Family commemoration activities for Nanjing Massacre victims start

Imaginechina

Standing in front of a memorial wall in the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, Xia Shuqin expressed her thoughts to the family members she lost in the atrocity.

"I've come to see you again. I'm old. I don't know if I can come and present flowers to you in the future," said Xia, 94, who survived the Nanjing Massacre.

This year's family commemoration for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre began on Sunday in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province.

On December 13, 1937, invading Japanese troops captured Nanjing, then the Chinese capital. Over six weeks, the invaders killed more than 300,000 Chinese civilians and unarmed soldiers.

In 2014, China's top legislature designated December 13 as the national memorial day for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre.

From Sunday, family members of the victims will pay tribute to their loved ones in various ways, such as by presenting flowers before the memorial wall. A total of 10,665 names of victims are engraved on the wall, representing the 300,000 victims of the massacre.

Ge Fengjin, the son of a late Nanjing Massacre survivor, attended the family commemorations.

"As descendants of the massacre survivors and inheritors of the memory of the massacre, we have the responsibility to pass on the historical truth," Ge said. "The purpose of remembering history is to look to the future and help more people understand the value of peace."

Only 38 registered survivors of the Nanjing Massacre are alive today.