Memorial ceremony remembers the victims of Nanjing Massacre
Print Edition
A MEMORIAL ceremony was held yesterday for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre during the World War II in the east China city.
The event — the second of its kind — started at 10am with a blast of sirens.
Li Jianguo, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, addressed the event at the Memorial Hall for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre.
“When we recall that day, one of the darkest and most painful scenes in our history rises once again before our eyes,” Li said.
Japanese troops captured Nanjing, then China’s capital, on December 13, 1937 and started a campaign of slaughter lasting longer than a month. More than 300,000 Chinese civilians and soldiers were murdered and more than 20,000 women were raped.
The purpose of the memorial was to highlight that all reasonable people cherish peace and that history should be remembered to promote a peaceful future, Li said.
The memorial is not to prolong hatred but to evoke people’s will to cherish and safeguard peace, he said, while warning against attempts in Japan to beautify aggression.
Substantial progress has been made since China and Japan normalized relations in 1972, he said.
The two countries should “continuously push forward good-neighborly and friendly cooperation and make joint contributions to world peace and human progress,” he said.
Standing solemnly outside the Memorial Hall, more than 10,000 people wore white flowers on their lapels as a symbol of condolence.
Among the crowd were 17 survivors of the massacre and eight veteran soldiers. Yu Changxiang, 89, was a teenager when the atrocity happened.
“I saw Japanese kill Chinese soldiers who had already surrendered. Two babies were suffocated when their parents covered their mouths, fearing their cries would be heard by the Japanese,” he said, adding that the body of his own father was never found.
Yu said he hopes young Chinese will cherish hard-won peace while building up national strength so that “China can never again be bullied.”
Cen Honggui, 92, said he suffered extreme burns when his home was burnt down by Japanese soldiers.
“I still remember the blaze engulfing my little brother. I tried to pull him out but was stopped by the Japanese soldiers. I witnessed him burn to death,” Cen said.
People from Japan, the United States, the Republic of Korea, Canada and Serbia were at the event, as was Stephen Smith, UNESCO chair on genocide education, who was visiting the hall for a second time.
“Remembrance is the start of education. We remember the past, so as to teach for the future,” he said.
The world should be aware of violence wherever it occurs.
“It happened in one country, but people should think universally,” he said.
Ishikawa Yoshimi, a Japanese writer and commentator on international relations, said: “This remembrance is significant for both Chinese and Japanese.”
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII and China’s war against Japan’s aggression.
Commemorative events were also held at other sites across Nanjing.
At Zhongshan docks, where more than 10,000 civilians were killed, 78-year-old Feng Puqing mourned with 300 others.
She said several of her relatives were tortured to death.
“It is not only a commemoration for the nation, but one for my own family.”
Jiao Yunlong, whose grandad fought in WWII, said: “I want to pay homage to the tens of thousands of veterans like him.”
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