"In my lifetime, I will never forget the pain brought by the Japanese militarists," said 92-year-old wheel-chaired Wu Xiulan while recalling the sorrowful wartime past at the Memorial Hall of the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders.

Sixty-eight years have passed, but Nanjing, an eastern Chinese city not far from Shanghai, still remembers the Nanjing Massacre.

Japanese troops occupied Nanjing on Dec. 13, 1937 and launched a six-week long massacre. Historical records show that more than 300,000 Chinese people, not only disarmed soldiers but also civilians, were slain in the holocaust.

Wu's two children were killed by Japanese bombs and she lost one of her legs.

"Every year on Dec. 13, I get up very early and go to the memorial hall to mourn for my relatives killed by Japanese troops and all other victims in the massacre," said Wu.

On Tuesday, 3,000 people of all walks of life in Nanjing, peace-loving persons from home and abroad, including many from Japan, held a peace rally in Nanjing to mark the 68th anniversary of the tragedy.

Dozens of survivors, like Wu, attended the rally. With the tune of the national anthem, they all stood in silent tribute to express deep sorrow for the war victims.

"The Nanjing Massacre is the darkest page in the human history of civilization," said Ren Yanshen, vice secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, at the gathering.

He said that the peace rally is meant to review the history, expose the irresponsible attitude toward history taken by a small portion of Japanese right wingers, and tell the younger generation to work for world peace.

"We wish all peace-loving people in the world can join hands in creating a peaceful, progressive and beautiful tomorrow," Sun Shuangjin, headmaster of a primary school in Nanjing, read the Nanjing Peace Declaration on behalf of the Nanjing citizens at the rally.

Also Tuesday, thousands of monks and Buddhist disciples from China and Japan gathered in Nanjing for a week-long religious ceremony to mourn for the victims in the massacre and pray for peace.

To mark the special occasion, Nanjing has launched an English website, english.nj1937.org, to advocate world peace and reveal Japanese wartime atrocities.

"The English website will post the latest research findings and more than 300 pictures and video about the massacre," Zhu Chengshan, curator the Memorial Hall of the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, told Xinhua.

The website's Chinese version, www.nj1937.org, was launched in December 2004. It has registered a total of 300,000 visitors since its inauguration.

On Tuesday, an expansion project of the Memorial Hall for the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre broke ground, with an investment of 478 million yuan (59 million US dollars). The expansion project will be completed in two years and the total area of the memorial will reach 7.32 hectares, an increase of 5.12 hectares, Zhu said.

In addition, China Central Television, the country's national TV station, begun airing a six-part documentary entitled "1937: The Truth of Nanjing" Monday.

Source: Xinhua