S+JAPAN+INVADES+CHINA

= **. The Japanese invasion of China and the Rape of Nanking** =
 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/IJA_tank_in_Manchuria.jpg height="252" caption="Japanese Renault tank in Manchuria, 1931"]] ||
 * Japanese Renault tank in Manchuria, 1931 ||

-Japan was in desperate need of natural resources to modernize its industrial production

The Meiji Empire left Japan in a severe shortage of natural resources. Japan had also justified its expansion with the idea that making a united Asian continent. Japan first invaded Manchuria in 1931 feeling that it needed raw materials and more space for its increasing population. It continued its expansion into the Jehol province of China until it ultimately launched a full-scale occupation in July 1937. China's most important port, Shanghai, fell in November of the same year. Then in December, Nanjing (Nanking), Chiang-Kai-shek's capital, fell to the Japanese.

After taking Nanking, the Japanese soldiers were encouraged to loot and kill Chinese civilians in what was come to be known as "The Nanking Massacre" or the "Rape of Nanking."

For more on this event and the larger issue of genocide and the treatment of women, see [|Case Study: The Nanjing Massacre, 1937-1938] from the organization, Genocide Watch.

__**Websites/Sources**__

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[|http://nhs.needham.k12.ma.us] //cur/Baker_00/03/baker-mc-03/ethiopia.htm

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