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Japanese War Coin Found in Central China
A Japanese commemorative coin during the invasion of China has been found in central China's Hunan Province.
The silver-plated copper coin, weighing 88.5 g and 55 mm in diameter, features an armed Japanese soldier carrying a submachine gun and stepping on the Great Wall. A dead Chinese soldier lies at his feet.
The opposite side of the coin carries a picture of a Japanese fighter plane flying over the Great Wall, alongside which there is a North China map with clear inscriptions indicating the location of major cities, such as Beijing, Tianjin, Zhangjiakou and Datong.
Xiao Dongliang, a historian at the Hunan Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, said that the coin was issued in 1937 to mark the Japanese invasion of China.
On July 7, 1937, the Japanese invaders attacked Lugou Bridge, known as the Marco Polo Bridge, southwest of Beijing. This marked the beginning of Japan's all-out invasion of China. It was not until 1945 that the Japanese invaders surrendered and made retreat from China.
"The coin was awarded to Japanese soldiers drafted into the war, " said Xiao. "It indicates that the then Japanese militarist government attached great importance to the Marco Polo Bridge incident."
He said the commemorative coin clearly reveals the Japanese militarists' wild ambition of occupying Chinese territory.
The coin is in the private collection of Kang Jufeng, director of the Changsha Coin Association, in this provincial capital of Hunan.
Similar coins have been found in northeast China's Liaoning Province.
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