* Sirens wailed and bells tolled in Chinese cities on Thursday morning, the 94th anniversary of the September 18 Incident that marked the start of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.
* Hundreds of people, including veterans and their relatives, gathered on the public square of the 9.18 Historical Museum in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning Province in the northeast, to honor the memory of those who fought in the war of resistance.
* This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory in the war of resistance, during which China suffered 35 million casualties.
SHENYANG, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) — Sirens wailed and bells tolled in Chinese cities on Thursday morning, the 94th anniversary of the September 18 Incident that marked the start of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.
Hundreds of people, including veterans and their relatives, gathered on the public square of the 9.18 Historical Museum in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning Province in the northeast, to honor the memory of those who fought in the war of resistance.
At exactly 9:18 a.m., 14 representatives from various sectors struck a huge bell 14 times, symbolizing the 14 years of bitter struggle against Japanese invaders.
Across the city, three minutes of air-raid sirens and vehicle horns echoed, as pedestrians stood still in silent tribute. A total of 118 outdoor electronic screens, 1,800 bus screens and tens of thousands of taxi screens displayed characters that read “remember history and honor the martyrs.”
ECHOES OF PAST HARDSHIP
Shenyang has marked the occasion this way since 1995, when the annual air-raid alarm tradition was introduced to commemorate the September 18 Incident in 1931, when Japanese troops blew up a section of railway under their control near Shenyang and accused Chinese troops of sabotage as a pretext for launching an attack. Later that night, the Japanese bombarded nearby Chinese barracks.
The resistance efforts of the Chinese people after the incident signaled the beginning of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, as well as the beginning of the World Anti-Fascist War, said Fan Lihong, curator of the 9.18 Historical Museum, which was built near the site of the explosion.
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory in the war of resistance, during which China suffered 35 million casualties.
The event at the 9.18 Historical Museum was attended by 96-year-old veteran Cheng Maoyou, who had also taken part in the large-scale Victory Day military parade in Beijing earlier this month.
“I was only one year old when the September 18 Incident broke out,” he said. “Throughout my life, I have witnessed the transformation of our country from weak and impoverished to strong and prosperous. Only when we are strong enough will others not dare to bully us.”
Commemoration activities were also held in schools across Shenyang. At the Zhuoyuan Campus of Ningshan Road Primary School, students carefully affixed handmade white paper doves to the walls of their classrooms. Each paper dove carried their tribute to fallen martyrs, their mourning for lost compatriots, and their hopes for a better world.
For many students, the moment was especially moving. “When the siren sounded, it felt as if time had pulled us back to those years when the nation was torn apart,” said Dong Baiyang, a sixth grader. “The sound was a reminder that history is not just cold words in a book, but an alarm bell etched into the bones of our nation.”
“History serves as a mirror and memory holds its own power,” said Fan Lihong. “We remember the past not to pass on hatred, but to give people today the strength to move forward.”
CHERISHING PEACE
Commemorations were held elsewhere in China on Thursday as well.
In Nanjing, capital of east China’s Jiangsu Province, about 300 people gathered in the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, tolling a bell of peace. At about 10 a.m. the city which saw one of the most barbaric episodes of World War II (WWII) resounded with wailing air-raid sirens and vehicle horns as pedestrians mourned in silence.
On Dec. 13, 1937, Japanese troops captured the then-Chinese capital, unleashing six weeks of devastation that claimed the lives of an estimated 300,000 civilians and unarmed soldiers.
Ren Ying, granddaughter of massacre survivor Xue Yujuan, shared her grandmother’s story with the audience. “As descendants of the survivors, we should take up the baton and pass on these historical memories,” she said. “We must ensure that this history is never forgotten by future generations and call on everyone to work together to safeguard the hard-won peace.”
Standing among the audience, 60-year-old Yang Kunshan wiped away his tears. “I feel sad for our slain compatriots and fallen heroes. I was also emotional reflecting on our happy life today and the sense of pride in our country,” said Yang, who came especially from Mianyang in southwest China’s Sichuan Province, some 1,600 kilometers away.
On Thursday, a total of 62 documents about Japan’s wartime forced labor issue were released by the Heilongjiang Provincial Archives. The day was also especially chosen for the release of Evil Unbound, a film spotlighting the crimes of notorious Japanese germ warfare unit during WWII Unit 731, across China as well as in Australia and New Zealand.
The movie tells the story of Wang Yongzhang, a local vendor, and others imprisoned in the “special prison” of Unit 731, where they were lured by false promises of freedom in return for cooperating with supposed health checks and disease prevention research, only to become victims of horrific medical experiments, including frostbite tests, gas exposure and vivisection.
“The real history is far more brutal than what the film can depict,” said Jin Chengmin, curator of the Exhibition Hall of Evidence of Crimes Committed by Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army in Harbin, capital of northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province where the unit was once based.
Unit 731, a top-secret biological and chemical warfare research base, was established in the Pingfang District of Harbin, and served as the nerve center for Japanese biological warfare in China and Southeast Asia during WWII. Historical records suggest that between 1940 and 1945, at least 3,000 people were used in human experiments by Unit 731.
Zhao Linshan, director of the film, noted that the production team drew on a wealth of authentic historical materials. He expressed the hope that the film will serve as a stark reminder to the world of this dark history and encourage people to truly cherish peace.
Wang Xuancai, an 82-year-old relative of a victim of Unit 731’s germ warfare, watched the film at its premiere. His uncle, a soldier, was arrested by the Japanese military and sent to Unit 731 for human experiments, before dying at only 25.
“I don’t know what happened to my uncle, but I’m sure he fought fearlessly in his final days,” said the old man emotionally. “The Chinese people were not defeated in the 14-year war. We were, and still are, not daunted by any difficulty.”
(Video reporters: Zhao Yong, Lin Kai, He Shan, Zhang Yue, Zhang Qiming, Yang Siqi, Yang Xuan, Zhang Yifan and Han He; Video editors: Zhang Mocheng, Li Qin and Liu Yutian) ■
