Rana Mitter is a professor of modern Chinese politics and history at the University of Oxford. His most recent book Forgotten Ally: China's World War II</a> was named as a 2013 Book of the Year in the Financial Times and the Economist. The views expressed here are solely his.</q></p></div><div class="el__leafmedia el__leafmedia--sourced-paragraph"><p class="zn-body__paragraph"><cite class="el-editorial-source"> (CNN)</cite>On Thursday, there will be a major parade in the heart of Beijing, commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in Asia.  </p></div><p class="zn-body__paragraph">In the West, <a href="cnn.com/2015/08/30/opinions/china-military-parade-nurkin/index.html">many will see the military hardware</a> and the troops that will, no doubt, be at the center of the event.  </p><p class="zn-body__paragraph">But relatively few will remember a historical fact that underpins the ceremony: China was the first country to enter what would become the Second World War, and it was the ally of the United States and the British empire from just after Pearl Harbor in 1941, to the Japanese surrender in 1945.  </p><p class="zn-body__paragraph">Yet today, China's memory of the war is becoming more, not less, important, as we move further away from it.  </p><p class="zn-body__paragraph">And many in China are becoming resentful that the West fails to remember that China was itself a significant player in the eventual Allied victory.</p><div class="ad ad--epic ad--mobile" data-ad-text="show"><div id="ad_rect_btf_02" class="ad-ad_rect_btf_02 ad-refresh-default"></div></div><ul class="cn cn-list-hierarchical-xs cn--idx-7 cn-zoneAdContainer"></ul><p class="zn-body__paragraph"><a href="http://cnn.com/2015/07/19/asia/china-jews-schindler-ho-feng-shan/">READ: The 'Chinese Schindler' who saved thousands of Jews</a></p><p class="zn-body__paragraph"><h3>What if?</h3></p><p class="zn-body__paragraph">Chinese suffering during the war is not in dispute. </p><p class="zn-body__paragraph">Some 14 million Chinese died and up to 100 million became refugees during the eight years of the conflict with Japan from 1937 to 1945.  </p><div class="el__embedded el__embedded--standard"><div class="el__image--standard js__image--standard"><div><img class="media__image media__image--responsive" alt="Rana Mitter is a professor of Chinese history and politics at the University of Oxford.  " data-src-mini="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/150820144323-rana-mitter-small-169.jpg" data-src-xsmall="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/150820144323-rana-mitter-medium-plus-169.jpg" data-src-small="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/150820144323-rana-mitter-large-169.jpg" data-src-medium="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/150820144323-rana-mitter-exlarge-169.jpg" data-src-large="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/150820144323-rana-mitter-super-169.jpg" data-src-full16x9="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/150820144323-rana-mitter-full-169.jpg" data-src-mini1x1="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/150820144323-rana-mitter-small-11.jpg"  data-demand-load="not-loaded" data-eq-pts="mini: 0,  xsmall: 221,  small: 308,  medium: 461,  large:  781" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhEAAJAJEAAAAAAP///////wAAACH5BAEAAAIALAAAAAAQAAkAAAIKlI+py+0Po5yUFQA7"><div class="img__preloader"></div><noscript><img alt="Rana Mitter is a professor of Chinese history and politics at the University of Oxford.  " class="media__image" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/150820144323-rana-mitter-large-169.jpg"></noscript><div class="media__caption el__gallery_image-title">Rana Mitter is a professor of Chinese history and politics at the University of Oxford.  </div></div></div></div><p class="zn-body__paragraph">But overall, was the Chinese contribution to the war really so important?  Consider a "what if" scenario.  </p><p class="zn-body__paragraph">On July 7, 1937, a clash between Chinese and Japanese troops at the Marco Polo Bridge, just outside Beijing, led to all-out war.  A year later, by mid-1938, the Chinese military situation was desperate.   </p><p class="zn-body__paragraph">Most of eastern China lay in Japanese hands: Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan.  Many outside observers assumed that China could not hold out, and the most likely scenario was a Japanese victory over China.  </p><p class="zn-body__paragraph">Nonetheless, China's leader, the Nationalist Chiang Kai-shek, along with his unlikely allies, the Communists, refused to surrender, retreating inland to carry on resistance.  </p><p class="zn-body__paragraph">This decision changed the fate of Asia.   </p><p class="zn-body__paragraph">If China had surrendered in 1938, Japan would have controlled China for a generation or more.  Japan's forces might have turned toward the USSR, Southeast Asia, or even British India.  </p><p class="zn-body__paragraph">The European and Asian wars might never have come together as they did after Pearl Harbor in 1941.  </p><p class="zn-body__paragraph"><a href="http://cnn.com/2015/08/12/asia/japan-world-war-ii-zero-pilot/">READ: 'Zero' fighter pilot laments Japan's wartime past</a></p><p class="zn-body__paragraph"><h3>Global war</h3></p><p class="zn-body__paragraph">Yet the Chinese hung on, and after Pearl Harbor, the war became genuinely global.  The western Allies and China were now united in their war against Japan.  </p><div class="el__leafmedia el__leafmedia--raw-html">