Full coverage: 85th Anniversary of the '9/18 Incident'

Today China marks the 85th anniversary of the September 18th Incident, when Japanese troops started to invade Northeast China in 1931. 85 years ago today, Japanese troops blew up a section of rail under their control near the city of Shenyang in Northeast China.

Japan then accused Chinese troops of sabotage, and used the incident as a pretext to launch an attack. They bombarded a barracks of Chinese troops near Shenyang the same evening. It was the trigger for Japan's large-scale armed invasion of northeast China. Japan would go on to invade the rest of China and much of Asia, leading to the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

The brutal war plunged China into devastating turmoil, with half of the country involved. More than 35 million soldiers and civilians were killed.