China held its fourth state memorial ceremony for victims of the Nanjing Massacre in Nanjing, a city in the eastern province of Jiangsu Wednesday morning.
Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the state memorial ceremony here Wednesday to mark the 80th anniversary of Nanjing Massacre.
Some other senior officials were also present at the ceremony held in the eastern city of Nanjing, Jiangsu province.
The ceremony commenced at 10:00am with all attendees paying silent tribute during a minute-long air raid siren. Trains, ships and cars in the city also whistled and sounded their horns. Eight wreaths were then laid in front of a wall containing the names of the victims.
After a group of secondary school students chanted the peace manifesto, Yu Zhengsheng, chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, gave a brief speech calling all Chinese to not forget the past and to cherish peace.
Chinese and Japanese people should greatly appreciate the hard-won peace, top political advisor Yu Zhengsheng.
Japanese troops captured Nanjing, then China's capital, on Dec. 13, 1937 and embarked on more than 40 days of slaughter. About 300,000 civilians and unarmed Chinese soldiers were brutally murdered, and over 20,000 women raped.
Yu described the crimes committed by Japanese invaders in the massacre as "inhumane," "appalling" and a "dark page in the history of humanity."
"War is a mirror, which makes people better understand peace," Yu said. "To avoid any repeat of this historical tragedy, we must make unremitting efforts for the lasting and even eternal peace of mankind."
China and Japan should take into consideration the fundamental interests of their people and make contributions to human peace, Yu said.
"The world should work together to maintain international order with the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter at the core," Yu said. "No matter what stage of development it reaches, China will never seek hegemony or engage in expansion, nor will the country impose the plight it once suffered on other nations."
He said China wanted to work with the world in building of "a community with a shared future for mankind," and continue to safeguard world peace, contribute to global development and uphold international order.
Yu said China was holding the memorial ceremony to commemorate the Nanjing Massacre victims, compatriots killed by the Japanese invaders, national heroes who sacrificed their lives for victory, as well as international soldiers and friends who joined the Chinese in fighting.
