O Massacre de Nanjing: um crime que o Japao ainda tem de se fazer perdoar pelos chineses

Um novo site sobre o massacre de Nanjing (ou Nanquim, como se dizia antigamente em Português) que os chineses acabam de inaugurar com a participação de um sobrevivente desse terrível genocídio.
Paulo Roberto de Almeida

Website commemorates Nanjing Massacre

Source: Xinhua | Shhai Daily, July 7, 2014, Monday |  PRINT EDITION

Some of the images included in an exhibition organized by Fudan University yesterday to commemorate the 77th anniversary of the “July 7 Incident,” which marked the start of China’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. The display includes photographs, film footage and documents from the university’s archives, many of which illustrate the damage caused to the institution when it was occupied by the invading Japanese army in 1937. On July 7 of that year, Japanese troops arrived at Beijing’s Marco Polo Bridge and launched an attack on Chinese forces in the fortress town of Wanping. The incident marked the start of the war. — Yang Bo

A 90-year-old survivor of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre yesterday pressed a button to launch a new website created to commemorate the tragedy.

Li Gaoshan was just 13 when he witnessed Japanese soldiers slaughter unarmed civilians after the eastern city of Nanjing fell into the enemy’s hands.

In February, China’s top legislature announced that December 13, the date on which the massacre started, would be known as National Memorial Day.

In the past, commemorative services were mostly limited to the province of Jiangsu, of which Nanjing is the capital.

The launch of cngongji.cn is the first in a series of activities ahead of a nationwide event later in the year.

The website, whose content is provided in Chinese, Japanese and English, is sponsored by the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall and Xinhua news agency.

Russian, French, German and Korean-language versions will be added before the December 13 memorial service, the site’s sponsors said.

“The site was designed and built to popularize China’s memorial activities,” said Zhu Chengshan, curator of the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall.

“It will help people to understand history and commemorate those killed by the Japanese invaders during World War II,” he said.

The website is also designed to be interactive, as it gives visitors the chance to “virtually” light candles, present flowers, plant trees and ring bells in memory of those who were killed by the Japanese solders.

Li is one of only about 100 survivors of the Nanjing Massacre.

They, along with the relatives and friends of the victims, were invited to the memorial hall in Nanjing yesterday to share their recollections and memories of the incident and commemorate those who died.

According to China’s official records, more than 300,000 civilians and soldiers were killed in the massacre, which began on December 13, 1937 and lasted six weeks.

Also yesterday, the first album of documents relating to the new memorial day including the legislation bill, historical data and media reports was published in Nanjing.

Today is the 77th anniversary of the July 7 Incident which marked the beginning of China’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-45).