九一八事变

jiǔ yī bā shì biàn

the Mukden or Manchurian Railway Incident of 18th September 1931 used by the Japanese as a pretext to annex Manchuria

also known as Liutiaogou incident 柳條溝事變|柳条沟事变

九

jiǔ

nine

一

yī

one

八

bā

eight

事

shì

matter

变

biàn

to change