Contemporary China was mostly in a state of turmoil, arising from inside the country as well as from outside. The nation's survival was constantly under threat. For a long time the government and the general public alike were often preoccupied with the so-called "national disgrace" and often adopted a negative strategy to remind the public. Contrary to "national disgrace", positive, active and glorious moments of history is less represented. For example, the eight years of Anti-Japanese War could be considered as a "sacred" fight against foreign aggression, and the people who had fought and died in the War should be taken as "heroes" with respect and worthy of commemoration. However, the heroic deeds of these martyrs had seldom been the main shaft of any official commemoration. And yet, as a matter of fact, during the pressing period of the War, the national government started to conduct a census on the heroic deeds of the war martyrs; it demanded every province, every city, and every county to investigate the status quo of the number of shrines built for the martyrs and the events of worshipping them. As a result, by the end of 1942, there were shrines built in 624 counties (44% of a total of 1, 414 counties who had reported to the central government), and a total of 33, 886 spirit tablets established for the martyrs. Records were also kept for the martyrs: the numbers of martyrs were 3, 917 in 1941and 5, 839 in 1942, with information of names, birthplaces, official ranks, education and experience, dates and sites of death, and members of their families left behind, etc. After 1942, the national government continued the investigation, and the task did not stop after the War was over. It is obvious from the records that the national government has been highly concerned about the matter, sparing no efforts in collecting data, and in commending and commemorating the heroes. For the people and the government, it was a hard time-the country was in turmoil, economy was low, finance and budget were tight, and the nation was nearly taken over by the enemy. With all the existing records, it almost changed the incompetent and inefficient sterotype people had about the national government for years. To put this matter side by side with the efforts of the late Ching period on similar matters, we have observed three important points. First, the national government's efforts in conducting the census concerns the legitimacy of the regime-whoever had the responsibility to conduct the survey and to commend and commemorate the martyrs had the legitimacy to reign. Secondly, the national government’s action for the war martyrs was nothing special as this was something which had been done over and over again in the past of Chinese history. However, the fact that it put more emphasis on the commemoration part was something deserving appraisal. Thirdly, the commemoration act had achieved the purpose of shaping a memorable history. The weak regime was able to restore nationalism with its own characteristics and traits. Through this effort people could envision their collective efforts and endeavors against foreign threats. And yet, the national government's efforts in this matter did not receive adequate response and acknowledgement from the general public. The proper procedures for commemoration-including rank-raising, commending, and providing financial aids for the bereaved family-should be done according to "the Regulations for Awards during Wartime" first, and then each local government should follow "the Outline for Establishing Shrines for War Martyrs" and related regulations to report to the Interior Department for ratification. As most of these regulations were not ready at the time, neither the central government nor the local had any definite idea how to proceed and they did not act according to a fixed procedure. From the documents of the Interior Department, we have found that among the list of names presented by local governments, many did not actually receive any commendation or financial aid. Similarly, many of those who had received commendation and financial aid did not have tablets set up in the shrines of their birthplaces. Moreover, we also have found that the documents about the martyrs compiled by the Interior Department involved those born in the regions governed by the national government only, excluding the regions governed by the Communist regime or by the Wang regime at Nanking. This challenged the legitimacy of the national government and devalued the efforts made. In 1949, after the Republic of China settled down in Taiwan, the many shrines in mainland China were mostly destroyed and forgotten. Although now both parties across the strait acknowledged that the Anti-Japanese War was a glorious event in the history of China, it remained an empty symbol to most Chinese.