The 2024 family commemoration for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre was launched on Sunday in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province.
It came less than a fortnight before China's national memorial day on Dec. 13, which was inaugurated ten years ago.
Families of the victims paid tribute to their loved ones in front of a "wailing wall" outside the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders. This wall has the names of 10,665 victims killed 87 years ago engraved on it.
On Dec. 13, 1937, invading Japanese troops captured Nanjing, then the Chinese capital. Over a period of six weeks, these invaders killed more than 300,000 Chinese civilians and unarmed soldiers.
Among the mourners was 95-year-old Xia Shuqin. On Dec. 13, 1937, then eight-year-old Xia narrowly survived the brutal killing spree, with seven out of nine members of her immediate family slaughtered.
Her father knelt down and begged the invaders not to hurt civilians, but was shot dead.
Her mother and one-year-old sister, who hid beneath a table, were pulled out by the invaders. They dashed the baby to the ground and stabbed her to death. Later, Japanese soldiers raped her mother and killed her.
Xia's grandparents were also murdered by the invaders, while her two elder sisters were raped and killed. She hid in a quilt and lost consciousness after being stabbed three times.
Xia is among the 32 registered Nanjing Massacre survivors -- with an average age of over 94.
The Chinese government has preserved survivors' testimonies in both written documents and video footage. These records of the massacre were listed by UNESCO on the Memory of the World Register in 2015.
However, as the survivors are getting old and dying, their descendants are recognized as important for passing on memories and telling the truth about the atrocities.
Annual family commemoration for Nanjing Massacre victims launched in east China
