Population of Nanjing in December of 1937

Last updated

Estimates of the population of Nanjing in December 1937 vary widely from source to source. Scholars have been heavily engaged in attempting to calculate Nanjing (then romanized as Nanking)'s population at this time because of its relevance to estimating the death toll of the Nanjing Massacre.

Contents

In December 1937, during the Second Sino-Japanese War between Japan and China, Japanese soldiers marched on the Chinese capital city of Nanjing. Most Chinese residents fled Nanjing, though the number of people within the city was bolstered by the presence of a large garrison of Chinese soldiers defending it. After the fall of the city on December 13, 1937, Japanese soldiers massacred Chinese prisoners of war and civilians in and around the city.

Contemporary data on how many soldiers and civilians inhabited Nanjing at the time of the massacre is contradictory and often unreliable. However, modern scholars have an interest in accurately estimating the number in order to aid them in calculating the number of people who might have been massacred by the Japanese Army. Various recent estimates put the population of the city in December at as many as 500,000 civilians and 150,000 soldiers or as few as 200,000 civilians and 70,000 soldiers.

Background

On December 1, 1937, following the end of the Battle of Shanghai during the Second Sino-Japanese War, Japanese soldiers stationed in the vicinity of Shanghai were ordered to march inland to Nanjing, the capital city of China. [1] The opposing Chinese garrison, the Nanjing Garrison Force, attempted to defend a series of encampment outside of Nanjing, but ultimately could not prevent the Japanese Army from arriving at the walled city by December 9. [2] On December 13, the Japanese Army captured Nanjing and perpetrated the Nanjing Massacre. [3] The Chinese population of Nanjing in December prior to the fall of the city included both the civilian residents of the city and the soldiers of the Nanjing Garrison Force who were defending it. [4]

Civilian population

An official survey conducted in March 1937 had put the total civilian population of Nanjing at 1,019,667. [5] However, most of the city's population, particularly the wealthy and middle class, fled after the Japanese starting bombing it in August. Most of those who stayed behind were the very poor who had nowhere else to go, as well as the officials who had jobs with the city government. [6]

In the first weeks of December, as the Japanese were advancing on the city, rapid population movements took place both into and out of the city. On the one hand, many inhabitants of Nanjing attempted to flee to neighboring villages in the last days before the city's fall. On the other hand, refugees were streaming into the city from the rural villages around Nanjing which were being burned down by the Chinese Army. [4] Starting on December 7, the Chinese Army launched a scorched earth policy of incinerating houses around Nanjing to deprive the oncoming Japanese soldiers of shelter. [7] These chaotic conditions made it difficult to keep track of the city's population. [4]

In November, foreign residents of the city had constituted the International Committee, which in turn created a demilitarized zone for refugees in central Nanjing called the Nanking Safety Zone. [8] By the time of the city's fall, much of Nanjing's remaining population had congregated within the safety zone. [9]

Primary sources

No official statistics attest to Nanjing's population in December 1937. [10] However, a variety of contemporary estimates do exist, including the views of foreign residents of Nanjing such as John Rabe, statements by Western journalists, the sampling survey conducted by Lewis Smythe, and the population registration of the Japanese occupation. [11]

In December, members of the International Committee, including George Ashmore Fitch and its leader John Rabe, estimated the city's civilian population at approximately 200,000. [12] Rabe, however, revised his estimate upwards on January 14 to "250,000 to 300,000 civilians" in a letter to the Japanese embassy. Rabe stated that earlier figures had been "deliberately cautious guesses". [13] However, when another committee member, Lewis Smythe, compiled a population survey of Nanjing the same year, he reaffirmed that Nanjing's civilian population at the time the city fell was between 200,000 and 250,000. [14]

By contrast, most Western journalists who were in Nanjing in November and December 1937 put forward much lower population numbers of around 150,000. [15] For instance, New York Times reporter F. Tillman Durdin supported the estimate of 150,000. [16] By the time that the Japanese forces occupying Nanjing attempted to formally register the city's entire population in late December, 1937, and early January, 1938, 160,000 people were recorded. However, the Japanese often did not count young children and elderly women in their registration. [17]

Primary sourceEstimate of civilian populationReference
Lily Abegg (Swiss journalist)150,000 [15]
F. Tillman Durdin150,000 [16]
Robert O. Wilson 150,000-200,000 [16]
Wang Kopang (Chinese policeman)200,000 [18]
Eduard Sperling (International Committee member)200,000 [19]
Chancellor P. Scharffenberg (employee of the German embassy)200,000 [19]
George Ashmore Fitch200,000 [12]
John Rabe (December 1937)200,000 [12]
Lewis Smythe200,000-250,000 [14]
Miner Searle Bates 221,000 [12]
John Rabe (January 1938)250,000-300,000 [13]

Analysis of scholars

Historian Ikuhiko Hata analyzed various estimate for Nanjing's civilian population at the time the city fell to the Japanese Army, and concludes that Lewis Smythe's figures of 200,000-250,000 are the most credible. [10] Australian historian David Askew believes that Smythe's data and the population registration undertaken by the Japanese after the city's fall represent the two most important base figures for estimating Nanjing's population. [11] Askew settles on 200,000 as the number most in line with contemporary sources. [20] He discounts Rabe's later estimate of 250,000-300,000 as being an exaggeration presented to Japanese authorities in the hope of convincing them to provide additional food aid. [13]

On the other hand, Tokushi Kasahara asserts that the contemporary figure of 200,000 strongly underestimates Nanjing's civilian population at the time of the city's fall. He argues that the contemporary figures probably included only those Chinese who had evaded the Japanese Army during and immediately after the battle and successfully escaped to the safety zone. Kasahara cites a letter that Ma Chaojun, the mayor of Nanjing, wrote on November 23 that 500,000 civilians remained in the city and that 200,000 additional refugees from surrounding areas were expected to arrive soon. After that, Nanjing was swollen with refugees due to the Chinese Army's incineration of villages just outside the city. Though Kasahara acknowledges that many Chinese people left the city after November 23, he suspects that the influx of new refugees would likely have brought the city's civilian population up to roughly 400,000-500,000 by the time that the Japanese arrived. [4]

ScholarEstimate of civilian populationReference
David Askew200,000 [20]
Ikuhiko Hata200,000-250,000 [10]
Tokushi Kasahara400,000-500,000 [4]

The Nanjing Garrison Force

On November 20, the Chinese government constituted the Nanjing Garrison Force in order to defend the city and its environs from the Japanese attack. [21] The force consisted of Chinese Army units which had escaped from Shanghai and gradually regrouped in Nanjing. [22] If all the Nanjing Garrison Force's constituent units, which included thirteen infantry divisions, had been at full strength, its total size would have been 180,400. In fact, most of its units are known to have lost a substantial portion of their troop strength during the Battle of Shanghai. [23] Some were hastily reinforced with new recruits, a great number of which were conscripted into service from the city of Nanjing and its suburbs. [22] In early December, the Chinese fought a series of engagements with the Japanese Army along their defenses both outside and inside the city. After the fall of Nanjing, many of the garrison's surviving soldiers cast off their weapons and uniforms and hid amongst the city's civilian population. [2]

Primary sources

No definitive figures were recorded on the total size of the Nanjing Garrison Force, [23] which included both regular soldiers and a variety of non-combatant laborers and temporary employees handling odd jobs. [24] Many Chinese sources indicate that the Nanjing Garrison Force contained somewhat in excess of 100,000 soldiers. Song Xilian, commander of China's 78th Corps, claimed that the Nanjing Garrison Force was over 110,000 men strong, whereas Li Zongren reported that it numbered "more than 100,000 men." [25] By contrast, Tan Daoping, a staff officer in Nanjing Garrison Force, gave a smaller figure of 81,000 by adding together a unit-by-unit breakdown of the whole force. [26] One Chinese officer, Major Zhang Qunsi, wrote an internal document which stated that the force had only 50,000 men. [10]

Chinese commanders often inflated their own troop strength figures in the hopes of securing additional supplies, as supplies were allocated based on unit size. [2] However, in the case of the Nanjing Garrison Force, the Chinese estimates are similar to those recorded in contemporary Japanese sources. Two high-ranking Japanese officers, Major-Generals Tōichi Sasaki and Mamoru Iinuma, who were at Nanjing at the time of the battle, both concluded that the defending Chinese garrison consisted of 100,000 soldiers. [27]

By contrast, the large majority of foreign observers believed that Nanjing Garrison Force to include roughly 50,000 soldiers or less. A US Army intelligence report concluded that the force was 40,000-50,000 men strong, and likewise F. Tillman Durdin of the New York Times reported its troop strength at 50,000. These lower estimates might refer only to those Chinese soldiers trapped within Nanjing itself during the final days of the battle, and they might not include non-combatant military personnel. [28]

Primary sourceNanjing Garrison Force troop strengthReference
Japan 10th Army35,000 [28]
US Army40,000-50,000 [28]
Zhang Qunsi50,000 [10]
F. Tillman Durdin50,000 [28]
Tan Daoping81,000 [26]
Toichi Sasaki100,000 [27]
Mamoru Iinuma100,000 [27]
Li Zongren100,000+ [25]
Liu Fei (staff officer in China's general staff)100,000+ [25]
Mitsuo Nakazawa (staff officer in Japan's 16th Division)100,000-120,000 [27]
Song Xilian110,000+ [25]

Scholarly research

To calculate the total size of the Nanjing Garrison Force, scholars have adopted both a "macro approach" and a "micro approach". The macro approach involves collecting primary source estimates of the whole size of the Nanjing Garrison Force and analyzing them. By contrast, the micro approach involves examining estimates of each individual unit within the Nanjing Garrison Force and adding them together to produce an estimate of the size of the whole force. [29]

Among scholars using the macro approach, Ikuhiko Hata accepts the reliability of Mamoru Iinuma and Toichi Sasaki's contemporary estimate of 100,000, which, he notes, is identical to the estimate used in the Republic of China's official history of the war published in Taiwan. [30] Tokushi Kasahara, however, points to the fact that most Chinese officers gave contemporary estimates of over 100,000, which, he contends, likely did not even include men in non-combatant roles such as military laborers. By including military laborers, Kasahara brings the total to about 150,000. [31] Kasahara also argues that the total could be raised further to 200,000 if one includes the 23rd Group Army, which participated in the early stages of the Battle of Nanjing but was not officially a part of the Nanjing Garrison Force. [32]

By contrast, Chinese historian Sun Zhaiwei calculated the size of the Nanjing Garrison Force using a micro approach. Sun combed through various diaries and documents and found contemporary estimates for most of the units of the defending Chinese garrison, which he added together to produce the figure of 96,458. In almost every case, the troop strengths given by the diaries and documents Sun found were much higher than those recorded in the unit-by-unit estimates of Chinese staff officer Tan Daoping. Sun Zhaiwei added in Tan's troop strength estimates of each unit for which Sun was unable to find other estimates in order to produce a minimum figure of 125,458, but in assuming that Tan's figures were underestimates, Sun subsequently inflated them to reach an estimate of 150,108. Sun notes that this final estimate is roughly the mid-way point between the minimum figure of 125,458, and the hypothetical maximum figure of 180,400, which would have been the size of the Nanjing Garrison Force if all its units had been at full strength. [27]

Askew has also used a micro approach to calculate the size of the Nanjing Garrison Force, but is strongly critical of Sun's methods. According to Askew, Sun accepts troop strength estimates which were made before the units in question were depleted fighting the Battle of Shanghai and also assumes that each Chinese consisted of three brigades when, according to Askew, most had been reduced to two. [27] By contrast, Askew generally supports the unit-by-unit estimates of Tan Daoping because of Tan's high-ranking position in the staff of Nanjing Garrison Force commander Tang Shengzhi and because Tan's estimates line up much more closely with the estimates of Western observers. Askew accepts Tan's figures as being the upper range of estimates and notes a few possible areas of overestimation. [25] Most notably, Tan argues that the Nanjing Garrison Force's training brigade comprised 11,000 soldiers, but a contemporary document indicates that it was about fifteen percent below a peak strength of 8,100. [33] Tan also states that the 88th Division contained 7,000 soldiers, but Askew notes that the division's official battle report says 6,000. [34] Askew settles on a range of 73,790-81,500 soldiers for the entire Nanjing Garrison Force. [35]

ScholarNanjing Garrison Force troop strengthReference
Yoshiaki Itakura 50,000 [36]
David Askew73,790-81,500 [35]
Ikuhiko Hata100,000 [30]
Tokushi Kasahara150,000 [4]
Sun Zhaiwei150,000 [27]

Application of estimates

The significance of population estimates for Nanjing is that they can be used as important base figures for calculating the death toll of the Nanjing Massacre. [10] For example, Tokushi Kasahara believes that the population of Nanjing comprised 400,000-500,000 civilians and 150,000 soldiers, [4] and has concluded that the death toll of the Nanjing Massacre amounted to 160,000-170,000 victims. [37] On the other hand, David Askew believes that the population of Nanjing comprised 200,000 civilians and 73,790-81,500 soldiers, [35] and has concluded that the death toll of the Nanjing Massacre was roughly 40,000 victims. [38]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nanjing Massacre</span> 1937 mass murder of Chinese civilians by the Japanese army

The Nanjing Massacre or the Rape of Nanjing was the mass murder of Chinese civilians in Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China, immediately after the Battle of Nanking in the Second Sino-Japanese War, by the Imperial Japanese Army. Beginning on December 13, 1937, the massacre lasted six weeks. The perpetrators also committed other war crimes such as mass rape, looting, torture, and arson. The massacre is considered to be one of the worst wartime atrocities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Nanking</span> 1937 Second Sino-Japanese War battle

The Battle of Nanking was fought in early December 1937 during the Second Sino-Japanese War between the Chinese National Revolutionary Army and the Imperial Japanese Army for control of Nanjing (Nanking), the capital of the Republic of China.

<i>The Rape of Nanking</i> (book) 1997 non-fiction book by Iris Chang

The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II is a bestselling 1997 non-fiction book written by Iris Chang about the 1937–1938 Nanjing Massacre — the mass murder and mass rape of Chinese civilians committed by the Imperial Japanese Army in Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China, immediately after the Battle of Nanjing during the Second Sino-Japanese War. It describes the events leading up to the Nanjing Massacre, provides a graphic detail of the war crimes and atrocities committed by Japanese troops, and lambastes the Japanese government for its refusal to rectify the atrocities. It also criticizes the Japanese people for their ignorance about the massacre. It is one of the first major English-language books to introduce the Nanjing Massacre to Western and Eastern readers alike, and has been translated into several languages. The book significantly renewed public interest in Japanese wartime conduct in China, Korea, Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iwane Matsui</span> Japanese officer, war criminal 1878–1948

Iwane Matsui was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army and the commander of the expeditionary force sent to China in 1937. He was convicted of war crimes and executed by the Allies for his involvement in the Nanjing Massacre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Rabe</span> German Nazi and businessman (1882–1950)

John Heinrich Detlef Rabe was a German businessman and Nazi Party member best known for his efforts to stop war crimes during the Japanese Nanjing Massacre and his work to protect and help Chinese civilians during the massacre that ensued. The Nanking Safety Zone, which he helped to establish, sheltered approximately 250,000 Chinese people from being killed. He officially represented Germany and acted as senior chief of the European-U.S. establishment that remained in Nanjing, the Chinese capital at the time, when the city fell to the Japanese troops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nanking Safety Zone</span> Demilitarized area in Nanjing, China, 1937–1938

The Nanking Safety Zone was a demilitarized zone for Chinese civilians set up on the eve of the Japanese breakthrough in the Battle of Nanking. Following the example of Jesuit Father Robert Jacquinot de Besange in Shanghai, the foreigners in Nanjing created the Nanking Safety Zone, managed by the International Committee for the Nanjing Safety Zone led by German businessman and Nazi party member John Rabe. The zone and the activities of the International Committee were responsible for safely harboring 250,000 Chinese civilians from death and violence during the Nanjing Massacre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone</span> 1937 demilitarized zone committee

The International Committee was established in 1937 to establish and manage the Nanking Safety Zone.

<i>Nanking</i> (2007 film) 2007 American film

Nanking is a 2007 documentary film about the Nanjing Massacre, committed in 1937 by the Japanese army in the former capital city Nanjing, China. It was inspired by Iris Chang's book The Rape of Nanking (1997), which discussed the persecution and murder of the Chinese by the Imperial Japanese Army in the then-capital of Nanjing at the outset of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–45). The film draws on letters and diaries from the era as well as archive footage and interviews with surviving victims and perpetrators of the massacre. Contemporary actors play the roles of the Western missionaries, professors, and businessmen who formed the Nanking Safety Zone to protect the city's civilians from Japanese forces. Particular attention is paid to Nazi Party member John Rabe, a German businessman who organized the Nanking Safety Zone, Robert O. Wilson, a surgeon who remained in Nanjing to care for legions of victims, and Minnie Vautrin, a missionary educator who rendered aid to thousands of Nanjing's women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ikuhiko Hata</span> Japanese historian (born 1932)

Ikuhiko Hata is a Japanese historian. He earned his PhD at the University of Tokyo and has taught history at several universities. He is the author of a number of influential and well-received scholarly works, particularly on topics related to Japan's role in the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II.

<i>The Good Man of Nanking</i> Diaries by John Rabe

The Good Man of Nanking: The Diaries of John Rabe is a collection of the personal journals of John Rabe, a German businessman who lived in Nanjing at the time of the Nanjing Massacre in 1937–1938. The book contains the diaries that Rabe kept during the Nanjing Massacre, writing from his personal experience and observation of the events that took place. It also excerpts Rabe's experience in immediate post-war Berlin, then occupied by Soviet troops. Rabe's diaries were made known and quoted by author Iris Chang during the research for her book, The Rape of Nanking; they were subsequently translated from German to English by John E. Woods and published in the United States in 1998. The diaries of Rabe could only provide witnesses of a small corner of the Nanjing Massacre, because of the limitation of his activity in the safe zone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders</span> Memorial in Nanjing, China

The Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders is a museum to memorialize those that were killed in the Nanjing Massacre by the Imperial Japanese Army in and around the then-capital of China, Nanjing, after it fell on December 13, 1937. It is located in the southwestern corner of downtown Nanjing known as Jiangdongmen (江东门), near a site where thousands of bodies were buried, called a "pit of ten thousand people".

<i>John Rabe</i> (film) 2009 film

John Rabe is a 2009 biographical film directed by Florian Gallenberger, based upon John Rabe's published wartime diaries.

Nanjing Massacre denial is the pseudohistorical claim denying that Imperial Japanese forces murdered hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers and civilians in the city of Nanjing during the Second Sino-Japanese War. This is relevant today in Sino-Japanese relations. Most historians accept the findings of the Tokyo tribunal with respect to the scope and nature of the atrocities which were committed by the Imperial Japanese Army after the Battle of Nanjing. In Japan, however, there has been a debate over the extent and nature of the massacre with some historians attempting to downplay or outright deny that the massacre took place.

The Historiography of the Nanjing Massacre is the representation of the events of the Nanjing Massacre as history, in various languages and cultural contexts, in the years since these events took place. This historiography is disparate and sometimes contested, owing to conflicting currents of Chinese and Japanese nationalist sentiment and national interest, as well as the fog of war.

Tokushi Kasahara is a Japanese historian. He is a professor emeritus at Tsuru University and his area of expertise is modern Chinese history.

Hisashi Inoue is a Japanese historian. His area of expertise is modern Chinese history and Sino-Japanese relations. Since 2001 he has been a professor in the faculty of law at Surugadai University after having served as associate professor at the same university.

Akira Fujiwara was a Japanese historian. His academic speciality was modern Japanese history and he was a professor emeritus at Hitotsubashi University. In 1980 he became a member of the Science Council of Japan and was a former chairman of the Historical Science Society of Japan.

Minoru Kitamura is a Japanese historian. He is a professor at Ritsumeikan University whose academic speciality is modern Chinese history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Death toll of the Nanjing Massacre</span>

The total death toll of the Nanjing Massacre is a highly contentious subject in Chinese and Japanese historiography. Following the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese Imperial Army marched from Shanghai to the Chinese capital city of Nanjing (Nanking), and though a large number of Chinese POWs and civilians were slaughtered by the Japanese following their entrance into Nanjing on December 13, 1937, the precise number remains unknown. Since the late-1960s when the first academic works on the Nanjing Massacre were produced, estimating the approximate death toll of the massacre has been a major topic of scholarly debate.

<i>Nanking</i> (1938 film) 1938 Japanese film

Nanking (南京) is a Japanese documentary film released in the year 1938. It was composed of footage shot inside and outside the walls of the city of Nanjing (Nanking) just after the end of the Battle of Nanking during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Yamamoto, pp. 49–50.
  2. 1 2 3 Askew (April 2003), pp. 152–154.
  3. ↑ Kasahara (1997), p. 3.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Kasahara (1999), pp. 85–86.
  5. ↑ Kasahara (1997), p. 219.
  6. ↑ Kasahara (1997), pp. 30–32.
  7. ↑ Kasahara (1997), p. 120.
  8. ↑ Askew (2008), pp. 227–228.
  9. ↑ Askew (March 2001), p. 7.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hata, pp. 208–209.
  11. 1 2 Askew (March 2001), p. 3.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Askew (March 2001), pp. 4–5.
  13. 1 2 3 Askew (March 2001), p. 6.
  14. 1 2 Askew (March 2001), p. 13.
  15. 1 2 Askew (March 2001), p. 18.
  16. 1 2 3 Askew (March 2001), p. 19.
  17. ↑ Askew (March 2001), p. 15.
  18. ↑ Askew (March 2001), p. 11.
  19. 1 2 Askew (March 2001), p. 12.
  20. 1 2 Askew (March 2001), p. 2.
  21. ↑ Kasahara (1997), p. 113.
  22. 1 2 Kasahara (1997), p. 114.
  23. 1 2 Yamamoto, p. 46.
  24. ↑ Kasahara (1997), p. 221.
  25. 1 2 3 4 5 Askew (April 2003), p. 159.
  26. 1 2 Askew (April 2003), p. 158.
  27. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Askew (April 2003), pp. 160–161.
  28. 1 2 3 4 Askew (April 2003), pp. 156–157.
  29. ↑ Askew (April 2003), pp. 162–163.
  30. 1 2 Hata, p.211.
  31. ↑ Kasahara (1992), pp. 250–251.
  32. ↑ Kasahara (1992), p. 252.
  33. ↑ Askew (April 2003), p. 170.
  34. ↑ Askew (April 2003), p. 168.
  35. 1 2 3 Askew (April 2003), pp. 150, 173.
  36. ↑ Hata, p.210.
  37. ↑ Kingston, p. 15.
  38. ↑ Saaler, p. 3.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.