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Another 10 Nanjing massacre survivors ID'ed in China

Xinhua, July 6, 2013

• China has newly identified ten more living survivors of the Nanjing Massacre in 1937. The ten survivors receive the certificates at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall on July 6. [Chinanews.com]

  
  
  

  China has newly identified ten more living survivors of the Nanjing Massacre in 1937, sources with the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall confirmed on Saturday.

  The ten survivors received the certificates and their personal experiences will be put as the permanent collection as the best history textbook in the hall, said Zhu Chengshan, the memorial hall curator.

  Aging from 76 to 92, the three male and seven female survivors were found and identified after a series investigation process, including interview, testimony and expert argumentation in the past one year since June 2012.

  Zhu said that, they are the living witnesses of the Nanjing Massacre. Their oral history is the powerful testimony and the rebut to the Japanese right-wing force, who attempts to deny the massacre history.

  At least 300,000 Chinese were killed over the course of six weeks by Japanese invaders after the soldiers occupied the city of Nanjing on Dec. 13, 1937.

  According to documents from the memorial hall, which has collected 25,000 pieces of evidence, more than 20,000 rapes of Chinese women by Japanese invaders occurred during the massacre. More than one third of buildings in the city were destroyed by the bombardment.

  Zhu said, for years, the massacre survivors told the world about the monstrous crimes conducted by the Japanese invaders and persistently struggle against those who deny the historical facts.

  "That was such a nightmare and the pains could never be cured," said tearful Cen Honggui, an 89-year-old Nanjing Massacre survivor who escaped from a fire during the massacre.

  "My brother was brunt alive by the Japanese invaders and I was also put into the fire, with my legs burnt," said Cen.

  He said that he carries more responsibility after being officially identified as a Nanjing Massacre survivor and would like to tell more people about the miserable history.

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