World Blog by humble servant.Context of China's Parade

Context of China's ParadeChina is holding a major military parade on September 3, 2025, in Beijing to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. This event showcases China's modern military capabilities, including new equipment like the ZTZ-201 light tank, and serves as a reminder of historical grievances against Japan while projecting national strength. Invitations have been extended to various international leaders, though some democracies, like Taiwan, have urged boycotts, viewing it as propaganda that inverts historical narratives. The parade highlights China's transformation from a victim of imperialism to a global superpower, tying into the themes of historical suffering and contemporary rise.Japanese Atrocities Against China (1931–1945)The period from 1931 to 1945 marks the Second Sino-Japanese War, which began with Japan's expansionist aggression and merged into World War II. Japan, under militarist rule, invaded and occupied large parts of China, committing widespread war crimes that resulted in an estimated 10–20 million Chinese deaths from combat, massacres, forced labor, starvation, and biological warfare. These acts were systematic, driven by imperial ideology that viewed Chinese as subhuman, and included mass killings, sexual violence, human experimentation, and chemical/biological attacks. Below is a detailed account, focusing on key events and methods, with graphic descriptions based on historical records, survivor testimonies, and declassified documents.Invasion and Early Atrocities (1931–1937)

• Mukden Incident and Manchuria Occupation (1931–1932): Japan staged a false-flag bombing on its own railway in Mukden (Shenyang) to justify invading Manchuria. Japanese Kwantung Army forces quickly overran the region, killing tens of thousands of Chinese soldiers and civilians in brutal sweeps. Captured Chinese were often bayoneted or beheaded en masse; bodies were left rotting in fields as warnings. Forced labor camps were established, where workers were starved, beaten, and worked to death in mines and factories, with many dying from exposure or execution for resistance.
• Shanghai and Northern China Campaigns (1932–1937): In the Battle of Shanghai (1932), Japanese forces bombed civilian areas, killing thousands in indiscriminate aerial attacks. Ground troops executed prisoners by machine-gunning them into ditches or burying them alive. As Japan pushed into northern China, villages were razed; women and children were raped and then mutilated with bayonets, their bodies displayed on poles. Chemical weapons, like mustard gas, were used, causing victims' skin to blister and peel off, leading to agonizing deaths from infection and organ failure.

The Nanjing Massacre (December 1937–January 1938)After capturing Nanjing, the Republic of China's capital, Japanese troops unleashed six weeks of terror known as the "Rape of Nanjing," killing 200,000–300,000 civilians and disarmed soldiers.

• Mass Executions: Soldiers rounded up men suspected of being soldiers, tying them in groups and marching them to the Yangtze River. There, they were machine-gunned, with bodies piling up in bloody heaps; survivors were bayoneted or drowned. In one instance, over 57,000 were killed in a single day, their corpses burned or dumped into rivers, turning the water red with blood.
• Rapes and Sexual Violence: An estimated 20,000–80,000 women and girls, aged 8 to 80, were gang-raped by Japanese soldiers. Victims were often dragged from homes, stripped, and assaulted repeatedly in public. Many were mutilated afterward—breasts sliced off, genitals stabbed with bayonets or bamboo poles, or pregnant women disemboweled to kill fetuses. Soldiers held "contests" to see who could rape the most women, then killed them to eliminate witnesses. Survivors were left with severe injuries, infections, and lifelong trauma; some were forced into sexual slavery as "comfort women."
• Torture and Looting: Civilians were buried alive in mass graves, doused with gasoline and set on fire, or used for bayonet practice while tied to posts. Children were tossed into the air and caught on bayonets. Homes were looted and burned, leaving survivors to starve amid the ruins. This massacre alerted the world to Japan's brutality but was downplayed in Japanese postwar narratives.

Unit 731 and Biological Warfare (1932–1945)Based in Harbin, Manchuria, Unit 731 was a secret Japanese biological and chemical warfare research unit that experimented on over 3,000 prisoners, mostly Chinese, referred to as "logs" (maruta).

• Human Vivisections: Victims were infected with diseases like plague, anthrax, cholera, and syphilis, then dissected alive without anesthesia to observe effects. Surgeons cut open abdomens, removing organs while subjects screamed in agony; hearts were extracted while still beating. Pregnant women were vivisected to study fetal responses, with fetuses removed and discarded.
• Weapon Tests: Prisoners were exposed to frostbite experiments, where limbs were frozen in ice, then thawed with hot water, causing skin to slough off in sheets. Others were bombed with plague-infected fleas from aircraft, leading to outbreaks that killed thousands in Chinese villages—victims' bodies bloated, covered in black sores, vomiting blood before death. Chemical tests involved gassing subjects in chambers, watching as their lungs burned and they choked on foam.
• Field Deployments: These weapons were used across China, causing epidemics that killed hundreds of thousands. After the war, U.S. investigators granted immunity to Unit 731 leaders in exchange for data, allowing many to evade justice.

Comfort Women System (1932–1945)Japan forcibly recruited 200,000–400,000 women, mostly from China, Korea, and other occupied areas, into sexual slavery at "comfort stations" to service soldiers.

• Abductions and Abuse: Girls as young as 12 were kidnapped, tricked with job offers, or sold by impoverished families. At stations, they were raped up to 30–40 times daily, often beaten if resisting. Many contracted venereal diseases, leading to painful ulcers and infertility; untreated, some died from sepsis. Abortions were performed crudely with forceps, without anesthesia, causing hemorrhaging. At war's end, many were killed to cover up the crimes, their bodies burned or buried in mass graves.

These atrocities ended with Japan's surrender in 1945, but denialism persists in some Japanese circles, fueling ongoing tensions.The Rise of China Post-1945After Japan's defeat, China emerged from devastation but entered a civil war between Nationalists (Kuomintang) and Communists (CCP). The CCP, led by Mao Zedong, won in 1949, founding the People's Republic of China (PRC) on October 1. This marked the start of China's transformation from a war-torn agrarian society to a global power.Political Rise (1949–1976)

• Mao's era focused on consolidation: Land reforms redistributed property, but campaigns like the Great Leap Forward (1958–1962) caused famine killing 20–45 million through starvation and executions. The Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) purged rivals, leading to chaos, but unified the CCP's control. Politically, China aligned with the Soviet Union initially, then pursued independence, gaining UN recognition in 1971.

Economic Boom (1978–Present)

• Deng Xiaoping's reforms from 1978 introduced market elements: Special Economic Zones attracted foreign investment, privatizing agriculture and industry. GDP grew at 10% annually from 1978–2005, lifting 800 million from poverty. By 2010, China became the world's second-largest economy, surpassing Japan. Key drivers: Export-led growth, infrastructure (e.g., high-speed rail), and tech innovation in AI, EVs, and 5G.

Military Modernization

• From a guerrilla force, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) grew into the world's largest standing military (2 million active personnel). Post-1990s reforms emphasized tech: Aircraft carriers, hypersonic missiles, stealth fighters. Defense spending rose to $230 billion by 2023, second only to the U.S. Initiatives like the Belt and Road expand influence, while space and cyber capabilities project power globally.

China's rise has shifted global dynamics, from bipolarity post-WWII to a new U.S.-China rivalry, with economic interdependence and military tensions defining the era. This parade symbolizes that ascent, rooted in historical memory.