August 27, 2025
BEIJING/TOKYO – Since it hit the big screen on July 25, Chinese war film Dead To Rights has been a hit with the masses, topping the summer box office by bringing in more than 2.4 billion yuan (S$430 million) in revenue.
Public servant Macker Shi is one of many Chinese who have seen the film, set during the period of the Nanjing massacre, about a group of ordinary Chinese people seeking to survive while protecting photographic evidence of Japanese brutality.
The event in the then capital of China that began on Dec 13, 1937, and did not end until January 1938 saw an estimated 200,000 Chinese killed by the invading Japanese army. It remains an emotionally fraught topic for many Chinese people today, driven by a perception that Japan has not sincerely apologised for its past militarism.
Japan occupied parts of China between 1932 and 1945, including by establishing the puppet state of Manchukuo in the north-east. Japanese war atrocities, such as executions, torture, forced labour and sexual violence, were widespread during this period.
The Chinese government has, for decades, kept memories of the war vivid through efforts such as school lessons, popular films, museum exhibitions and commemorative events, including ceremonies held annually on Sept 18 to mark the Mukden Incident of 1931, a false-flag event staged by the Japanese military to invade Manchuria.
Dead To Rights sparked discussion on Chinese social media, with some asking whether such heavy topics are suitable for children. Others asked if it amounted to “hatred education” by teaching the young to be anti-Japanese.
But Mr Shi, 47, who took his 15-year-old daughter to watch the movie on Aug 15 – the date Japan surrendered in 1945 – does not think so. He believes the next generation must be exposed to such “historical truths”.
“To forget history is to betray the nation,” he told The Straits Times.
“It’s the responsibility of every Chinese citizen to spread awareness of history. It would not be good for our children’s development if we hide the past from them just because it is tragic.”
Reflections are being sparked in China on the effects of historical education as the country counts down to a grand military parade on Sept 3, involving military equipment displays and thousands of marching troops.
Japan has not directly commented on the so-called “Victory Day” parade beyond a statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi in June that Tokyo would “continue to monitor the event with interest”.
As China marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in 2025 with popular films, exhibitions and school events, many of which Chinese people are supportive of, can the country ever forgive Japan for its wartime actions?
Historical grievances have long been a major irritant in Sino-Japanese relations and, with the milestone 80th year carrying a significant risk of inflaming tensions, Tokyo on Aug 5 urged Japanese travelling to China to take “particular caution against rising anti-Japanese sentiment”.
It advised “careful consideration” on days related to historical events, noting that various activities related to the historical relationship between Japan and China will be held from summer to autumn.
There has been precedent of incidents related to historical events. On Sept 18, 2024, a Japanese boy was murdered on his way to school in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. That day marked 93 years since the Mukden Incident.
The perpetrator, a Chinese man, was handed a death sentence in January 2025. The authorities did not disclose his motivation for the attack.
Over in Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba became the first leader in 13 years to express “remorse” at the annual Memorial Ceremony for the War Dead on Aug 15. He said: “We must never repeat the horrors of war. We must never again err on the path we take.”
But China was dissatisfied, objecting in particular to political visits and offerings to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, which it perceives as a sign of unrepentance.
On Aug 15, Mr Ishiba sent a ritual offering to the shrine, although he did not visit in person.
But among those who personally paid their respects were Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato, and right-wing politicians such as Mr Takayuki Kobayashi and Ms Sanae Takaichi.
The place of worship enshrines the souls of more than 2.5 million war dead – many of them foot soldiers acting on orders – but is especially incendiary for the 14 convicted Class A war criminals in their midst.
In response, the Chinese Foreign Ministry lodged a complaint with Tokyo. In a statement on Aug 16, the ministry said China “expresses strong dissatisfaction with Japan’s blatant challenge to historical justice and human conscience”.
“We urge Japan to face up to and reflect on its history of aggression… and win the trust of its Asian neighbours and the international community through concrete actions,” it said.
Mr Wang Junwei, director of the Academic and Editorial Committee of the Institute of Party History and Literature of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said commemorating the 80th anniversary is meant to “expose the atrocious crimes of the invaders and the heavy disasters they brought to humanity”.
“This is not to perpetuate hatred, but to bear in mind the lessons of history… jointly cherish and safeguard peace, and prevent the recurrence of historical tragedies,” he told a press conference on July 21.
Yet China chose Aug 15 to unveil new evidence of Unit 731, meant to show the state-sanctioned crimes of the Manchukuo-based Japanese germ-warfare unit that conducted human testing, mainly on Chinese and Korean prisoners to develop biological weapons.
In contrast to this historical focus, South Korea appears more conciliatory, with President Lee Jae Myung stressing the need for “future-oriented, mutually beneficial cooperation” with Japan during an address at his country’s Liberation Day ceremony on Aug 15.
Japan annexed the Korean peninsula and ruled it as a colony from 1910 to 1945, a period remembered in South Korea for Japanese brutality, especially during World War II for the mobilisation of Koreans for wartime labour and sexual slavery.
Despite his hostility towards Japan before taking office, Mr Lee told the Yomiuri newspaper in an interview published Aug 21 that it was “undesirable” and “unproductive” to overturn existing agreements between the two nations regarding issues such as comfort women and wartime labour.
Professor Karl Gustafsson of Stockholm University, who has studied the role of history in Sino-Japanese relations, said he was pessimistic about whether China could forgive Japan.
“The idea that it becomes easier with the passage of time, that time heals wounds, does not seem to apply in this case. Eighty years have passed already, but we do not seem to be much closer to forgiveness than we were 30 years ago.”
Both countries have contributed to making historical memory over World War II a continuing irritant in bilateral ties, said Prof Gustafsson. The Communist Party of China has long used historical memory to legitimise its rule, making the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression central to its patriotic education, he noted.
In Japan, some politicians use historical memory to push a conservative agenda, seeking to instil national pride by downplaying Japanese atrocities. “These activities, on both sides, contribute to making sure that the problem is perpetuated,” said Prof Gustafsson.
Dr Shin Kawashima, an expert on Sino-Japanese relations at the University of Tokyo, told ST: “In historical reconciliation, perpetrators must acknowledge their crimes and continue to show remorse, but at the same time, victims are required to ‘forgive’ the perpetrators.”
He added: “China has its own domestic history policy. Japan cannot interfere in China’s internal affairs regarding this domestic history policy.”
He noted that Tokyo has expressed “remorse and apology” in past decades, with then Premier Wen Jiabao of China positively evaluating these statements when invited to deliver a speech to the Japanese Diet in 2007.
“As the aggressor, Japan does not have any strong right to speak out. However, we must continue to protest against excessive propaganda and exaggeration,” Dr Kawashima said. “It would be good to resume the kind of joint Japan-China historical research that began in 2006, but at present, this is extremely difficult,” he added.