Academic symposium highlights war-related architectural heritage
An academic symposium dedicated to preserving, promoting, and utilizing architectural heritage related to the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) was held in Wanping City of the Fengtai district in Beijing on Sept 25.
On July 7th, 1937, Japanese troops were conducting military exercises outside the walls of the ancient city, near Lugou Bridge, or Marco Polo Bridge, and asked to enter Wanping county, a former county of Beijing, under the guise of searching for a missing Japanese soldier. Chinese forces refused the demand, and the Japanese launched a fierce attack, shelling the county.
Though Japanese aggression had started in 1931, when Japanese armed forces attacked the Chinese army in the city of Shenyang and took over Northeast China, the July 7th Incident marked the beginning of Japan's full-scale invasion and the Chinese People's War of Resistance.
Despite the trauma of war, China's architectural heritage—including Wanping City and Lugou Bridge—stands as a powerful testament to the nation's resilience and the importance of preserving historical memory. With that goal in mind, the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Memorial Sculpture Park, which stands solemnly next to Wanping City, was opened in 2000.
Ma Guoxin, a renowned architect and academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, who led the design the park while working at the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design, gave a speech at the symposium reviewing the park's design concept.
The park, which has become a significant part of the public cultural space, features a 15-meter-tall monument honoring the Chinese people's victory in the war, and 38 5.5-meter-tall, column-shaped bronze sculptures. Designed by the sculpture department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, the sculptures, including about 1,000 figures, present the history of the Chinese people's unyielding, heroic resistance.
In addition to reviewing specific sites, professors at the event emphasized the broader significance of architectural heritage in fostering a national consciousness of the war.
Chen Gang, an architecture professor at Chongqing University, said in his speech that there are 271 architectural heritage sites associated with the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in the southwestern city of Chongqing, which served as the wartime capital and a military command center of the Chinese government.
Chen noted that 140 industrial ruins account for most of the war-related architectural heritage sites, including factories, warehouses, and workers' dormitories. The professor argued that these sites—an embodiment of the Chinese working class's contribution to the fight against Japanese invaders—not only showcase wartime industrial technology but also reflect how architects of the time designed factories tailored to the city's mountainous terrain, making them defensive.
He also emphasized that those ruins—amid urban renewal—are being repurposed and becoming significant tourism resources, injecting new vitality for the city's development.
