Xinhua China photos of the year (8)

Combination photo shows a departure ceremony on Oct. 10, 1939 for the Volunteer Corps against Japanese aggression of Tiantai County, east China's Zhejiang Province (upper) and the last four surviving members of the Volunteer Corps, Zhang Chongyou, Zhang Zhinuan, Jin Honglin and Yao Renyan, with an average age of 94, return to the venue to honor the memory of their comrades in arms on Sept. 13, 2015 (lower). In the summer of 1939, Japanese invading troops attacked coastal areas of Zhejiang. In the context of the second cooperation between the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Communist Party of China (CPC) to unite efforts to save the nation, a local CPC committee assisted the government in formulating a plan and mobilized the locals to join the army in a wartime political work team. A volunteer corps of 1,353 soldiers was formed in 40 days to fight against the Japanese invaders. Most of the soldiers gave their lives for the country, making the corps a miniature and outstanding representative of the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. (Xinhua/Tan Jin)