The September 18th Incident and the Nanjing Massacre were not the same day, but two different events.

The September 18th Incident (also known as the Fengtian Incident and the Liutiao Lake Incident) occurred on September 18, 1931. It was a war of aggression against China deliberately created and launched by Japan in Northeast China. The beginning of the invasion of China.

On the night of September 18, 1931, under the arrangement of the Japanese Kwantung Army, the railway "garrison" blew up the tracks of the South Manchuria Railway near Liutiao Lake in Shenyang (built by Tsarist Russia and later occupied by Japan), and framed Put the blame on the Chinese military. The Japanese army used this as an excuse to bombard the Shenyang Beida Camp as part of the "September 18th Incident".

The next day, the Japanese army invaded Shenyang and successively occupied the three northeastern provinces. In February 1932, the entire Northeast fell. After that, Japan established the puppet regime of Manchukuo in Northeast China and began its 14-year-long enslavement and colonial rule of the Northeast people.

The Nanjing Massacre was a long-term massacre by the Japanese invaders in Nanjing and nearby areas after the fall of Nanjing on December 13, 1937, under the command of Matsui Iwane, commander of the Central China Expeditionary Army, and Hisao Nagatani of the 6th Division. Six weeks of organized, planned, and premeditated massacres and bloody atrocities such as rape, arson, and robbery.

During the Nanjing Massacre, a large number of civilians and prisoners of war were killed by the Japanese army, and countless families were torn apart. The number of victims of the Nanjing Massacre exceeded 300,000. The Nanjing Massacre was a blatant violation of international treaties and basic human moral principles by the Japanese invaders. It was one of the most prominent and representative examples of the numerous atrocities committed by the Japanese troops during the war of aggression against China.

During the Nanjing Massacre, the New York Times, Central Daily News, Xinhua Daily and other Chinese and foreign media exposed the Nanjing Massacre in large quantities.

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Commemoration of the September 18th Incident:

Memorial venue

On September 18, 1991, the Chinese government Shenyang opened the September 18th History Museum. Former Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto visited this place during his visit to China in 1997 and wrote "Peace is the most precious", becoming the first sitting Japanese Prime Minister to enter the museum.

In addition to the September 18th History Museum in Shenyang, there is also a memorial hall where the September 18th Incident was planned in Baita Park in Liaoyang City, Liaoning Province, which was called the Baita Hall at the time. The day before the incident, Honjo Shigeru, Kwantung Army chief staff officer Ishihara Kanji and Kwantung Army senior staff officer Seishiro Sakagaki held a pre-incident conspiracy meeting at the White Tower Hotel in front of the train station.

Air Raid Alert

September 18 is considered by many Chinese to be a "day of national humiliation", and demands from the Chinese public for September 18 to be designated as a day of national humiliation also appear from time to time. . Since 1995, Shenyang has sounded an air raid siren for three minutes every year on the night of September 18 to warn the public not to forget the national humiliation.

Currently, more than 100 cities including Harbin, Changchun, Kunming, Hefei, Hangzhou, Urumqi, Nanchang, Qiqihar, Jinhua, Benxi, Taiyuan, and Xi’an have chosen to sound air defense sirens on September 18 every year. put.

Nanjing Massacre commemoration activities:

Memorial Day

On February 25, 2014, the seventh meeting of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress reviewed the National People's Congress The Standing Committee’s draft decision on establishing the Victory Day of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the National People’s Congress Standing Committee’s draft decision on establishing a National Memorial Day for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre.

On February 27, 2014, the seventh meeting of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress of China voted to establish December 13 as the National Memorial Day for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre. China has established a National Memorial Day for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre in the form of legislation, demonstrating the Chinese people's firm stance against aggressive wars, defending human dignity, and safeguarding world peace.

On February 2, 2017, the Ontario Provincial Legislature in Canada was considering a bill to set December 13 every year as the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Day. According to reports, although the local Japan Cultural Center launched a signature collection campaign to oppose the bill.

On October 27, 2017, the Manitoba Provincial Legislature in Canada passed a motion to set December 13 every year as the “Nanjing Massacre Memorial Day” in the province.

Commemorative activities

In order to commemorate this tragedy that shocked the world, in 1985, the people of Nanjing built an invasion memorial at Jiangdongmen, one of the sites where the Japanese army massacred Chinese people. The Memorial Hall of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre by the Japanese Army displays a large number of materials, documents, charts, photos and objects in the exhibition hall, revealing the various atrocities of killing, burning, raping and looting committed by the Japanese invaders after they occupied Nanjing.

In addition, 15 monuments were erected at other massacre sites such as Yanziji, Caoshan Gorge, Zhongshan Wharf, Hanzhong Gate and other sites, as well as outside the Zhonghua Gate where the bodies of the victims were buried.

At 10 a.m. on December 13, 2007, a shrill siren rang over Nanjing. Representatives from relevant central and national departments, provinces and municipalities from all walks of life, representatives of the troops stationed in Ning, and foreign friendly people who came to Ning for a special trip held a rally in the assembly square of the Memorial Hall of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre by the Japanese Invaders to commemorate the 300,000 compatriots who were killed in the Nanjing Massacre by the Japanese Invaders. The 70th Anniversary of the Massacre and the Completion Ceremony of the Expansion Project of the Memorial Hall”.

Reference materials: Baidu Encyclopedia-September 18th Incident

Baidu Encyclopedia-Nanjing Massacre