File photo

China held a national memorial ceremony on Friday to mourn the 300,000 victims of the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese invaders in 1937.

At 8am, soldiers marched to fly the national flag at half-mast at the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu Province. Pigeons were released into the sky over the hall.

Then sirens howled over Nanjing City, drivers parked cars and sounded their horns, and pedestrians paused and stood in silent tribute.

A series of other activities nationwide is expected to held on Friday, including the lighting of candles, and patriotic education in schools and for the public. Overseas Chinese communities are also expected to host memorial activities. 

Photo: Ecns.cn

Friday marks China's sixth "National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims."

Memorial posts mourning the victims of the Nanjing Massacre flooded Chinese social media on Friday, and related topics on Weibo had drawn over 11 billion views by Friday morning. 

Unlike previous memorial days, when some netizens expressed hatred toward Japan and provoked confrontations between China and Japan, Chinese netizens this year launched online memorial activities in a rational manner, with many calling for others to cherish peace and remember history. 

"We wish the world will have no more wars, and that the peaceful sunlight will spread across the world," the memorial hall's official Weibo account posted, receiving many likes. 

The peaceful memorial activities were held amid a warming of China-Japan relations this year. Later this month, a China-Japan-South Korea leaders' meeting will be held in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will attend. The meeting aims to improve bilateral cooperation and promote regional and world peace, stability and development. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping accepted in principle an invitation from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to visit Japan as a state guest next spring. The invitation was made during a meeting ahead of the Group of 20 (G20) summit in June.

On December 13, 1937, Japanese troops captured Nanjing, China's capital at the time, and began more than 40 days of slaughter. 300,000 civilians and unarmed Chinese soldiers were brutally murdered, and over 20,000 women were raped. 

Global Times