People across China yesterday mourned victims of the War of
Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-45) and expressed
their wishes for long-lasting peace.
About 3,000 Buddhist monks and masters from the Chinese
mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao attended a service at the
Lingguang Temple in suburban Beijing.
Led by Yi Cheng, president of the China Buddhist Association,
the ceremony included prayers for permanent world peace.
"We must take history as a mirror and face the future to promote
peaceful coexistence between different countries," said Sheng Hui,
vice president of the association.
On August 15, 1945, Japan's Emperor Hirohito announced his
country's surrender to the allied powers, marking the end of World
War II.
Yesterday, more than 120 military attachés from 35 foreign
embassies in Beijing also expressed the wish that all countries
learn from history and cherish peace.
They made a group visit to a commemorative exhibition near the
Marco Polo Bridge, marking the 60th anniversary of the victory in
the Chinese War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and World
War II.
There are more than 600 pictures, 800 relics, and reconstructed
scenes on display.
"It's very moving, and I can see the bravery of the Chinese
soldiers through the show," said Leroy Coleman, US air attaché.
"Yet no museum or exhibition can fully depict what the Chinese
people suffered during the war," he added.
Choe Myong-hun, North Korean deputy military attaché, said
people of the Korean Peninsula share the Chinese people's feelings
because "we fought side by side against a common enemy."
In Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, an
exhibition of historical documents and records held by Nanjing
Museum opened to the public yesterday morning. It will run until
September 15.
Exhibits include more than 300 historical documents and 400
pictures, depicting Chinese people's courageous deeds during the
eight-year war.
Exhibits also showcase atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers
during their occupation of Nanjing.
At least 300,000 people, most of them civilians, were killed by
Japanese troops in the notorious Nanjing Massacre, which started on
December 13, 1937 and lasted for a month.
In Hong Kong, a number of parades were held yesterday to mark
the anniversary of the end of the war.
Hundreds of people from the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions
and Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong
Kong (DAB) marched to the Consulate-General of Japan yesterday
morning, urging the country to learn from history.
Pang Cheung-Wai, a member of the central standing committee of
the DAB, said that 60 years after the war, Japan still adopts
history books that glosses over its aggression, and its top
politicians still pay homage at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, where
14 Class-A WWII war criminals are honored.
The two organizations strongly requested the Japanese Government
apologize and compensate victims of the invasion.
The Hong Kong Reparation Association and some other
organizations also marched to the consulate-general later in the
day.
(China Daily August 16, 2005)