July 7, 2026 marks the 89th anniversary of China’s 'July 7th Incident.' Zhu Chengshan, professor at Changzhou University, former vice president of the Chinese Society for the History of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, and former director of the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, wrote that on July 7, 1937, the Japanese invading army launched the July 7th Incident, provoking a full-scale war of aggression against China. Barely more than five months later, the horrific Nanjing Massacre occurred. Yet, 89 years on, faced with irrefutable historical evidence, Japanese right-wing forces still refuse to face up to history, and are making ever more blatant attempts to downplay their crimes of aggression and undermine established historical conclusions.
According to Japanese media reports, the city of Nagasaki recently plans to update the content of exhibition panels at the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum, changing references to the Nanjing Massacre from 'massacre' to 'the Nanjing incident in which many civilians and prisoners were killed.' This move has triggered strong opposition from local atomic bomb survivors and peace groups, and has also been widely criticized by the international community.
Zhu Chengshan pointed out that the attempt by Nagasaki to revise historical narratives is not an isolated incident; rather, it echoes and colludes with the domestic right-wing backlash in Japan that denies the history of aggression. Japanese right-wing politicians such as Sanae Takaichi have for years spread erroneous views of history, openly denying historical facts such as the Nanjing Massacre and the forced recruitment of 'comfort women,' and have even attempted to whitewash Japan’s acts of aggression after the Mukden Incident as 'defensive war.' Whether it is the so-called 'exhibit update plan' at the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum, or the absurd rhetoric of Japanese right-wing politicians denying history, their essence is to rehash the mistaken view that 'those who inflict harm are justified'—they are the resurfacing dregs of the militarist view of aggression in Japanese history.
He stated that history cannot be distorted, and justice cannot be desecrated. Eighty years ago, the Tokyo Trials upheld international justice, safeguarded the conscience of humanity, and established the bottom line of the postwar peace order. At such an important juncture commemorating the 80th anniversary of the opening of the Tokyo Trials, any attempt to distort history or overturn past verdicts will be resolutely opposed by the Chinese people and the international community—and is doomed to fail.