War History: Remembering China’s Heroes Against Japanese Occupation   

A museum in Beijing revisits the 8-year war that claimed about 14 million Chinese lives.

The Museum of Chinese People's Resistance War Against Japanese Aggression stands out in the depth of its content. It is a dazzling presentation of the heroic struggle of the Chinese military, mobilisation of the people and the support of some foreign powers to end the Japanese occupation of the country from 1937 to 1945. According to the book, “Forgotten Ally: China’s World War II, 1937-1945,” published in 2013 by Oxford historian, Rana Mitter, an estimated 14 million Chinese died in 8 years of bloody warfare.

Japan first attacked China in 1937, which later merged with World War II that only ended in 1945. To celebrate the contributions of those who worked and fought hard to defeat the invaders, the Museum of Chinese People's Resistance War Against Japanese Aggression was built in 1987. It is located in Wanping Town in Fengtai District of Beijing where China began its onslaught against Japanese invasion. The sprawling museum has a display area of more than 6,700 square metres and an exhibition hall that boasts over 20,000 pieces of cultural relics on the war. They include over 100 national first-level relics and more than 100 literary works of various kinds.

Some great battle scenes were remade into surreal three-dimensional models such as landmine, tunnel and water guerilla warfare. The museum has held over 60 special exhibitions on various aspects of war efforts. Moreover, the China Society of Studies of Anti-Japanese Aggressi...