10,000 gather to recall victims of Nanking massacre
As tensions rise between China and Japan, in the city of Nanjing they were grieving for those who died in a previous conflict between the two
Air raid sirens sounded in the eastern city of Nanjing yesterday as nearly 10,000 people attended a ceremony to mourn those who died 75 years ago in the Nanking massacre.
The Chinese government says 300,000 civilians and soldiers died in a six-week massacre after Japanese troops entered what was then the capital on December 13, 1937.
At the Nanking massacre memorial hall, built on a pit where thousands of victims were buried, people sang the Chinese national anthem as soldiers in dress uniforms carried memorial wreaths across a stage.
"We are here to recall history, grieve for compatriots who suffered and died, and educate the people about the lessons of history," said Yang Weize, secretary of the Communist Party in Nanjing, as the city is now known.
The ceremony took place amid rising tensions between China and Japan over a territorial dispute in the East China Sea.
Li Gaoshan, who was a Kuomintang soldier in the battle to protect Nanjing before the city was occupied, said he hoped wars and such tragedies would never happen again.
One student said she and 30 classmates had travelled for an hour from the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics to visit the hall. Their visit was inspired by posters on the campus calling on students to register their opposition to the Japanese government's decision to buy three of the disputed Diaoyu Islands, known as the Senkakus in Japan.