七七盧溝橋事變 The July 7 Incident, also known as the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, occurred on 7 July 1937 near Beijing. Japanese forces, citing the alleged disappearance of a soldier, demanded entry into a nearby Chinese town. Upon refusal, they opened fire. The Nationalist (KMT) Government army engaged the invading Japanese troops, and the confrontation rapidly escalated, marking the outbreak of the full-scale Second Sino-Japanese War. | John Yam Poh Nam

INVASION SCARES #3: The Marco Polo Bridge Incident In the summer of 1937, just outside the walled town of Wanping, Chinese and Japanese military garrisons were separated only by the Yongding River with the Marco Polo Bridge across it. At this time tensions between expansionist Japan and China were high, all it would take to set things off was one false alarm. In the evening of July 7th, 1937, the local Imperial Japanese military forces decided to hold military exercises. Normally they would warn