Japan’s official surrender ceremony for China took place in Nanjing on 9 September 1945.
The ceremony occurred one week after Japan’s formal surrender aboard USS Missouri. It concerned the Japanese forces that had fought in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War, which had begun in 1937 and formed a major part of the wider conflict in Asia.
General Yasuji Okamura, commander-in-chief of the Japanese China Expeditionary Force, signed the surrender document for Japan. General He Yingqin accepted the surrender on behalf of the Nationalist government and the Allied powers, with British Major General Eric Hayes also present.
The ceremony was held at the auditorium of the Central Army Military Academy in Nanjing. The surrender document was written in both Japanese and Chinese, reflecting the parties involved in the regional capitulation.
Nanjing is sometimes confused with Tokyo Bay, where Japan’s overall formal surrender had been signed seven days earlier. The Nanjing ceremony was a separate regional surrender involving Japanese forces in China.