Zhu Sizi, a 98-year-old survivor of the Nanjing Massacre, passed away on Aug 15, the 14th death of survivors of the slaughter by Japanese forces in 1937.
The number of survivors officially registered fell less than 100.
Zhu, born in June 1920, lived in Zhuzhuang village outside the west gate of Zhujiang town in Pukou District.
When Nanjing was seized by the Japanese invaders in 1937, the tile-roofed house with eight rooms of the Zhu’s family was completely burnt down.
At that time, Zhu, less than 18 years old, and her family hid in a dark cave to survive the mass killing. She and her sister and sister-in-law remained in the cave for two more months to avoid continuous harassment of the Japanese forces.
Survivors of the Nanjing Massacre are a special group of people, who are both victims of war and "living proof" of tragic history, said Zhang Jianjun, curator of the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders.
The memorial hall urgently collected survivors' testimonies last year and will encourage people from all walks of life to enhance the support, especially spiritual care, for the survivors, according to Zhang.
In the 1980s, China started to register the survivors of the Nanjing Massacre, in which Japanese invaders slaughtered about 300,000 Chinese during a six-week rampage after they captured the city.
