CHONGQING, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- In Yang Jianhong's childhood memories, the sound of international news crackling from a radio was as familiar as the scent of the plum candy.

His father, Yang Yangzheng, a quiet man of unshakable routines, would sit absorbed in the broadcasts, savoring the tart sweetness of those candies, a specialty from Shanghai.

It was only much later that Yang Jianhong understood the significance of those candies. To his father, they were a reminder of the east China metropolis where, in 1937, the 23-year-old fought with his fellow soldiers, holding off Japanese forces many times their size at a warehouse.

Their stand, later immortalized as the legend of the "800 Heroes," became a defining symbol of China's struggle during the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, which began long before the world recognized it as part of World War II.

China was among the first countries to resist fascist aggression. Many historians regard the Japanese invasion of northeast China in 1931 as the prelude to the Asian theater of World War II. China's full-scale war of resistance broke out in 1937, marking the beginning of the Asian theater of World War II, with the country entering the war earlier than Britain, France and the United States.

After four grueling days and nights defending Shanghai, Yang lost his left eye. Days later, the city fell.

Wounded but unbroken, the veteran eventually retreated west to Chongqing, which had become China's wartime capital. Over the years, the southwestern city, nestled among mountains and shielded by the Yangtze and Jialing rivers, became a fortress of defiance, welcoming hundreds of thousands of troops and refugees fleeing the chaos of war, like Yang.

The plum candy remained Yang's solace, a fleeting taste of a past known to few. In 2010, Yang, the last surviving member of the "800 Heroes," passed away.

"He was more than a WWII hero," said his son, Yang Jianhong. "He was the man my mother worshiped all her life. "

Yang said that no matter how rare or expensive the candy became, she always managed to find it for him.

Every year on the anniversary of Japan's surrender, the family would set a few extra dishes on the table. This tradition began in 1945 when Yang Yangzheng wed his beloved -- just one day after the guns fell silent.

Yang's legacy outlived him, who was once named one of Chongqing's "10 most inspirational figures."

A CRUCIBLE OF WAR

As the Eastern Front of the global fight against fascism, China's battlefield played a decisive role in the Allied victory.

"If the Japanese attack the West Indian Ocean, all our positions in the Middle East will be lost," then British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once warned. "Only China can help us to prevent that from happening."

Starting in 1938, Japan launched relentless bombing campaigns against Chongqing, seeking to break the spirit of an unyielding city.

For years, Chongqing endured waves of air raids. The little-known "Asian Blitz" left more than 32,000 dead or wounded, turning the city, like London under the Luftwaffe, into a place of fire and defiance.

Across Chongqing, over 1,600 air-raid shelters formed one of the largest civilian defense networks in the world at the time. For survivors like Su Yuankui, now 92, the memories remain seared into consciousness.

On June 5, 1941, eight-year-old Su huddled in a crowded air-raid tunnel as bombs rained down. As oil lamps flickered out in the suffocating heat, the roar of planes mingled with screams and curses.

When Su awoke the next morning, he was surrounded by the dead. His two sisters were among the over 1,000 victims who died of suffocation and stampede in what was later described as one of WWII's deadliest air-raid tragedies.

"Not a single structure stood unscathed across the ravaged horizon," recalled Su. "It was devastating."

Yet, despite such horrors, Chongqing and China as a whole never surrendered. They endured, and they continued to fight.

During the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the Chinese military and civilians, at the cost of 35 million casualties, pinned down more than 50 percent of Japan's overseas forces, making a tremendous contribution to the victory of the global anti-fascist war.

A FORGOTTEN ALLY

Chongqing was more than a target of fascist bombing. A slate of major World War II decisions, including Chinese and Allied campaigns like the counteroffensive in Myanmar and coordinating the daring Hump airlift over the Himalayas, were made in the city, which served as the Far East Command Center during the World Anti-Fascist War.

It was also in Chongqing that the final dispatches were sent from the Far East, just before the signing of Japan's surrender aboard the USS Missouri in September 1945.

Former U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt once hailed the people of Chongqing as "firm and unconquered." Time journalist Theodore H. White described them as a population united "out of a faith in China's greatness and an overwhelming passion to hold the land against the Japanese."

Unlike Stalingrad or London, however, the name of the heroic Chinese city seldom evokes the same recognition.

"For decades, our understanding of that global conflict has failed to give a proper account of the role of China," wrote British historian Rana Mitter in the "Forgotten Ally: China's World War II, 1937-1945."

In his book, which the Wall Street Journal described as giving China its "historical due," Mitter argues that "If we wish to understand the role of China in today's global society, we would do well to remind ourselves of the tragic, titanic struggle which that country waged in the 1930s and 1940s."

On the site of a bomb crater, Chongqing residents once erected a wooden tower bearing the bold characters "Fortress of Spirit." Today, that site is marked by the Liberation Monument, a major city landmark.

Not far away, Su Yuankui works in an office near the ruins of the "June 5th Tunnel Tragedy." In front of a banner reading "Defend Dignity, Uphold Justice," he recounts his long legal battle seeking justice for the victims of Japanese bombings.

In 2015, a district court in Japan's Tokyo dismissed the case brought by Su and other survivors, 188 plaintiffs in total, in a shockingly brief judicial proceeding that lasted merely 48 seconds.

"Step on someone's foot, and you owe them an apology," Su said. "Yet they won't acknowledge, let alone saying sorry for, killing so many people."

Su stressed that the pursuit of justice is not about vengeance. "It's to remind the world that peace must never be taken for granted," he said.

With each passing day, however, the living witnesses are disappearing. Of the bombing survivors Su once counted as comrades, many are now bedridden, their firsthand accounts dying with them.

ENDURING PURSUIT OF PEACE

At the Chongqing Stilwell Museum, visitors can explore the legacy of General Joseph Stilwell, the U.S. commander who fought alongside Chinese troops during WWII.

Exhibits, ranging from his Chinese textbooks to the "blood chits" sewn onto American pilots' uniforms reading "This foreigner has come to aid China. Please rescue him," testify to a concerted struggle.

"A museum should show not just history, but the future," said its curator, Tao Yan.

An American visitor has recently left a message in the guestbook: "May friendship endure, and the world know peace."

Eighty years later, China, a key Allied nation during WWII, continues to honor the memory of its struggle against the Axis Powers through preservation efforts and remembrance.

Chinese scholars have restored "Kukan," an Oscar-winning WWII documentary, and screened it in the United States in June.

The Stilwell Museum will host a photo exhibition in California, and the wartime relics across China continue to draw pilgrims.

Yet for Chinese historian Zhou Yong, the war's true conclusion remains elusive.

"Defeating fascism was a shared human victory," he said. "Yet key promises of justice, recognition and remembrance remain unfulfilled."

After WWII, China emerged as a UN Security Council permanent member and an independent power, helping shape the postwar world. As China prepares to commemorate the victory again in September, the memory of the war remains vivid.

"Remembering isn't just about the past," said Zhou, who is also vice president of Chinese Academy of History of Chinese Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. "For the country, it's about drawing strength to face the future."