Illustrated story revives tragedy of Nanjing Massacre survivors

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The combo picture shows the portrait, signature of Yi Lanying and illustrated story reviving her tragedy based on facts. Born on May 4, 1926, Yi is a survivor of Nanjing Massacre, a heinous crime committed by the Japanese militarists during World War II in 1937, in Nanjing, then capital of China. After Nanjing being occupied by the Japanese invaders, Yi and her elder sister moved to the "Nanjing Safety Zone" set up by an international committee headed by John Rabe. Even inside the safety zone, the sisters had to run away from horny Japanese soldiers who intruded in the region looking for women. Yi witnessed Japanese soldiers stabbing a dining Chinese lad to death. One of her teeth was knocked out by a Japanese officer. Yi saw with her own eyes that Japanese soldiers broke into homes and took away 70 to 80 unarmed male civilians. The year 2017 marks the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre, in which more than 300,000 Chinese were killed by the Japanese invaders who occupied Nanjing on Dec. 13, 1937, marking the start of six weeks of destruction, pillage, rape and slaughter in the city. There are only less than 100 living survivors of the atrocity. Reporters from Xinhua spent many years to look for the survivors of Nanjing Massacre and record their current lives. (Xinhua/Photo by Han Yuqing, Illustrated by Chen Congying)