The Nanjing Massacre Memorial is an important facility to review the past and lament the dead. It has been enlarged and reopened today in order to reveal the atrocities of Japanese aggressors, to remind the Chinese nation to fight against the Japanese rightists' attempts to distort history and whitewash war crimes, he pointed out.

    By recalling the past, the memorial also conveys Chinese people's wishes for peace with all nations in the world, the official noted.

    The new memorial, built at a cost of 3 million yuan (405,000 U.S. dollars),is about three times larger than the old one with 111 mu (7.4 hectares) in floor space and 9,000 sq m exhibition area.

    The exhibits on display include 3,500 photographs, audio-video materials, documentary pieces featuring three themes: the Nanjing Massacre, the Victory in the Anti-Japanese War and the remains of massacre victims, according to curator Zhu Chengshan.

    The newly-added exhibits also include archives (names, portraits and brief introductions) of 10,000 victims in the massacre.

    The hall had been closed for renovation since June 2006 after a decision was made to expand the hall as the number of stored articles increased to more than 10,000.

    "With the name of 'peace ship', the main building of the memorial hall will play a role as a peace promoter while providing visitors with the truth about this past humiliation in Chinese history," Zhu said. Over 200 monks and Buddhist disciples from China and Japan also rallied and held a religious ceremony Thursday to lament the massacre victims.

    In Xiamen, a port city in east China's Fujian Province, more than 100 Chinese musicians were preparing a symphony concert with the title of "History and Future" to mourn massacre victims and call for world peace.

    In Beijing, thousands of people from all circles of life flocked into the Memorial Hall of the Chinese People's Anti-Japanese War, which opened to the public on Thursday.

    On display are many records in the form of videos, audio records, pictures and diaries about the Nanjing Massacre and the Anti-Japanese War.

    Japanese aggressors occupied Nanjing, then capital of China, on Dec. 13, 1937, and launched a six-week massacre. More than 300,000Chinese people, including disarmed soldiers and civilians were massacred, according to historical documents.

    "We commemorate the day, to ponder upon the past, which can provide guidance in days to come, to take history as a mirror and look forward to the future, and to cherish peace," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regular press conference in Beijing on Thursday.

    "The Chinese government advocates developing a lasting neighborly relationship of friendly cooperation with Japan, based on the spirit of taking history as a mirror and looking forward to the future," Qin said.

    He invited the press corps to observe a moment of silence with him for those killed in the Nanjing Massacre before he answered.

    He said China hoped that this spirit would permeate, from beginning to end, the development of China-Japan relations, and inspire the two sides to continuously draw lessons from history, in a bid to cherish the good momentum of the improvement and development of China-Japan relations.

    He urged joint efforts to develop friendship between China and Japan from generation to generation and enhance bilateral cooperation.

Experts: "unassailable" evidence confirms 300,000 victims in Nanjing Massacre

    NANJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese historians have said that "unassailable" historical documents have proved more than 300,000 people were slaughtered in the infamous Nanjing Massacre by invading Japanese troops 70 years ago.

    "There is no doubt on the total number of victims, which has been confirmed by unassailable evidence in legal documents, and the Japanese right wing's attempt to deny it is unacceptable," said Zhu Chengshan, curator of the Nanjing Massacre Memorial. Full story