Chinese family's mixed Japan memories on war anniversary

As China marked the 68th anniversary of its victory in the Anti-Japanese War (1937-1945), one Chinese family's reflections on Japan were markedly mixed.

While veteran Zhang Lizhi was immersed in bitter wartime memories, the attitude of his grandson, Liu Pinran, was profoundly affected by a recent exchange program that allowed him to visit Japan together with other Asian students majoring in international relations.

"My hatred fades, but never my memories," said 94-year-old Zhang.

Born in 1919 in Juxian County of east China's Shandong Province, he joined the army as a teen to fight the Japanese who invaded China in 1937.

"There was no choice, even for a teenager like me. It was my duty to defend my motherland," he believes.

Of all his wartime souvenirs, including a scar left by a bullet passing through his left palm, he most cherishes a sepia picture in which four young armymen in winter uniforms stand solemnly.

The picture was taken in the autumn of 1944, when Zhang and his fellow soldiers of the Communist Party of China survived a raid by Japanese troops in Shandong.

The war was seven years old by then. As news of territory recovery and Japanese retreat reached their camp, Zhang and his friends felt with great confidence that the war was close to its end.

"But two of them were killed by the Japanese just a few days after the photo was taken. One was shot to death, the other was buried alive," recalled Zhang.

This episode of Zhang's wartime story has also became unforgettable to Liu Pinran, a postgraduate majored in international relations at the prestigious Peking University. He grew up hearing his grandfather tell the tale behind the image "countless times."

"My grandpa has talked less about the war in recent years, but I can feel his anger and grief whenever the topic comes up," said Liu.

Despite close economic ties, memories of Japanese militarism run deep in China, which had 21 million civilians and soldiers killed and 14 million others injured in the war.

The feelings of Zhang's generation are more or less carried on by Chinese youngsters nowadays, amid renewed tensions following the Japanese government's unilateral move in September 2012 to "nationalize" part of the Diaoyu Islands, which have been Chinese territory since ancient times.