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NE China Commemorates Victory in Anti-Japanese War
Scholars from northeast China's Liaoning Province gathered at the September 18 Museum Wednesday in Shenyang to commemorate the victory over the Japanese aggressors 56 years ago.
Professor Zhang Deliang, also head of the Northeast Army History Study Society, said at the meeting that the triumph over Japan was China's first complete triumph against foreign invaders since the Opium War of 1840. "It successfully enhanced the confidence and dignity of the Chinese people," he said.
Chu Xinggui, the curator of the museum, emphasized that though half a century has passed since that time, the Chinese will never forget the brutal Japanese aggression. "History should not be forgotten," he said.
On September 18, 1931, Japanese troops in northeastern China began attacking the Chinese army, and then occupied Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning provinces in northeast China. That day is regarded as a day of humiliation among the Chinese.
Some 30 million Chinese were enslaved after the September 18 Event till the end of the war, said Xing Anchen, a history professor at Liaoning University. More than 67,000 victims were recorded in northeast China during the 14-year occupation of Japan.
His colleague, Professor Wang Haichen, said that Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine on Monday affected relations between Japan and neighboring Asian countries. Any attempt to deny the history of the Japanese invasion will be opposed by people who love peace, he added.
Established in 1991, the September 18 Museum recording Japan's invasion of China in the 1930s has received more than 1.8 million visitors. One out of ten are from overseas, and most of them are Japanese.
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