Collector's passion for the past to help youngsters of the future

The business card of Zhan Hongge is bare but for six Chinese characters that read: A man collecting history.

Mr Zhan, 34, a Shenyang native who quit school at 16, is not a historian, yet history professors, graduate students and journalists come knocking on his door for advice. They come because he is one of the mainland's top collectors of Sino-Japanese war artefacts, with more than 10,000 items - mostly related to the fighting in Northeast China - in his possession.

His war-related finds range from old photographs, periodicals, newspapers, maps, bonds, posters and books to paper money issued by the Japanese government. Today his total assortment of memorabilia - mainly spanning from the late Qing dynasty to the 1950s - tops 100,000 items and includes everything from movies and marriage certificates, to education and railway artefacts.

His Sino-Japanese war finds remain an important part of his overall collection. 'As the war began in Northeast China, I feel it is my responsibility [to keep them] as very few people collect artefacts on this subject,' he said, adding that young people today knew little about that part of history.

'Through my collection I want them to know and remember what had happened at that time. I also want people to know the catastrophe and pain Japan brought to China so we will cherish the peace we enjoy today.'

Mr Zhan has helped spread the message by donating nearly 100 items to 50 museums and exhibition halls across the country, and he has also lent out his collection and exhibited nationwide.