Part I. Pre-war Nanjing

1. Nanjing as the Nationalist Government Capital

On New Year's Day 1912, Sun Yat-sen was sworn in as president in Nanjing, establishing the Provisional Government of the Republic of China, with Nanjing as its capital. Three months later, Sun Yat-sen ceded power to the north China warlord Yuan Shikai, in order to facilitate the abdication of the Qing emperor and lay the foundation of a republic. The capital of the Republic of China was relocated to Beijing. After the Beijing government was established, Yuan perversely attempted to restore the monarchy, forcing the Nationalists to continue their revolution in opposition to the northern (Beiyang) warlords. As the Northern Expedition began in 1926, the Republic of China's National Revolutionary Army moved across south China and the capital was moved to Wuhan, upstream from Nanjing on the Yangtze River. Their objective was to advance northward toward the Beiyang regime in Beijing. Northern Expedition commander Chiang Kai-shek instead decided to use his military authority to command the army to move southeast and capture Nanjing. There, he hastily established a separate Kuomintang Central Committee and a Nationalist Government. On April 18, 1927, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the publication of the “Declaration of the Establishment of the Nationalist Government Capital in Nanjing,” announcing the establishment of the government and the opening of government offices as of that date. Nanjing became the nation's capital and political center.(1)

After the Nationalist Government was established in Nanjing in 1927, the name Jinling, given to the city by the Beiyang government, was changed back to Nanjing, according to the National Interim Administrative Area Plan. Liu Jiwen was appointed mayor. On April 24, Liu announced his inauguration by telegram and held a ceremony opening city government offices and inaugurating the mayor at the old imperial examination site in the Confucius Temple neighborhood. This was the beginning of a municipal administrative system in Nanjing and the first municipal-level administrative area established in China.(2)

In 1928, the Nationalist Government hired the renowned American architect Henry K. Murphy (1877—1954) as a consultant in charge of urban design in Nanjing. He was assisted by Lü Yanzhi, who had studied in the United States while a student at Tsinghua University. By the end of 1929, the Capital Construction Commission had produced a Capital Plan, and it was officially announced by the Nationalist Government the following year. The Capital Plan was the most comprehensive urban plan for Nanjing during China's Republican era, and it laid the foundation for the development and construction of the city before the War of Resistance.

Between 1928 and 1937, under the Nationalist Government's efforts and the guidance of the Capital Plan, urban construction in Nanjing made significant progress. A number of central government agency, enterprise, education, health, business, entertainment, and Republic memorial facilities were built. Renowned Republican era landmarks came into being during this time, including the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, Zhongshan Avenue, the Central Mall, the Ministry of Railways Building, and Central Stadium. The city of Nanjing acquired a new look.

2. Nanjing's Administrative Organization and Divisions

The administrative area of Nanjing had historically been limited to the areas under the jurisdiction of the Nanjing Municipal Government. When Nanjing was re-established in 1927, its boundaries were temporarily delimited to include only the city proper inside and just outside Jiangning District, as well as Pukou, just across the Yangtze River in Jiangpu County, comprising a total area of approximately 157 square kilometers. Nanjing and Jiangsu Province later repeatedly negotiated the city's boundaries, but changes were not implemented.(3) Finally, in March 1935, the provincial and municipal boundaries were agreed upon and implemented. The city's boundaries expanded to the three rural districts of Yanziji, Xiaolingwei, and Shangxinhe. The land on the outskirts of Nanjing began to be incorporated into the city.(4) By August 1936, the boundaries between the province, city, and counties were fully delineated.(5)

The Nanjing city limits were defined by four boundary lines. The eastern boundary ran from the northeast at Wulong Mountain on the south bank of the Yangtze River, went south through Yangmeitang and Xuejiachong to Yaohuamen, and passed through Tuchenggen (the site of the former Ming Dynasty outer city wall), Xianhemen, and Qilinmen before bending to the southwest past Cangbomen and Gaoqiaomen to arrive at Shangfangmen. The southern boundary ran westward along the Qinhuai River, passing the Matian, Tiexin, Xishan, and Gezi Bridges and extending along the canal to Dashengguan on the Yangtze. The western boundary included Jiangxin Island, then crossed the Yangtze River northward and turned northeast along the north shore of the river, along the original border of the commercial port at Pukou. The city's northern boundary included Baguazhou, then crossed the river southward and turned southeast to meet Wulong Mountain. The new Nanjing boundaries encompassed an area of 465.952 square kilometers.(6),(7)

After Nanjing was re-established, its supporting municipal administrative entities subsequently emerged. Nanjing City Hall, established on April 24, 1927, was renamed the Nanjing Municipal Government on June 1, and the mayor remained Liu Jiwen. The Social, Finance, Education, Health, and Public Security Bureaus were established under the municipal government. As time went on, the shape of the city government changed repeatedly based on the central government's regulatory and economic environment and the different political views of each mayor. In July 1927, in addition to the original five bureaus, a Counselors' Office was established, as well as a Land Bureau and a General Affairs Department, which oversaw the matters not falling under the purview of any of the above bureaus. The municipal government then had six bureaus, one office, and one department. In August of that year, Liu Jiwen resigned due to illness, and He Minhun succeeded him as mayor. Due to financial constraints, he incorporated the Land Bureau into the Finance Bureau as a Land Division, and merged the Health Bureau into the Public Security Bureau as a Health Division.

In January 1928, a Social Survey Department was established as required by the municipal government and, in April, the Land Bureau was re-established. The city now had five bureaus, two departments, and one office. In July of that year, the Nationalist Government once again appointed Liu Jiwen as Mayor of the Special City of Nanjing. The municipal government added a Social Bureau to its existing Secretariat and Land, Finance, Public Works, Public Security, Education, and Health Bureaus. The government then had six bureaus, two departments, and one office. The Nanjing Municipal Government was at its largest during this period.

In 1929, due to the importance of the capital's public security to the Nationalist Government, the Nanjing Public Security Bureau was renamed the Capital Public Security Bureau, and again renamed the Capital Police Office and placed directly under the central government's Ministry of the Interior. The Social Survey Department became the Social Survey Bureau. The city's government had shrunk slightly back to six bureaus, one department, and one office. Following this, Wei Daoming, Ma Chaojun, and Gu Zhenglun successively served as mayors of Nanjing.

In April 1932, during Shi Ying's tenure as mayor of Nanjing and in the wake of the Shanghai Incident,(8) the city treasury was short of funds. For the sake of reducing administrative costs, the Education and Social Bureaus merged and the Land Bureau was incorporated into the Finance Bureau. The Health Bureau was abolished and health administration was handled directly by the municipal government, while health matters were handled directly by health clinics. At the same time, the municipal government established the Self-Governance Office, slightly offsetting the downsizing of other agencies. The Nanjing Municipal Government was at its smallest during this period.

In April 1935, Ma Chaojun once again became mayor of Nanjing. Given the proliferation of land administration matters, in July of that year the Land Bureau was restored. On June 1 of the following year, the Executive Yuan renamed it the Land Administration Bureau. In addition, the Self-Governance Department was created in August, adding to the small increase in government capacity.

In December 1929, Nanjing formulated a division of the city into 12 self-governing districts. In March 1931, the city designated 21 self-governing districts, with a service office in each district, and a Self-Governance Office within the municipal government to oversee the city's self-governance matters. In March 1933, the city was divided again into eight districts, consistent with the division of the police districts. The self-governing districts were changed to eight administrative district units under the municipal government, which laid down the basic pattern of Nanjing's administrative divisions.

Prior to the fall of the city at the end of 1937, the Nanjing Municipal Government had jurisdiction over a total of 11 urban and rural districts. In addition, there was the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum District, occupying an area of 30.58 square kilometers and managed by the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum Management Commission, which reported directly to the Nationalist Government and was not under the jurisdiction of the city of Nanjing. Since the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum District was surrounded by Nanjing's First, Xiaolingwei, and Yanziji Districts, its traffic, security, supplies, and sanitation essentially could not be separated from those of the city of Nanjing. That district could therefore be regarded as an administrative district of Nanjing.(9)

3. Changes in Urban and Rural Populations

During China's Republican era, the Nanjing Municipal Government preserved intact statistics on the city's resident population, including total population, numbers of new additions, numbers of deaths, birth rates, and mortality rates. According to archive records, the population of Nanjing was 360,500 in 1927, when the Nationalist Government was established. It gradually increased year by year to 795,955 in 1934, doubling over seven years. The one-million mark was reached in November 1935, with a population of 1,009,502, and it held at around one million up through the first half of 1937. In May and June 1937, although the resident population had declined somewhat, it remained at over 1.01 million. See Tables 1—1, 1—2, and 1—3.

Table 1—1. Nanjing Population Statistics (1912—1936)(10)

It is evident from the above data that Nanjing's population steadily increased and that, just prior to the outbreak of the War of Resistance, the city had a population of over one million people.

After the Japanese attacked Shanghai's city center on August 13, 1937, and particularly after August 15, the date of the first Japanese aircraft strikes on Nanjing, the population of Nanjing began to flee. This massive outward migration caused a sharp decline in the city's total population. A number of affluent citizens and officials and their families were able to escape Nanjing, but a large number of people living in poverty remained in the city.

On November 23, 1937, the Nanjing Municipal Government wrote to the logistics department of the Military Affairs Commission regarding the issue of refugee evacuation: “We find that the city has a population of over five hundred thousand. With the exception of some able to leave the capital on their own, and others who will actually never be able to leave, we estimate that about two hundred thousand refugees will need to be evacuated.” Because the Nanjing Municipal Government had to arrange for refugee evacuation and supply grain, salt, and fuel to the residents staying behind, its reports of more than 500,000 remaining people in Nanjing as of the end of November are considered accurate and reliable.(13) In War Damage in the Nanking Area, a report written in June 1938, American missionary and professor Lewis S. C. Smythe recorded, “One year ago the population of the Nanking Municipality was just over 1,000,000, a figure sharply reduced in August and September, rising again to nearly 500,000 in early November.”(14)

In fact, the Nanjing Municipal Government also ordered each district to conduct a census survey between October and November 1937, but the census results were incomplete due to the impending war and the chaotic situation. Only seven of the 12 districts made reports, the figures from which are provided in Table 1—4.

Table 1—4. Nanjing Population Statistics by District (Oct.-Nov. 1937)(15)

As of the end of October and early November 1937, the above seven districts had a total population of over 373,000 people. The First, Seventh, Yanziji, and Shangxinhe Districts, as well as the Mausoleum District under the Nationalist Government, faced the same threat of war and roughly the same refugee situation as those able to make their reports. We can therefore use the previously reported populations of all districts in June 1937 as a basis, and the later populations of the seven reporting districts, to calculate that the urban and rural district populations had decreased by 42.3 percent and 17.6 percent, respectively. Based on the migration probability of these populations, we are able to estimate that the total population of the five districts unable to report was over 220,000 people. The population of all 12 districts in the city would therefore have been
590,000.(16)

Although a few citizens continued to flee their areas of residence during the two weeks before the city fell, the overall population of Nanjing no longer dropped significantly between late November and December 12, 1937. The reasons for the stabilization were: (1) The majority of the more prosperous citizens had left Nanjing early on, and those left behind either had no friends and relatives in other areas with whom to take refuge or did not have the economic capacity to relocate. (2) The Nanjing Municipal Government had a plan for the “evacuation of about two hundred thousand refugees,” which was not actually implemented due to the creation of the Safety Zone and the worsening war situation. (3) Out of military considerations as the war loomed closer to Nanjing, the Nanjing Garrison Command took control of vessels on the Yangtze River, making it no longer possible for people to cross into northern Jiangsu Province or head upstream to Jiangxi Province. These factors indicate that, after many Nanjing citizens relocated prior to November 1937, the overall population level then held relatively stable.(17) Even factoring in the few people who continued to move outside the city, there is no doubt that, at the time the city fell, a population of at least 500,000 remained there.

Chinese scholars have verified that, prior to the Japanese army's capture of Nanjing on December 13, 1937, between 535,000 and 635,000 people were living in the urban and rural areas of Nanjing.(18)

The transient population was an important part of the Nanjing populace. The “transient population from outside areas” referred to in the historical documents indicated persons living in Nanjing other than long-term residents subject to population counts by districts, townships, towns, and police offices. It included refugees who fled to Nanjing after the fall of Shanghai, Suzhou, Wuxi, and other areas.

After the Battle of Shanghai began on August 13, 1937, large numbers of refugees flowed inland from Shanghai and its vicinity. Many of these refugees had to pass through Nanjing, and some took refuge in Nanjing and its surrounding areas. Some of the refugees had a specific objective and direction, quickly leaving Nanjing to head elsewhere. Others did not have a fixed objective and, lacking the necessary travel expenses, could only take shelter in or near Nanjing.

On August 25, the Nanjing Municipal Government convened a meeting of its agencies and decided to organize the Nanjing Refugee Relief Committee. The municipal government and the Nanjing Aid Commission were in charge of its work, while the national Ministry of Communications, Ministry of Railways, and Xiaguan ship management agency handled incoming and outgoing logistics. The Capital Security Command and the Capital Police Office were in charge of defense, while the Kuomintang Party municipal headquarters and various resistance support organizations in the capital provided training and guidance.(19) Cheng Jingsheng, in charge of refugee relief for the Nanjing-Shanghai Railway, stated in a telegram to the Nanjing Aid Commission on October 9, “In the Taicang-Jiaxing-Baoshan area, other than the refugees who have been shipped out or have moved out on their own, about six hundred thousand now still await transport by boat.”(20) Ten days later, Cheng sent another telegram to the Nanjing Aid Commission, stating that Tang Kemin, director of the Wu County Red Cross Suzhou Station Office, “was ordered to dispatch vehicles to transport fellow Sichuan refugees to Nanjing, and after negotiations with the station decided to transport them that day by train.”(21)

It is evident here that transferring refugees through Nanjing was very busy work, and there were large numbers of refugees. In its Charitable Work Report for 1937—1945, the Nanjing Branch of the Red Swastika Society(22) stated, “After the Battle of Shanghai began on August 13, refugees from all localities have come to Nanjing, at least one thousand and several hundred people per day. We sent relief teams to the train station and docks in Xiaguan to take people in, set up ten temporary shelters and two soup kitchens supplying two porridge meals per day, and negotiated for trains and ships to evacuate people back to their homes.”(23) That organization alone assisted and evacuated a total of 155,690 refugees.

Shanghai fell on November 12, 1937. Afterward, the Japanese army pursued a course westward, directly toward Nanjing. After the Japanese captured Jurong, an inland town southeast of Nanjing, some refugees from Jurong went to Nanjing and took refuge in the Xiaguan area.(24) Red Swastika Society staff member Li Shiyuan stated in a report, “In addition to the Nanjing refugee zone, there are refugees from Zhejiang, Shanghai, Kunshan, Suzhou, Wuxi, Jiangyin, and Changzhou gathering in Liuhe, Guotangji, and Baguazhou. There are no fewer than forty thousand people, young and old, male and female, displaced and with no livelihood.”(25) From the above we can infer that a large number of refugees were concentrated in the northern areas of Nanjing.

The above descriptions point to reliable evidence that, as of December 1937, prior to the fall of Nanjing, there was a total population of approximately six to seven hundred thousand people inside and around the city.

 

---

(1) “Guomin Zhengfu dingdu Nanjing xuanyan (1927 nian 4 yue 18 ri)” [Declaration of the establishment of the Nationalist Government capital in Nanjing (April 18, 1927)], in Zhonghua Minguo shi dang'an ziliao huibian di-wu ji di-yi bian: Zhengzhi (yi) [Collection of archival documents on the history of the Republic of China, Series V, Set 1: Politics (1)], compiled by the Second Historical Archives of China (Nanjing: Jiangsu Ancient Books Publishing House, 1994), 1.

(2) “Jishi” [Chronicle], in “Shizhengting chengli ji Liu shizhang jiuzhi ji” [Record of establishment of city hall and inauguration of Mayor Liu], in Nanjing Tebie Shi shizheng gongbao bubian 1927 nian 4 yue zhi 8 yue, di-1 ye [Supplement to the Nanjing Special City municipal bulletin (April-August 1927)], no. 1, Second Historical Archives of China.

(3) “Nanjing” [Nanjing] (March 1948), compiled by the Nanjing Local Document Commission, 24, Second Historical Archives of China.

(4) Guomin Zhengfu Xingzhengyuan dang'an [Archives of the Nationalist Government Executive Yuan], RG 2 (1), File No. 9442, Second Historical Archives of China.

(5) Nanjing Local Document Commission, “Nanjing,” 24.

(6) Nanjing jianzhi zhi [Record of the establishment of Nanjing], compiled by Nanjing Local History Record Compilation Committee (Guangdong: Haitian Press, 1994), 235.

(7) Nanjing Local Document Commission, “Nanjing,” 24.

(8) A brief war between China and Japan between January and March 1932, also known as the January 28 Incident or the Shanghai War of 1932.—Trans.

(9) Nanjing Local History Record Compilation Committee, Record of the Establishment of Nanjing, 235.

(10) Source for Table 1-1: “Nanjing Shi linian renkou tongjibiao (1912—1936)” [Multi-year table of Nanjing population statistics (1912—1936)], in “Renshi guanli” [Personnel management], compiled by the Nanjing Municipal Bureau of Social Affairs, Nanjing shehui [Nanjing society] (February 1937), 29, Second Historical Archives of China. The figures in the table were changed to Arabic numerals—Ed.

(11) Source for Table 1—2: “Nanjing Shizhengfu jiansong benshi gequ hukou shumu tongjibiao zhi Neizhengbu ziwen (1936 nian 5 yue 20 ri)” [Nanjing Municipal Government submits statistics tables to Ministry of the Interior on the number of households in all city districts (May 20, 1936)], in Qinhua rijun Nanjing Da Tusha dang'an [Archives of the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese invaders], compiled by the Second Historical Archives of China and the Nanjing Municipal Archives (Nanjing: Jiangsu Ancient Books Press, 1997), 914. The figures in the table were changed to Arabic numerals—Ed.

(12) Source for Table 1—3: “Nanjing Shizhengfu guanyu fenfa benshi shengsi tongji biao xunling (1937 nian 11 yue 26 ri)” [Instructions of the Nanjing Municipal Government on issuing city birth and death statistics tables (November 26, 1937)], in Second Historical Archives and Nanjing Municipal Archives, Archives of the Nanjing Massacre, 916.

(13) “Nanjing Shizhengfu guanyu nanmin qiansong zhi Junshi Weiyuanhui houfang qinwu bu gonghan (1937 nian 11 yue 23 ri)” [Letter from Nanjing Municipal Government to Military Affairs Commission logistics department concerning refugee evacuation (November 23, 1937)], in Second Historical Archives and Nanjing Municipal Archives, Archives of the Nanjing Massacre, 702.

(14) Smythe, War Damage in the Nanking Area, R G 10, Box 102, Folder 869, Yale Special Collection, http://divinity-adhoc.library.yale.edu./Nanking/Images/NMP02469.pdf.

(15) Source for Table 1—4: Zhong Qing'an, “Guanyu yijiusanqi nian Nanjing lunxian qianxi renkou de kaozheng: Yong dang'an cailiao bo ‘Nanjing Da Tusha zhi xugou’ yi shu” [Verification of the population on the eve of the fall of Nanjing in 1937: Using archival materials to refute the book, The Fabrication of the “Nanjing Massacre”], Wenxian he yanjiu [Documentation and research] no. 5 (1985).

(16) Sun Zhaiwei, Minguo shi luncong [Papers on Republican history] (Nanjing: Jiangsu People's Publishing, Ltd., 2010), 85—86.

(17) Sun Zhaiwei, Chengqing lishi: Nanjing Da Tusha yanjiu yu sikao [Clarifying history: Research and thought concerning the Nanjing Massacre] (Nanjing: Jiangsu People's Publishing, Ltd., 2005), 183.

(18) Zhang Lianhong, “Nanjing Da Tusha qianxi Nanjing renkou de bianhua” [Changes in the Nanjing population on the eve of the Nanjing Massacre], Minguo dang'an [Republican archives] no. 3 (2004).

(19) “Shoudu Jingchating wei baogao pai yuan canjia Nanjing Shi Nanmin Jiuji Weiyuanhui jingguo qingxing zhi Neizhengbu cheng (1937 nian 9 yue 6 ri)” [Capital Police Office report to Ministry of the Interior on personnel participation in Nanjing Refugee Relief Committee (September 6, 1937)], Archives of the Nationalist Government Executive Yuan, RG 12 (1), File No. 4898, Second Historical Archives of China.

(20) Second Historical Archives and Nanjing Municipal Archives, Archives of the Nanjing Massacre, 920—921.

(21) Ibid., 921.

(22) A Buddhist relief organization akin to the Red Cross. The swastika was originally a Buddhist symbol.—Trans.

(23) Red Swastika Society, Nanjing Branch, Minguo ershiliu nian zhi sanshisi nian cishan gongzuo baogao shu [Charitable work report for 1937—1945] (1945), File No. 1024134521, Nanjing Municipal Archives.

(24) “Cheng Ruifang riji (yi)” [Diary of Cheng Ruifang (I)], Republican Archives 3 (2004).

(25) “Shijie Hongwanzihui Shanghai Fenhui guanyu fu Jing banli yanmai gongzuo de baogao (1938 nian 3 yue 18 ri)” [World Red Swastika Society Shanghai Branch report on handling burial work in Nanjing (March 18, 1938)], Dang'an yu shixue [Archives and history] no. 4 (August 1997).