Only 48 survivors of Nanjing Massacre remain

China holds its ninth national memorial ceremony for the Nanjing Massacre victims at the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, Dec. 13, 2022. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)

NANJING, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Six survivors of the Nanjing Massacre have passed away since Dec. 24 last year, and their deaths reduced the total number of registered survivors to 48, according to the Memorial Hall of the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders.

The six survivors to have recently passed away include Wang Jin, Zhang Shixiang, Yuan Guilong, Chang Zhiqiang, Ma Tinglu, and Guo Linda. Guo, the latest survivor who departed this earthly plane among the six, died at the age of 93 on Friday.

The average age of the survivors is over 90 years old, making them a key group to focus on amid the COVID-19 outbreaks in China, said the Aid Association of Victims in Nanjing during the War of Aggression against China by Japanese Invaders.

Of late, the association staff has paid close attention to the health conditions of each survivor, and local medics in Nanjing, the capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, have designed emergency treatment plans for them.

The municipal government of Nanjing also provided supplies, including medicines, blood oxygen detection apparatuses, facial masks, and the like for the elder survivors, and planned express channels for the elderly to their doctors.

The Nanjing Massacre took place when Japanese troops captured the then-Chinese capital on Dec. 13, 1937. Over six weeks, they killed approximately 300,000 Chinese civilians and unarmed soldiers in one of the most barbaric episodes of World War II.

In 2014, China's top legislature designated Dec. 13 as the national memorial day for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre.