In the early 20th century, tension started to escalate between Japan and China. (Stanford.edu) During the 19th century, Japan's military power started to take control over Korea from the Chinese. This was called the first SIno-Japanese war. The Treaty of Kanghwa with Korea was singed in 1876 and this weakened China's hold on Korea. On July 1894, the Japanese surprised the Chinese by attacking them. During this time, Japan's military began to grow. Also, their education started to change. "Students were groomed to desire to serve their nation..Where conformity and obedience to teacher demands to value obedience and unconditional loyalty to the emperor was the rule of the day." (Stanford.edu) This demonstrates how young kids started to get taught during school hours that they should always be loyal to their nation and what their nation was doing was always doing for the better.
Another possibility that could have triggered the Rape of Nanking was that the Chinese defended hard against the Japanese when they tried to take over China in just 3 months. This got the Japanese furious. So the head commander, gave orders to go into the capital. Soldiers living in Nanking were aware that the Japanese were trying to conquer, however they didn't know they were coming to Nanking also. When the Japanese stepped into Nanking, they were ordered to captive anyone who looks like a Chinese soldier. At that point, the Chinese gave up thinking that if they stopped so would the Japanese, however this only made the Japanese mad. And because the Japanese cultural ideas included the Samural ideology, this made the Japanese soldiers looked down upon the Chinese soldiers. In their eyes, "Men who allowed themselves to be taken prisoner did not have the right to be treated as men." (CLIO) This meant that because the Chinese gave up so easily, that the Japanese were allowed to do this to them because they shouldn't have gave up to their enemy.
Another possibility that could have triggered the Rape of Nanking was that the Chinese defended hard against the Japanese when they tried to take over China in just 3 months. This got the Japanese furious. So the head commander, gave orders to go into the capital. Soldiers living in Nanking were aware that the Japanese were trying to conquer, however they didn't know they were coming to Nanking also. When the Japanese stepped into Nanking, they were ordered to captive anyone who looks like a Chinese soldier. At that point, the Chinese gave up thinking that if they stopped so would the Japanese, however this only made the Japanese mad. And because the Japanese cultural ideas included the Samural ideology, this made the Japanese soldiers looked down upon the Chinese soldiers. In their eyes, "Men who allowed themselves to be taken prisoner did not have the right to be treated as men." (CLIO) This meant that because the Chinese gave up so easily, that the Japanese were allowed to do this to them because they shouldn't have gave up to their enemy.