This is a really complicated answer. Bottom line, the Japanese were extremely brutal to people in their occupied areas. That being said there was essentially a civil war going on in China at the same time and the nationalist government was also extremely brutal to the Chinese people, it is one of the things (probably the main reason) that the CCP gained power. There were also warlords (Chinese) and elements of the nationalist army that when taken by the Japanese actually worked for them in exchange for power. They were also brutal to the common people. There is a train of thought that if the U.S. hadn't tried to save the failing nationalist government in China that there would have been a reconciliation with the CCP and communism wouldn't have taken hold since the Russians couldn't support the communists ATT. Anyway there is more to it but its a really interesting story and actually intersects with McCarthy's witch hunts in the U.S. The best way to learn about this is to read post WWII books on international diplomacy which give credit to this argument without being tainted by current issues.