Photo: Xinhua

A Sina Weibo account that documents the progress of the War of the  Chinese People's Resistance  against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) in daily "on this day in history" posts for the past eight years, totaling almost 35,000 posts, came under the spotlight amid the 75th anniversary of Japan's unconditional surrender in World War II. 

The account received more than a million views on Saturday. A post which documents Japan's surrender in World War II on August 15, 1945, was liked 105,000 times and retweeted 52,000 times, as it struck a chord among Chinese net users who recalled China's painful past and cherished today's strong China and peaceful life 75 years after the hard-won victory.  

The Weibo account which is called "Livestreaming the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression" started posting on July 7, 2012.  The Lugou Bridge Incident on July 7, 1937, is recognized as the start of Japan's full-scale invasion of China, and China's whole-of-nation resistance against it. It plans to stop updating posts on September 2, the date that the Japanese Instrument of Surrender was signed. 

"It is easy to do a meaningful thing, but very difficult to insist on that for eight years," a Weibo user commented under the Saturday post. 

The posts are not to promote hatred or any other negative sentiments, but to remind people of the forgotten past in a measured way. It serves to remind people how our forefathers put aside disagreements and fought united against a common foe, and the fear, humiliation, and adversity they had suffered from, the account operator said. 

"Only when we witness how they walked toward death, and sacrificed their lives for the nation, can we ponder on the reality with better maturity and rationality," the operator said. 

People can find important moments of history from these posts, such as the Pacific War breaking out on December 7, 1941. The account also posts smaller details of history, like how Japanese troops were trained.

"I searched for the name of my hometown in the account. Sadly, it was bombarded several times," a Weibo user said. Such documentation brings history closer to people and as the account introduction says: "It enables us to experience day and night of the war and experience humiliation, despair, glory and dream like ancestors did 75 years ago."

Zhang Yiwu, a professor at Peking University, told the Global Times on Sunday that netizens' active reaction to such documentation, which uses published resources in an innovative way, shows the impact of the resistance war is far-reaching. 

"It is part of our shared memory and plays an important role in shaping the Chinese nation and national spirit," Zhang said.