BEIJING -- The top legislature voted on Thursday to formalize September 3 as Victory Day of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

The decision was made at the three-day session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) which ended on Thursday.

The Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was a just war against Japanese imperialists and was an important part of the World Anti-Fascist War. It was a war of national liberation, the first in modern history in which China won complete victory over foreign aggressors.

The victory became a historical turning point in the Chinese nation's march toward rejuvenation and laid an important foundation for the independence and liberation of the Chinese people, according to the decision.

The Chinese people made great contribution and sacrifices toward anti-fascist victory for people all around the world and in the great cause of world peace, it said.

After the foundation of the People's Republic of China, the central government designated September 3, the day after the Japanese government officially signed the surrender document on September 2, 1945, as victory day.

The NPC's Standing Committee decided to ratify September 3 as the victory day to keep history firmly in mind, recall the Chinese people's arduous resistance against Japanese aggression, and commemorate heroic martyrs in the war as well as all the people who contributed to the victory, the decision said.

The ratification was also aimed at displaying the important role of China's anti-Japanese war in the World Anti-Fascist War, expressing China's firm stance of safeguarding national sovereignty, territorial solidarity and world peace, while carrying forward national spirit with its core of patriotism and inspiring the joint drive to realize the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation.

The country will now hold national memorial activities on September 3 every year.