Hunan University preserves legacy of wartime history

Hunan University in Changsha, Hunan province, marked a somber anniversary last week by revisiting the role its campus played in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45).

On Sept 18, the 94th anniversary of the September 18 Incident that marked the start of the war, students and faculty gathered at the university's historic Red Building, where Japan's surrender in the Changsha-Hengyang-Yueyang region was formally accepted in 1945. The three-story structure, then known as the Science Hall, remains the only Chinese university site to have hosted such a ceremony.

Guiding students through the building, Long Bing, a professor at the university's School of Marxism, described how Hunan University endured repeated bombings after Japanese forces pushed toward Changsha in 1938. Classes were suspended, teachers and students evacuated, and some faculty members were badly injured.