A memorial for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre was held in the city on Thursday as a prelude for the upcoming 4th National Memorial Day. Also on Thursday, 20 victims’ names were added to the Wailing Wall in the memorial hall.
The mourning activities were held in the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall. Thursday’s event is the fourth of its kind this year.
Lu Hongcai, a massacre survivor, displayed a family letter to bring people’s memory back to 1937 when Nanjing fell to the invading Japanese troops, forcing his 9-member family to seek shelter in two places.
Lu’s mother was having difficulty moving about as she was about to labor. She therefore sought shelter in a cellar. Unfortunately, the Japanese soldiers broke open the cellar and killed Lu’s parents and his grandfather’s family. Six were killed in the massacre.
Chen Guixiang, also a massacre survivor, came here to mourn his family members killed by the Japanese soldiers during the war.
Chen was 13 years old when the Japanese army stormed into Nanjing. She hid in an attic with her cousin. The Japanese soldiers found them. Chen was lucky enough to flee but her cousin was raped by the beasts.
Chen got untied with her grandma but later they were captured by the Japanese soldiers. Her grandma was killed by the Japanese soldiers with a rifle butt when she was attempting to shield her granddaughter.
The memorial hall workers and the massacre survivors joined hands to raise the curtain for the addition of 20 victims’ names to the Wailing Wall.
The Wailing Wall is now inscribed with 10635 names from the original number of 3000 when it was erected. The names of the victims, like knives carved in each person's heart, have become the ironclad evidence against the atrocities committed by the invading Japanese troops during the Nanjing Massacre.
On Dec 13, 1937, the Japanese army occupied Nanjing and during the following six weeks bore witness to the inhumane disgrace and bloody massacre exerted on the city. No less than 300,000 innocent civilians and unarmed Chinese soldiers were brutally slaughtered in mass and individual beheadings, burying alive, burning, and killing races. More than 20,000 women were raped and many were then killed.
