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Cities around China organized memorial activities to remember the 90th anniversary of the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) on Saturday.

As part of the national events to mark the incident, bells rang and sirens wailed at 9:18 am at the September 18 Incident History Museum in Shenyang.

People from all walks of life including students, veterans and soldiers attended the ceremony held in the museum.

Vehicles on nine roads and 18 streets of Shenyang also stopped and honked their horns to remember the day.

Other cities such as Beijing, Dalian in Liaoning province, Harbin in Heilongjiang province, Xi'an of Shaanxi province sounded air defense sirens to mark the incident.

On Sept 18, 1931, Japanese troops blew up a section of the railway in Liutiaohu of Shenyang, then they accused the Chinese military of the act. Using the blast as an excuse, the Japanese attacked a garrison in the Beidaying area of the city and bombarded Shenyang on the same night, launching a full-scale invasion of Northeast China.

The incident was the start of the 14-year war, which caused the death of over 35 million Chinese people.

Many museums nationwide have held commemorative activities, and the public has also carried out online memorial activities.

The Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression laid flowers to the martyrs. It also jointly held a themed concert with the September 18 Incident History Museum to look back on history and remember martyrs.