Then and Now: Beijing's historic sites as witnesses of war

Left: Japanese soldiers march across Zhengyang Gate in Beijing on Aug 8, 1937. [File photo] Right: Two tourists stand in the square before the Zhengyang Gate in Beijing on Aug 27, 2014. The ancient Zhengyang Gate in Central Beijing near Tian'anmen Square now is a popular tourist attraction. [Photo/IC]

Tuesday marks the 78th anniversary of the beginning of China's eight-year War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. On the night of July 7, 1937, Japanese troops stationed near Lugou Bridge southwest of Beijing demanded entry to nearby Wanping county on the pretext of searching for a missing soldier. The Chinese military rejected the order and the Japanese bombed the county seat and Lugou Bridge. Historians agree that the attack signaled the beginning of Japan's full-scale invasion of China, though Japan had invaded the Northeast in September 1931.