Two Survivors of Nanjing Massacre Passed Away and Their Memory Needs Inheritance
We got to know the sad news that Hu Xin-jia, survivor of Nanjing Massacre, died on December 4th at the age of 95 and another survivor Jin Mao-zhi died at 4:50pm on December 5th at the age of 91.
Two survivors passed away in two days in succession. And only 78 survivors are alive who have been registered with the Aid Association of Victims in Nanjing during the War of Aggression against China by Japanese Invaders
Hu Xin-jia
Testimony
“On December 14th, 1937, the second day after Japanese invaders seized hold of Nanjing, they chased to Jiangxinzhou street where I witnessed the decimation of several Chinese citizens by Japanese invaders on the wheat threshing field. I avoided the tragedy by hiding in a cornstalk pile.”
Jin Mao-zhi
Jin Mao-zhi, born in 1928, witnessed the death of over 20 people including his father by Japanese invaders. After the death of his father, Jin Mao-zhi and his mother lived a hard life and they once made a living by begging.
May they rest in peace.
History memory of Nanjing Massacre is the memory of families, memory of the nation and also memory of the world. Survivors now are aging and the memory needs to be carried on by the second generation, the third generation and even the fourth generation of the survivors.
As of November this year, Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders has collected information of 82 survivors and 761 descendants and the information has been uploaded into the database.
Among the descendants, 396 are male, accounting for 52% while 365 are female, accounting for the remaining 48%. The eldest one among the descendants is already 79 years’ old who is the second generation of the survivor. The youngest descendant is only 5 months’ old. Statistics show that 399 of them could take part in the initiative of memory inheritance among whom 155 are second generations, 154 are third generations, 89 are fourth generations and 1 is the fifth generation of the survivors.
Zhang Lian-hong, chairman of Aid Association of Victims in Nanjing during the War of Aggression against China by Japanese Invaders said that “Those descendants live with the survivors and they keenly resonate the pain of the war. They play an irreplaceable role in inheriting the memory of Nanjing Massacre.”
Survivors will die someday but history is immortal.