<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article contains Chinese text . Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters . </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article contains Chinese text . Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters . </Td> </Tr> <P> The Second Sino - Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan from July 7, 1937 to September 9, 1945 . It began with the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937 in which a dispute between Japanese and Chinese troops escalated into a battle . The conflict then escalated further into a full - scale war . It ended with the unconditional surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945 to the Allies of World War II . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Th> Events leading to World War II </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> <Table> <Tr> <Td> Pacification of Libya </Td> <Td> 1923--1932 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Japanese invasion of Manchuria </Td> <Td> 1931 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Franco - Soviet - Czech Pact </Td> <Td> 1935 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Second Italo - Ethiopian War </Td> <Td> 1935--36 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Remilitarization of the Rhineland </Td> <Td> 1936 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Spanish Civil War </Td> <Td> 1936--39 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Anti-Comintern Pact </Td> <Td> 1936 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Second Sino - Japanese War </Td> <Td> 1937 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Anschluss </Td> <Td> 1938 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Munich crisis </Td> <Td> 1938 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> German occupation of Czechoslovakia </Td> <Td> Mar. 1939 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> German ultimatum to Lithuania </Td> <Td> Mar. 1939 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> British guarantee to Poland </Td> <Td> Mar. 1939 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Invasion of Albania </Td> <Td> Apr. 1939 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Pact of Steel </Td> <Td> May 1939 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Molotov--Ribbentrop Pact </Td> <Td> Aug. 1939 </Td> </Tr> </Table> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> </Table>

Who was china fighting in world war 2