Remembering past for the sake of the future

Monday was the 88th anniversary of the July 7 Incident, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, which marked the beginning of Japan's full-scale invasion of China.

Eighty-eight years ago, Japanese troops stationed in the suburbs of Beijing provoked the Chinese army and then launched a fierce attack on Beijing and seized the city, touching off the all-out Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45). The Japanese aggression had started even earlier, back in 1931, when Japanese armed forces attacked the Chinese army in the city of Shenyang, and took over Northeast China.

The military and civilian casualties China suffered in the 14 years from 1931 to 1945 amounted to more than 35 million. And the atrocities Japanese troops committed, such as the Nanjing Massacre and the horrific activities of Unit 731, a notorious Japanese germ-warfare unit, have left deep historical scars.