On the night of July 7, 1937, Japanese troops stationed near Lugou Bridge in the southwest of Beijing demanded entry to nearby Wanping county on the pretext of searching for a missing soldier. The Chinese military rejected the order and the Japanese bombed the county seat and Lugou Bridge. Historians agree that the attack signaled the beginning of Japan's full-scale invasion of China, though Japan had invaded the Northeast in September 1931. [Photo/China.org.cn]