Yuan Nansheng, consul general of China in San Francisco speaks at the opening of a wartime memorial exhibition held by the consulate on Monday to mark the 77th anniversary of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident and to pay tribute to the Chinese soldiers who fought in WWII. LIAN ZI / China Daily

An anti-Japanese wartime memorabilia exhibition that contains 200 historical documents was hosted by the consulate general of China in San Francisco at the residence of the consul general.

The exhibition on July 7 also marked the 77th anniversary of the Marco Polo Bridge incident in 1937, a skirmish on the outskirts of Beijing that would escalate into the outbreak of the second Sino-Japanese War.

"Not only remembering the efforts of people in China during the Sino-Japanese War, we should also honor the contributions that Chinese communities in the San Francisco Bay Area made to China's wartime efforts against Japanese aggression," said Yuan Nansheng, the China's consul general in San Francisco.

Yuan said cultural relics are the best witness to history and everyone should respect the truth of history without exception.

He expressed his concern about Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's lifting a decades-old ban on military-related exports and allowing the country's military to defend other nations. "Japan challenges the bottom line of Sino-Japanese relationship again and again," Yuan said. "The aim of this exhibition is to present Chinese people's stance to the world that we don't allow Japan to distort history."

With 200 historical documents, including photographs that depict Japan's atrocities, the donation receipts from oversea Chinese and the jackets of Flying Tigers, "this exhibition offers people a direct visual look of the truth of the history," said Zhao Sihong, representative of the American Association of Chinese Collectors, who donated almost all the records for the exhibition.

James T. Whitehead, chairman of the Flyer Tigers historical organization, stressed the sincere relationship and mutual support between China and US during the war.

"We fought against the Japanese with Chinese people should by shoulder, "James said. "And we should pass the collaboration to future generations, so as to make joint contribution to the building of the new type of major country relations between China and the United States.".

Zhang Songyang, a 99 year-old veteran of the Flying Tigers, told of his wartime experience. "I served for the Flying Tigers from 1941 to 1945 and shot down two Japanese aircraft," he said. He took his grandson to the exhibition to educate him about the history of Sino-Japanese War.

zilian@chinadailyusa.com