National Memorial Day丨We will never forget the grief of our country!

84 years ago today

Japanese invaders capture Nanjing

In just 6 weeks, we lost more than 300,000 compatriots

Countless women were raped and killed

Countless children died

One third of the buildings were destroyed

A large amount of property was looted

This is a horrific crime against humanity.

This is a very dark page in human history.

Laughter and prosperity are gone, and corpses are everywhere

The thousand-year-old city has become a "hell on earth"

△The Massacre on the Riverbank

The country holds a public memorial service to honor our fallen compatriots

Today is the eighth

National Memorial Day for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre

In the name of our country, we mourn the dead

△The scene of the national memorial ceremony for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre photographed on December 13, 2020. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ji Chunpeng

Past suffering

Current Mission

Dreams for the future

This moment lingers in the hearts of every Chinese

Dare not forget, cannot forget

…

Nanjing

It is a famous historical and cultural city in my country.

There are vast seas of smoke inside and the Yangtze River outside

Enjoy the poetic Jiangnan and the Six Dynasties

△The full moon photographed in the Confucius Temple scenic area in Nanjing on September 21. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Su Yang)

However

Every Chinese person will never forget

The great suffering she had endured

Today, we use three stories

Knocking on the heavy door of history

[Fight to the death: A defender with grenades tied to his body rushed towards the tank wheels]

December 1937

The Japanese invaders attacked Nanjing from multiple directions

Continuously bombard the city walls with cannons

Breaking through Guanghua Gate several times

A small number of enemies rushed into the city gate and hid there.

But he was repeatedly appointed as the defense commander of Guanghua Gate.

Xie Chengrui Group of the Teaching Corps

and the 87th Division's 259th Brigade led by Yi Anhua to repel

In order to recapture the city gate and plug the gap in the city wall

Chinese soldiers in rows and companies

One after another

Heroic Sacrifice

Early morning of December 13

Japanese troops climbed onto Guanghua Gate

When the tanks drove into Guanghua Gate

Some of the defenders were covered in grenades.

Throwing himself at the tank wheels

…

The battle at Guanghua Gate was extremely brutal

According to "The Songhu Anti-Japanese War and the Fall of Nanjing"

"The commander of the 259th Brigade, Yi Anhua, and the chief of staff, Zhong Chongxin

All officers and soldiers of the brigade’s direct troops were killed…”

A telegram from Nanking stated:

"Our army's morale is tragic and magnificent.

Everyone is determined to die."

These young soldiers who sacrificed their lives for their country

There is a chivalrous heart, but also a lot of reluctance

Zhong Chongxin, the 32-year-old chief of staff of the 259th Brigade

Just entered the palace of marriage

In 1937, the full-scale war of resistance broke out

Zhong Chongxin went to the Anti-Japanese battlefield with his troops

The couple met for the last time at Changshu Bus Station

When they parted, he suddenly ran up and hugged her from behind.

Farewell with tears:

"Sister, I will be back."

However, Zhang Shuying, who had been waiting

I learned of my lover's death seven years later.

She searched all the historical records.

Piecing together thoughts from a few words

Named as a warrior, not allowed to be private

Sacrifice for the country, regard death as homecoming

The land is under our feet and our compatriots are behind us.

The invaders are looming over the city

The heroes and martyrs have no choice but to fight to the death.

[An old woman who can't write said: "I will not give up until I win the case!"]

Grandma Xia Shuqin's Nightmare

It happened on the first day of the fall of Nanjing

△Xia Shuqin, a survivor of the Nanjing Massacre, attended a public memorial ceremony on December 13, 2020. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Xiang

Before the Japanese Attack on Nanjing

There are nine people in the Xia family.

The family rented a house at No. 5, Chengnan Xinlukou

December 13, morning

A group of about 30 Japanese soldiers broke into the house

8-year-old Xia Shuqin

Stabbed three times in the back by Japanese soldiers

Passed out

When you wake up

There were only corpses left around

Xia Shuqin and her sister who survived by chance

Living with the dead bodies of relatives for 14 days

Only then was he "picked up" from the dead

Xia Shuqin's narrow escape from death

It also became that tragic history

The most powerful witness

△ On August 23, 2006, Xia Shuqin, a survivor of the Nanjing Massacre, was very excited at the press conference. On the same day, the Nanjing Xuanwu District Court ruled in favor of Xia Shuqin, a survivor of the Nanjing Massacre by the Japanese invaders, against the Japanese right-wingers for defamation. Xinhua News Agency reporter Han Yuqing

1994

65-year-old Xia Shuqin set foot on Japanese soil

Became the first post-war

Survivors of the Nanjing Massacre went to Japan to denounce the atrocities

An old woman who can't write

Bravely show the Japanese people

Hard evidence of the atrocities committed by the Japanese invaders in Nanjing

Although every time the process of narration

It is equivalent to wiping out the scars in her heart

Ruthlessly opened

The old man always cries:

"Just one morning

Seven people died in an instant."

Despite overwhelming evidence

But there are still Japanese right-wingers who openly smear

Saying Xia Shuqin is a "false witness"

"I will not give up until I win the case!"

Xia Shuqin, who never read a day of school

Choose to stand up

Defend your reputation

We must defend the historical truth!

△ On August 23, 2006, Nanjing Massacre survivor Xia Shuqin (left) made a statement in court. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Han Yuqing

From 2000 to 2007

Xia Shuqin successively tried in Chinese and Japanese courts

Fighting the Japanese Right

Won the Japanese right wing twice

It not only provides a powerful response to the attempts of a few people to deny historical facts,

It also opened up a path to protect historical facts from a legal perspective

△ On June 30, 2006, Nanjing Massacre survivor Xia Shuqin (fourth from right in the front row) and her supporters walked towards the Tokyo District Court in Tokyo, Japan, holding a banner that read "Non-denial of the Nanjing Massacre is not allowed." Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wu Gufeng

Today, Xia Shuqin is over 90 years old.

But still doing my part

She said:

"Since I survived,

I want to speak a fair word for the 300,000 compatriots who died."

It is what my heart desires, even if I die nine times, I will never regret it

Going through all the difficulties

This old man wants to comfort the dead souls with justice

Let the truth reveal tomorrow

[“The flower of peace, purple gold grass…”]

Spring 1939

Seitaro Yamaguchi, who visited Nanjing during his student days

Returned to Nanjing as director of the Japanese Army's sanitary materials factory and military doctor

The prosperity has been destroyed by war

Collapsed city walls, endless ruins

And piles of bones

It surprised and disturbed him

He was deported back to Japan shortly afterwards.

Before returning to China, he collected some flower seeds at the foot of Zijin Mountain.

This is a purple wildflower that blooms stubbornly on the ruins of war.

The back of Seitaro Yamaguchi

Spring 1940

The Yamaguchi family's yard is full of purple flowers

He wrote a short article

Distribute the seeds to friends and family

He wrote:

I brought this back from China

I named it Purple Gold Grass

If you like

Just spread it in your garden...

Over 20 years later

In order to make purple golden grass bloom all over Japan

Yamaguchi fills his sacks with new seeds every year

Take the train and scatter along the way...

1966

Seitaro Yamaguchi is on his deathbed

Before his death, he left a last word to his son Yamaguchi Yu:

"I'll leave the matter of the purple gold grass to you."

Now, in Japan

From Hokkaido to Okinawa

You can see the shadow of purple gold grass

Even next to the Yasukuni Shrine

Every spring, it is full of these purple flowers.

In 1945, Takako Daimon was born

On the tenth day after birth

She almost died in the US bombing

When she grew up, she became a primary school teacher

Also a fairy tale writer

By chance, she saw a

I saw the purple golden grass

Only then did I realize that behind this little flower that I had ignored

Such a touching story

She had an in-depth interview with composer Susumu Ohnishi

Create a 1 hour long

Choral Suite "The Story of Purple Gold Grass"

Later, he also published a children's book "Purple Radish Flower"

From then on, the "Flower of Peace" not only bloomed all over Japan

Also sung everywhere

△Yamaguchi Yu (first from left)

"Flower seeds come from the other side of the sea,

With expectations, we will take root and blossom here.

The flower of peace, purple gold grass..."

April 2009

Inside the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders

A new purple grass garden has been built

There is a purple golden grass girl inside

The Garden

It is Seitaro Yamaguchi's son, Yu Yamaguchi

The project was built with donations of 10 million yen.

At the opening ceremony

The Story of Purple Gold Grass

Sung by a Japanese group of purple grass visiting China

The chorus of people

Daimon Takako sang particularly movingly

After six weeks of bloody massacre by the Japanese army,

In the spring of 1938, the purple golden grass was still in full bloom

Like Nanjing City

Rise from the Ashes

And endless

△This is the scene of the National Memorial Ceremony for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre, taken on December 13, 2020. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ji Chunpeng

Today after all the vicissitudes

The thousand-year-old Jinling remains

Majestic and beautiful

then

The Pain That Occurred Under the City of Nanjing

and a great nation

Courage, resilience and tolerance

Will be remembered forever

△This is the scene of the National Memorial Ceremony for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre, taken on December 13, 2020. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Xiang

Eleven survivors have died so far this year.

Currently, the registered

Only 61 Nanjing Massacre survivors left

Every survivor of the Nanjing Massacre

They are all witnesses of history

Every testimony

Really restore that memory

"The bullet passed between my mother and me, scratching my thigh and my mother's left rib, and my mother and I survived because of this..."

On September 20, 2021, Fu Zhaozeng passed away at the age of 85

"Many people were dragged by the Japanese army to the riverside of Hutchison Whampoa in Xiaguan and shot in groups. The river water was dyed red."

On August 23, 2021, Xu Jiaqing passed away at the age of 96

"An old man in his 70s or 80s was too old and frail to lift a table, so he was chopped on the head by a Japanese soldier, and blood flowed out."

On July 20, 2021, Ma Jiwu passed away at the age of 99

"When my third sister died, the Japanese army stripped her of all her clothes, and her body was covered with knife marks."

On April 10, 2021, Chen Wenying passed away at the age of 96

"I saw with my own eyes that the Japanese soldiers used bayonets to blind my father's eyes, leaving holes as big as eggs in his eyes, and then they shot him several times to death."

On March 1, 2021, Cai Lihua passed away at the age of 95

"My mother gave birth to my younger brother in a refugee camp. Because he cried, the Japanese soldiers trampled him to death."

On January 28, 2021, Yang Cuiying passed away at the age of 96

On October 19, 2021, Ma Xiuying passed away at the age of 99

On September 19, 2021, Huang Liu passed away at the age of 96

On May 18, 2021, Jin Tonghe passed away at the age of 92

On April 30, 2021, Qi Zhenan passed away at the age of 91

On March 12, 2021, Li Rufu passed away at the age of 92

We remember the dead

But tears will not block your vision

Commemorate, not perpetuate hatred

But to move forward better

Starting from 2017, every year

Names on the “Nanjing Massacre Victims List Wall”

Volunteers and staff

Replying to @Stefanie

2019 to 2021

Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders

Message area of ​​the Memorial Hall for Victims

More than 220,000 messages were left

Among them, "history" and "remember"

"Peace", "Don't forget", "China", etc.

Become a more frequent word

"Remember history, but don't perpetuate hatred!"

"We must remember the sufferings of the past and take the right path in the future."

"I see the suffering of my compatriots with my own eyes, and it hurts in my heart..."

“Peace needs to be fought for and peace needs to be maintained.”

This year, on the eve of the National Memorial Day

The whole city of Nanjing is in its own way

Commemorate the victims and comfort the deceased

This morning, the whole city of Nanjing will sound the alarm.

Wherever you are, whatever you are doing

Please stay for a minute

A moment of silence for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre

May the flames of war cease forever and the flowers of peace bloom forever

Let the past serve as a warning to future generations!

Remember history and never forget national humiliation!

Don't forget the suffering and glory of yesterday

Worthy of today's mission

Live up to tomorrow's great dream

Comprehensive sources: Xinhua News Agency, CCTV News, People's Daily, "National Memory", @Nanjing Release, @Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, People's Vision

Acknowledgements:

Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders

Nanjing Massacre Research Center, Jiangsu Academy of Social Sciences