BEIJING, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) — Many cities world wide bear the label of “peace.” Few, nevertheless, put on it as actually as Zhijiang, a county in central China’s Hunan Province, the place a boulevard, a bridge, a theater, a hospital and even a lake all include the phrase.
In 1945, Japanese troops signed a memorandum of give up in Zhijiang, which was adopted by related occasions in additional cities throughout China. After 14 years of resistance, a nation lengthy scarred by warfare and turmoil lastly glimpsed an indication of peace.
On Sept. 3, commemorations marking the eightieth anniversary of China’s victory in World War II will culminate in a army parade at Tian’anmen Square in Beijing. Those who assisted the nation throughout the warfare, or the surviving members of the family of such allies, have been invited to attend.
“Many people today take peace for granted, but it is not a word that should hang lightly. We must remember what happened and prevent such tragedies from happening again,” stated Wu Heping, a resident of Zhijiang whose given identify means peace in Chinese.
Wu’s mother and father named him in reminiscence of their wartime flight from Japanese troops all the way in which to Zhijiang — and to remind him of how treasured an unusual, quiet life may be.
WAR AS A MIRROR
The Chinese folks know the price of warfare not from textbooks, however from their very own scorched earth.
When Su Yuankui got here to his senses after a Japanese air raid on June 5, 1941, in Chongqing in southwest China, all he noticed was ruins and blood. “Not a single structure stood unscathed,” the now 92-year-old recalled. Su misplaced two sisters that day.
Six years of bombing had resulted in an estimated 32,000 direct casualties within the metropolis.
Across China, from 1931 to 1945, the warfare inflicted over 35 million casualties. Worldwide, the determine is estimated at greater than 100 million.
In Nanjing in east China, 300,000 folks have been killed in simply over 40 days following town’s fall to Japan, whereas within the nation’s northeast, Unit 731 carried out brutal human experiments.
Around the identical time, Roger-Pierre Laurens, a Frenchman dwelling in east China’s Shanghai, gathered pictures that documented town’s struggling.
Earlier this month, his grandson, Marcus Detrez, donated 618 of those images to China.
Detrez stated his household, too, bore scars of the battle: Laurens’ eldest daughter is believed to have died from poisoned juice distributed by Japanese troops, and his eldest son, now almost 90, speaks incoherently in regards to the bloodshed each time he sees the images.
While tens of millions within the West know of Auschwitz, far fewer are conscious of the Nanjing Massacre or Unit 731. Japan has lengthy shunned acknowledgement of its wartime atrocities, and has lately moved away from postwar pacifism. Elsewhere, makes an attempt have emerged to blur the historic info of WWII alliances.
As reminiscences of WWII fade, the psychological threshold for warfare appears to be decreasing, stated Fan Yongpeng, a political scholar at Fudan University in Shanghai. “Politicians in some countries speak lightly about military engagements.”
The Uppsala Conflict Data Program in Sweden recorded 61 energetic conflicts involving a minimum of one state in 2024 — the best quantity for the reason that program started gathering statistics in 1946.
“As the world stands at another crossroads, China’s commemorations serve as a reminder to clarify our attitude to war,” stated Zhong Feiteng, an knowledgeable on worldwide relations on the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).
UNITED BY JUSTICE
Adam Foster, chairman of the Helen Foster Snow Foundation within the United States, stated the world discovered the value of division throughout WWII — nevertheless it additionally witnessed the facility of unity.
In 1937, his great-aunt, Helen Foster Snow, traveled to Yan’an, northwest China, which was the headquarters of the Communist Party of China on the time. The journalist predicted that China would rise from struggling with dignity, resilience and creativity.
The warfare in China was, in reality, extremely uneven. It pitted a poor, fractured agrarian society towards an industrialized invader whose metal output was greater than 140 occasions higher.
Tokyo had anticipated China to easily kneel. Yet its invasion galvanized nice unity among the many Chinese folks, stated Gao Hong, an knowledgeable on Japan on the CASS.
One factor is for certain: The Chinese aren’t warmongers, but when pressed, they may struggle, even when they’re ill-equipped and need to wrestle by way of rubble in straw hats and canvas footwear.
In Zhijiang, locals used agrarian instruments to construct a 1,500-meter runway to accommodate incoming fighter and bomber planes. Their makeshift runway later turned the second-largest Allied air base within the Far East.
In the course of the warfare, greater than 2,000 Soviet pilots flew in to help, of whom over 200 by no means returned. American volunteer pilots additionally joined the struggle and braved the perilous “Hump” route over the Himalayas.
Lin Cheng-heng, an art-student-turned-soldier from Taiwan, joined Chinese expeditionary forces in Burma (now Myanmar) after earlier battles towards Japanese troops in southern China’s Guangxi.
He suffered 16 stab wounds, but in his letters residence he nonetheless recalled his father’s teachings on the significance of dedication to the nation, stated his nephew, Lin Kuang-hui. This yr marks 80 years since Taiwan’s return to China following Japan’s give up.
China tied down the majority of Japanese forces for a lot of the warfare, decreasing the stress on Allied operations in Europe and the Pacific. In complete, Chinese forces eradicated greater than 1.5 million enemy troops.
“Eighty years have passed, but the war doesn’t feel distant. Humanity’s challenges have not fundamentally changed,” stated Zhang Lianhong, a filmmaker from Chongqing. In June, she launched an animated movie that confirmed Japanese bombings and the wrestle for survival alongside the Yangtze River.
Today, from regional conflicts to sluggish financial development and local weather change, international challenges have certain humanity collectively in a shared wrestle.
No nation can claw its method ahead alone, nor can any keep immune, stated He Husheng, a historical past scholar at Renmin University of China in Beijing. “Unity and cooperation remain the only viable path.”
“Peace imposed through strength is like a castle built on sand,” he added, noting that true peace shouldn’t be merely the absence of rigidity; it’s the presence of justice.
DEVELOPMENT & FRIENDSHIP
Wednesday’s commemorations aren’t solely a time to recollect historical past and honor the fallen, but in addition a possibility to look ahead.
“Development is key. The tree of peace cannot grow on barren land. Without growth, peace is fleeting,” stated Liu Qiao, an economist and dean of the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University.
China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013. From high-speed railways in Indonesia to solar energy vegetation in Africa and workshops that prepare younger technicians, the initiative has benefited folks in over 150 international locations, based on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The nation has additionally upgraded the South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund to a broader Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund, boosting its assets to 4 billion U.S. {dollars}. “These measures have strengthened the foundation for peace,” Liu stated.
He Husheng advocates nearer people-to-people ties, saying {that a} world constructed on friendship can really maintain peace. China has relaxed its visa insurance policies and expanded alternatives for folks to review and change within the nation — together with 50,000 locations for American youth.
The friendships born of wartime sacrifice proceed to form relations. Soviet pilot Grigori Kulishenko was killed in 1939 and buried in Chongqing. An area Chinese girl and later her son have tended his grave for greater than six a long time.
“He has no family here. We must stay by his side so he doesn’t feel alone,” stated Wei Yingxiang, who’s now in his 70s, quoting his late mom.
Residents of Chongqing additionally renovated the previous residence of General Joseph Stilwell, the commander of U.S. forces within the China-Burma-India Theater.
“The peoples of the United States and China share many commonalities, especially the desire to live in peace,” stated John Easterbrook, Stilwell’s grandson. “Their friendship forged during WWII should be remembered and used to build understanding today.”
Zhijiang is anticipated to welcome guests from world wide this September for a peace tradition occasion.
At a museum close to the location the place Japanese troops signed the phrases of their give up 80 years in the past, one customer has written within the guestbook: “Peace to the world.”