui (Link 14), who was in charge of the Japanese forces in their invasion of Nanking was condemned to death and hung for the atrocities he incited during the occupation of the city.

_{General Iwane Matsui. Public domain}

But, most of the Japanese military leaders were not tried because, by the time of the tribunals, they had either already been killed or committed seppuku (ritual suicide).

One of the few who got off unpunished was Prince Asaka, as part of the Imperial Family, was granted immunity and never tried. Something similar to what happened to Emperor Hirohito, who was never charged despite his involvement in the war.

The dehumanization of Chinese people in the Japanese education system was probably the main cause

The way Chinese people were treated was a reflection of the Japanese education system. 

When Japan’s empire started to expand, they thought it was their responsibility to modernize all of Asia – and that their neighbor countries were inferior in all aspects. This belief was deeply instilled in the Japanese education system, which taught students that the Japanese were better than other Asian populations, including China.

As a result, Japanese soldiers saw the Chinese as subhumans and felt that it was ok to kill them with cruelty. In addition, the Japanese military system encouraged extreme violence, and soldiers were also punished harshly by their superiors, which encouraged them to be quite brutal and to take out all their anger and frustration on the civilian population.

Japan minimized the massacre

Despite the clear evidence of the atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers during the Rape of Nanking, the Japanese government attempted to minimize – or even deny the violence. Japanese leaders and media referred to the massacre as an incident and the number of victims was often downplayed.

Moreover, the Japanese leaders destroyed important records, drastically reducing the amount of proof that could be seized. But, the truth of the violence perpetrated against Chinese soldiers and civilians was well-documented and the reluctance of certain Japanese leaders to fully recognize and apologize for the massacre has been a source of tension between the two countries.

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_{Featured image: Nanjing Massacre Memorial. Public domain}