KUNMING, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Shrouded in solemn silence lies the historic site of the Battle of Songshan in Longling County, southwest China's border province of Yunnan. It was the main battlefield of the western Yunnan campaign during the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

Now, facing the site, a concrete army of 402 life-sized statues has been set up to commemorate the Chinese Expeditionary Force (CEF). Deployed to fight alongside the Allies in regions of China, Myanmar and India, the CEF's crucial mission was to thwart Japan's attempt to cut off the Yunnan-Myanmar road, a key supply route to China during World War II (WWII).

Nearly every statue is surrounded by tributes of flowers, fruits, pastries and liquor. A young girl from central China's Hunan Province paid her respects by carefully laying a lollipop before a boy soldier's statue. "I want him to taste our sweet life today," she said.

Although over 80 years have passed, the memory of the war endures in western Yunnan. By preserving and restoring wartime sites and memorials, local governments and community groups have transformed a profound historical trauma into solemn places of remembrance, ensuring that the lessons of history are never forgotten and inspiring a deeper appreciation for peace.

OPEN-AIR WAR MUSEUM

With decades of joint efforts by the local government and residents, the relics at the Battle of Songshan site have been largely preserved in their original state, as they were at the end of the war. Songshan Mountain's rolling highlands still bear the scars of battle: a vast network of bunkers and trenches, tunnels excavated by the CEF to destroy Japanese strongholds, and giant blast craters. Together, they offer visitors a tangible link to the brutal fighting that raged here between Chinese and Japanese troops over eight decades ago.

In May 1942, the Japanese army invaded the western Yunnan and entrenched themselves on Songshan Mountain along the western bank of the Nujiang River.

Two years later, the CEF launched a large counteroffensive in western Yunnan, beginning with a fierce assault on Songshan Mountain on June 4, 1944. Over the course of more than three months of combat, they engaged with Japanese troops in 10 major battles and around a hundred skirmishes, ultimately achieving victory by completely annihilating the over 1,200-strong Japanese garrison at the cost of more than 7,700 deaths. In the aftermath of the intense war, the Songshan battlefield was strewn with corpses and utterly devastated.

According to Zhou Shanshan, a guide at the Battle of Songshan site, the site is recognized as one of the best-conserved WWII battlefield remains. It contains 69 battlefield locations, with approximately 13,200 meters of well-preserved trenches.

"The site serves not only as a memorial but also as an open-air museum, educating our younger generations about the sacrifices made during one of the war's most critical campaigns," said Li Sheng, a tourist visiting the site. "Standing where those young soldiers once fought, we can truly appreciate how hard-won peace really is."

BRIDGES WITNESS NATION'S RISE

In 1942, the Japanese occupied vast territories west of the Nujiang River. On May 5th, the CEF blew up the Huitong Bridge, halting the enemy advance.

According to Huang Dingdong, vice chairman and secretary-general of the Longling County Association for Social Sciences, during the 1944 counteroffensive in western Yunnan, the bridge was urgently repaired and restored to operation after 18 days, providing a critical passage for the CEF's counterattack on Songshan Mountain and the recapturing of Longling.

After the victory, the bridge underwent repeated repairs and reinforcements, serving as a key transportation hub on the national highway in western Yunnan for many years.

In 1974, a reinforced concrete highway bridge named Hongqi Bridge was constructed 400 meters downstream from the Huitong Bridge, which was subsequently decommissioned and has been preserved to this day.

Currently, upstream from the Huitong Bridge, a railway bridge with a total length of 1,024 meters is under construction. This bridge, part of the Dali-Ruili Railway line in Yunnan, is poised to boost local economic development significantly in the future. As a key project in the construction of the China-Myanmar international railway corridor under the Belt and Road Initiative, it will also actively facilitate future economic and trade cooperation as well as people-to-people exchanges between China and ASEAN countries.

"These three bridges stand side by side like historical markers of three eras, witnessing our nation's great journey from seeking survival to achieving prosperity and strength," Huang said.

HISTORY REMEMBERED

On August 15, the 80th anniversary of Japan's announcement of unconditional surrender in WWII, visitors flocked to the memorial hall of the anti-Japanese aggression war in western Yunnan, located in the border city of Tengchong, from early morning.

The memorial hall presents the history of the difficult yet heroic resistance efforts in western Yunnan. Since its establishment 12 years ago, the memorial hall has received over 12.2 million visitors from more than 20 countries and regions.

According to Ma Juan, curator of the memorial hall, visitors can now scan QR codes to access audio guides in both Chinese and English.

Inside the memorial hall, over a thousand steel helmets worn by the CEF are arranged in a matrix formation across three towering walls. "The cruelty of war became concrete and visceral at this moment, leaving me profoundly sober," said Wang Zun, a university student visiting the exhibit.

Adjacent to the memorial hall lies the National Martyrs Cemetery, where 3,346 tombstones stand in remembrance of fallen soldiers from the Tengchong Campaign, including 19 Allied troops. From May to September 1944, after a grueling 127-day battle, Tengchong became the first county-level city recaptured by Chinese forces during the War of Resistance.

To this day, Tengchong still awaits the return of more heroic souls. "We have been actively searching for the remains of the CEF soldiers who sacrificed their lives in Myanmar, striving to bring them back to their long-yearned homeland at the earliest," Ma said.

Meanwhile, a race-against-time effort is underway to preserve oral historical accounts of the War of Resistance in western Yunnan. At Yunnan Arts University, researchers have completed 280 minutes of high-definition video recordings with 14 surviving war veterans, whose average age is 95, and have developed derivative products using AR technology.

"A crucial dimension of archival work lies in achieving dynamic dissemination. Therefore, while continuously accumulating visual and oral history materials, we are also focusing on developing new modes of communication," said Xu Yaqing, project advisor at the university.