On what date did the Japanese surrender ceremony in Nanjing take place in 1945?

The Japanese surrender ceremony in Nanjing took place on September 9, 1945.

The ceremony covered the surrender of Japanese forces in China and was held at the Central Army Military Academy in Nanjing at 9:00 a.m. local time. General He Yingqin accepted the surrender for the Republic of China from General Yasuji Okamura, Japan’s commander in China.

This event followed the broader Japanese surrender ceremony aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2. The Tokyo Bay ceremony ended the war at the level of Japan’s government and armed forces, while the Nanjing ceremony documented the capitulation of Japanese forces in the China theater.

The date is easy to confuse with September 2 because both ceremonies occurred within the same week. August 15 marked Japan’s public surrender announcement, and September 9 marked the surrender ceremony in China. A separate ceremony in Taipei took place on October 25, 1945, for Japanese forces in Taiwan.