China on Sunday held a seminar to commemorate the 78th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.
Li Shulei, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, attended the event held in Beijing.
At the seminar, leading officials from relevant departments, veterans who fought in the war, and young student representatives reflected on the Chinese people's arduous struggles during the war, expressed their resolve to remember history, honor the fallen heroes, cherish peace and forge ahead for a better future, and voiced their aspirations for peaceful development.
Approximately 200 people attended the event, including foreigners who provided support for the Chinese people in the war or their relatives.
The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-1945) was the longest, largest and most costly war of national liberation that the Chinese people fought against foreign aggressors in modern history, and it was also the first complete victory won by the Chinese people in their struggle for national liberation.
On September 18, 1931, Japanese troops blew up a section of railway under their control near Shenyang and accused Chinese troops of sabotage as a pretext for the attack. Later that night, they bombarded barracks near Shenyang, starting Japan's 14-year invasion of China. And on September 2, 1945, Japan signed the surrender document at a ceremony attended by representatives from China and eight other countries aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
Starting from 2014, China's Standing Committee of the National People's Congress set September 3 as Victory Day to highlight the importance of China's role in the fight against Japan and the allied victory in the Second World War.
(Cover: Students visit an exhibition commemorating the 78th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War in Xuzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, September 3, 2023. /CFP)