Port Arthur massacre (China)

Port Arthur massacre
Part of the First Sino-Japanese War
A Western newspaper's depiction of Japanese soldiers mutilating bodies
Location	Port Arthur (present-day Lüshunkou District of Dalian), Qing China
Coordinates	38°51′03″N 121°15′25″E / 38.85083°N 121.25694°E / 38.85083; 121.25694
Date	21 November 1894
Target	Soldiers and civilians
Attack type	Massacre
Deaths	2,600 civilians massacred within the city, no reliable count in the suburban hills. Maximum 20,000 killed in total, including soldiers.[1]
Perpetrators	1st Division, Japanese Imperial Army Yamaji Motoharu

The Port Arthur massacre (Chinese: 旅順大屠殺) took place during the First Sino-Japanese War from 21 November 1894 for three days, in the Chinese coastal city of Port Arthur (now Lüshunkou District of Dalian, Liaoning),^[1] when advance elements of the First Division of the Japanese Second Army under the command of General Yamaji Motoharu (1841–1897) killed somewhere between 2,600 civilians and 20,000 people including Chinese soldiers, although one eyewitness reporter estimated a total death toll of 60,000, including civilians, soldiers, and residents of the outlying rural district.

Reports of a massacre were first published by the Canadian journalist James Creelman of the New York World, whose account was widely circulated within the United States. In 1894, the State Department ordered its ambassador to Japan, Edwin Dun, to conduct an independent investigation of Creelman's reports.