Commemoration Held On 70th Anniversary Of Massive Japanese Slaughter And Rape Of Chinese Civilian Population In Nanjing

"Sirens sounded and students stood at attention Thursday to mark the 70th anniversary of Japan's notorious wartime massacre of civilians in the Chinese city of Nanjing....

The city reopened a vastly expanded memorial to the victims of the massacre long known in the West as the ''Rape of Nanking.''

Air raid sirens blared at 10 a.m., followed by a moment of silence, and new artifacts testifying to the savagery of Japan's Imperial Army went on display in the memorial's collection....

''The Chinese government hopes that on the basis of taking history as a mirror for the benefit of the future, to develop long-term good neighborliness and cooperation with Japan,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regular news briefing.

The events that began on Dec. 13, 1937, in Nanjing are still the subject of debate and controversy.

Angered by resistance as they invaded central China, Japanese troops began a rampage that many historians generally agree ended with the slaughter of at least 150,000 civilians. Soldiers were disarmed and executed and tens of thousands of women were raped in Nanjing, then the capital of China's Nationalist government.

China puts the number killed at 300,000, making it one of the worst atrocities of the World War II era." ...

Associated Press "Chinese Remember 'Nanking Massacre'" December 13, 2007














Nanjing, China Memorial Site

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