The International Day of Peace is coming on Sep. 21.
The International Day of Peace, is a United Nations-sanctioned holiday observed annually on 21 September from 2002, which was scheduled in the previous year.
The day was first celebrated in 1982, and is kept by many nations, political groups, military groups, and people. In 2013 the day was dedicated by the peace education, the key preventive means to reduce war sustainably. This year, Nanjing, the only International City of Peace in China so far, is going to be the host city for this occasion and hold a series of events from Sep. 18th to 20th.
What is “International Cities of Peace”?
International Cities of Peace is a nonprofit, tax-exempt association dedicated to connecting, promoting, and encouraging the global cities of peace movement. An Advisory Council of leaders from global Cities of Peace organizations is working to create an all-inclusive, non-polarizing network of world citizens working on the ground to bring peace to their communities.
Nanjing is the only International City of Peace in China
In the past few years, Nanjing has been trying to apply to the International Cities of Peace for membership. On August 31 last year, Nanjing was finally approved for the application, and it was announced 169th International City of Peace in the world in a video clip delivered by the association on Sep. 4. Now, Nanjing is the one and only International City of Peace across China.
Joining the World Organization for International Cities of Peace requires certain conditions such as having major peace-related incidents or serious war traumas, said Liu Cheng, a professor at Nanjing University. During the Nanjing massacre, more than 300,000 Chinese soldiers and civilians with no weapons were slaughtered and more than 20,000 women were raped. Over the years, Nanjing has adhered to the concept of peace and has done a great deal of work to pay tribute to the history and cherish peace, qualified for the application.
Nanjing carries out a series of peace activities
December 13 is observed as the National Memorial Day for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre.
On February 27, 2014, the Seventh Session of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress adopted a decision to designate December 13 of each year as the National Memorial Day for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre. Since then, Nanjing has taken the initiative to hold a series of peace-themed activities at home and abroad every year.
Candlelight ceremony
Charity hikes to pay tribute to the Nanjing International Security Zone
Nanjing has been a pioneer in peace research
Winning international recognition
Nanjing established the Nanjing Massacre History and International Peace Research Institute, which is a key high-end think tank of Jiangsu province and mainly studies the Nanjing Massacre, World Peace and Equality Issues. The Nanjing Institute for Holocaust History and International Peace, in cooperation with Nanjing University, established the first Centre for Peace Studies and Peace Subject in China. The Institute will work with relevant research institutions to promote the publications like the World Memory Directory: Archives of the Nanjing Massacre and the Diary of Rabe (Photocopy).
In 2017, UNESCO established a "Chair for Peace Studies" at Nanjing University, giving full play to the role of the chair, strengthening exchanges and discussions with research institutions of peace studies at home and abroad, and releasing the "Report on the Development of Peace Studies in China".
Local legislation
Safeguarding the state memorial services
On August 28 this year, at the fifth session of the 16th Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of Nanjing Municipality, the Regulations on the Protection of State Sacrificial Rites (Draft) were submitted for deliberation. Nanjing has formulated the Regulations on the Protection of National Public Memorials, which have filled the legislative gaps in promoting the standardization and rule of law in the guarantee of national public memorial activities.
File
The sense of ritual is an important experience for the mass to accept patriotic education.
"History is the best textbook." The regulation has a special chapter on "publicity and education." It puts forward the construction of a comprehensive and complete national publicity and education system, thorough patriotic education, and the promotion of patriotism spirit.
Telling good Chinese stories
Exhibitions of Nanjing Massacre go to foreign countries
To win international recognition
The exhibition Witness: The 1937 Nanjing Massacre was held in Caen, France, October-December 2016; Witness: The 1937 Nanjing Massacre and Witness: Memory of Nanjing 1937 were displayed in Minsk, Belarus and Prague, Czech June-July 2018. In recent years, with the support of many parties, the Nanjing Massacre Historical Exhibition went overseas to win the recognition of the international communities.
The Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders established peaceful and friendly relations with the Museums of War and Peace in the United States, France and Japan, and conducted peaceful exchanges with more than 10 countries. More than 30 foreign cities, including San Francisco; Aarhus, Denmark; Osaka, Japan; Caen, France, have held exhibitions, witness testimony meetings and peaceful exchanges.
The exhibition
Nanjing is establishing multi-media network
Promoting the cultural image of Nanjing
"With the theme of peace, Nanjing is embracing new chances and moving towards a bigger stage with exchanges and lessons learned from international cities.
Mr. Fred Arment, Executive Director of the International Cities of Peace project, said that after Nanjing has become a city of peace, it will make it easier for all the people in the world to have a better understanding of the long tradition of the Chinese people that they love and pursue peace, and will also understand the efforts made by China in the pursuit of world peace.
（source:ourjiangsu.com）
