China commemorates National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre

(MENAFN) China observed its 12th National Memorial Day on Saturday, paying tribute to those who lost their lives during the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, as stated by reports.

Despite low temperatures, large crowds dressed in dark clothing assembled at the public square of the Memorial Hall in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province in eastern China, according to reports.

At exactly 10:01 a.m. local time (0201 GMT), air-raid sirens rang out across the city. Traffic in central areas came to a standstill as drivers sounded their horns in unison, while pedestrians halted to observe a moment of silence in memory of the victims.

The national flag was lowered to half-staff during the ceremony, which was attended by survivors of the events.

In 1937, Japanese forces seized Nanjing, which at the time served as the capital of the Republic of China. Chinese accounts state that more than 300,000 people were killed during the occupation.

Japan has continued to challenge claims regarding the scale of the killings, while much of the international community has long recognized that the massacre took place, even though estimates of the death toll vary.

In 2015, a United Nations cultural body accepted Chinese archival materials documenting Japanese “atrocities” in Nanjing into its global historical records program, a decision that prompted objections from Tokyo, according to reports.

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