Former Site of the Special Tribunal for Trying Japanese War Criminals

The Former Site of the Special Tribunal for Trying Japanese War Criminals

The Former Site of the Special Tribunal for Trying Japanese War Criminals is located at No. 21 Chunyang Palace, Yingze District, within the Shanxi Hotel, covering an area of 6,797 square meters.

The Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was an important part of the global anti-fascist war and also the first great national liberation war in modern Chinese history to achieve a complete victory. More than 1,000 Japanese war criminals in China, in following the policies of Japanese militarism during the war of aggression, blatantly violated the freedom, rights, and dignity of the Chinese people, trampled upon the norms of international law and humanitarian principles, and insanely massacred, looted, and devastated the Chinese populace, committing heinous crimes. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress passed the “Decision on Handling Criminals Among the Japanese Invaders Detained in China” on April 25, 1956. In accordance with this, the Special Military Tribunal of the Supreme People’s Court opened a trial session in Taiyuan in June 1956 for nine Japanese war criminals. From June 10 to 11, the Special Military Tribunal of the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China, presided over by Chief Judge Zhu Yaotang, tried the case of Fuyuno Shuntaro for war crimes and espionage crimes committed during and after the Japanese invasion of China at the Shanxi People’s Auditorium. From June 12 to 20, the war crimes cases of eight war criminals including former Japanese military and political officer Jōno Hiroshi were tried at the Shanxi People’s Auditorium. On June 21, Zhang Dingcheng, the Procurator-General of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, assigned Deputy Head of the Work Group and prosecutor Jing Zhuguo to read out the “Decision No. 1 (1956) of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate of the People’s Republic of China on Exemption from Prosecution” at the Shanxi Machinery Factory Auditorium, granting leniency to 40 war criminals including Uechū Masataka and Ōya Masaharu by exempting them from prosecution and releasing them immediately. The site was formerly the “Self-Reflection Hall,” built in the third year of the Republic of China (1914) with funding from Yan Xishan, the warlord of Shanxi. In 1950, the Self-Reflection Hall was demolished and replaced by the Shanxi People’s Auditorium. In 1978, it was renamed the Third Guesthouse of the Provincial Government. In 1981, it was renamed Wenyang Hotel. In 1986, it underwent major renovations and construction of a new 12-story main building, and was renamed the “Shanxi Hotel” by the inscription of Chairman Peng Zhen. The existing east and west buildings were built in 1950 as two-story brick-concrete buildings in imitation of European architectural style.