Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –
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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) — On September 18, 2025, bells and sirens blared in northeast China to commemorate the 94th anniversary of the September 18 Incident in 1931, which marked the start of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Chinese People's Victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Soviet Union's Victory in the Great Patriotic War, and the Victory in the World Anti-Fascist War. Eighty years ago, the global forces of justice, including China and the USSR, united in a courageous struggle against a common enemy and defeated the ferocious fascists.
COMMON SUFFERING
On September 18, 2025, the film “731” /Evil Unbound/, which tells the story of the atrocities committed by the Japanese army’s Unit 731 during World War II, officially opened in Chinese cinemas.
Notably, the film's first screenings in many Chinese cities took place at precisely 9:18 a.m.—a symbolic reference to the September 18 incident. Screenings will also take place in several foreign countries, including the United States and Russia.
The base of Unit 731, a secret Japanese military unit engaged in the research and development of biological and chemical weapons, was established in the Pingfang District of Harbin City (the capital of Heilongjiang Province, Northeast China) and served as the main center of Japanese biological warfare in China and Southeast Asia during World War II.
When you enter the exhibition hall at the Japanese Army Unit 731 Crime Evidence Museum in Harbin, you will see a wall with the inscription “Anti-Human Crime” in six languages, including Russian, a silent reminder of those dark times.
In the memorial gallery for the fallen, a name written in Chinese characters, pronounced "Demchenko," catches the attention of museum visitors. According to Japanese army archival documents that fell into Soviet hands, Demchenko was a soldier in the Soviet Red Army.
After being captured, Demchenko refused to provide any information about Soviet troops, despite being bound hand and foot, suspended from a beam, and brutally tortured. Ultimately, the Soviet soldier was "specially transferred" to "Detachment 731."
The so-called “special transfer” was actually a criminal activity by Japanese militarists who bypassed judicial procedures and sent people directly to “Unit 731” for cruel experiments.
According to confessions by former members of Unit 731, at least 3,000 people became victims of human experiments in the Unit's main location, the Sifanglou building, between 1940 and 1945.
The museum reported that declassified trial materials, archival files on “special transfers,” and testimony from former Unit 731 members have provided preliminary evidence that at least 93 Soviet citizens were sent to Unit 731 for human experimentation during World War II, making it the second-largest group of victims after the Chinese.
According to Jin Chengmin, director of the Unit 731 Crime Evidence Museum, the list of these 93 Soviet citizens included 77 people who appear in the memoirs of former Unit 731 members and in testimony at the Khabarovsk trial, as well as 16 people whose records are present in archives related to the “special transfer.”
Among them were underground members working for intelligence on the border between China and the USSR, as well as civilians living in Harbin, including even women and children.
Jin Shicheng, a researcher at the Unit 731 Crime Evidence Museum, noted that one of the goals of Unit 731's creation was to wage war against the USSR. Harbin was chosen as a base and experimental site, both because of the availability of human experimentation material in northeast China and because of its convenient location for waging war against the USSR.
Let us recall that in 1949, a trial was held in Khabarovsk against 12 soldiers of the Japanese Kwantung Army, accused of creating and using biological weapons and conducting inhumane medical experiments during World War II.
"China and the USSR, as the main theaters of military operations in Asia and Europe during World War II, suffered enormous national losses in defeating militaristic Japan and German fascism, making a decisive contribution to victory in the World Anti-Fascist War," noted Luo Tsunkang, director of the Museum of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
JOINT FIGHT
After the outbreak of China's nationwide war against Japanese aggression, the Soviet Union was the first to provide air support to China. During these difficult years, more than 200 Soviet volunteer air force soldiers died in China.
According to the data, between October 1937 and June 1941, the Soviet Union transferred a total of 1,235 aircraft, thousands of artillery pieces, tens of thousands of machine guns, as well as ammunition, equipment and other supplies to China.
Currently, the Museum of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, located directly next to the Lugou Bridge in Beijing, where the incident that is considered the beginning of the full-scale invasion of China by Japanese militarists occurred on July 7, 1937, is hosting a thematic exhibition entitled "For National Liberation and World Peace."
"The exhibition features dozens of valuable photographs provided by the Russian side, including those documenting the history of the Soviet Volunteer Air Force's participation in air battles in the skies over Chinese cities such as Wuhan, Lanzhou, and Chongqing," said Luo Qunkang.
The World Anti-Fascist War witnessed the brotherhood of arms, mutual assistance, and support of the peoples of the two countries. The exhibition also tells the story of the renowned Chinese Communist Party spy Yan Baohan, also known as the "Eastern Richard Sorge," who, at the most dangerous moment of the Great Patriotic War, promptly transmitted valuable intelligence to the Soviet leadership.
A similar story happened to 95-year-old Harbin resident Wang Jitang, who in January 1943 found work as an apprentice at the Harbin Sankesh Railway Factory, calling himself "xiao mao" (little kitten). The young man infiltrated the "heart" of the Japanese invaders and began working underground.
In 1944, the Japanese Kwantung Army developed a plan to convert the railway track in Harbin for an attack on the USSR. After the work began, Wang Jitan, along with members of an underground organization and workers, destroyed production equipment, tools, and raw materials in order to delay the Japanese army's transportation plans.
“We did everything to destroy the Japanese army’s conspiracy,” the veteran said.
In July 1944, to gather military intelligence on the Japanese Kwantung Army, Wang Jitan disguised himself as a train inspector on a special military train en route to Changchun. While speaking with the Japanese invaders, he learned crucial information: the soldiers were being sent to provide military reinforcements in Southeast Asia, and the Japanese army was no longer in a position to advance on the USSR.
“I wanted to return as quickly as possible and pass on this information, but a Japanese gendarme put a bayonet to my back and ordered me to go into the train car for interrogation,” the veteran said.
At that moment, Wang Jitan quickly opened the carriage door and was ready to jump out. However, the bayonets of the Japanese gendarmerie were faster – his face, lips, and left shoulder were pierced.
To this day, the gray-haired veteran has a deep scar on his left eyebrow, and an old scar on his left shoulder is visible beneath his military uniform.
According to "Kitten," this vital information was urgently sent to the USSR, which helped the USSR make the decision to transfer 760,000 troops from Siberia to the Soviet-German front.
SHARED MEMORY
"We must thank the Soviet Union. Together, our countries made a significant contribution to world peace," said a Beijing resident named Zhang after viewing the "For National Liberation and World Peace" exhibition at the Museum of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, dedicated to the Soviet Union's assistance to China in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
"Memorial and museum complexes in various countries should strengthen exchanges and cooperation in order to continue to jointly contribute to promoting a correct view of the history of World War II, upholding the results of victory in it, and supporting the international system, the core of which is the UN," Luo Qunkang noted.
As a reminder, in May of this year, Russia held celebrations dedicated to the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, and on September 3, China held celebrations dedicated to Chinese Victory Day.
"Today, some people are trying to deny or downplay the contribution of the Chinese and Russian peoples to bringing victory to the World Anti-Fascist War. This deserves our vigilance," Luo Qunkang pointed out.
According to him, in recent years, the Museum of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression has been actively cooperating and exchanging information with Russian memorial and museum complexes in preserving the memory of World War II. Since 2010, numerous exhibitions have been organized at the Chinese museum in collaboration with the Russian side.
It is noteworthy that on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the victory in the World Anti-Fascist War, the Chinese museum, together with the Russian Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War (now the Victory Museum), prepared a book entitled "The USSR and China in the Joint Struggle against Japanese Aggression during World War II," which, according to available information, became the first Chinese-Russian joint publication on the topic of the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.
In 2015, at the initiative of the Museum of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War, the International Association of World War II Museums was established, which has now been joined by approximately 50 museums worldwide.
Luo Qunkang expressed hope that the memorial and museum complexes of China and Russia will continue to strengthen cooperation in the field of academic research on the history of World War II, conduct joint surveys of the ruins of this war, and deepen mutual study and adoption of useful experiences from each other.
“We expect that in the future, more young people from China and Russia will visit museums to learn more about the history of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the Great Patriotic War, and the joint struggle of the peoples of China and the Soviet Union against fascism,” he concluded.
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