The scene of state memorial ceremony for China's second National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims at the memorial hall for the massacre victims in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, on December 13 (XINHUA)

China held a memorial for Nanjing Massacre victims in the eastern city of Nanjing on December 13.

Sirens blared at 10 a.m. as activities for the second National Memorial Day to commemorate Nanjing Massacre victims proceeded in the capital of east China's Jiangsu Province. Li Jianguo, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, addressed the event at the Memorial Hall for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre.

"When we recall that day, one of the darkest and most painful scenes in our history rises once again before our eyes", Li said, adding that the massacre will always be remembered in China.

Japanese troops captured Nanjing, then China's capital, on December 13 of 1937 and started a campaign of slaughter lasting longer than 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 purpose of the memorial is to highlight that all reasonable people cherish peace and that history should be remembered to promote a peaceful future.

The memorial is not to prolong hatred but to evoke people's will to cherish and safeguard peace, he said, while warning against attempts in Japan to beautify aggression.

Li said substantial progress has been made since the 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.

Painful memories

Standing solemnly outside the Memorial Hall, more than 10,000 people wore white flowers on their lapels as a symbol of condolence.

Among the crowd were 17 survivors of the massacre and eight veteran soldiers. Yu Changxiang, 89, was a teenager when the atrocity happened.

"I saw Japanese kill Chinese soldiers who had already surrendered," he recalled. He and many others hid in drains.

"Two babies were suffocated to death when their parents covered their mouths, fearing their cries would be heard by the Japanese," said Yu. The body of his father, killed by the Japanese, has never been found.

Yu was relieved to see documents from the Nanjing Massacre war crimes trial added to UNESCO's Memory of the World Register.

"Right-wing Japanese always tamper with history and deny their crimes. Now they can't do that because the world has already recognized the truth," he said.

Yu said he hoped young Chinese could cherish hard-won peace while building up national strength so that China can never again be bullied.

Cen Honggui, 92, recalled that his home was burnt down by Japanese soldiers when they invaded Nanjing. Cen suffered severe burns.

"I still remember the blaze engulfing my little brother. I tried to pull him out but was stopped by the Japanese soldiers. I witnessed him burn to death," Cen said.

Teach for the future

People from countries including Japan, the United States, the Republic of Korea, Canada and Serbia also attended the memorial.

Stephen Smith, UNESCO Chair on Genocide Education, came to the hall for the second time.

"Remembrance is the start of education," he told Xinhua. "We remember the past, so as to teach for the future."

Smith said the world should be aware of violence wherever it occurs: "It happened in one country, but people should think universally."

Ishikawa Yoshimi, a Japanese writer and commentator on international relations, said, "This remembrance is significant for both Chinese and Japanese."

The year 2015 marks the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII and China's overlapping war against invading Japanese.

"In the past 70 years, China has stood up from the rubble and developed," Yoshimi said. "They are now commemorating that difficult journey."

As for Japanese, Yoshimi said, "We should ask ourselves, why did we fight? We should learn the lesson."

Commemorative events were also held in other sites across Nanjing.

At the dock of Zhongshan where more than 10,000 civilians were killed by the invading Japanese, 78-year-old Feng Puqing mourned with 300 others.

She told Xinhua in tears 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."

Jiao Yunlong's grandfather was a soldier fighting against aggressors in WWII. "I would like to pay homage to tens of thousands of veterans like him," he said.

In February 2014, China's top legislature designated December 13 as the National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims.

(Xinhua News Agency December 13, 2015)