Hankou Incident

The Hankou Incident (also rendered as Hankow Incident; Chinese and Japanese: 漢口事件 (Hankō Jiken or Kankō Jiken)) was an incident that occurred on 3 April 1927 in which rioters and a few military units entered the Japanese concession in the Chinese city of Hankou, engaged in vandalism and looting, and attacked Japanese residents and consular staff. A number of servicemen of the Imperial Japanese Navy were injured, 150 homes were damaged and the total cost of the destruction was estimated at 920,000 yen. Dozens of Chinese civilians were also killed when Japanese marines fired machine guns at protestors. Although some reports suggest that the incident occurred at the instigation of the Chinese Communist Party, the riots were sparked by an altercation between Japanese marines and Chinese workers.