By Xu Yang and Zhao Hongnan
SHENYANG, Feb.22 -- This year marks the 90th anniversary of the “September 18th Incident”. The Beidaying (Northern Grand Barracks) site in northeast China’s Liaoning Province, one of the sites where the incident broke out, is undergoing repairs. It will be transformed into an exhibition hall to the public before September 18, 2021.
The Beidaying site in Shenyang, Northeast China’s Liaoning Province, was once full of barracks initially built since 1907. It is an ironclad proof of the War of Aggression against China launched by Japan and a memory coordinate marking the starting point of Chinese people’s 14-year war of resistance. The site will always alert the Chinese people as a witness to Chinese suffering during the historical period.
On the night of September 18, 1931, the Japanese Kwantung Army blew up a section of the railway near Liutiao Lake in the northern suburb of Shenyang City by itself. It falsely accused the Chinese army of doing so. Then the Japanese army brazenly attacked the Kuomintang’s Northeastern Army, who were stationed in the barracks in Beidaying, marking the beginning of the “September 18th Incident”, shocking both China and the other countries around the world.
According to Wang Jianxue, a professor at the Party School of the Liaoning Provincial CPC Committee, Wang Tiehan, commanding officer of the Northeastern Army stationed in Beidaying, issued an order to resist despite the strict order of “non-resistance” from the then central government, killing and wounding 24 enemies.
In 2011, volunteers dedicated to relic protection in Shenyang City discovered the ruins of three barracks. In order to better imprint this historical period in people’s memory, the construction of the Exhibition Hall of Beidaying Site was officially launched in 2018, with the restoration of the original appearance of the barracks and the collection of cultural relics being carried out simultaneously. As of now, there have been more than 1,400 items of cultural relics of important historical significance and research value collected in Shenyang City.