Nanjing hosted the official Japanese surrender ceremony in China on 9 September 1945.
The ceremony took place at the auditorium of the Central Army Military Academy in Nanjing, then the capital of the Republic of China. General Yasuji Okamura signed for the Japanese forces in China, while General He Yingqin accepted the surrender for the Chinese Allies.
The event occurred one week after the formal surrender aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Japan’s worldwide capitulation required many regional ceremonies because its armed forces were spread across China, Korea, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific. The Nanjing ceremony specifically ended organized Japanese resistance in China.
Nanjing is also known by the older English spelling “Nanking,” which appears in many World War II sources. The city’s wartime history includes the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, but that event is separate from the 1945 surrender ceremony.