Wartime museum serves as grim reminder of atrocities

Start of the struggle

The Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression is located near Lugou Bridge, also known as Marco Polo Bridge, in the southwestern suburbs of Beijing.

On July 7, 1937, soldiers from the Imperial Japanese Army attacked Chinese forces at the bridge. While the event-known as the "Marco Polo Bridge Incident"-is generally recognized as the start of nationwide war against the Japanese invasion, the struggle really began in September 1931, when Japanese troops began an invasion of Northeast China.

In the early 1980s, rightist factions in Japanese political circles repeatedly denied the truth about their country's aggression in China, and some politicians even tried to justify acts that have been labeled war crimes.

In response, many Chinese called for the establishment of a national museum to commemorate and memorialize the nation's struggle against the invading Japanese.

The government approved the founding of the museum in October 1984. After three years of construction and preparations, the facility opened on July 7, 1987, the 50th anniversary of the start of Japan's full-scale invasion.