On what date did Japanese forces formally surrender to China in Nanjing in 1945?

Japanese forces formally surrendered to China in Nanjing on September 9, 1945.

The Nanjing ceremony followed the broader surrender aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. General Yasuji Okamura, commander-in-chief of the Japanese China Expeditionary Army, signed the surrender document for Japanese forces in China. General He Yingqin accepted it on behalf of the Chinese Nationalist government and the Allied powers.

The ceremony was important because Japan had occupied large areas of China since the 1930s. The Second Sino-Japanese War had caused enormous civilian and military losses, and the surrender ended organized Japanese military authority in the Chinese theater. The document was written in both Japanese and Chinese.

This event should not be confused with the Tokyo Bay ceremony, which represented Japan’s national surrender to the Allied powers. Other regional surrender ceremonies followed across Asia and the Pacific, including in Singapore on September 12 and in parts of Southeast Asia later that month.