Japan’s September 9, 1945 surrender ceremony in China was held in Nanjing. The event formally ended Japanese military control in the China theater of World War II.
The ceremony took place at 9:00 a.m. in the auditorium of the Central Army Military Academy. General Yasuji Okamura, commander of the Japanese China Expeditionary Army, signed Japan’s surrender document. General He Yingqin accepted it for the Allied side, representing the Republic of China.
Nanjing had been the capital of the Republic of China before the war and had been occupied by Japan in December 1937. The city was therefore a particularly significant location for the Chinese surrender ceremony. The event occurred one week after the global ceremony aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
Nanjing is sometimes confused with Tokyo, where Japan’s main surrender document was signed, or with Beijing, where additional Japanese forces later surrendered. The Nanjing ceremony specifically concerned Japanese forces in China and was conducted in both Japanese and Chinese.