Families remember Nanjing Massacre victims as national memorial day approaches

NANJING -- A fortnight before China's national memorial day for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre, families of the victims on Sunday gathered at a memorial hall in Nanjing, the capital of East China's Jiangsu province, to commemorate their loved ones.

Early on Sunday morning, 96-year-old massacre survivor Xia Shuqin led her family in paying tribute before a "wailing wall" outside the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders. They bowed, laid flowers and observed a moment of silence in front of the wall, which bears the names of more than 10,000 people who were killed 88 years ago.

China will observe its 12th national memorial day for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre on Dec 13, commemorating the day in 1937 when invading Japanese troops captured Nanjing -- then the Chinese capital -- and began six weeks of slaughter that claimed the lives of more than 300,000 Chinese civilians and unarmed soldiers.

On the same day the city fell, seven of Xia's nine family members were brutally killed. The then 8-year-old girl survived despite having been stabbed three times and losing consciousness.

"Eighty-eight years, 88 years, 88 years..." Xia murmured repeatedly as she stood before the wall on Sunday, her granddaughter explaining that she was telling her lost family members that she had come to visit them.

With trembling fingers, Xia quickly located her family's names on the wall. Her daughter and great-grandson carefully traced the characters with black pens.

"I'm 96 now. I don't know how many more years I can come here," Xia said. "But I want to live -- to witness the day when the Japanese government admits its crimes. Then I can face the names on this wall with peace."

Liu Minsheng, another survivor, also attended the annual family commemoration. He recalled the winter of 1937, when Japanese invaders had taken his father away from the refugee zone. "He never returned," the 91-year-old said, pointing to a bayonet scar on his right leg. "I hope future generations will remember this history forever so that the tragedy may never be repeated."

Xia and Liu are two of just 24 registered survivors of the Nanjing Massacre who are still alive today. The passing on of witnesses -- eight have died this year alone -- has made the transmission of memory increasingly urgent.

In 2014, China's top legislature designated Dec 13 as a national memorial day for the massacre victims. The Chinese government has also preserved survivors' testimonies in both written transcripts and on video. These documents on the massacre were listed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register in 2015.

As first-hand witnesses age, their descendants and other inheritors have taken up the mission of passing on memories and telling the truth about the Nanjing Massacre, which was one of the most barbaric episodes of World War II.

"Every time I stand here, I hear my father's heart-wrenching cry -- 'Mother, wake up' -- the voice of a nine-year-old boy pleading with his mother lying in blood," Chang Xiaomei, the daughter of the late massacre survivor Chang Zhiqiang, said as she stood before the wall.

To ensure this history is never forgotten, Chang has documented her father's experiences in a book published in Chinese, English and Japanese.

To date, 38 Chinese and foreign nationals, including Chang, have been officially recognized as inheritors of the historical memory of the Nanjing Massacre, continuing the survivors' mission through documentation, education and international exchange.

"I want to tell my grandmother, 'Your son never forgot you, and your granddaughter will continue to tell your story,'" Chang said. "May all victims rest in peace, may such despair never be repeated, and may the flowers of peace forever bloom on this land."