| The Japanese occupation in China was between the years1931 and1945. At first the Japanese agressed in Manchuria. In 1937 they spread out near to Beijing (Peking) and at the end of the year Shanghai and Nanking were occupied. By mid 1938 the Japanese controlled railway lines and major cities in northern China, and they took Guangzhou on 12 October 1938. The chinese population took refuge in the west of the country. The second phase of the war (between 1939 and 1943) was successful for the Japanese. They took Hong Kong on Christmas Day 1941 and much of China and most of Burma was occupied by the end of 1942. China was blockaded and the attacks on the Japanese were mostly of a guerilla nature in isolated parts of the country.Japanese dominance ended in 1945, following Hiroshima and the ending of the Second World War. |