Students in middle and elementary schools of China have all received new textbooks that changed the duration of China's war against Japanese aggression from 8 years to 14 years, reported Beijing Youth Daily.

The report said that major education presses in China like the People's Education Press and Beijing Normal University Publishing Group all completed the revision in their textbooks before the start of the new semester in late February.

Not only were the textbooks that explain the war in detail revised, but also the workbooks and those used by teachers were reprinted, according to the report.

The move follows the release of a document by the Ministry of Education at the beginning of the year that said the change of duration of the war should be applied in all textbooks in China, so that the crimes committed by Japanese troops in the war could be fully reflected.

The revision in textbooks used by university students is also underway.

Historians and education experts said that it is more precise to say that China's war against Japanese aggression started with the September 18 Incident in 1931 and lasted for 14 years until the surrender of Japan in 1945.

The July 7 Incident of 1937, on the other hand, should be a mark for the start of Japan's full-scale invasion and China's full-scale resistance, the experts added.

China was the first nation to fight against fascist forces. More than 35 million Chinese soldiers and civilians were killed or wounded in the anti-Japanese war.