Tens of thousands visit exhibition marking 90th Army Day

Photo taken on July 27th, 2017 shows people visiting the exhibition in commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People's Liberation Army at the Chinese Military Museum in western Beijing. [Photo: Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai]

An exhibition in commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People's Liberation Army has opened to the public.

Tens of thousands of visitors have flocked to the exhibition at the Chinese Military Museum in western Beijing. 

Veteran Wang Shuqing said this exhibition is a good opportunity to remember the past and cherish the happiness today. 

"I was only 14 when I joined the army. Of course, it was dangerous. But I was not afraid. If I were, I would have rather stayed at home than joining the Eighth Route Army to fight the Japanese invaders. We should not forget the history. If we do, we would not have known where the hard-won happiness today comes from," said Wang.  

The exhibition starts with the Lugou Bridge incident, which occured on July 7, 1937 and set off a national resistance to Japanese invasion. 

It details on how the people's armed forces, led by the Communist Party of China, carried out a guerrilla warfare against Japanese invaders and became the backbone of the nationwide resistance against Japanese invaders from 1937 to 1945. 

One of the precious exhibits on display is an order issued by Zhu De, Mao Zedong and Liu Shaoqi on February 10, 1947, which was the first order Zhu De issued as the Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

During the war, the people's army fought more than 125,000 battles, combatting more than 1.7 million Japanese and puppet troops at the expense of more than 610,000 injuries and deaths.