Drawing lessons from the past

NANJING — A peace assembly was held Wednesday in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, to commemorate the 73rd anniversary of Japan’s unconditional surrender in World War II.

Representatives from countries such as China, Japan and the United States attended the event held in the Memorial Hall of the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, which mourned the 300,000 people killed in one of the most barbaric episodes of World War II.

Japanese invaders conducted the slaughter during a sixweek rampage after they captured the city, then China’s capital, on Dec 13, 1937.

Members of an anti-war NGO based in the Japanese city of Kobe laid wreaths and silently paid tribute to the victims. It was the 22nd time the group had attended the peace assembly in Nanjing.

“We choose to come to China to mark the event because Chinese people were the victims of the war and they deserve tribute and remembrance,” said Miyauchi Yoko, head of the group.

“Ordinary people suffer the most in times of war,” said a student from Thailand. “Everyone should make contributions to world peace.”

Ge Daorong, a survivor of the massacre, was only 10 years old when Nanjing fell to the Japanese invaders.

During the massacre, he and his family took refuge in a safe zone and survived the onslaught, but three of his uncles did not.

“We look back at the sad episodes of history in order to cherish today’s peace,” Ge said at a forum held after the assembly.

CUI XIAO / FOR CHINA DAILY Members of an anti-war NGO from Kobe, Japan, attend a peace assembly on Wednesday in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, to mark the 73rd anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. The event was held at the Memorial Hall of the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, which honors the 300,000 people killed in the city. The placards call for drawing lessons from the past and jointly exploring the future.