Photo: GT

A flag-raising ceremony and a ceremony to lower the China's national flag at half mast are held at the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, Dec. 13, 2025. Saturday marks the 12th national memorial ceremony for the Nanjing Massacre victims. (Xinhua/Li Bo)

Saturday marks China’s 12th National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims. At 8 am, a solemn ceremony was held at the Memorial Hall of the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, during which the national flag was raised and then lowered to half-mast. 

On Saturday, air-raid sirens will sound across Nanjing, and a series of commemorative activities will be held at the Memorial Hall of the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, as well as across the city, to honor the victims. 

At 10 am, the site will host a ceremony, as the city of Nanjing will pause to remember the victims, according to CCTV. 

The massacre occurred after Japanese troops captured Nanjing, then the capital of China, on December 13, 1937. Over the following six weeks, approximately 300,000 Chinese civilians and unarmed soldiers were killed in one of the most brutal atrocities of World War II.