NANJING INCIDENT

The 'Nanjing Incident' ('Nanking Incident', using Postal Map Romanization), not to be confused with the Nanking Massacre, occurred during the first phase of the Northern Expedition starting on March 21st 1927 and going through the 23rd. As Kuomintang troops neared and entered the city, which had many foreign residents, the Kuomintang troops targeted and looted foreign properties, doing much damage and killing and injuring many foreign personnel. Western and Japanese warships on the river responded by shelling Chinese forces in an effort to stop the looting of the city.
Chiang Kai-shek and his "moderate" wing of the Kuomintang laid the blame for the outrages at the feet of communist elements in the army, an explanation which the Japanese and many westerners were very ready to accept. There is no good evidence to support this, however.
Foreign outrage was strong but the Americans and Japanese in particualar wanted to avoid action against Chiang that would weaken his hand against the communists, whom they feared far more. Kijuro Shidehara, then the Japanese Foreign Minister, was criticized by many in Japan for this "weak" policy.

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Details

References

Details

Before the Nanjing Incident, The Chinese warlord Zhang Zongchang occupied the city of Nanjing. As the Hongyou Army of Kuomintang started their march to Nanjing as part of Kuomintang’s Northern Expedition, on March 23rd, Zhang Zongchang retreated out of the city walls and headed towards Xia Guan area of Nanjing, where he immediately fled North across the Yangtze River. On that night, Zhang Zongchang’s remaining troops who were not able to flee across the river looted two foreigners and two abandoned mansions in the city.
On the morning of March 24th, First of the Hongyou Army reached Nanjing. Initially, they questioned each foreign Consul if they were hiding any warlord troops. When answered no, the troops left the Consul. Around 7 AM that morning, the rest of the Hongyou Army reached the city. The 2nd, 6th, and 40th detachments of the Hongyou Army successfully took of the entire city without any retaliation.
At 8 AM, a large scale looting of foreign properties started, lasting until 5 PM that day. Targets were foreign Consuls, churches, schools, businesses, hospitals, and private property. University of Nanking’s vice president John Elias Williams and one of Aurora University’s teacher were both shot dead. During the raid, British and Japanese Consuls were the main targets. Herbert A. Giles of the British Consulate was injured by gunfire. A Representative in the Japanese Consul who was sick in bed was also shot at, but was not hit.
At 3 PM that day, Davis of the American Consul sent telegrams to American and British ships requesting help. As a result British cruisers started shelling the city of Nanjing. Commander Cheng Qian ordered a stop to the looting and asked the Red Cross to communicate with the British and American fleet to stop the shelling. One hour later, the shelling from the British stopped. But the looting did not stop until one hour after that at 5 PM.
At the end of the day 2 British, 1 American, 1 French, 1 Japanese, and 1 Italian were dead. 3 American, 2 British and Japanese were wounded. A sailor on the British Cruiser was hit by return fire from the Hongyou Army and was killed. Around 36 to 39 people were killed in total, 10 wounded.

References

Akira Iriye, ''After Imperialism: The Search for a New Order in the Far East, 1921-1931'' (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1965): 125-33.

★ ''矢田致币原函''、February 5th, 1927，''日本外务省档案''. PVM26；Foreign Relations of the United States, 1927, VO.III.P.153

★ ''昭和二年三月二十四日南京事件南军暴行情况''，''日本外务省档案''. PVM26

★ figures regarding Chinese casualties ''南京市总工会关于南京事件的调查报告''. February, 1927，南京市档案馆藏；''申报''，1924年4月7日；''革命文献'' Chapter 14，罗家伦著，p606-607、p612-615

★ ''U.S. Dept of State: Records of Department of states Relating to Internal Affairs of China, 1919-1929''. M.329; H.G.Woodhead: the China Yearbook, 1928, p723-726

★ 牛大勇. ''对1927年南京事件的再探讨''. Nanjing: (江海学刊)，1989.6，p145-150