A memorial ceremony was held at a memorial hall in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing on Monday to mourn the 300,000 victims of the Nanjing Massacre.
On December 13, 1937, the imperial Japanese army invaded Nanjing and began more than 40 days of mass slaughter. According to the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, over 300,000 people were killed and one-third of the buildings in the city were destroyed.
In 2014, China's top legislature designated December 13 as the national memorial day for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre.
A memorial ceremony is held to mourn the victims of the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, east China, December 13, 2021. /Xinhua
Flowers are laid at a burial site to remember the victims of the Nanjing Massacre in Beijige, Nanjing, December 13, 2021. /CFP
An elementary school student lays a flower at a burial site of the victims of the Nanjing Massacre in front of the Zhengjue Temple in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, east China, December 12, 2021. /CFP
A Nanjing resident writes down hopes for peace on a peace wall set up at a local subway station, in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, east China, December 12, 2021. /CFP
University faculty and students in Nanjing light candles to commemorate victims of the Nanjing Massacre and pray for peace on the eve of the National Memorial Day, in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, east China. /CFP