Family commemoration for Nanjing Massacre victims launched in Nanjing

NANJING, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- The family commemoration for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre was launched on Friday in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province.

The family memorial event came just over two weeks ahead of China's ninth national memorial day to commemorate the victims of the Nanjing Massacre on Dec. 13.

On Dec. 13, 1937, Japanese invading troops captured Nanjing, then the Chinese capital. Over a period of six weeks, the invaders killed more than 300,000 Chinese civilians and unarmed soldiers.

Families of the victims will pay tribute to their loved ones by various means, including presenting flowers and offering incense.

A total of 14 people, including massacre survivors and family members, attended Friday's activity in the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders.

They bowed low, laid flowers, offered incense and mourned for the victims in silence in front of the "Wailing Wall" at the memorial hall, which has a total of 10,665 names of the victims engraved on it.

"We come here today to mourn our tragically killed families as well as the large number of compatriots," said Chang Xiaomei, daughter of a Nanjing Massacre survivor. "As descendants of the survivors and inheritors of the historical memories regarding the Nanjing Massacre, we have the responsibility to pass on the historical truth."

Six Nanjing Massacre survivors have died so far this year, reducing the number of registered survivors to 55, with an average age of over 92 years old.