Japanese citizens join memorial to mark Nanking Massacre
Japanese citizens and monks were among the 3,000 or so people at the Nanking Massacre Memorial Hall yesterday to commemorate the 69th anniversary of Nanjing's invasion by Japanese forces, according to mainland media.
Sirens sounded throughout the city for two three-minute periods in the morning in memory of the estimated 300,000 citizens killed by troops between December 13, 1937, and January, 1938, when the Japanese forces began to withdraw.
Nanjing was known as Nanking during the occupation. At the memorial hall ceremony, a Nanjing resident read out a plea for world peace, Xinhua reported.
'The Nanjing people, who have suffered much from war, most cherish peace. We would like to build a harmonious world. We call on all peace-loving organisations and people to unite in working towards a peaceful, harmonious and tolerant world,' Xin Yingmei said.
The memorial hall is undergoing a 470 million yuan expansion, which is due to be finished in April.
Nanjing University historian Zhang Xianwen was quoted by the Yangtze Evening News as saying that the first book to contain the names of all of the massacre victims would be published at the end of next year, following three years of collation efforts that included checks of overseas archives.