The Rape of Nanjing (December 1937-January 1938) was the mass murder and mass sexual assault of Chinese civilians and disarmed soldiers by Japanese troops after Japan captured Nanjing during the Second Sino-Japanese War, a major example of 20th-century mass atrocities in AP World Unit 7.
The Rape of Nanjing, also called the Nanjing Massacre, happened when Japanese forces captured the Chinese capital of Nanjing in December 1937 during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Over roughly six weeks, Japanese troops killed huge numbers of Chinese civilians and disarmed soldiers and committed widespread sexual violence against women and girls. It stands as one of the most brutal wartime atrocities of the 20th century.
For AP World, the event sits at the intersection of two stories. First, it's part of Japanese imperial expansion in the interwar period. Japan had already seized Manchuria and set up the puppet state of Manchukuo, and Nanjing shows what that expansion looked like on the ground as Japan pushed deeper into China (what it would later brand the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere). Second, it belongs to the broader pattern of mass atrocities after 1900, where states and extremist regimes targeted specific populations with organized violence.
This term lives in Unit 7: Global Conflict, 1900-Present, mainly in Topic 7.8 (Mass Atrocities After 1900) and Topic 7.5 (Unresolved Tensions After World War I). It supports learning objective 7.8.A, which asks you to explain the causes and consequences of mass atrocities from 1900 to the present, and 7.5.A, which covers how imperial states like Japan gained territory through conquest between the wars. The CED's essential knowledge for 7.5 names Manchukuo and the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere directly, and the Rape of Nanjing is the most infamous episode of that expansion. It also reminds you that World War II in Asia started before 1939. Japan and China were already at full-scale war in 1937, which matters for any timeline question about global conflict.
Keep studying AP World Unit 7
Second Sino-Japanese War (Unit 7)
The Rape of Nanjing happened during this war, which began in 1937 when Japan invaded China. It's your evidence that WWII in Asia was already raging two years before Germany invaded Poland.
Manchukuo and Japanese Imperialism (Unit 7, Topic 7.5)
Japan's seizure of Manchuria in 1931 and creation of the puppet state Manchukuo set the stage. Nanjing shows the violent reality behind the polite-sounding 'Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere,' which was imperial conquest with a friendly label.
Armenian Genocide (Unit 7, Topic 7.8)
Both are CED-relevant examples of wartime mass violence against a targeted population. Pairing them lets you build a comparison or continuity argument about how total war in the 20th century erased the line between soldiers and civilians.
The Holocaust and War Crimes (Unit 7, Topic 7.8)
After WWII, atrocities like Nanjing and the Holocaust pushed the Allied Powers toward war crimes tribunals and new international norms. Nanjing is the Pacific-theater half of that story.
You won't be asked to recite a body count. AP World tests this term as evidence. On multiple choice, expect a stimulus (a photo, survivor account, or journalist's report from Nanjing) followed by questions asking what broader development it reflects, with the answer pointing to Japanese imperial expansion or the pattern of 20th-century mass atrocities. For free response, Nanjing is strong specific evidence for an LEQ or DBQ on the causes or consequences of mass violence after 1900 (LO 7.8.A) or on continuity and change in imperialism between the wars (LO 7.5.A). No released FRQ has used the term verbatim, but it's exactly the kind of concrete, dated example that earns evidence points. Just make sure you connect it to an argument instead of dropping it as a standalone fact.
These are two names for the same event, not two different events. 'Nanjing Massacre' emphasizes the mass killing; 'Rape of Nanjing' emphasizes the mass sexual violence alongside it. You can use either on the exam. The real trap is confusing this 1937 event with Japan's 1931 takeover of Manchuria, which came six years earlier and created Manchukuo. Manchuria was the land grab; Nanjing was the atrocity during the full-scale war that followed.
The Rape of Nanjing was the mass killing and mass sexual assault of Chinese civilians and disarmed soldiers by Japanese troops from December 1937 to January 1938, after Japan captured the city during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
It connects to Topic 7.5 because it was part of Japan's interwar imperial expansion in China, the same push that produced Manchukuo and the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.
It connects to Topic 7.8 as a major example of 20th-century mass atrocities, alongside the Armenian Genocide, the Holocaust, the Holodomor, Cambodia, and Rwanda.
It proves that World War II in Asia began in 1937, before the European war started in 1939, which matters for chronology questions about global conflict.
On FRQs, use Nanjing as specific evidence for arguments about wartime violence against civilians or Japanese imperialism, not as a standalone fact.
It was the mass murder and mass sexual assault of Chinese civilians and disarmed soldiers by Japanese troops in Nanjing, China, from December 1937 to January 1938 during the Second Sino-Japanese War. In AP World it's an example of both Japanese imperial expansion (Topic 7.5) and mass atrocities after 1900 (Topic 7.8).
Yes. They're two names for the same six-week atrocity in 1937-38. 'Massacre' highlights the killings, while 'Rape of Nanjing' highlights the widespread sexual violence that accompanied them. Either name works on the AP exam.
Yes and no. It happened in 1937 during the Second Sino-Japanese War, two years before the European war began in 1939. Historians generally fold the Sino-Japanese War into WWII, so Nanjing is evidence that the global conflict started earlier in Asia than the 1939 date suggests.
Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 and set up the puppet state of Manchukuo, which was a territorial seizure. The Rape of Nanjing came in 1937, after full-scale war with China broke out, and refers to the atrocity committed when Japanese troops captured Nanjing. One is conquest; the other is a mass atrocity during the war that conquest led to.
The CED groups it under mass atrocities, ethnic violence, and war crimes rather than labeling it a genocide outright. The safest exam move is to call it a wartime mass atrocity or war crime and compare it to CED examples like the Armenian Genocide or the Holocaust when building an argument about violence against targeted populations.