The tragic wartime history of the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing during the World War II has inspired French oil painter Christian Poirot to create a series of artworks to pay tribute to the victims. On Tuesday, he donated the oil paintings to a war memorial museum in the city in Jiangsu province.
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre - a 40-odd-day slaughter in 1937 during which the Japanese troops killed about 300,000 people in Nanjing. China held a state memorial ceremony at the Nanjing Massacre Museum on Wednesday morning to remember the victims.
Poirot said he knew nothing about the Nanjing Massacre or the history of forced comfort women – sex slaves for the Japanese military back then, until he came to the city three years ago. A friend told him about the brutal massacre.
"In the international community, survivors of South Korean 'comfort women' speak out their anger bravely. But voices of those from China are relatively weak," China News Service quoted the 56-year-old artist as saying on Tuesday.
"I hope to provide spiritual support to those Chinese women survivors through my paintings, and to help them voice their misfortunes."
In order to better understand the history, Poirot lived a month in the Nanjing Museum of the Site of Lijixiang Comfort Stations from September to October.
"During my stay here, I saw the pictures of these 'comfort women' every day. I felt deeply grieved when I saw their painful expressions…This (the museum) is a place where people would cry consciously. I almost finished these paintings in one go," Poirot said. He also said he hopes his brush works could help call for peace of humankind.
