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Museums reopen with fresh insights into epic city battles
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KEY cultural relics of China’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45) will be displayed for the first time at two exhibitions that open to the public today to mark the 70th anniversary of the surrender of Japan and the end of World War II on August 15, 1945.
They include a military map belonging to the commander of the Chinese army with the locations of Chinese and Japanese troops in Shanghai in 1937, and a military map from Japan with information about Shanghai and Nanjing in neighboring Jiangsu Province in preparation for Japanese invasions.
Both are being exhibited at the Shanghai Songhu Anti-Japanese Battle Memorial Hall in Baoshan District, that has added many newly-collected items to its objects on show.
Other exhibits are being displayed at Sihang Warehouse in Zhabei District, where in 1937 some 400 Chinese soldiers and the Japanese army engaged in a fierce four-day battle.
The memorial exhibition in the warehouse also opens to the public from today, after being closed a year for renovations.
Japanese troops invaded Shanghai for the second time on August 13, 1937, but met strong resistance. The conflict in Shanghai, known as the second Battle of Songhu, was one of the bloodiest campaigns in the war.
More than 300,000 Chinese soldiers were killed or wounded, while Japanese casualties numbered 40,000.
“The exhibitions show the importance of the battle in Shanghai for the whole war and remind visitors of the value of peace nowadays,” said Tang Lei, curator of the memorial hall.
The hall on Youyi Road has more than 1,000 photographs and other cultural relics, such as telegrams, handwritten orders, letters and medals, as well as weapons and uniforms. They were collected through donations, auctions and borrowed from other Chinese museums. Most are being exhibited for the first time, Tang said.
Newly collected exhibits include the handwritten orders of Chen Cheng, the chief commander of the Chinese army at the Battle of Songhu, and Chen’s handwritten diary.
“They can be regarded as the most valuable exhibits in the hall,” said Yu Zidao, a Fudan University historian who helped organize the exhibition.
The battle in Sihang Warehouse is the most famous of the war in the city, in which Chinese soldiers repelled repeated Japanese attacks before they were ordered to retreat on November 1.
The 400 or so Chinese soldiers were known as “800 heroes” as they claimed to be 800 to confuse the Japanese.
A Time magazine cover story about the 400 Chinese heroes is among exhibits, said Zhang Zhong, deputy director of the Zhabei Culture and Heritage Bureau.
Other exhibits include archive film, photographs, artworks and multimedia displays, added Zhang.
Renovations saw the district government restore the building, including the south wall, where workers removed plaster and restored bullet holes based on historic photographs, said Zhang.
The structure now features the memorial museum, offices and shops.
The Battle of Songhu ended on November 12, 1937, when Chinese troops had to retreat after Japanese reinforcements landed in Jinshan District.
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