On July 7 1937, the long-smoldering conflict between Chinese troops and invading Japanese forces flared into battle at Luguo Bridge (also known as Marco Polo Bridge) south of Beijing. This event, often referred to in the West as the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, and known in China as the July 7 Event, marked the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Within three weeks of the incident, Beijing and Tianjin were in Japanese hands and the north Chinese plain was at the mercy of the Japanese Imperial Army.
Fifty years after the July 7 event, a museum was set up in Wanping County not far from the bridge to commemorate the events of the war. The museum has three main themes: the atrocities committed by the Japanese army, the anti-Japanese struggle by Chinese people, and heroes of the conflict.