China honors martyrs from Sino-Japanese War

The Ministry of Civil Affairs has issued a list of 300 martyrs to commemorate the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45) ahead of the 69th anniversary of the country's final victory in the conflict, which will be observed on Wednesday, the Beijing Times reported.

The list, the first of its kind according to a Ministry of Civil Affairs circular issued on Monday, includes officers and troops from Chinese forces led by the Communist Party of China and the Kuomintang who fought against the Japanese invaders. The number of Kuomintang martyrs accounts for one-third of the total listed, including well-known officers Zhao Dengyu and Zhang Zizhong, who both rose to high command but were killed leading their soldiers on the front lines.

The list also included eight foreigners: two from the United States, two from the Soviet Union, one from Canada (Norman Bethune), one from India (Dwarkanath Kotnis) – both doctors - one from Poland, and one from Japan.

Zou Ming, a senior official from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, said that currently, there are more than 989,000 tombs of revolutionary martyrs and more than 29,000 related memorial sites all over China.

According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, there were about 20 million patriotic martyrs in the modern history of China, but only 1.93 million of them were included in the lists filed by all levels of government due to research limitations.

Also on Monday, the State Council issued a list of 80 state-level facilities and sites that commemorate the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, including Lugouqiao (Marco Polo Bridge) in Beijing and the Memorial Hall for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre.

The list includes sites commemorating events related to Japanese war crimes, surrenders and court trials. It also includes locations where Chinese forces led by the Communist Party of China and the Kuomintang fought against Japanese invaders.