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)
