Which Chinese general signed Japan’s surrender document for China in Tokyo Bay?

General Xu Yongchang signed Japan’s surrender document for China in Tokyo Bay. He represented the Republic of China at the ceremony aboard USS Missouri on September 2, 1945.

Xu signed after Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, the United States representative, and before representatives of the United Kingdom, Soviet Union, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. His participation reflected China’s status as one of the principal Allied powers in the war against Japan.

The Republic of China had been fighting Japan since the Japanese invasion of China in 1937, years before the Pacific War began with the attack on Pearl Harbor. Chinese forces therefore represented one of the longest-continuously engaged Allied participants at the surrender ceremony.

Xu Yongchang is sometimes confused with Chiang Kai-shek, China’s wartime leader. Chiang did not personally attend the signing aboard Missouri. Xu served as the military representative who placed China’s signature on the formal instrument.