To commemorate the 85th anniversary of the September 18th Incident, also known as the "Mukden Incident", the 9.18 Historical Museum in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province, is collecting items of interest relating to the incident, or that may have a special symbolism to those days, from around the world.

On that day in 1931, Japanese troops, in a staged event, detonated a blast on a section of the railway in northern Shenyang. They falsely accused the Chinese and used this as a pretext to attack a garrison in the Beidaying area of the city on the same night.

The incident was the start of the Japanese military occupation of Northeast China, then known as Manchuria.