Japan's protest at UNESCO listing 'unreasonable'

NANJING -- Japan's protest at UNESCO's listing of Nanjing Massacre was unreasonable and the inscription will play a positive role in safeguarding peace in human development, experts said.

On Friday, documents concerning the Nanjing Massacre were listed in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.

Japan's foreign ministry has questioned the authenticity of the documents, calling on UNESCO to be neutral and fair, and for changes to be made to the process.

From December 13, 1937 until January of 1938, the Nanjing Massacre saw the deaths of 300,000 Chinese civilians and unarmed soldiers after the city fell into the hands of the Japanese.

Zhu Chengshan, curator of the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall, said the listing was a very objective conclusion and the documents are part of the traumatic memory that are important for human civilization.

Among the documents are 11 archives relating to the massacre including film, photographs and texts from between 1937 and 1948. The documents show Japanese troops killing unarmed Chinese. Some pictures show raped women and bodies scattered on the streets.

"Japan's protest is unreasonable," said Guo Biqiang of the Second Historical Archives of China.

The Nanjing Massacre, as one of the three big tragedies of World War II, should be remembered forever. The atrocities are not only the bitter memories of all Chinese people but a warning for future development, Guo said.

Ma Zhendu, deputy curator of the Second Historical Archives of China, said all the documents were carefully collated and researched and inscription is acknowledgement of their authenticity, uniqueness and preciousness.

The listing was a new start for research into the massacre. "We will carry out more detailed research and turn the documents into textbooks that show the world the importance of peace," Zhu said.

The Second Historical Archives will also turn the paper documents into a digital database so that more people can gain access to them.

The Memory of the World Register, created in 1992, preserves precious and threatened material against neglect, ravages of time, willful and deliberate destruction.