A news report fromChina.org.cn on the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression:
On September 18, 1931, Japan began its invasion of Northeastern China – the start of its vicious deeds in the Far East – eight years before the outbreak of the Second World War in Europe, and ten years ahead of the Pacific War. On the vast lands of Northeastern China, the Chinese people fired their first shot in the fight against Japanese aggression, and for the subsequent 14 years, the guns never fell silent. In 1937, the Japanese aggressors launched a full-scale invasion of China. Flames of war spread to more than a dozen provinces in China, and the battlefront stretched over 1,800 kilometers. Available statistics show that during the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, China's military and civilian casualties reached 35 million. Based on 1937 exchange rates, the country's direct and indirect economic losses amounted to over US$ 600 billion.
In the preface to the English edition of “On Protracted War,” Mao Zedong wrote, “… the great Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression concerns not only China, but also the East and the whole world.” A few examples can demonstrate how China supported the Allies despite its own suffering.
Even when vast swathes of its territory were occupied by the Japanese aggressors and the war was mired in a bitter stalemate, China still resolutely dispatched the Chinese Expeditionary Force, which ventured into Burma (Myanmar) to fight alongside the Allies. Beyond providing critical wartime supplies such as tin and tungsten and sharing military intelligence, China also opened its military air bases in locations including Chengdu and Kunming for coordinated Allied operations. Equally remarkable was the role of ordinary Chinese citizens. Many of the air bases were constructed by locals with rough tools. In the 1942 Doolittle Raid, the American bomber team were forced to make emergency landings in several Chinese cities, and 64 of the 75 pilots who parachuted were rescued by local Chinese – many of whom were civilians – risking their lives to shelter and help the American pilots.
Through the retrospect of history, we keep the scarred years in our memory, so that we can cherish and better safeguard the hard-won peace.
China Mosaichttp://www.china.org.cn/video/node_7230027.htm
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SOURCE China.org.cn
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