Nanjing Massacre Memorial Day

The National Memorial Day for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre[note 1] is a national memorial day observed in China on 13 December annually in honor of the Chinese victims of the Second Sino-Japanese War. The observance draws attention to Japanese war crimes during this period.[1] It was established in 2014 by the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress.[1]

Nanjing Massacre Memorial Day
The Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall pictured in 2017 with signs for Nanjing Massacre Memorial Day
Official nameNational Memorial Day for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre (南京大屠杀死难者国家公祭日)
Observed byChina
Date13 December
Frequencyannual
First time13 December 2014 (2014-12-13)
This article is part of the series on the
Nanjing Massacre
Japanese war crimes
Historiography of the Nanjing Massacre
Films
Books

Although the memorial day is named after the Nanjing Massacre, its honorees are not limited to victims of that massacre. Instead the day is to commemorate all who were killed during the era of the Second Sino-Japanese War, including victims of the Nanjing Massacre, victims of chemical weapons, victims of biological warfare, victims of forced labor, comfort women, victims of the Three Alls Policy, and victims of indiscriminate bombing.[2]

Background
During the Nanjing Massacre, Japanese soldiers forced Chinese civilians into pits to be buried alive.

Starting on 13 December 1937, soldiers in the Imperial Japanese Army carried out the Nanjing Massacre in Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China. The massacre lasted into January 1938 and killed numerous people (hundreds to hundreds of thousands according to Japanese publications, or over 300,000 according to most Chinese historians).[3][note 2] This constituted a crime under international law, for which the perpetrators were tried in the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and the Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal after World War II.[1][4]

Beginning in 1996, each year on 13 December, the Nanjing air defense office would test air raid sirens throughout the city, to remind people not to forget China's national humiliation and to strengthen Nanjing residents' feeling towards national defense and their awareness of air defense.[5]

Nanjing politician and National People's Congress delegate Zou Jianping made three proposals for 13 December to be made a national memorial day for the Nanjing Massacre, the third of which was in 2012. In 2014, Zou argued that it should be an international event. He said that "history should not be forgotten".[6]

First national observance (2014)

On 27 February 2014, the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress voted at their seventh meeting to pass the "Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Regarding the Establishment of a National Memorial Day for the Nanjing Massacre Victims" (全国人民代表大会常务委员会关于设立南京大屠杀死难者国家公祭日的决定), establishing Nanjing Massacre Memorial Day as the 13th of December annually.[1]

The first national observance of Nanjing Massacre Memorial Day was on 13 December 2014. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the State Council, the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and the Central Military Commission held the "Nanjing Massacre Memorial Day ceremony" at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall in Nanjing. According to state media, an estimated 10,000 people were at the ceremony.[7] Throughout the city, people honked car horns to honor the victims. The ceremony was led by Politburo Standing Committee member and NPC Standing Committee chair Zhang Dejiang. Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping, Nanjing Massacre survivor Xia Shuqin (夏淑琴), and Young Pioneer Ruan Zeyu (阮泽宇, a descendant of Nanjing Massacre victims) unveiled the National Memorial Tripod (dǐng, 国家公祭鼎), and Xi gave a speech.[8][9][10][11] He called for friendly relations between China and Japan despite the painful history being commemorated, saying, "We should not bear hatred against an entire nation just because a small minority of militarists launched aggressive wars."[7] This speech has become an important text in Xi Jinping Thought.[11]

On the same day, the government of Hong Kong held a memorial ceremony at the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence. Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying attended the ceremony and gave a wreath as an offering.[12] The government of Macau held a memorial event at the College of Macao Security Forces. Macao Liaison Office director Li Gang, Macau chief executive Fernando Chui, CPPCC vice chair Edmund Ho, special commissioner at the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in the Macao Special Administrative Region Hu Zhengyue, and Macao Garrison commander Wang Wen (王文) presented wreaths.[13] Other commemorative events were held in other parts of China.[14][15]

Continued observance

Nanjing Massacre Memorial Day has been observed annually since 2014, with ceremonies at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall. The ceremony begins with the Chinese national anthem.[11] Sirens go off at 10:01 a.m. CST, and drivers stop and honk their horns. The Chinese flag is flown at half-mast, ceremony attendees wear dark clothing with white flowers, and white doves are released to represent peace.[7][16][17] Sixteen soldiers leave eight wreaths of chrysanthemums, a traditional flower for mourning. The ceremony also includes a speech from a Politburo leader and the reading of a "Peace Declaration".[11]

The observance is accompanied by extensive coverage in Chinese state media and is attended by Communist Party officials and by elderly survivors of the massacre. Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping attended the 2017 ceremony in addition to the inaugural 2014 event.[11]

See also

Notes
  1. Simplified Chinese: 南京大屠杀死难者国家公祭日; traditional Chinese: 南京大屠殺死難者國家公祭日; pinyin: Nánjīng Dàtúshā Sǐnànzhě Guójiā Gōngjì Rì. Also known in English as Nanjing Massacre Memorial Day or Nanjing Massacre National Memorial Day and in Chinese simply as National Memorial Day (simplified Chinese: 国家公祭日; traditional Chinese: 國家公祭日; pinyin: Guójiā Gōngjì Rì).
  2. See Death toll of the Nanjing Massacre for discussion.

References
  1. "中国设立12月13日为南京大屠杀死难者国家公祭日". China News Service (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 6 August 2020. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  2. "习近平出席南京大屠杀死难者国家公祭仪式". Caixin. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  3. Yang, Daqing (27 August 2020). "Nanjing Massacre". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.147. ISBN 978-0-19-027772-7. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  4. "南京大屠杀死难者国家公祭日为何选在12月13日？ - 国内". The Beijing News (in Chinese). 25 February 2014. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  5. "警报10点整响起". Yangtse Evening Post (in Chinese). 13 December 2013. Archived from the original on 22 February 2019. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  6. "Nanking massacre memorial day should be international event, says NPC delegate". South China Morning Post. 26 February 2014. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  7. "China holds first Nanjing Massacre memorial day". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  8. "习近平与南京大屠杀幸存者代表为国家公祭鼎揭幕". China National Radio (in Chinese). 13 December 2014. Archived from the original on 26 December 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  9. "习近平：否认历史罪责意味着重犯". Phoenix Television (in Chinese). 13 December 2014. Archived from the original on 12 August 2017. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  10. "全球高度關注南京公祭日 日媒無一報道". Wen Wei Po (in Chinese). 13 December 2014. Archived from the original on 13 December 2014. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  11. Xie, Kailing (1 December 2021). "The affective life of the Nanjing Massacre: Reactivating historical trauma in governing contemporary China". HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory. 11 (3): 1000–1015. doi:10.1086/717688. ISSN 2575-1433. S2CID 246444993. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  12. "香港特区政府举行南京大屠杀国家公祭日纪念仪式" (in Chinese). NetEase. 13 December 2014. Archived from the original on 15 December 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  13. "澳门举行南京大屠杀国家公祭日纪念仪式_新闻_". 腾讯网. 13 December 2014. Archived from the original on 23 February 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  14. "中国网站集体纪念国家公祭日". China News Service (in Chinese). 12 December 2014. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  15. "北京市京源学校举行国家公祭日主题活动". China Daily (in Chinese). 12 December 2014. Archived from the original on 13 August 2017. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  16. "China holds state commemoration for Nanjing Massacre victims - Xinhua". Xinhua. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  17. "China holds national memorial ceremony for Nanjing Massacre victims". Nanjing. Xinhua News Agency. 13 December 2021. Archived from the original on 26 November 2022. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.