Tungchow Munity (Holocaust) - China Incident (1937-1941)

Japanese troops and Japanese and Korean civilians were murdered by East Hopei Army in Tungchow on 29th July, 1937. The number of victims was more than 200. The murder was so cruel that the public opinion in Japan leaned to the war against China. The East Hebei Autonomous Council compensated Japan for the murder on December 24, 1937.

The East Hebei Autonomous Council was established in 1935 as an independent region from China. Tungchow was the capital of the council, located approximately 12km east of Beijing. The Japanese Army occupied Beijing on July 28th, 1937. The East Hopei Army assaulted a Japanese troop and murdered Japanese and Korean civilian in Tungchow, where only 100 Japanese soldiers remained, on July 29th.

Although there were many murders of Japanese civilian before the incident, the abnormal feature of this slaughter was its terrible way of the killing. It was so horrible that Japanese people got anger and public opinion leaned to support the war against China.

When the news spread over Japan, another macabre murder occurred in Shanghai on August 9th. Chinese soldiers killed two Japanese soldiers in Shanghai. A joint investigation of Japan and China was carried out on August 10th. At this moment, Japan still tried to avoid the war.

The Japan-China War began on August 13rd, 1937 after Chinese Army fired against Japanese Army.

Since the way of killing in the murder is so cruel, most people disgust at the criminal and some Japanese people raise their anger against Chinese, which lead them to the political right position.

Tungchow Mutiny is not taught in Japanese schools. There is no description about this fact in textbooks for the elementary, secondary, and high schools in Japan. Japanese media also ignore this fact in their documentary programs. The ignorance of the important historical event easily brings about the justification of the theory of the conspiracy in which school teachers and media are controlled by the left wing. Therefore, discovering the shocking fact of Tungchow Mutiny in the internet can change the political tendency toward the right.