The
Nanking Massacre or
Nanjing Massacre, also known as the
Rape of Nanking or
Rape of Nanjing, was an episode during the
Second Sino-Japanese War of
mass murder and
mass rape by
Japanese troops against the residents of
Nanjing (then spelled
Nanking), then capital of the
Republic of China. The massacre occurred over six weeks starting December 13, 1937, the day that the Japanese
captured Nanjing. During this period, soldiers of the
Imperial Japanese Army murdered Chinese civilians and disarmed combatants numbering an estimated 40,000 to over 300,000, and perpetrated widespread rape and looting. Several key perpetrators were tried and found guilty at the
International Military Tribunal for the Far East and the
Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal, and were executed. A key perpetrator,
Prince Asaka of the
Imperial Family, escaped prosecution by having earlier been granted immunity by the
Allies.