"Second Sino-Japanese War, (1937–45), conflict that broke out when China began full-scale resistance to the expansion of Japanese influence in its territory (which had begun in 1931). In an effort to unseat the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek, the Japanese occupied large areas of eastern China in 1937–38. A stalemate then ensued, and Japanese forces were diverted to Southeast Asia and to the Pacific theatre of World War II against the Western Powers and their allies beginning in late 1941. Japan’s defeat in that by the Allies in 1945 ended its occupation of China." from Encyclopædia Britannica
Thunder Out of China by "Nanjing Massacre, conventional Nanking Massacre, also called Rape of Nanjing, (December 1937–January 1938), mass killing and ravaging of Chinese citizens and capitulated soldiers by soldiers of the Japanese Imperial Army after its seizure of Nanjing, China, on December 13, 1937, during the Sino-Japanese War that preceded World War II. The number of Chinese killed in the massacre has been subject to much debate, with most estimates ranging from 100,000 to more than 300,000." from Encyclopædia Britannica
The Rape of Nanking : the Forgotten Holocaust of World War II by