Ceremonies were held across China on Wednesday to mourn 300,000 victims of the Nanjing Massacre. In Xinyang, central China's Henan Province, people sang the national anthem, observed a moment of silence and laid wreaths to mourn the victims. Student representatives read out patriotic poems. On December 13, 1937, Japanese invaders captured Nanjing. Over 300,000 Chinese civilians and unarmed soldiers were killed over a period of six weeks. In 2014, China's top legislature designated December 13 as the national memorial day for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre.