From the north, south, east and west, Chinese people gathered on Thursday, mourning the victims of the Nanjing Massacre murdered by Japanese soldiers 70 years ago and wishing for eternal peace in the world.
The bell tolled and Nanjing was in grief as nearly 10,000 people gathered in the eastern China city at 10:00 a.m. to mourn the 300,000 lives lost to the Japanese invaders 70 years ago.
The rally was held in a square in front of the memorial hall for the Chinese victims massacred by Japanese soldiers, with the crowd mourning for the dead and presenting wreaths.
The mourners, including Nanjing school children, college students, religious people, survivors of the massacre and international friends, passed a Nanjing peace declaration that calls on "all the peace-loving people to be united in building a peaceful, harmonious and reconciliatory new world". "The Nanjing Massacre is one of three major tragedies during World War II.
China-Japan relationship has developed comprehensively since the two countries normalized their diplomatic ties 35 years ago," said Xu Zhonglin, chairman of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
"But a few right wingers in Japan ignore history fact, attempting to deny the Nanjing Massacre. Their action has severely damaged the healthy and stable development of China-Japan relationship," Xu said.
The Nanjing Massacre Memorial is an important facility to review the past and lament the dead. It has been enlarged and reopened today in order to reveal the atrocities of Japanese aggressors, to remind the Chinese nation to fight against the Japanese rightists' attempts to distort history and whitewash war crimes, he pointed out.
By recalling the past, the memorial also conveys Chinese people's wishes for peace with all nations in the world, the official noted.
Over 200 monks and Buddhist disciples from China and Japan also rallied and held religious ceremony Thursday to lament the Nanjing Massacre victims.
Japanese aggressors occupied Nanjing, then capital of China, on Dec. 13, 1937, and launched a six-week massacre. More than 300,000Chinese people, including disarmed soldiers, civilians, women and children were massacred, according to historical documents.
Source: Xinhua
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