Honor guards walk past a commemorative wall at the Nanjing Massacre memorial in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province to mark the anniversary of the tragedy on Sunday. Japanese troops killed 300,000 civilians and prisoners of war after occupying the Chinese city on December 13, 1937. Photo: CFP
Sirens blared at 10 am as activities for the second National Memorial Day to commemorate the Nanjing Massacre were held in the capital of East China's Jiangsu province.
"When we recall that day, one of the darkest and most painful scenes in our history rises once again before our eyes,"
Li Jianguo, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said at the Memorial Hall for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre.
He added that China will always remember the massacre.
Japanese troops captured Nanjing, then China's capital, on December 13, 1937 and started a campaign of slaughter lasting over a month. More than 300,000 Chinese civilians and soldiers who had laid down their arms were murdered and over 20,000 women were raped.
Li said the memorial shows that all reasonable people cherish peace and that history should be remembered to promote a peaceful future.
The memorial is not meant to prolong hatred but to evoke the people's will to cherish and safeguard peace, he said, while warning against attempts in Japan to justify aggression.
2015 marks the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII and China's overlapping war against the Japanese.
Li said substantial progress has been made since China and Japan normalized relations in 1972.
They should "continuously push forward good-neighborly and friendly cooperation and make joint contributions to world peace and human progress," he added.
More than 10,000 people gathered outside the Memorial Hall and wore white flowers on their lapels as a symbol of condolence.
People from Japan, the US, South Korea, Canada and Serbia also attended the memorial.
Stephen Smith, UNE
SCO chair on Genocide Education, came to the hall for the second time.
"Remembrance is the start of education," he said, adding that "we remember the past, so as to teach for the future."
Commemorative events were also held in other sites across Nanjing.
At a dock where more than 10,000 civilians were killed by Japanese forces, 78-year-old Feng Puqing mourned with 300 others.
She said that her uncles and some other relatives were tortured to death by the Japanese. "It is not only a commemoration for the nation, but one for my own family."
China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on Sunday held a memorial for Nanjing Massacre victims at the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defense.
During the memorial, Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying laid a wreath.
In February 2014, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress designated December 13 as National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims.