The Japanese version of a book that outlines the crimes Japanese
troops committed on the Chinese people in Nanjing City during the
Second World War has been published.
Nanjing Massacre, which is in two volumes, contains
first-hand, full and accurate materials, including recollections of
survivors and 790,000 letters, in evidence of the crimes of
Japanese invaders.
Sun Zhaiwei, chief editor of the book, said he hoped it would
help academics in China and Japan to study this part of history and
help Chinese people, Japanese people and the international
community to have a complete and authoritative understanding of the
incident.
The Chinese edition of the book was published in 1997.
Japan launched the war of aggression against China in July
1937.
The Nanjing Massacre occurred in December that year when
Japanese troops occupied Nanjing, the then capital of China. Over
300,000 Chinese were killed, one third of the houses in the city
were burned and more than 20,000 women were raped.
Historical records bear witness to the fact that Japanese troops
committed the atrocity in Nanjing. Photos of the massacre scenes at
the Zhongshan Wharf taken by a photographer for the Japanese troops
also document the slaughter. During the massacre, Japanese troops
killed more than 9,000 Chinese citizens at the wharf with machine
guns and threw the bodies into the river on Dec.16 and 18,
1937.
(Xinhua News Agency February 19, 2004)