TOKYO, July 8 (Xinhua) — Monday marks the 88th anniversary of the start of China’s whole-nation resistance battle in opposition to Japanese aggression. However, 88 years later, the reality of the historic Lugou Bridge Incident, which marked the beginning of Japan’s full-scale invasion of China, nonetheless has not been recorded in Japanese textbooks.
“In July 1937, the Japanese and Chinese armies clashed at the Lugou Bridge on the outskirts of Beijing, and the Sino-Japanese War broke out.” This is the outline of the historic Lugou Bridge Incident in some faculty textbooks at present printed in Japan.
Another one goes: “On July 7, 1937, the Japanese army was fired upon by unknown gunmen during a night exercise near the Lugou Bridge on the outskirts of Beijing. At dawn on the 8th, the Japanese army attacked the positions of the National Revolutionary Army, and the two sides fell into battle.”
Historical supplies, however, present that it was the Japanese troopers who, on July 7, 1937, attacked Chinese forces on the bridge. The pivotal occasion is acknowledged as the beginning of Japan’s full-scale invasion of China and China’s whole-nation resistance in opposition to the Japanese invaders.
“The Lugou Bridge Incident was an event staged and directed by the invading Japanese forces. This has long been made clear by the Japanese historian community through objective research. Despite this, the Japanese right wing still fabricates lies and attempts to shift the blame for the incident to the Chinese army,” mentioned Japanese historian Atsushi Koketsu in a latest interview with Xinhua.
“At present, this kind of historical revisionism that fabricates, distorts and denies the true history still prevails in Japan’s education and media circles. What lies behind this is Japan’s unwillingness to admit its aggression and reluctance to accept its ‘responsibility for harm,'” Koketsu mentioned.
“The Lugou Bridge Incident was deliberately schemed by the invading Japanese army,” mentioned Zhang Sheng, professor on the School of History, Nanjing University. “This has already been ‘confessed’ by Takeo Imai, a senior Japanese intelligence officer who led ‘peace work’ in China, in his memoir.”
In his memoir, Imai wrote: “At that time, before the July 7 incident, a rumor had already been circulating among the well-informed political figures in Tokyo: ‘On the night of Tanabata, an incident similar to that at Liutiaohu will occur in North China.'”
The so-called Liutiaohu Incident is the September 18th Incident. On Sept. 18, 1931, Japanese troops blew up a bit of railway underneath their management close to Shenyang and accused Chinese troops of sabotage as a pretext for the assault. Later that evening, they bombarded barracks close to Shenyang, marking the beginning of Japan’s 14-year invasion of China.
“The Japanese Tanabata Festival takes place on July 7,” mentioned Zhang, “therefore, this date had been set for a long time.”
Luo Cunkang, curator of the Museum of the War of Chinese People’s Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, identified that historic information present that from February to June 1936, “the China Garrison Army” dispatched by Japan to Beijing elevated from 2,003 to five,774 folks. In simply 4 months, the quantity greater than doubled, which clearly demonstrates their intention to intentionally provoke conflicts.
It has been 88 years because the outbreak of Japan’s full-scale invasion of China. True historical past shouldn’t be hid, not to mention distorted. Remembering true historical past is critical to attract classes from it and to cherish peace.