Which Chinese general signed Japan’s 1945 surrender document for China?

General Xu Yongchang signed Japan’s 1945 surrender document for China.

Xu Yongchang, also rendered Hsu Yung-chang in some older English sources, represented the Republic of China at the surrender ceremony aboard USS Missouri on September 2, 1945. He signed after General Douglas MacArthur, Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, and the Japanese representatives had signed their portions of the document.

China had fought Japan for more than eight years before the formal surrender, beginning with the full-scale war that followed the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937. Chinese forces had endured major battles, occupation, bombing, and prolonged disruption before Japan capitulated.

Xu’s name can be confused with Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of Nationalist China during the war. Chiang did not attend the ceremony in Tokyo Bay; Xu represented the Chinese government in his place. The surrender document also included representatives of the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, France, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.