TOKYO, June 30 (Xinhua) -- A 77-year-old Chinese survivor of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre went to court in Tokyo on Friday, accusing two Japanese historians of distorting historical facts and trying to deny the occurrence of the massacre in their studies.

    Xia Shuqin went to Tokyo District Court to defend herself against a lawsuit lodged by a Japanese rightist "scholar" Shudo Higashinakano and a Japanese publishing house, whose lawyer dropped the accusation later in the day.

    "I don't understand why those Japanese 'historians' twist the fact, and treat us the victims of the aggression war in this way," Xia Shuqin said at the court. "I am here to tell the truth of the history and get justice."

    In 1999, Higashinakano and another Japanese "scholar" Toshio Matsumura stated in their books titled "Thorough Review of Nanjing Massacre" and "Big Question in Nanjing Massacre" that all historical data about the Nanjing Massacre are not true and witnesses including Xia Shuqin and another survivor Li Xiuying were "faked."

    Xia lodged a lawsuit in a Nanjing local court in November 2000 against the two scholars and the publishing house for damaging her reputation. However, the two men sued in April 2005 in Tokyo District Court against Xia, demanding her to acknowledge that her suing basis is "nonexistent". In May 2006, Xia made a countercharge against "the scholars" in Tokyo District Court.

    On Dec. 13, 1937, a group of Japanese soldiers forced into Xia's home in Nanjing and murdered seven of her family members. Xia, then eight, and one of her younger sisters aged four were seriously wounded and only narrowly escaped death.

    According to Xia's lawyer, the massacre of Xia's family was filmed by John G.Magee, a U.S. priest and then chairman of the International Commission of the Nanjing Red Cross, and the films were recorded in some documents.

    "Higashinakano has not been to Nanjing to conduct field studies, nor has he done any direct investigations over Xia," Tan Zhen, a Chinese lawyer for Xia said at the court on Friday as Xia's "legal supporter".

    "He denied Xia Shuqin's identity as a Massacre survivor on the mere basis of some small variations of words in historical materials. His intention is to mislead the public and negate the historical facts of Nanjing Massacre," Tan said.

    According to Xia's Japanese lawyers, the lawyer for Higashinakano has dropped the case on Friday. As the plaintiff of the case brought up by herself in May, Xia is to continue to sue until she gets justice.

    Li Xiuying, a late survivor of the massacre, won an anti-defamation lawsuit against Matsumura in Japan in April 2003.

    More than 300,000 Chinese civilians and captivated Chinese soldiers were slain in the Nanjing Massacre, which occurred after the intruding Japanese troops occupied Nanjing, then the capital of China, on Dec. 13, 1937. Enditem