According to Qin Jie, director of the Association for the Survivors of the Nanjing Massacre, the number of survivors has dropped from 1,785 in 1987 to 400 in the most recent survey.

    Of the 400 living survivors, most are aged over 80 and are in poor health, Qin told China Daily.

    A massacre survivor himself, Qin, the retired deputy director of the Standing Committee of Jiangsu People's Congress, visited the remaining survivors on Friday in Nanjing with association members including Zhu Chengshan, curator of the Memorial Hall for the Compatriots Murdered in the 1937 Nanjing Massacre.

    "It is tragic to see that most of the survivors live a hard life. Their bodies were damaged during the war and they are haunted by both illness and bad memories," Zhu said.

    One such survivor is 87-year-old Zhou Shaohua of Suojin Village.

    "The horrible history left me physically deformed. But I feel emotionally more painful on days marking the invasion of the Japanese troops such as today," Zhou said on Friday.

    July 7, 1937 marks Japan's all-out invasion of China.

    According to Zhu Chengshan, Nanjing survivors have contributed enormously to world peace efforts by publicizing the brutality of the Japanese troops.

    Experts called on the whole of society to extend their help to the elderly survivors.

    Meanwhile, the survivors' association, founded in 2004 as a non-governmental group, has assisted dozens of survivors suffering from illness and poverty with support and donations from home and abroad.

    A total of 179 survivors have also been given certificates by the local civil affairs bureau offering regular allowances to cover their medical care and living expenses.

    So as not to forget what happened in Nanjing in 1937, dozens of university students are collecting oral history from the remaining survivors.

    Twenty students from Nanjing University and Nanjing Normal University were given training in interviewing, note-taking and verification and have begun a month-long mission in the city's suburbs, which were neglected during previous research.

    "Although it is not easy to do the research in such a hot season, I consider it a very meaningful task. I have learned many things that no book could possibly relate. We hope to protect these oral historical materials through our efforts, and leave no regrets for posterity," said Chen, a volunteer from Nanjing University.

    Professor Zhang Sheng from Nanjing University's history department said: "There are fewer and fewer survivors of the Nanjing Massacre as each day passes. But history must be remembered. So we should spare no effort in protecting those elderly survivors as well as the precious memories."

    All historical material collected will be compiled into a book called "Materials on the Nanjing Massacre," said Zhang.

    In December 1937, Nanjing fell to the invading Japanese troops, who committed atrocities including horrific rapes and the murder of some 300,000 people, mostly civilians.

    (Source: China Daily)