Sirens will sound in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang Thursday evening to commemorate the 77th anniversary of Japan's invasion.

The municipal government will blast the sirens at 9:18 p.m. on Sept. 18 for three minutes in the capital city of Liaoning Province.

Also at that time, TV and radio programs will pause. Vehicles on nine main roads and 18 main streets, which symbolize Sept. 18, will stop and blow horns.

"That is to remind people of the national humiliation," said a government notice.

On Sept. 18, 1931, Shenyang resounded with the noise of cannons and explosions when Japanese forces attacked the barracks of Chinese troops. The move marked the beginning of a Japanese invasion and occupation that lasted 14 years.

Shenyang has sounded sirens on this date each year since 1995 and many other cites follow suit to mark the memory.

Sino-Japanese ties have warmed since 2006 after the exit of then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. He regularly made high-profile visits to the Yasukuni Shrine which honors 14 class A war criminals in the invasion of China during World War II.

China pledged early this month to continue efforts to seek steady and long-term ties with Japan even after the resignation of Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. Fukuda aimed to improve the bilateral relationship since taking office in September of last year.

"We would like to make continued efforts with Japan for the long-term, healthy and steady progress of bilateral ties, which are in the fundamental interests of the two nations and their peoples," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters.

(Xinhua News Agency September 17, 2008)