General Hsu Yung-chang represented China at Japan’s surrender ceremony.
Hsu signed the Instrument of Surrender on behalf of the Republic of China, then led by Chiang Kai-shek. He signed after General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz, and before representatives of the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union.
China had been fighting Japan since the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, which merged into the wider World War II conflict after 1941. Chinese forces had endured years of Japanese occupation, major battles, bombing, and displacement before Japan surrendered.
The ceremony included representatives from nine Allied powers. China’s presence reflected its status as one of the principal Allied nations in the Pacific war. Hsu is sometimes confused with Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek, but Hsu—not Chiang—was the official Chinese signatory aboard Missouri.