The oldest survivor of the Nanjing Bloodbath died on Sunday, and fewer than 100 survivors stay, the Memorial Corridor of the Victims within the Nanjing Bloodbath stated on Monday.
State leaders will attend a public memorial ceremony on the Memorial Corridor of the Victims within the Nanjing Bloodbath by Japanese Invaders on Wednesday.
Guan Guangjing died at age 100 three days earlier than the Nationwide Memorial Day for Nanjing Bloodbath Victims. He had been bedridden for six months due to coronary heart illness and died at dwelling from a number of organ failure, his 76-year-old son-in-law, who gave solely his surname as Liu, stated by telephone.
Guan contributed verbal testimony to Irrefutable Evidences, A Memoir of the Lishui Bombing Attributable to Japanese Invaders, printed by Nanjing Press in November 2016. The e book collected 31 survivors” oral accounts of the bombing in Nanjing’s Lishui county on Nov 29, 1937, and took greater than 1,200 lives.
He stated within the e book that he hid beneath a giant rock through the bombing and witnessed his neighbors, together with the 4 generations of a household surnamed Solar, being killed.
Guan later managed to remain alive by hiding wherever he might through the bloodbath, by which greater than 300,000 Chinese language had been killed by Japanese invaders, when Nanjing, then China’s capital, was occupied in December 1937.
Officers from the memorial corridor stated Guan narrated that he witnessed Japanese invaders killing folks a number of occasions.
The Nationwide Memorial Day falls on Dec 13, and this yr marks the eightieth anniversary of the Nanjing Bloodbath.
“Guan was an orphan earlier than 1937 and had no siblings. 5 years in the past, his spouse died at age 84,” Liu stated.
Web customers mourned for Guan after the memorial corridor introduced his loss of life on Sina Weibo on Sunday.
The Weibo submit stated Guan was once a barrel maker in Lishui county and lived a frugal life. He was at all times keen to assist others and was extremely esteemed in the local people, it stated.
It additionally stated his household donated a number of of his private articles to the memorial corridor, together with a paper fan, a watch and a teapot.
Zhang Sheng, a historical past professor at Nanjing College, stated solely about half of the greater than 90 survivors can specific themselves clearly as most are older than 85.
Wu Lisong, a historical past lecturer at Nanjing College, stated the general public used to imagine that the survivor’s ache would go however have come to understand that it lasts a lifetime.
“A few of them are stricken with fright when folks sporting Japanese army uniforms seem on the TV display, and a few turn into irritable every time folks point out these years to them,” stated Wu, who since September 2016 has led a challenge gathering oral accounts from survivors.
“Neither an apology nor compensation can reverse the traumas to the victims and survivors, however we nonetheless should clarify the historical past, which can be a place to begin of reconciliation,” he stated.
Contact the writers at zhouwenting@chinadaily.com.cn
