Shooting fake Japanese soldiers (or dressing up as them) is part of the fun at Chinese theme park

Jason Lee / Reuters

Visitors use toy weapons to shoot pictures of Japanese soldiers at a theme park in Wuxiang, Shanxi province, China, on Oct. 20.

Visitors at two Chinese theme parks can participate in performances (complete with actors and professional sound and lighting effects) where they can role play as soldiers from the Japanese army or the Chinese Eighth Route Army, one of the main military forces of the Communist Party during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The parks, located near the former headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, cost the local Wuxiang government around $80 million to construct.

Tensions between China and Japan have escalated in recent months over disputed islands in the East China Sea and anti-Japanese sentiment is on the rise in China.

Jason Lee / Reuters

A woman dressed as a Japanese soldier runs along a trench during a live-action role-playing game at a theme park in China.

Jason Lee / Reuters

A boy dressed as a Japanese soldier pretends to shoot.

Jason Lee / Reuters

Actors dressed as Japanese soldiers pretend to shoot a man dressed as a plainclothes Eighth Route Army soldier during a performance at the Eighth Route Army Culture Park in Wuxiang, Shanxi province, on Oct. 20.