[Champion of Youth·Strengthening the Nation] Alarm bells have been ringing for 95 years, allowing the memory of the Anti-Japanese War to take root in the hearts of young people

It’s September 18th again. The “Warning Bell” was rung 14 times at the Remnant Memorial Square of the “September 18th” History Museum in Shenyang; outside the Crime Evidence Exhibition Hall of the 731st Unit of the Japanese Invading Army, visitors stood in silence when the air-raid sirens sounded; “The Truth: Exhibition of Irreducible Evidence of Japan’s Invasion of Northeast China” Anti-Japanese War Themed Exhibition Hall Here, young people hold their breath and carefully read the yellowed precious historical materials… This year marks the 95th anniversary of the September 18th Incident. The solemn commemorative activities have brought profound spiritual baptism, and also built a consensus in the whole society to remember history, honor the martyrs, cherish peace, and create a future.

Never forget the past and be the teacher of the future. On September 18, 1931, the Japanese army brazenly launched the September 18th Incident and began its long-planned war of aggression against China. The sons and daughters of the Chinese nation rose up in resistance, and after 14 years of arduous and bloody fighting, at the cost of a huge national sacrifice of more than 35 million casualties, they completely defeated the Japanese militarist invaders and declared the complete victory of the world anti-fascist war. For young people in the new era, learning about this history of intertwined suffering and glory is to protect the collective memory of the Anti-Japanese War and draw strength from it to move forward. They saw the heroism of General Yang Jingyu who was not afraid of sacrifice, the perseverance of Martyr Zhao Yiman in the face of the enemy’s torture, and the iron bones of the 82 warriors of the “Liu Lao Zhuang Company” who fought against powerful enemies with their flesh and blood. By understanding the life and death choices their ancestors faced, they can better understand the hard-won peace and prosperity of the country and the people, and deeply understand the close connection between personal destiny and the destiny of the country.

The prerequisite for remembering history is to respect historical truth. Countless irrefutable evidence such as the Nanjing Massacre, the Panjiayu Massacre, the forced recruitment of “comfort women”, and human in vivo experiments have proven that the Japanese invasion of China brought huge and heavy disasters to the Chinese people. However, some right-wing forces in Japan still deny history, tamper with textbooks, visit the Yasukuni Shrine, and even use AI (artificial intelligence) to concoct false historical materials in an attempt to whitewash the crime of aggression. What is even more alarming is that some well-known Japanese fashion brands and animations contain “private goods” and infiltrate erroneous historical views and militaristic ideas into the Chinese audience from a cultural perspective. However, young people’s ability to distinguish is still weak and they are easily misled in a subtle way. Such actions not only desecrate the historical truth, but also tear open the scars of the nation again and again, seriously hurting the feelings of the Chinese people and the people of anti-fascist countries, and are extremely irresponsible to the next generation of Japan. Recently, former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said, “History cannot be tampered with, and the truth should be told clearly and firmly to young people in order to avoid making mistakes again.” These words are worth pondering by Japanese politicians.

The more people try to erase their memories, the more people choose to remember them. This kind of historical consciousness is becoming common among young people. They walked into the Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall and stopped to gaze at the rusty guns, torn civilian clothes, archives of the Japanese invasion of China, manuscript leaflets of the Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army, and restored battle scenes, reliving the glorious history; they collected evidence of the Japanese invasion of China at their own expense and donated it free of charge, using real evidence to shatter lies; they put the Langya Mountain to the test The stories of the five heroes were made into mini-series, and AI technology was used to restore the images of the martyrs based on the memories of the veterans, allowing the history of the Anti-Japanese War to reach the hearts of their peers in a more vivid way… Young people in the new era are becoming the disseminators and guardians of the history of the Anti-Japanese War in their own ways, injecting a steady stream of youthful power into defending historical justice.