Functions were held Thursday throughout China to commemorate the
Lugouqiao Incident that broke out on July 7, 1937 when Japan
started all-out intruding war against China and mark the 60th
anniversary of China's victory in the War of Resistance Against
Japanese Aggression.??
An opening ceremony were staged Thursday morning at the Memorial
Hall of Chinese People's Anti-Japanese War, which is located at the
Lugouqiao, for an exhibition on the war and world people's victory
over fascism.
With the theme of "keeping history in mind and loving peace
while ushering in future," the show was divided into eight parts,
featuring more than 800 cultural relics, 600-strong photos and
about 40 graphs and charts. Of the total historic documents, 141
items were available for the public for the first time.
To hold the high-profile exhibition, the memorial hall suspended
for more than three months for an upgrading project, and a team of
artists was invited to create bundles of oil paintings and
sculptures.
"I'm an elementary school student. After I viewed the
exhibition, I feel that we Chinese should never forget the nation's
humiliation during World War II," wrote Li Siyang with Beijing
Jiaomen Primary School on the memorial's visitors' book.
Bolt Karel Fererie from Washington D.C., the US, expressed his
appreciation of the exhibition, which, in his eyes, accurately and
vividly describes the historical facts about Chinese people's fight
against the Japanese aggressors.
From July 7 up to September 3, the exhibition will mainly
accommodate visitors in groups free of charge.
Thursday witnessed local residents and visitors censed and
prayed for the war victims in front of the site of a mass grave at
Jiangdongmen in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu
Province.
The mass grave was left over from the Nanjing Massacre that
occurred in December 1937 when Japanese troops occupied the city,
then capital of China. Over 300,000 Chinese civilians killed, one
third of the houses in the city were burned down and more than
20,000 women were raped. At Jiangdongmen alone, 28,730 corpses were
buried by charity organizations at the beginning of 1938.
Also on Thursday, a website was launched for the massacre
victims in Nanjing, with the slogan of "Never forget and pray for
peace." The website, www.neverforget.com.cn, provides on-the-spot
records, photos and video and audio materials. Internet surfers
will mourn over and present virtual bouquets for the war victims in
cyberspace through the web page.
The bell of the prestigious Nankai University in Tianjin, north
China, were chimed on Thursday morning for seven strokes first and
then for another seven strokes, as part of the nationwide
activities to mark the date of July 7 and commemorate the 60th
anniversary of China's victory over Japanese intruders.
The 3,000-kg campus bell is 1.937 meters high, and the figure is
a memorial for the year 1937 when the Japanese intruding troops
bombarded the university.
Adding to the nationwide commemorating campaigns, a museum of
the across-the-border war against Japanese in World War II in
Yunnan Province and Myanmar, where Chinese troops fought in
alliance with British and American ones. It is believed the museum
is China's first private one for commemorating the Anti-Japanese
War.
(Xinhua News Agency July 8, 2005)