Xu Wei/Shanghai Daily news

A special exhibition is now running at the Sanshan Guild Hall to commemorate the 60th anniversary of China's victory in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.
The exhibition venue used to be the South Shanghai Headquarters of the Worker Pickets during the Third Armed Uprising in Shanghai in 1927. It has been specially fitted out to house more than 1,000 cultural relics and historical archives from 1937 to 1945.
"The show aims to arouse people's aspiration for long-lasting world peace and harmony," says Liu Jian, an official with the Shanghai Cultural, Radio, Film and TV Administration.
Wu Rangneng, a retired Chinese soldier, says of the exhibition: "The older generation suffered a lot in the catastrophe of the Japanese invasion but young people still have little idea of that history. We should let them know that peace didn't come easily."
It was on July 7, 1937 that Japanese troops began their invasion of China with the Battle of Lugou Bridge in Beijing, an incident which marked the beginning of Japan's all-out drive to subjugate China.
Nearly six weeks later, on August 13, Japanese naval forces and army infantry made a sudden attack on Shanghai, opening up a second battlefront in Japan's attempt to conquer all of China.
The Japanese expected a swift victory. They planned to take Shanghai in three days and over-run China in three months. However, in Shanghai they ran into strong resistance.
Even after most parts of the city had fallen into enemy hands by the latter half of October, fierce fighting still continued. Colonel Xie Jinyuan, deputy commander of the 524th Regiment, led his troops in a desperate struggle to hold back the Japanese at Sihang Warehouse on Suzhou Creek. His regiment alone suffered more than 800 casualties, most of whom were killed in action.
Although the long and bitter Battle of Shanghai ended in a military defeat for China, it proved to be a morale-boosting victory for Chinese troops who showed the world they would no longer stand by as Japanese forces took over their country piece by piece.
However, bigger sufferings were yet to come to the Chinese people. In December 1937, Nanjing in neighboring Jiangsu Province, then the capital of the Kuomintang government, fell to Japanese troops who proceeded to conduct a massive military atrocity - known ever since as the Rape of Nanking - in which they massacred more than 300,000 Chinese soldiers and civilians.
After Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, China was joined in its stubborn resistance to Japanese invasion by the Western Allies and the fascist regime in Tokyo finally capitulated on August 14, 1945. Japanese troops in mainland China officially surrendered on September 9.
"For the Chinese people, it was never an easy victory," says one visitor to the exhibition, a woman in her 80s surnamed Tao. "Millions of our citizens lost their lives. It is a history that must always be remembered," she says.
The exhibits, including photographs, postcards, publications, maps, coins, stamps and war-time commodities, have been put together by the Shanghai Association of Collection, local museums and generous private collectors.
Two eye-catching items on display are the residence permits for two Jews, proof that Shanghai in the 1930s was a port of refuge which helped to protect and save the lives of some 30,000 Jews who had fled Nazi Germany and Austria.
There's also an exquisite porcelain kettle made in Jingdezhen, China's famous ceramics center in Jiangxi Province, which was created to celebrate China's and the Allies' victory over Japan.
The kettle lid is a surprise. It is in the shape of a fist, symbolizing the united anti-fascist resolution of the whole nation. On the kettle's spout are the Chinese characters for "victory."
However, the most popular highlight of the exhibition will probably be the old recordings of Zhou Xiaoyan, the acclaimed Shanghainese soprano, and other well-known Chinese wartime songs such as "The Great Wall Ballad" and "The Battle Song."
"I chose seven recordings themed on the war from 5,000 discs I have in my home," says Feng Shuhua, a private collector.
Visitors can also see the valuable manuscript score of "Chee Lai" ("Arise"), a song which was later adopted as China's national anthem - "The March of the Volunteers" - and a Pathe Record of "Chee Lai" sung by the great American singer and actor Paul Robeson in the 1940s.
Robeson expressed his pleasure at being able to sing the song in the record notes. He wrote: "This song is on the lips of millions of Chinese, typifying the unconquerable spirit of this people."

Date: through September 5, 8:30am-4:30pm
Address: 1551 Zhongshan Rd S.
Admission: 4 yuan for adults, 2 yuan for children
Tel: 6313-5582