The winner of a Japanese-language essay contest for Chinese students urged Japan and China to embrace peace and move away from the deep enmity rooted in their wartime past.
In her piece titled "Shiawasena Genzai" ("The Happy Present"), Li Xinchen, 22, writes about the tragic experience of her grandfather, a former soldier who fought in the Korean War, and the importance of preserving the peace that Japan and China managed to achieve after bitter struggles.
The two countries "have been caught in the shadow of the past, cursing each other and don't notice the bright light beaming just above their heads," she says in the essay that won the contest last December.