Citizens who spontaneously participate in the National Festival Day enter the museum in an orderly manner to participate in flower offering activities. Courtesy of respondents
Shenyang, 14 Dec (Xinhua) -- Various parts of China have held mourning activities for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre on national memorial day to pray for peace
Xinhua News Agency
December 13 is the eighth National Day of Commemoration for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre. In nanjing, the ancient city of Nanjing, where the disaster was once devastated, in the black water of the White Mountains and the black waters soaked with the blood and tears of compatriots, and in the memorial hall of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the masses in various parts of China relive this painful history of the nation through various memorial activities, remember the compatriots and martyrs, and pray for peace forever.
On the same day, the peace bell in the memorial hall of the compatriots killed in the Nanjing Massacre of the Japanese army invading China was knocked on again, and the sound of the next and one sound reverberated in the hearts of every Chinese, reminding people not to forget the national shame and the pain of the nation.
At 10:00 a.m., the "National Memorial Day Mourning Activity for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre" was officially held. At the Memorial Hall of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, when the majestic national anthem sounded, more than 100 representatives from all walks of life sang the national anthem. After the end of the national anthem, all the personnel bowed their heads and stood solemnly to jointly mourn the compatriots, soldiers of the War of Resistance, and national heroes who were killed during the Japanese imperialist war of aggression against China.
Pei Zihang, a student at the Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology who came to the memorial service, said that although the War of Resistance Against Japan had ended for many years, Japan was still trying to cover up the crimes they had committed. Our generation of young people must not forget history, keep firmly in mind the mission we shoulder, study hard, keep forging ahead, and make unremitting efforts for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
At the same moment, in the prologue hall of the "918" Historical Museum in Shenyang, in front of a pyramid-shaped sleeping monument symbolizing the longevity of the anti-Japanese heroic spirit, people prayed with candles, offered candles to the sleeping stele, and sent mourning. "The National Sacrifice, the Statute of Laws." Cast Zi Baoding, Worship our country's martyrdom", the children's sonorous and powerful recitation echoed in the museum.
"The knowledge in the textbook is flat, while participation in public worship is 'three-dimensional.'" Li Hongbin, a citizen of Shenyang who specially brought his children to participate in the activity, said that he hoped that the children would remember the history of the heroic martyrs of the nation who fought bloodily to resist aggression and cherish the hard-won peace that is now hard-won.
At the Taihang Memorial Hall of the Eighth Route Army, more than 100 primary school teachers, students and the masses lined up to enter the memorial hall to participate in the National Public Sacrifice Day activities. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Xuetao
More than 100 representatives from all walks of life in Shenyang visited the "Photo Exhibition Commemorating the 84th Anniversary of the Murder of Compatriots Killed in the Nanjing Massacre" elaborately produced by the Shenyang "918" History Museum after participating in the memorial ceremony. Through photographs filled with scenes of bloody and violent massacres, the exhibition tells the horrific massacres and atrocities committed by the Japanese army invading China in Nanjing in 1937, and accuses the world of the heinous crimes committed by Japanese militarism against the unarmed Chinese people in the war of aggression against China.
Fan Lihong, director of the "918" History Museum in Shenyang, said that the museum will hold mourning activities every year to commemorate the heroes and martyrs of the Anti-Japanese Resistance and the compatriots who died, and use the resources of the anti-Japanese museum itself to carry out patriotic education in depth, guide the audience to remember history, watch for peace, and create the future.
On the same day, the Revolution Memorial Hall of the Jilu-Yu Border Region in Heze, Shandong Province, also set up a special photo exhibition of the Nanjing Massacre. Wang Aihua, deputy director of the Heze Veterans Affairs Bureau, who visited the exhibition, said: "84 years ago today, the Japanese army invaded China and captured Nanjing, 300,000 Chinese soldiers and civilians were killed, and the corpses of the former prosperous ancient capital of the Six Dynasties were piled up like mountains and rivers of blood. Today's mourning activities are a deep remembrance of the innocent compatriots who died in the Nanjing Massacre, and it is all the more necessary to erase the dust of history, polish the mirror of history, draw the bitter lessons of the war, and build up the common memory of the nation. ”
At the Taihang Memorial Hall of the Eighth Route Army, more than 100 primary school teachers, students, and the masses collectively sang the national anthem, observed silence, bowed, laid flowers, and visited the exhibition, deeply remembering the great achievements made by the revolutionary predecessors for the victory of the War of Resistance.
Inside the memorial hall, the 79-year-old Wu Chengzhou had tears in his eyes. When he was 21 days old, his father was killed by the Invading Japanese Army, and his mother died of illness because she could not withstand the blow. "I have suffered from the war, and I hope to use my own experience to help children understand that a happy life is not easy to come by, and cultivate patriotism from an early age." Wu Chengzhou told reporters that he has been committed to the propaganda of red culture for many years, and in 2021 alone, he walked into primary and secondary schools to tell the story of the War of Resistance 20 times.
The site of the National Memorial Day memorial activities held at the "918" Historical Museum in Shenyang. Courtesy of respondents
84 years have passed, and although the smoke of war has dissipated, history has never been far away. Because the pain is unforgettable, the belief in remembering history and cherishing peace is even more enduring.
At the national ceremony, the 84 students of Nanjing Zhonghua Middle School recited the "Declaration of Peace" with deep affection and sonorous power, which was their peace prayer to the world on behalf of the youth of Nanjing.
Lu Yanfeng, a youth representative who participated in the reading of the Declaration of Peace and a first-year high school student at Zhonghua Middle School, could not calm down for a long time. He said: "As a Nanjing native, we should have a deeper understanding of the suffering of the nation and the preciousness of peace; as a teenager, my generation should think of danger in times of peace and forge ahead." (Reporters Zhao Hongnan, Jiang Fang, Luo Xin, Wang Xuetao, Yang Wen)