Liu Xinjun speaks at the conference's opening ceremony in Jilin. [Photo provided to gojilin.gov.cn]

Jilin province in Northeast China hosted a major academic conference on July 8, commemorating the 80th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) and the World Anti-Fascist War.

The event drew 153 scholars from top-notch colleges such as Peking University, Zhejiang University and Nankai University, as well as social science research institutes across China. It was jointly organized by institutes including the Northeast China Association for the Study of China-Japan Relations, the School of Marxism at Jilin University, and the National Collaborative Research Center for Revolutionary Cultural Relics of Jilin University.

The conference received 278 paper submissions, with 120 selected for presentation. It opened with remarks by Liu Xinjun, president of the Northeast China Association for the Study of China-Japan Relations.

The morning featured keynote speeches from 10 renowned scholars, including Guan Jie, former vice president of Dalian Minzu University, and Song Chengyou, honorary director of the Institute of Northeast Asian Studies at Peking University, focusing on topics such as the history of China-Japan relations and China's war of resistance.

The afternoon consisted of four parallel sessions featuring academic presentations, expert commentary, and interactive discussions. Topics ranged from research on the full-scale war of resistance and Northeast China's efforts in cultural relic preservation to issues in China-Japan historical studies.

As a key academic event for this commemorative year, the meeting reviewed scholarly progress in the field while also fostering cross-disciplinary dialogue, offering valuable insights into preserving historical memory and promoting shared understandings.