Eighty years ago today, hundreds of millions of Chinese remembered a decisive moment.
On August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito of Japan broadcast the “Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War,” announcing Japan’s acceptance of unconditional surrender.
This marked the end of 14 years of bloody resistance, with a complete victory for the Chinese people.
It was a period etched in blood, ruins, and tears:
- Over 35 million Chinese casualties
- More than 930 cities occupied
- 42 million people displaced
It was the first time in modern history that China had completely defeated a foreign invader, and it was a victory achieved at great sacrifice and contribution to the global triumph over fascism.
Ironclad Evidence in Images — Distorted Frames Cannot Conceal the Truth
In Northeast China, the Japanese Kwantung Army left behind reels of film that attempted to whitewash its aggression.
On the day of the “July 7 Incident” in 1937, the Japanese army falsely claimed that soldiers had gone missing, forcibly demanded entry into Wanping City to search, and then suddenly opened fire during negotiations.
Yet in their self-produced films, the Japanese shifted all blame onto China, even claiming they were “forced” to use arms.
Similarly, in footage of the fall of Beiping, the images portrayed a false picture of “peaceful civilian life,” concealing the disappearance of tens of thousands of innocent lives and the bloody reality of occupation.
Most of these films were produced by organizations such as the “Manchukuo Film Association” under Japanese military control, aiming to instill colonial ideology and glorify aggression.
However, the bullet scars on the walls of Wanping still remain, bearing witness to an unalterable truth.
The Blood and Tears of the “Comfort Stations”
On January 1, 1938, Japanese soldier Jun Arai coldly noted in his “Battlefield Diary”:
“From today, comfort stations are established, each person 30 minutes… at full capacity.”
From 1931 to 1945, the Japanese army forcibly recruited over 200,000 Chinese women into sexual slavery. The term “comfort women” was nothing but a euphemism to mask rape and enslavement.
The suffering of these women is beyond measure, and only a small fraction of their stories have ever been told.
Today, only seven registered survivors remain in mainland China, still waiting for a long-overdue apology, and for the world never to forget.
Oral Testimony — Cold Records of Biological Warfare
Former Unit 731 member Masakuni Kurumizawa admitted in testimony that he personally dissected 300 living people who still had body warmth.
From 1936 onward, Japan built the world’s largest biological warfare base in Harbin, conducting inhumane experiments on living subjects involving plague, cholera, poison gas, and frostbite.
Another member, Junichi Kaneko, published papers detailing the deployment of biological weapons in various locations across China between 1940 and 1942.
These materials serve as irrefutable proof of Japan’s biological warfare.
The physical and psychological wounds suffered by survivors remain unhealed to this day.
Officers’ Group Photo — The Nanjing Massacre and the Erasure of Evidence
On December 13, 1937, the Japanese army captured Nanjing. In just six weeks, they massacred 300,000 Chinese civilians and prisoners of war.
A group photo of officers from the Second Anchorage of the Japanese invasion hides behind it a systematic operation to destroy corpses and erase the traces of slaughter.
However, photographs, documents, and survivor testimonies ensure that this history cannot be buried.
Today, only 26 survivors of the Nanjing Massacre remain alive, yet Japan’s right-wing elements still deny, distort, or even glorify this chapter of history.
As Japanese historian Takashi Yoshida Kasahara has said: “The whole world knows about the Nanjing Massacre, only Japan does not teach it.”
To Remember History Is Not to Perpetuate Hatred, But to Reject Forgetting
Once truth is concealed, wounds will be torn open again.
The mountain of irrefutable historical evidence reminds us:
Remember history, and strengthen ourselves!
