Today was once again the most solemn of days in the Nanjing calendar. For this day, 84 years ago, saw the Japanese occupation of China enter its darkest of hours, as the massacre of what would be 300,000 people commenced.
Normally bustling Nanjing came to a standstill at 10:00 this morning, as a perfectly orchestrated and executed ceremony of remembrance got underway in the Nanjing Massacre Memorial.
A pin, were it to be dropped, would have been heard inside the Memorial as the time approached. As the 3,000 in attendance stood in silence in their neatly-defined rows and columns, the only sounds to be heard were a few solitary birds chirping in the overlooking trees.
These were moments of reflection, time in which to remember the 300,000 who lost their lives in Nanjing in the Massacre that began 84 years ago today. And this year, to also remember those who have perished as a result of COVID in the world war that today’s generation has faced.
Each year, Beijing sends one of its top brass down to Nanjing to head up the official delegation in attendance. This year was the turn of Sun Chunlan, member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party and a Vice Premier of the People’s Republic of China.
Sun delivered an emotive speech in which she also gave thanks to John Rabe, Minnie Vautrin and other foreigners who had chosen not to leave Nanjing in 1937; to instead stay behind and offer protection for the city’s people.
Outside the Massacre Memorial and all over the city, the people of Nanjing stopped their day’s chores to observe a minute of silence. Immediately prior, the city’s air raid sirens had wailed and thousands of motorists honked their horns in unison. Ships afloat on the Yangtze and Qinhuai rivers joined with them via their foghorns.
In Xinjiekou, traffic police lined up and drivers exited their vehicles to stand and bow their heads, reports PSA Nanjing (南京发布). Over at Nanjing Railway Station, service was briefly halted as station staff lined up to do likewise.
Elsewhere, at many of the city’s sites of mass burials from 84 years ago, members of the public had gathered, wearing only dark colours and clutching flowers, to stand, socially distanced, paying their respects.
13 December was enshrined in legislation as a national memorial day on 27 February, 2014, at the Seventh Session of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People’s Congress.
