Wartime museum serves as grim reminder of atrocities

During the past 32 years, the museum has held more than 150 themed exhibitions and received over 35 million visitors from home and abroad.

Three of China's top leaders-Xi Jinping, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao-have visited the museum to mark important wartime anniversaries.

The facility, now a center for patriotic and national defense education, was visited by more than 1.3 million people last year.

Yang Yanzhe, a senior guide at the museum, said that every month she receives groups of visitors from overseas, mainly diplomats and students.

She added that by her reckoning, the number of such visitors has risen since 2015, when many countries marked the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII.

"Most of the visitors were interested in the facts of the Japanese atrocities displayed at the museum. They told us they were shocked, saddened and infuriated by the savage acts," Yang said. "They were also eager to know about the role of the Communist Party of China in the struggle against the Japanese."

In addition, many visitors are intrigued when they discover exhibits or introductory texts related to their own country.

"For example, Russian guests normally care about our two nations' collaboration during the war, and the Soviet Union's aid to China. People from Israel usually want to know about the assistance Chinese diplomats gave to Jewish refugees escaping from the Nazis.

"Those from South Korea are often curious about China's help in their nation's independence movement. After viewing our exhibitions, many South Korean visitors said they were grateful for China's support for their country during the war, and they wanted to thank us for displaying content relevant to the Korean people's struggle for freedom and independence at a national-level museum in China," Yang said.

She said she has noticed that a tour of the museum is like a history class for some younger foreign guests.

"Some young visitors told me and my colleagues that they barely knew their nation's history in WWII, especially its role in China's fight against the Japanese," she said.

"For instance, I was truly surprised by a team of Columbia University students who said they had never heard of the Flying Tigers."

The nickname "Flying Tigers" was used by the 1st American Volunteer Group, which was part of China's air force in the early 1940s.

Headed by General Claire Chennault, pilots in the Flying Tigers-all former members of the United States military-were undoubtedly the best-known and most-loved Americans in China during WWII.

Yang said most visitors from Japan were objective and wanted to learn about the historical truth.

"They said there had been deliberate distortions in the education of young people in Japan, with a lot of factual absences or errors in historical narratives," she said, adding that many Japanese visitors asked permission to take photos of some exhibits.

"They explained that they hadn't seen such documents or photos in Japan, and they wanted to bring those images back home so people could see them."

Yang said she took part in a six-month exchange program at the Independence Hall of Korea in Cheonan, Republic of Korea.

She added that the experience was very meaningful to her, because she made full use of the opportunity to learn about South Korea's history and the country's time-honored ties with China.

Such occasions are beneficial to both sides, she said.

"We shared our expertise and experience in organizing large-scale events and receiving big groups with our South Korean peers. They were inquisitive about the technology and equipment at our museum," she said.

Yang added that she and her coworkers helped their South Korean peers improve the Chinese-language introduction in the museum in Cheonan.