70 Years On: China’s Just Trials of Japanese War Criminals
Seventy years ago this summer, in a modest two-story building on Heilongjiang Street in Shenyang, Chinese judges presided over proceedings that would become a landmark in post-World War II justice. Between June and July 1956, the Supreme People’s Court Special Military Tribunal tried 45 Japanese war criminals in Shenyang and Taiyuan for atrocities committed during Japan’s occupation of China. Every single defendant confessed and accepted responsibility—an outcome unprecedented in international war crimes trials.
This year, as China observes the 70th anniversary of those proceedings, the “Just Trial—Historical Exhibition of New China’s Trial of Japanese War Criminals” is being displayed at the Lushun Russo-Japanese Prison Site Museum in Dalian, with coordinated exhibitions at more than 80 museums nationwide, according to Xinhua News. The exhibition opened on August 15, 2025 at the September 18 Historical Museum in Shenyang, coinciding with the 80th anniversary of Japan’s unconditional surrender.
A Landmark in Judicial Sovereignty
The trials marked the first time since the founding of the People’s Republic of China that Chinese judges independently exercised judicial sovereignty over foreign aggressors on Chinese soil. The proceedings were the culmination of years of meticulous investigation. Beginning in March 1954, the Northeast Work Group—366 investigators drawn from central agencies and provincial departments—traveled to 12 provinces, reviewed more than 8,000 archival documents, and collected 26,700 witness statements, compiling 431,400 pages of material into 2,918 volumes of case files, as detailed by China News Service.
The Shenyang trials were conducted in two phases. From June 9-19, eight military defendants led by Lt. Gen. Suzuki Keiju, commander of the Japanese Army’s 117th Division, stood trial. From July 1-20, 28 defendants associated with the puppet Manchukuo regime, led by Takebe Rokuzo, former Director-General of the Manchukuo State Council Affairs Bureau, were prosecuted. Simultaneously, from June 10-20, nine defendants were tried in Taiyuan.
Confessions That Shook the Courtroom
The trials produced scenes rarely witnessed in any courtroom. When survivor Zhou Shuen, who had escaped from a mass burial pit, displayed his scars and testified against Suzuki Keiju for ordering the massacre of 1,280 villagers at Panjiadazhuang in October 1942, the general knelt to the floor. “This is completely the truth. I sincerely apologize!” Suzuki said, according to accounts reported by Xinhua.
Fujita Shigeru, the former Lt. Gen. of the Japanese Army’s 59th Division who had taught his subordinates that “stabbing is more effective than shooting,” confessed in court: “My crimes are extremely serious. Confession is a lifelong matter. As long as I have breath, I will firmly remember the words spoken from the hearts of the victims… Aggressive war absolutely must not be allowed to happen again.”
Perhaps most dramatically, the “Last Emperor” Puyi—who had been installed as puppet ruler of Manchukuo—testified on July 2, 1956 against Takebe Rokuzo and Koga Hiroyuki, describing how Japanese officials controlled every level of the puppet state’s administration.
A Distinctive Approach to Justice
The trials were notable not only for their outcome but for their approach. Following the principle of “no death sentences and no life sentences,” China prosecuted only 45 of the 1,109 Japanese war criminals held in custody between 1950 and 1956 at the Fushun and Taiyuan war criminal management centers. The remaining 1,017 were released without prosecution in three batches from June to August 1956 due to lighter offenses and good reform records.
Those convicted received sentences of 20 years or less, with sentences calculated from 1945 when the war criminals were first detained after Japan’s defeat. All 45 convicted war criminals were released by March 1964.
This approach reflected a broader strategy of ideological rehabilitation. War criminals were provided with adequate food, medical care, and educational opportunities. They were shown Japanese films depicting the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and taken on tours to witness China’s reconstruction and visit sites of Japanese atrocities.
“The main purpose was to reform them ideologically, to make them thoroughly understand where the roots of committing war crimes or crimes of aggression lay,” Meng Yueming, director of the Northeast Asia Research Institute at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told CCTV News.
A Legacy of Reconciliation
The trials’ legacy extended far beyond the courtroom. Released war criminals formed the China Returnees Association in Japan, dedicated to opposing aggressive war, maintaining world peace, and promoting Sino-Japanese friendship. Its first president was Fujita Shigeru, the same man who had once ordered troops to kill prisoners for practice.
In 1988, association members donated 220,000 yuan to build the “Apology Monument to Anti-Japanese Martyrs” at the Fushun War Criminals Management Center, funded entirely by their contributions. The monument’s inscription reads: “We committed heinous crimes of burning, killing, and looting during Japan’s 15-year war of aggression against China… We erect this monument to express our sincere apology to the anti-Japanese martyrs and to swear that aggressive war will never be allowed to happen again.”
The association disbanded in 2002 as its members aged, but the “Fushun Miracle Succession Association” was formed by descendants and young Japanese committed to preserving the memory of what occurred. Members visited the Fushun site when it reopened in June 2026, according to Workers’ Daily.
Contemporary Significance
The 70th anniversary commemoration carries particular weight in 2026, which also marks the 95th anniversary of the September 18 Incident of 1931—the event that began Japan’s invasion of China in Shenyang, the very city where the trials would bring justice 25 years later.
Shi Yan, deputy director of the Editorial Research Department at the Shenyang September 18 Historical Museum and curator of the exhibition, emphasized the trials’ enduring relevance: “This is a moment when Chinese people held their heads high, a moment when justice triumphed over evil!” She added: “No matter how ferocious and arrogant the aggressors once were, aggressive acts that violate humanity and justice will ultimately be settled by history. The guilty will never escape the judgment of justice.”
“Because of this,” Shi said, “the holding of this exhibition has even more practical significance. We hope to use authentic historical materials as a sharp blade to prove that justice will never be absent and will never be erased.”
The exhibition’s narrative extends beyond Shenyang. As Jin Shicheng, director of the Education, Publicity and Exhibition Department at the Unit 731 Evidence Exhibition Hall in Harbin, explained: “Shenyang’s September 18 Historical Museum witnessed the beginning of Japan’s invasion of China… The Harbin Unit 731 Evidence Exhibition Hall witnessed the escalation of Japan’s anti-human atrocities in China. At the same time, Shenyang was also the main venue for New China’s trial of Japanese war criminals. In this way, the narrative connecting the beginning of Japan’s invasion, the escalation of anti-human atrocities, and just trials forms a holistic narrative of Northeast China’s anti-war history and post-war trial history.”
What to Watch For
As the exhibition continues its nationwide tour through early 2026, it serves as a reminder of a unique chapter in international justice—one in which rehabilitation and reconciliation were as central as accountability. The Shenyang Trial Memorial Museum, which opened in 2014, has already received nearly 1 million visitors.
For observers of Sino-Japanese relations, the commemoration signals China’s continued commitment to preserving historical memory amid concerns about revisionist narratives in Japan. As Shi Yan noted, the exhibition aims to demonstrate that “justice will never be absent and will never be erased”—a message that resonates as powerfully today as it did seven decades ago.