Jinan Incident - Aftermath

Aftermath

If the incident had been an isolated example of Japanese assertion and Chinese resistance, a general understanding might have been reached. However, Chiang's troops expanded their control in North China and the Japanese Army continued to distrust the forces of Chinese nationalism. Japanese Army leaders feared that Chiang would respond to patriotic agitation and threaten their interests in South Manchuria. On 4 June, Zhang Zuolin, the military leader of Manchuria who had been talking about joining forces with Chiang, was blown up as he rode in special train by officers of the Japanese Army, setting off a chain of events leading to the seizure of Manchuria and the establishment of Manchukuo. When Chiang lectured a group of Chinese army cadets, he urged them to turn their energies to washing away the shame of Jinan, but to conceal their hatred until the last moment. The Kuomintang government later decreed that May 3 be designated a "National Humiliation Memorial Day."