Sook Ching massacre

The Sook Ching massacre was a systematic extermination of perceived hostile elements among the chinese in singapore by the japanese military during the japanese occupation of singapore, after the british colony surrendered in the battlefield of sinapore on 15 februay 1942 during world war 2. Sook Ching was later extended to include chinese and malayan. The massacre took place from february 18 to march 4 1942 at various places. The term Sook Ching is a Chinese word meaning "a purge through cleansing". At the time, the japanese also described the massacre as such (it was referred to as the Kakyoshukusei lit, or "purging of Chinese"). The Japanese also referred to it as the Shingapōru Daikensho. "great inspection of Singapore".
Although the term "Sook Ching" appeared as early as 1946, it was not commonly used in the Chinese press or other publications until the 1980s. It is not clear whether it was the Japanese or Chinese who first used Sook Ching/shukusei, which is in both languages.
The current Japanese term for the massacre is Shingapōru Kakyoshuyakusatsujiken lit. " Singapore Chinese massacre".