Documentary on first Sino-Japanese War debuted

A four-episode documentary on the first Sino-Japanese War in 1894 was debuted here Saturday, Sunday's China Youth Daily reported.

The documentary, titled "Memorial of Jiawu", comprehensively reflected the tragic impacts of the war, also known as the Jiawu War in China, on Chinese people and the lessons the country should learn from it.

It explored the causes of the war and the reason why Japanese navy beat Chinese, according to the newspaper.

On July 25, 1894, Japanese warships attacked two Chinese vessels off the Korean port of Asan. At the time, Korea was a tributary of the Qing Empire (1644-1911). By March 1895, the Chinese land army and navy were beaten, the first time China had lost to Japan in a military conflict.

The Shimonoseki Treaty, signed to conclude the war, ceded Liaodong Peninsula in northeast China, Taiwan and its annex the nearby Penghu Islands, to Japan. The Qing court also paid Japan 200 million taels of silver (5.2 billion U.S. dollars today).

"Reflecting on the Jiwu War is aimed to move on," said Liu Yazhou, political commissar of the National Defense University that produced the documentary, at its debut ceremony.

The documentary is not only a remembrance to those who sacrificed their lives in the war but also a reference for the country to draw a lesson from the history, Liu said.

The documentary, to be aired by the national broadcaster CCTV from Dec. 28, included rich historical evidence and archives, revealed rare historical details and interviewed a number of experts, according to the producer.