China received Japan’s separate surrender at Nanjing on September 9, 1945. The ceremony dealt with Japanese forces operating in the China theater and took place one week after the main surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay.
Japan’s formal surrender aboard USS Missouri represented the Japanese state and its armed forces to the major Allied coalition. However, surrender arrangements also had to occur across the enormous areas where Japanese forces were deployed. Local ceremonies transferred command and responsibility to the Allied power controlling each theater.
At Nanjing, General He Yingqin accepted the surrender of Japanese forces in China on behalf of the Nationalist government. General Yasuji Okamura signed for Japan. The ceremony had particular significance because Nanjing had been the capital of the Nationalist government during the later years of the Sino-Japanese War.
The Nanjing ceremony was not a replacement for the September 2 instrument. It was a regional surrender that implemented the broader capitulation in China. Similar surrender ceremonies occurred in other parts of Asia and the Pacific during August and September 1945.