China sets holiday to mark war鈥檚 end
Print Edition
CHINA has declared a national holiday on September 3 as the country commemorates the 70th anniversary of Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II.
A massive military parade will be held in Beijing to celebrate the peaceful occasion, the government said yesterday in a statement on its website.
September 3 will this year be known as “The 70th anniversary of the Chinese War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War Victory Commemoration Day,” the statement said.
The day will allow “the broad participation of the entire nation in central and regional commemoration activities,” it said.
Beijing is planning a huge military parade to commemorate China’s victory over Japanese forces in 1945. Russian troops are expected to participate in the event. The parade will be the first of its kind held to commemorate the victory.
Though a precise date for it was not announced, the statement implied it would be on September 3, the day after Japan signed the official instrument of surrender.
It also suggested the holiday would be a one-off.
Ties between China and Japan have been strained since late 2012 following a territorial dispute over the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.
The spat led to large-scale anti-Japan protests across China and a boycott of Japanese goods.
Many Japanese business owners in China have said the 70th anniversary could pose a risk to their operations if there is another surge in anti-Japanese sentiment.
Sales of Japanese goods slumped following the island dispute, with sales of Japanese cars falling by about 50 percent in late 2012.
A front-page editorial in the People’s Daily on Sunday praised German leaders for acknowledging the war crimes committed by the European country during WWII, saying the move was in stark contrast to Japan’s failure to reflect on its past.
Japanese troops killed 300,000 Chinese people during the 1937 Nanjing massacre.
In a speech to the United States Congress in Washington last month, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed “deep repentance” over Japan’s role in WWII and upheld statements by his predecessors, but stopped short of issuing his own apology.
Chinese President Xi Jinping was in Moscow last week to attend Russia’s commemorative parade, which saw more than 16,000 troops, including soldiers from China, India, Mongolia, Serbia and several ex-Soviet states, march through Red Square.
According to the government statement, a national holiday will be held from September 3-5, with people expected to work on Sunday, September 6, to make up for the extra day off on the previous Friday.
An Internet user said: “I need a whole week to pay tribute to our ancestors,” while another said: “We want to have a holiday every September 3.”
Another said: “Does it mean we will have no holiday on Mid-Autumn Festival this year?”
Someone else said that he didn’t want to “work six days after the holiday” and that the change “is not welcome.”
Another said: “The meaning of the day is lost if it becomes a holiday. All entertainment activities should stop on that day.”
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