Record of resilience

Women support the war with handmade clothes in October 1937.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Many of the materials they saw in Taiwan were hardly available on the mainland back then, and Li decided to purchase more than just what was necessary to start the Democratic Party museum.

A total of 15,000 photos shot between 1913 and 1949 were bought.

Other than the museum's immediate requirement, Li's team bought some 6,200 photos, taken by journalists of a former KMT news agency from 1931-45, to produce the book.

Published by Chongqing Publishing House, Memories of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression will be out in three volumes, covering nine themes related to the war, including military affairs, international cooperation, economic development, culture and education.

"These photos vividly describe the Chinese cities at the time, how they were bombed by the Japanese army, how Chinese people fought against the aggression, as well as the politics, diplomacy and culture during the war," Li tells China Daily.

The book is full of records. There's evidence, for example, of how the Marco Polo Bridge Incident was plotted by the Japanese army long before battle broke out on July 7, 1937.

A photo shows a Chinese official telling reporters about the incident. Several other photos show how the Chinese army kept their word on a following cease-fire but the Japanese did not.

"This is proof of our version of the incident as well as the war," Li says.