Tonghua Incident

The Tonghua incident occurred on February 3, 1946 in southern Jilin.

Tonghua, being the local transport hub, had a large refugees flux in 1945. First instance of violence (a ) was reported 13 August 1945, when the train filled will civilian Japanese refugees was stopped at an elevated track near the tunnel entrance and the Japanese women were gang-raped by the locals after the train security guards were killed. The train was a by-catch to Chinese guerilla intercepting the preceding evacuation train of the family of the last Chinese Emperor (Puyi), most notably Empress Wanrong. The incident featured children being killed by throwing out of windows, over 100 Japanese women committing suicide by jumping from the cliff, and mob shooting anybody who tried to escape. The rest of passengers were rescued when the battalion of the Imperial Japanese Army, alerted by the single escaped girl, has arrived the next morning. Many of the survivors of the would become the inhabitants of the Tonghua refugee camp and will also later be victims of the Tonghua Incident.

By surrender of Japan the local refugee camp was filled by 17,000 Japanese locals and over 100,000 Japanese civilians fleeing from the other regions of China. The city was initially surrendered to the Red Army but nominally controlled by the . Although according to Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance the support of Communist Party of China in Soviet-dominated areas was forbidden, the was a de facto affiliate of the communist Eighth Route Army.

The tensions ran high first in late August 1945, when groups of Soviet soldiers repeatedly raided Tonghua Girl`s High School, raping, abducting and killing both students and teachers. At least one shootout with teacher possessing a concealed pistol was also reported, leading to additional raids. Participation of the male teachers in the rapes was also reported.

The gang rapes, even in broad daylight on the streets, has happened, and at least one Soviet officer was shot dead while trying to stop his fellow soldiers. Japanese refugees responded mainly by shaving the women`s head bald, applying dirt and grease to the skin, and wearing a storage bags instead of normal clothes.

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