This year, China marks the 80th anniversary of its victory in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression – part of the broader victory in the World Anti-Fascist War. Across the country, commemorative exhibitions, television documentaries and a wave of summer blockbuster films have been rolled out to mark the occasion.
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These films, set in the dark days of the 1930s and 1940s, are not just historical dramas; they are cultural reminders. They show the destruction of war, the brutality of the Japanese military aggressors, the resilience of ordinary Chinese people and the enormous sacrifices that went into securing peace. In the cinema, I have seen teenagers sitting in silence long after the credits rolled, absorbing the enormity of what they had just watched.
Yet outside the cinema, a different conversation is playing out. Critics – often overseas – accuse these commemorations of being a form of education to incite hatred against Japan, of keeping old grievances alive.
Educating people to hate is a huge project. It is the deliberate, systematic cultivation of hostility towards another country or people, often through distorted information or selective memory, with the goal of making reconciliation impossible.
But China’s remembrance of the war is something else entirely. It is about truth, not distortion; reflection, not vengeance. It is about remembering what happened, not dictating what people must feel today.
I grew up in China in the late 1980s, when Japanese culture flowed in through television screens and manga books. My evenings after school were filled with Sailor Moon’s magical transformations, the adventures of Captain Tsubasa on the football pitch, and the time-travel gadgets of Doraemon. Detective Conan sharpened my love for mystery, while Touch taught me about friendship, love and loss.