Beijing is playing to domestic and outside audiences<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n A child salutes a sculpture depicting a heroic character as he tours an exhibition to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese people\u2019s war of resistance against Japanese aggression and the world anti-fascist war, held at the Museum of the War of Chinese People\u2019s Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in Beijing, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. (AP Photo\/Mahesh Kumar A.)<\/p>\n A child salutes a sculpture depicting a heroic character as he tours an exhibition to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese people\u2019s war of resistance against Japanese aggression and the world anti-fascist war, held at the Museum of the War of Chinese People\u2019s Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in Beijing, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. (AP Photo\/Mahesh Kumar A.)<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n To the outside world, the missiles, tanks and fighter jets at the parade will be a show of strength as China seeks to portray itself as an alternative to the American-dominated postwar era.<\/p>\n Domestically, the commemoration is an effort to show how far the country has come \u2014 and in so doing, build support for the party and its leader, President Xi Jinping. China was a major front in World War II, a fact often overlooked in accounts that focus more on the fight for Europe and U.S. naval battles in the Pacific.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a really important part of the Communist Party\u2019s legitimizing narrative as the leader of the Chinese people,\u201d said Emily Matson, a scholar of modern Chinese history who teaches at Georgetown and George Washington universities. <\/p>\n China\u2019s rise has reshaped how it views the war<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Visitors tour an exhibition commemorating the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese people\u2019s war of resistance against Japanese aggression and the world anti-fascist war, held at the Museum of the War of Chinese People\u2019s Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in Beijing on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. (AP Photo\/Mahesh Kumar A.)<\/p>\n Visitors tour an exhibition commemorating the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese people\u2019s war of resistance against Japanese aggression and the world anti-fascist war, held at the Museum of the War of Chinese People\u2019s Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in Beijing on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025. (AP Photo\/Mahesh Kumar A.)<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n The party didn\u2019t always make such a big deal about the end of the war. The Communists only came to power four years later, and the bulk of the fighting was done by their rivals, the Nationalist government they overthrew in 1949.<\/p>\n The wartime struggle was less pertinent in the first decades of communist rule, when the focus was on building a socialist state.<\/p>\n That began to change in 1978, when the party launched the reforms that propelled China\u2019s economic rise. Its message gradually shifted from the triumph of the working class to nation-building.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a new nationalism in that it begins to include not just the Chinese proletariat but the whole Chinese nation,\u201d Matson said. <\/p>\n Over time, the defeat of Japan became part of the nation-building story, a starting point marking the end of a long period when foreign powers imposed their will on a weaker China.<\/p>\n Wartime history has risen in importance under Xi<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A visitor takes a picture in front of a memorial of the September 18th History Museum in Shenyang, northeastern China\u2019s Liaoning province, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (AP Photo\/Mahesh Kumar A.)<\/p>\n A visitor takes a picture in front of a memorial of the September 18th History Museum in Shenyang, northeastern China\u2019s Liaoning province, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (AP Photo\/Mahesh Kumar A.)<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n Xi, who came to power in 2012, has stepped up a drive to build a strong country that can no longer be bullied. His government pushed back against new U.S. tariffs<\/a> this year, forcing President Donald Trump to scale them down.<\/p>\n In 2014, the government designated Sept. 3 \u2014 the day after Japan formally surrendered \u2014 as Victory Day. The following year, the 70th anniversary of the war\u2019s end, it staged a military parade<\/a> on the day for the first time.<\/p>\n Party historians define Japan\u2019s defeat as a turning point. It laid an important foundation for the rebuilding of the nation, said Wang Junwei, the chair of the Academic and Editorial Council at the Institute of Party History and Literature.<\/p>\n \u201cThe victory in the anti-Japanese war transformed the Chinese nation from deep crisis toward great rejuvenation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n A war museum visitor thinks of Gaza<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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