China on Monday marked the 88th anniversary of the Lugou Bridge Incident, also known as the July 7 Incident of 1937, which marked the start of the whole nations resistance against Japanese aggression throughout World War II.
Before dawn [that day], I was awakened by the noise as the 29th Army (of Chinese troops) encountered the Japanese, Zheng Fulai told China Media Group in an interview before he passed away in 2024.
Clutching my mothers dress, I left to the northern end of Changxindian Town.
There was a pine grove in the north of the town.
There, covered by fabric were fallen soldiers of the 29th Army who had died safeguarding the city and the bridge.
Zheng, saddened by Chinese soldiers sacrifices, invested much of his life telling young people about the war, as he believed the younger generations need to understand about their countrys past and what its individuals went through.Following the occurrence in southwest Beijing, then Peiping, the city was recorded by the Japanese army on July 29, 1937.
More than 10,000 civilians were killed or vanished during the fall of the city.The fall of Peiping City prompted the Chinese Kuomintang celebration and the Communist Party of China to comply in withstanding against Japanese aggression, marking Chinas whole-nation resistance against the Japanese intrusion, which was widely recognized as the main battleground against Japanese imperialism and fascism during World War II.
Authorities information reveals that more than 35 million Chinese soldiers and civilians died during the war, representing nearly 8 percent of Chinas overall population in 1928.
New evidenceThe Exhibition Hall of Evidence of Crimes Committed by Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army in Harbin City, northeast Chinas Heilongjiang Province, released on Monday for the very first time the total video material of the oral testament of Masakuni Kurumizawa, a previous member of the Unit 731 –-- the well-known Japanese germ-warfare system throughout World War II.In the video, Kurumizawa honestly admitted to criminal offenses consisting of human dissections, performing human experiments and waging biological warfare.Kurumizawa confessed that in order to cultivate more virulent germs, Unit 731 members had germs travel through the blood of living bodies to achieve the preferred effect.
I dissected 300 bodies, about one-third of which were preserved as specimens, while the rest were burned.
When we carried out the dissections, the bodies were still warm, and blood spurted out, Kurumizawa said in the video.Citing the testament of Kiyoshi Kawashima, head of Division 4 of Unit 731 at the Khabarovsk War Crimes Trials, Jin Shicheng, deputy secretary general of Harbin Research Institute on History of Bacterial, Gas War of Japanese Invasion in China, said that in between 1939 and 1945, 400 to 600 individuals were put behind bars each year for experiments.Kurumizawa noted that due to Unit 731s strict secrecy guidelines, even his own household was unaware of his criminal activities.
This secrecy was a major factor the units criminal offenses stayed concealed after World War II.Adding that only a few former Unit 731 members have stepped forward willingly years after the war, Jin stated Kurumizawas video offers vital proof and contacted worldwide peace forces to interact to further expose the atrocities of Unit 731.
Time to keep in mind and face historyFormer Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama stated at the just recently concluded 13th World Peace Forum that Japan ought to confront historic facts and reflect deeply on its history of aggression.
Hatoyama especially stressed the significance of facing up history in the books, saying that the history and the incorrect things that Japan as soon as did should be taught to children in the type of thorough reflection.
One example is that the reality of the Lugou Bridge Incident has actually still not been correctly tape-recorded in Japanese textbooks, in spite of historic materials revealing that it was the Japanese soldiers who assaulted Chinese forces at the bridge on July 7, 1937.
Revealing regret that Japan has actually not completely confronted that duration of history, Hatoyama said repentance for Japans history of aggression should slowly spread out and he will make constant efforts to assist promote by doing this of thinking.This year marks the 80th anniversary of the triumph of the Chinese Peoples War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-1945) and the World Anti-Fascist War, and China will hold numerous commemorative events.Liu Jianchao, head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, stated that the occasions will supply a chance for people worldwide to sit and assess how to develop an efficient, long-term global security architecture to genuinely guarantee peace.