On August 27, 2017, the Symposium for the Writers for the Second Phase of the China-Japan Joint Civil Research on History was Held in Tokyo, Japan. The symposium was co-organized by the Sasakawa Japan-China Friendship Fund and the Institute of International and Strategic Studies, Peking University (IISS, PKU). The Chinese participants were Wang Chaoguang, Vice Director of the institute of World History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), Sun Yang, Associate Professor of the department of History, Nanjing University, Wu Wanhong, Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of Japanese Studies, CASS, Zhang Tuosheng, Director of the IISS, PKU, Associate Prof. Yu Tiejun, Vice President of the IISS, PKU, and Associate Prof. Gui Yongtao, the School of International Studies (SIS), PKU. The Japanese participants in the symposium were Hatano Sumio, Director-General of Japan Center for Asian Historical Records and Emeritus Professor at University of Tsukuba, Prof. Takahara Akio, the Graduate Schools for Law and Politics, University of Tokyo, Prof. Nakamura Motoya, the Department of International and Cultural Studies, Tsuda College, Baba Kimihiko, Editor-In-Chief of Iwanami Shoten, Associate Prof. Osawa Takeshi, the Faculty of Foreign Studies, Kumamoto Gakuen University, Prof. Mizuha Nobuo, the Graduate School of Integrated Arts and Sciences, Hiroshima University, and Sugiura Yasuyuki, Chief Researcher at the National Institute for Defense Studies.

The event is a part of the China-Japan joint research project entitled "Historical Understanding and the Future of Sino-Japanese Relations". Following the first phase of research on the background and causes of the Sino-Japanese War, the second phase of research focuses on the understanding of the history of Sino-Japanese relations after the war. In accordance with the previously determined research sub-topics, writers of the two sides talked and presented their own research and ideas on writing in turn, and discussed future research agenda.