A candlelight vigil was held in Nanjing on Thursday night at the Memorial Hall of the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders to pay tribute to the 300,000 people who were slaughtered 81 years ago.

Among the attendees were Ji Zenglong, executive vice minister of the Publicity Department of the CPC Nanjing Municipal Committee; Piotr Cywinski, director of Auschwitz Birkenau State Museum; Alfred Arment, executive director of the Association of International Cities of Peace; massacre survivor Ge Daorong, local residents, representatives from museums in China, representatives from charity groups in Japan, student representatives, as well as families and descendants of the international figures who helped Nanjing people in the Massacre.

Themed "Candlelight Memorial: The International Peace Assembly," the site was lit up by electric candles on the ground of the meditation hall and the outdoor area where the main ceremony took place.

Names of the victims are being announced every 12 seconds in the meditation hall accompanied by a ticktack sound in the background. With a casualty list of 300,000 victims in six weeks, on average one life perished every 12 seconds.

A lantern in the shape of Violet Orychopragmus called "Zijin grass," was lit up by the guests, with four pedals lit sequentially in every 12 seconds, symbolizing the common wish by all people for peace in the future.

Six monks from China and 14 from Japan chanted prayers.

Ge Daorong, a 91-year-old survivor of the Massacre, said, "Eighty one years have passed since Nanjing witnessed the Massacre, however, the Nanjing Massacre started by Japanese invaders have been deeply ingrained in my heart for the whole lifetime. 

"It is never my intention to let the younger generation remember hatred. I beg them to learn from history, to bear history in mind, to cherish peace, and continue to work hard to make our country more prosperous."

(Top Photo: Electric candles are lined up in a pattern of "12.13" in memorial of the Nanjing Massacre, which happened after the Japanese invaders seized Nanjing, December 13, 1937. /CGTN Photo)