Paper short abstract:

　This presentation considers the public and governmental perceptions and responses of China on three Nanjing incidents in 1913, 1927 and 1937. Previous studies scarcely argued them in 1913 and 1927. And this presentation explore differences of them between China and Japan.

Paper long abstract:

December 1937, Nanjing Incident (Nanjing Massacrer) happened, this incident is recognized as the symbol of Japanese aggression and Japanese military’s characteristics.

Before 1937, when Japanese and Chinese mentioned “Nanjing Incident,” they imagined other incidents happened in Nanjing. The first Nanjing incident was happened in 1913, Zhang Xun（張勳）murdered some Japanese, when he recovered Nanjing at the second revolution. The Document Files of Imperial Japanese Navy about this incident are named “Nanjing Incident”. Jiji Shimpo（時事新報） also reported an editorial article of this incident on January 9th, 1914. Zhangxun vindicated this incident was accidental that his troop misunderstood those Japanese were soldiers of the enemy. At last, this incident was solved diplomatically in 1914. The second Nanjing incident was happened in 1927, when the Nationalist Army entered Nanjing city in the operation of Northern Expeditions, foreigners including diplomats and his families were murdered and some foreign females were assaulted by the troop. Toward this incident, because Japanese consul, his wife and others of consul office staffs were also assaulted, Japanese public opinion was enthusiastic opposite and criticized Shidehara Diplomacy that adopted “soft” attitude to China. This incident stimulated Japanese public opinions strongly so that Shidehara Diplomacy was getting difficult to keep its policy.

About these two Nanjing incidents as well as the incident in 1937, we can find a series of previous studies, but those scarcely use materials both China and Japan. This presentation uses Chinese materials of Nanjing incidents to explore Chinese government and society’s perceptions and policies and makes them into comparison to Japan’s perceptions and policies. From Japanese point of view, Nanjing Incidents in 1913 and 1927, especially 1927’s incident, stimulated public opinion toward China. How about China? This presentation would show the perception gaps about these incidents to understand difficulties to share consensus of Sino-Japanese relations.