The 65th anniversary of the Rape of Nanking was marked yesterday with a call for world peace.
Air raid sirens wailed across the city at 10am and residents paused for three minutes to pay respect to the victims, an annual ritual which was followed by a memorial ceremony.
More than 3,000 people, including Nanjing party secretary Li Yuanchao, veteran soldiers, and some survivors of the massacre, attended a ceremony in the Jiangdongmen Memorial Hall.
City mayor Luo Zhijun said in a speech that the memorial ceremony was aimed at reminding people not to repeat the mistakes of history. As in previous years, Beijing officials did not attend. In recent years, even the Nanjing mayor has occasionally stayed away from the ceremony in order to keep events low-key and avoid damaging Sino-Japanese relations.
More than 300,000 soldiers and civilians were killed and 20,000 women raped as Japanese imperial army troops stormed through the then-Chinese capital.
According to official media, peace is the theme of this year's ceremony. Officials have expanded the activities and now commemorate the Nanjing International Peace Day in order to give the event a deeper meaning.
A survivor of the Rape of Nanking, Ni Cuiping, who was pictured on the front of the South China Morning Post yesterday, gave a testimony of her personal suffering and told how her family members were all killed.