The State Council Information Office held a briefing in June to discuss what they were planning for the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the victory over Japan. There will be a major event on Tiananmen Square on the morning of September 3rd. President Xi Jinping will give a speech, and there will be a major parade, exhibiting some of the latest military hardware in the Chinese repertoire. While this will be a signal of the ability of the People’s Republic of China to defend itself against possible aggression, it will, in combination with the commemoration events more broadly, underline China’s desire for peace.
Following the Tiananmen events, there will be a reception, where President Xi will also give an important speech, underlining the motif of peace and stability in the world. This will be combined with a flurry of events commemorating the anniversary, both in the capital and in the provinces. One official had underlined that the nature of this year’s events would be “high-level, extensive in scope, and focused on public participation.” Previously, for example at the 70th anniversary, when China likewise underlined the role of the patriotic veterans who fought in this conflict, in which China suffered more casualties than any other country, there was also a band of veterans taking part in the parade. Most veterans still living have now reached close to the age of 100, so there will be no participation by them in the parade, but both the few veterans still alive and their families will be in the stands viewing the parade. There will also be an awards ceremony honoring veterans in the afternoon of September 3.
The commemoration will also continue throughout the year, with an event on September 18 commemorating the Japanese-contrived “Mukden incident” that started the conflict in 1931 (personally witnessed by American author Edgar Snow, and related in his 1933 book, The Far Eastern Front). China has also issued a new film, titled in English, “Dead to Right.” More appropriately known under its Chinese name, “The Nanjing Photo Studio,” the film documents the atrocities in Nanjing, focusing on the story of how Chinese photo assistants succeeded in transmitting the incriminating Japanese photo coverage of their massacres out to the rest of the world, creating a furor in the international community over Japan’s atrocities.
On December 13, there will be ceremonies in Nanjing, commemorating the Nanjing massacre. In addition, officials have noted that many locally-anchored memorials will be held. More academic research, importantly, will be released this year, regarding the war and Japanese operations in China.
