People visit the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, Sept. 17, 2015. Documents of the Nanjing Massacre from China were inscribed on the Memory of the World Register by the International Advisory Committee of UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme, UNESCO announced on Oct. 9 in a press release. (Xinhua/Yan Minhang)
NANJING, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Japan's protest at UNESCO's listing of Nanjing Massacre was unreasonable and the inscription will play a positive role in safeguarding peace in human development, experts said.
On Friday, documents concerning the Nanjing Massacre were listed in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.
Japan's foreign ministry has questioned the authenticity of the documents, calling on UNESCO to be neutral and fair, and for changes to be made to the process.
From December 13, 1937 until January of 1938, the Nanjing Massacre saw the deaths of 300,000 Chinese civilians and unarmed soldiers after the city fell into the hands of the Japanese.
Zhu Chengshan, curator of the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall, said the listing was a very objective conclusion and the documents are part of the traumatic memory that are important for human civilization.
Among the documents are 11 archives relating to the massacre including film, photographs and texts from between 1937 and 1948. The documents show Japanese troops killing unarmed Chinese. Some pictures show raped women and bodies scattered on the streets.
"Japan's protest is unreasonable," said Guo Biqiang of the Second Historical Archives of China.
The Nanjing Massacre, as one of the three big tragedies of World War II, should be remembered forever. The atrocities are not only the bitter memories of all Chinese people but a warning for future development, Guo said.
Ma Zhendu, deputy curator of the Second Historical Archives of China, said all the documents were carefully collated and researched and inscription is acknowledgement of their authenticity, uniqueness and preciousness.
The listing was a new start for research into the massacre. "We will carry out more detailed research and turn the documents into textbooks that show the world the importance of peace," Zhu said.
The Second Historical Archives will also turn the paper documents into a digital database so that more people can gain access to them.
The Memory of the World Register, created in 1992, preserves precious and threatened material against neglect, ravages of time, willful and deliberate destruction.
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Commentary: Japan's protest over Nanjing Massacre's UNESCO listing exposes hypocrisy
TOKYO, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Japan, the culprit of the notorious Nanjing Massacre in late 1937 during World War II, on Saturday protested against United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) decision to list one of the worst atrocities in history on its Memory of the World Register.
Calling the inscription "extremely regrettable," the Japanese Foreign Ministry said UNESCO "should be neutral and impartial" as an international organization, and the ministry argued that the documents on the Nanjing Massacre were based on China's " unilateral assertions." Full story
Japan seeks to "block" application for Nanjing
BEIJING, Oct. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- The Japanese government has reportedly tried to block China's effort to apply to UNESCO to list documents relating to the 1937 Nanjing Massacre on the Memory of the World Register.
On Sunday, UNESCO's International Advisory Committee started to review the documents related to the Nanjing Massacre as well as archives on "comfort women"－those forced to be sex slaves for Japanese troops during World War II. Through the Japanese embassy, the Japanese government has asked China to retract the nomination, according to a report in Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper. Full story
