December the 13th marks the 75th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre. A series of official memorials have been held in the eastern China city to commemorate the estimated 300 thousand Chinese killed by Japanese troops during World War Two.
An unforgettable part of history for Chinese people.
Sirens wailed in the chilling morning... Nanjing was in grief as people from across the city, and the world, gathered here to mourn the estimated 300,000 lives taken by Japanese troops 75 years ago.
During World War Two, the Japanese army invaded almost half of China, causing tens of millions of casualties and devestating cities and towns. The then Chinese capital, Nanjing, suffered six weeks of murder and rape.
Every year, the siren rings here in front of the memorial museum, reminding the city of the nightmare in 1937.
On December 9th that year, after securing control of Shanghai, Japanese troops launched a massive attack upon Nanjing. Four days later, the city fell.
In the following six weeks, the Japanese forces engaged in an orgy of murder, rape, looting and arson that came to be known as the Nanjing Massacre.
Chinese and Western eyewitness accounts have documented the crimes. On December 19th, Reverend James McCallum wrote in his diary:
"I know not where to end. Never I have heard or read such brutality. Rape! Rape! Rape! We estimate at least one thousand cases a night, and many by day. In case of resistance or anything that seems like disapproval, there is a bayonet stab or a bullet. People are hysterical... The whole Japanese army seems to be free to go and come as it pleases, and to do whatever it pleases."
The International Military Tribunal of the Far East, also known as the Tokyo Trials, estimated more than 200-thousand people had died in the Nanjing Massacre. Most experts put that number at about 300-thousand.
Japanese newspaper covered one of the most notorious atrocities... a killing contest between two Japanese officers. Toshiaki Mukai and Tsuyoshi Noda competed to be the first to kill 100 people with a sword.
Although today the Japanese government has admitted to the killings, some Japanese nationalist groups deny these events ever took place.
There are misunderstandings of this history, we want to tell the world the right facts. He says.
Many Japanese prime ministers have visited the Yasukuni Shrine, a shrine for Japanese soldiers who died during World War 2. These include the criminals of the Nanjing Massacre. To this day, the tragedy of Nanjing continues to be a stumbling block in Japan’s relations with other Asian nations.
The memorial was held at a square in front of the memorial hall for the Chinese victims massacred by Japanese soldiers. The crowd mourned the dead and presented wreaths.
A citizen representative read the Nanjing Peace Declaration.
Citizen representative, Nanjing city, said,"Peace rather than war, development rather than poverty, cooperation rather than confrontation is the eternal theme of human civilization and progress."
The mourners included local school children, college students, survivors of the massacre and international friends.
The Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall is an important reminder of the past and a place to mourn the dead.
By recalling the past, the memorial also conveys Chinese people’s wishes for peace with all nations in the world.
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News for 75th anniversary of Nanjing massacre
The Nanjing Massacre: Scenes from a Hideous Slaughter 75 Years Ago
13, 1937, Japanese troops captured the city of Nanjing, then the capital of ... Then and now, the Nanjing massacre remains one of the darkest ...
