Helicopters displaying the number "70" attend the military parade in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 3, 2015. China holds commemoration activities, including a grand military parade, to mark the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. (Xinhua/Liu Junxi)
Editor's note:
To mark the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese war of resistance against Japanese aggression, prestigious researchers in China wrote a book about Chinese people's 14 years of fighting from 1931 to 1945.
Xinhua picks up crucial facts from the book, presented in the form of questions and answers, to inform readers from home and abroad who may be interested in the history.
Q: Why was China the main eastern battlefield in WWII?
A: China's War of Resistance was an important part of the Global War against Fascism. It started before and lasted longer than any other part of the Second World War. More Japanese soldiers were fought and a higher price was paid in China than in any other part of WWII. The War of Resistance had a decisive role in securing a complete victory over the Japanese fascist aggressors.
It was in China that WWII began. With war brewing in both the East and the West, World War II was launched by Japanese, German, and Italian fascists. It began with a series of regional wars, which then gradually evolved into a world war.
The September 18th Incident marked the beginning of the Japanese invasion into northeast China, and set ablaze the first flames of war in the worlds fascists war of aggression. After this, Germany and Italy created a hotbed of war in Europe.
By the time the war broke out in Europe in September 1939, China had already been fighting alone in the War of Resistance for eight years, and by the time the Pacific War erupted in December 1941, China had been fighting independently for a decade.
The July 7th Incident in 1937 marked the beginning of Japans full-scale war of aggression against China. This prompted the Chinese people to wage a nationwide War of Resistance, creating the first battlefield for large-scale fighting against fascism in the East. Over 400 million Chinese were involved in the war in an occupied area of approximately 1.6 million square kilometers.
The outbreak of the full-scale war between China and Japan affected the overall international situation and even caused changes in the world order. This was, in reality, the beginning of the Second World War.
China fought and pinned down the bulk of Japans ground forces throughout the war, holding back Japans expansion both northward and southward and facilitating the Allies execution of the Europe first strategy. Chinas protracted war frustrated Japans plan to expand northward to Siberia so that the Soviet Union did not have to fight simultaneously on both fronts. It also held back and delayed Japans expansion south.
China also sent an expeditionary force to Burma to fight shoulder to shoulder with other Allied forces against the Japanese. As an important strategic base for the Allied forces fighting the Japanese in the Asia-Pacific, China provided other Allied countries with strategic materials, military intelligence, and human and financial resources in support of their anti-fascist struggle.
