China announces more sites commemorating war against Japan

BEIJING - China's State Council has released a list of 100 state facilities and sites commemorating the 70th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the end of World War II.

The graves of Tong Linge and Zhao Dengyu, both commanders of the Nationalist Army, are on the list. Tong and Zhao died during the war.

Also on the list is the cemetery for the fallen soldiers in the Battle of Pingxingguan, which took place in north China's Shanxi province in September 1937. The Communist troops, who were familiar with the mountainous area, cut off the enemy's logistics line and killed more than 1,000 Japanese troops in an ambush.

Also on Monday, the Ministry of Civil Affairs announced a list of 600 fallen soldiers and groups who sacrificed their lives during the Japanese invasion of China in the 1930s and 40s.

China released the first two lists of facilities, sites, fallen soldiers and heroic groups to commemorate the country's victory in the war in September of last year.

Japan invaded northeast China in September 1931. However, historians agree that the full-scale invasion began on July 7, 1937, when a bridge that acted as a crucial access point to Beijing was attacked by the Japanese.

The Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was an important part of World War II.