Japanese invasion of China marks accurate beginning of WWII: experts

Leading Chinese historians and experts have said that the Japanese invasion of China in 1931 should be recognized as the true beginning of World War II, a correction not only for academic accuracy, but a reckoning with fascist accountability and a safeguard of peace in the world.

According to them, World War II did not start with a sudden European explosion in 1939, but with escalating regional conflicts across the world years earlier, and even with Japan's bombardment of Beidaying barracks near northeast China's Shenyang City in 1931. Hence, China became the first battlefield in the worldwide fight against fascism.

"Different from WWI, WWII wasn't a sudden outbreak in one location, nor did opposing military blocs declare war on each other within days. It emerged from a series of escalating regional conflicts," said Lin Limin, director of the Chinese Institute for History of World War II.

As the first to shatter the post-World War I international system, Japanese fascists were not stopped by the League of Nations, the United Nations' precursor, emboldening European warmongers.

To this day, Eurocentric World War II narratives, by obscuring Japan's initiation of aggression, have allowed historical evasion by the country's right-wing factions. Only by fully restoring World War II's historical and geographical scope, can humanity safeguard peace and advance a shared future, experts highlighted.

"The Japanese invasion (of China) in 1931 shattered the post-World War I Versailles-Washington system, igniting the chain of aggression that became WWII. It [China] became the first battlefield of the global fight against fascism. Leading historians like Russia's Georgii Kumanev recognizing 1931 as the [second] world [war]'s start isn't just historically accurate - it corrects the Eurocentric 1939 narratives. Crucially, remembering history means honoring not just 1939's full-scale outbreak [of WWII], but the first spark of resistance and China's pioneering role in confronting resist aggression," said Wang Qi, director of the Institute for Sino-Russian Strategic Cooperation at Tsinghua University.

Japanese invasion of China marks accurate beginning of WWII: experts

China's 42nd Antarctic Expedition team has started unloading supplies for scientific exploration after arriving at waters near the Zhongshan Station, a Chinese research base in Antarctica.

The ongoing seven-month scientific exploration mission is supported by Chinese icebreakers the Xuelong and the Xuelong 2, which set sail from Shanghai on Nov 1.

The two icebreakers will deliver about 2,000 tons of supplies to the Zhongshan Station for scientific exploration.

The Xuelong 2 arrived first at a designated unloading spot about 12 kilometers from the Zhongshan Station. Later, the ship's Ka-32 helicopter transported in batches more than 300 tons of polar fuel to the research base when weather conditions were favorable.

"Nearly 90 members of the expedition team carried by the two ship are already at the Zhongshan Station, preparing for receiving supplies and assignments for scientific exploration," said Wang Tao, person in charge of unloading operations at the Zhongshan Station.

Thanks to more than 30 hours of efforts by the Xuelong 2 to widen the channel and lead the way, the Xuelong, which was carrying about 1,500 tons of supplies, has also arrived at the unloading spot.

The unloading operations, involving a combination of sea-ice transport and helicopter lifts, are expected to be finished within two weeks.

And then, the Xuelong and the Xuelong 2 will proceed to China's Qingling Station and Changcheng Station in Antarctica, respectively.

The expedition team includes more than 500 members from over 80 institutions on the Chinese mainland, along with researchers from more than 10 other countries and regions, such as Thailand, Chile and Portugal, as well as China's Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions, in support of broader international scientific collaboration.

They will conduct multi-disciplinary scientific surveys, advance several major national research projects, and test domestically developed equipment under polar conditions.

Particularly, scientific drilling experiments in lakes deep in the Antarctic inland ice sheet will be carried out for the first time.

China's 42nd Antarctic Expedition team unloads supplies at Zhongshan Station