MOSCOW, August 26 (RIA Novosti) - China's State Archives Administration has released a video series, devoted to China's resistance against the Japanese aggression of 1937.
"The first part of the series on the July 7 Incident in 1937 was released on Monday by the administration's official website. The July 7 Incident marked the beginning of China's eight-year War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression when Lugou Bridge, known as Marco Polo Bridge to Western people and a crucial access point to Beijing, was attacked by Japanese troops," Xinhua reports.
The Lugou Bridge Incident is considered to be the beginning of China's War of Resistance against the Japanese Empire. It should be noted that the Lugou Bridge, located 20 km southwest of Beijing, was then an important strategic point, as it served as the only link between Beijing and the south regions of China's Republic.
In June, 1937, the Japanese military forces began conducting military training maneuvers near the western end of the Lugou Bridge and within a month had amassed about 15,000 of its military servicemen in the area. A nighttime shelling incident on July, 7, had provoked a large-scale military conflict between the Imperial Japan and the Republic of China.
As the Japanese Empire had repeatedly demonstrated its expansionist stance, occupying Manchuria in 1931, many historians believe that the conflict was deliberately provoked by Japan in order to start an invasion of China.
Immediately after the Lugou Bridge incident the Communist Party of China called its people to confront Japan's aggression. On September, 2, 1945, the Japanese leadership officially conceded defeat.
According to Xinhua, China "will hold national memorial activities on September, 3, to mark the "Victory Day."
"…China's war against the Japanese was part of the world anti-fascist war, and China was the main oriental battlefield," emphasized Guo Biqiang, the director of research at the Second Historical Archives of China, as cited by Xinhua.
The documentary is aimed to remind the Chinese people of this great historical event and "honor the Chinese fighting spirit."
