Beijing: Many unclear about July 7 incident
By Wu Ting Ting (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2005-07-07 11:26

A survey reveals about half of Beijing residents interviewed, 44.5%, are unclear of the July 7 Incident, which marked the beginning of the 8-year war against Japanese invasion, reported the Beijing Evening News on Wednesday.

And 15% of the respondents do not even have a clue of what is meant by July 7 Incident, also known as the Lugouqiao incident by the name of the place where the fighting occurred.

The Lugouqiao Bridge, located southwest of Beijing. The 8-year war against Japanese invasion (1937-45) started here on July 7, 1937.[newsphoto]

Conducted by Beijing Evening News and a Beijing poll center, 1,000 people in Beijing were interviewed through the telephone prior to the 68th anniversary of the anti-Japanese invasion war (1937-1945). When asked "which year did July 7 incident happen in," only 57% of them were able to answer correctly -- July 7, 1937. The rest were unsure, including 7% said "I don't know."

Most of the interviewees got the right answer for the question, "Which war was July 7 indicent related to." Some 85% of them knew -- Chinese army was attacked by the Japanese invading troops near Lugouqiao Bridge and the Chinese army fought back, marking the start of the 8-year war. Yet, 15% of them got it wrong.

Regarding the memorial for those Chinese who fought in this war, 99% agreed the heroes deserved people's respect and commemoration. More than 90 percent said they were confident to protect the sovereignty of China if other countries attacked her again.

The survey also showed most Chinese are strongly against the acts of the Japanese government whitewashing its wartime atrocities, such as its textbooks that distort history and Japanese Prime Ministers Junichiro Koizumi' visit of the Yasukuni Shrine where some war criminals are worshipped. About 95% of the respondents said all theses have seriously hurt the feeling of the people of China.

The same day of today, 68 years ago, the Japanese invading troops attacked the Chinese army and Wanping town by claiming they lost a soldier on the Lugouqiao Bridge during practice and demanded to search for him. Its irrational demand was refused. This started China's eight-year war fighting against Japanese invaders..

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the victory of the anti-Japanese invader war, and China organized a series activities to memorialize those who fought in the war and helped drive the invaders out China in 1945.

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