NANJING: The people of Nanjing observed a moment of silence, and sirens were heard across the city as China held a memorial ceremony on Wednesday to mourn the 300,000 victims of the Nanjing Massacre.
Despite the winter chill, thousands of people, dressed in dark attire and with white flowers pinned to their chests, attended the 10th national memorial ceremony for the victims in Nanjing, east China’s Jiangsu Province.
China’s national flag was flown at half-mast in front of the crowd, which included massacre survivors, local students and foreign friends.
At 10:01 a.m., sirens began to blare. Drivers in the downtown area stopped their cars and honked, while pedestrians paused for a moment of silence in remembrance of the victims.
Li Hongzhong, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and vice chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, attended the memorial ceremony and delivered a speech.
Li said the memorial ceremony expresses the Chinese people’s noble desire to steadfastly pursue peaceful development and demonstrates their firm stance to always remember history, cherish peace and forge ahead for a brighter future.
Noting that today’s China is a vigorous and thriving nation, Li urged efforts to promote the building of a community with a shared future for humanity and to strive toward the great goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects and advancing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts.
More than 80 young people read aloud a declaration of peace, and citizen representatives struck the Bell of Peace. White doves, symbolizing hope for peace, were released to fly over the square of the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders. –Agencies
