Canada has become the first Western country to include the history of the Japanese invasion of China in textbooks. This has largely been due to Dr. Wang Yujia, Director of Canadian Anti-Japanese War Historic Facts Protection Society. On the 61st anniversary of the Japanese surrender, a People's Daily correspondent in Ottawa held a telephone interview with Wang Yujia.

Wang Yujia says that since 1996 when his association was established, he has been eager to introduce the history of the Japanese invasion of China into textbooks. In 1997, an American-Chinese, Zhang Chunru (Iris Chang), wrote the book the 'Rape of Nanking, the Forgotten Holocaust of World War II'. He invited Zhang Chunru to visit Canada to discuss the book with him. Members of the media were also invited to write about the book which became the best seller for 40 consecutive weeks on the New York Times best seller list.

"29 year old Zhang Chunru received death threats from Japanese right wing members, but she didn't retreat. She continued to pursue public good and tried to publish the facts of the Nanjing Massacre. I was moved by her determination. Then I thought I could help write the history of Japanese invasion into textbooks in Canada."

Since 2004, in order to spread greater understanding about this invasion amongst circles of education in Canada, his association has supported the visit of 20 Canadian high school teachers to China to study the history of Japanese invasion of Asia during the Second World War, and in particular the invasion of China. After each visit of China, they will explain China's situation with the corresponding historical period to the Canadian public.

In 2005, with the efforts of the teachers and his association, the Canadian Ontario Education Commission was allowed to write about the history of the Asian Second World War and include the Japanese invasion of China into high school textbooks. There are currently 900 middle schools using this textbook. Wang Yujia also sent many books about Nanjing Massacre to various middle schools and is now making preparations to organize visits for young Canadian to China to study this history. A delegation of three teachers and 30 students will visit China in October. He also has hopes for the whole of the Western world to know that the invasion of China by the Japanese was a crime and invite the Japanese to acknowledge this.

Wang Yujia was born in Hong Kong in 1948. At the age of 19 he went to Canada and later studied medicine in America. He opened his clinic in 1977 and became a family doctor. In 1994, he founded the Yikang Center for elderly people in Toronto. He has now opened four Yikang Centers; most of his clients are elderly Chinese but there are also senior citizens from Japan, the Philippines and other parts of Asia. Tens of thousands of elderly people have benefited from his Yikang Center.

In 1979, Canadian TV W5 broadcast a program which discriminated against overseas Chinese. In response, he formed an Equal Rights Society to protest against the program which was successful in forcing the TV station to later apologize to the Chinese people in Canada.

Over the past 20 years, the Equal Rights Society has made efforts to be compensated for the Chinese Head Tax implemented by the Canadian government. A long time ago, when many Chinese workers went to Canada to build the Pacific Railway to promote the unity of Canada, the contribution by the Chinese was not recognized but was instead discriminated against.

By the end of last year, during the general election, many Chinese supported the conservative party, believing that they were in a strong position to correct the head tax issue. By the end of August, the government had published a press release in its website stating that the Chinese who had been subjected to the head tax could apply for compensation. Wang Yujia says that he would like to introduce the head tax and Chinese contribution history into Canadian history textbooks.

By People's Daily Online