China marks war anniversary, alert to Japan's security bills

BEIJING/SHENYANG - China on Friday commemorated the 84th anniversary of the "Sept 18 Incident", the start of Japan's invasion, with sirens and gatherings, as Japan moved closer to passing controversial security bills.

Air raid sirens sounded in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning, and other 13 cities of the province. More than 1,000 people from Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces gathered to remember the dead. Ten citizens, including the Communist Party chief of Liaoning Province and a veteran, struck a bell engraved with the characters "never forget national humiliation" 14 times, symbolizing 14 years of war which followed.

Dozens of visitors stood in silent tribute outside the memorial hall of the victims of the Nanjing Massacre in Nanjing amid sirens.

"I just want to say that the future generations should not forget the past and our national humiliation," said veteran Chen Baoshu, 90, who struck the bell in Shenyang.

The Sept. 18 or "Mukden" incident occurred in 1931 when Japanese troops blew up a section of railway under their control near Shenyang and accused Chinese troops of sabotage as a pretext for attack. They bombarded Chinese barracks near Shenyang the same evening, beginning a large-scale invasion of northeast China.

"When the bell rings and sirens wail, it reminds me of the atrocities Japanese troops committed in our land and I feel very sad," said Wang Gang, a local aircraft manufacturing plant worker.