At 10 ︰ 30 in the evening on July 7, 1937, gunfire signaled the beginni ng of modern China's longest nightmare. The eight-year war against Japan caused more than 12 million Chinese to lose their lives in fighting, bombings, maltreatment, massacres, or fleeing the enemy.
長達八年的中日戰爭，使得一千兩百萬餘中國人在作戰、轟炸、虐殺、逃難中傷亡，發動戰爭的日本也有數以百萬計的軍民因此喪生。