New | Nanking massacre memorial day should be international event, says NPC delegate

A National People’s Congress (NPC) delegate who has been lobbying for a memorial day to mark the Nanking massacre wants state leaders to attend and turn it into an international event.

Vice-President of the Nanjing Municipal People’s Congress Zou Jianping told the Beijing News  he hoped "at least one state leader attends” and suggested at least one vice-chairman of the National People’s Congress or a vice-chairman of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

Xinhua reported on Tuesday that the central government was mulling whether to make September 3 the “Victory Day of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression,” marking the day after Japan’s surrender in the second world war on September 2, 1945. They are also considering making December 13 a “national memorial day to commemorate those killed by Japanese aggressors during the Nanking massacre”.

Zou has previously submitted three proposals to the NPC to establish a national day of remembrance for the massacre also known as the “rape of Nanking”, with the last application in 2012.

“I think a lot of normal people all feel the same at that time every year: that history should not be forgotten. As an NPC delegate, I have a duty to give a voice to the people,” he said.

China says 300,000 civilians and soldiers were killed in the then capital over six weeks of rape, slaughter and destruction in 1937.