A glimmer of light shone through the darkest days of 1937; with the light passed down, today’s generation spreads the seeds of peace. On April 1, the Memorial Hall held a sharing session attended by Zijin Cao volunteers and an awarding ceremony for Zijin Cao cultural exchange ambassadors at the Peace Park.

A Zijin Cao petal-shaped art installation made a debut at the Peace Park. Following the direction of the Zijin Cao sign on the ground, visitors immersed themselves in the beautiful Zijin Cao flowers from across Nanjing. The pictures and words on the display boards helped them learn about the history of Zijin Cao and the stories of how international friends and Zijin Cao international volunteers spread history and peace.

The Memorial Hall joins hands with schools in international volunteer services, kicks off Zijin Cao cultural exchanges

The Memorial Hall is now seeing an increase in the number of its international volunteers. At the awarding ceremony, Zhou Feng, deputy director of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Nanjing Municipal Committee and director of the Memorial Hall, awarded international volunteer plaques to some universities and, together with the representatives, lit up the installation marking the cooperation between the Memorial Hall and those schools. Among them were the College of International Students of Southeast University, College of Overseas Education of Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, School of International Education of Nanjing University of Science & Technology, College of International Students of Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology (NUIST), NUIST Reading Academy, International School of Hohai University, School of International Education of Nanjing Vocational University of Industry Technology, and School of Digital Arts of Nanjing Vocational College of Information Technology.

International volunteer service program between the Memorial Hall and schools

The visitors were attracted by the lively and youthful songs from a group of international volunteers. Imma, an international student at Southeast University, is one of them. Imma is versed in multiple languages including Chinese, English and French. He has taken part in some activities organized by the Memorial Hall, such as the calligraphy salon, hiking, and “Learn from Lei Feng Day”. Imma believes that peace forms the foundation of a beautiful life and plans to share the beautiful life he enjoyed in Nanjing with his peers and play a part in building peace when he returns to his home country. “I’ll also tell more people about the history of the Nanjing Massacre and share what I saw and heard at the Memorial Hall on social platforms like Facebook and Instagram. I’ll be proud to help make Nanjing memory become world memory,” he said.

Yu Xiaonan (fifth from right), vice chairman of the International Student Education Management Research Committee, Jiangsu Provincial Society of Higher Education, awards a prize to “Excellent Zijin Cao International Volunteers”

During the awarding ceremony, three scholars were awarded the title of “Zijin Cao Cultural Exchange Ambassador”. They were Su Tong, a renowned writer, a winner of the Mao Dun Literature Prize, and a professor at Beijing Normal University; Huang Hong, a famous translator and a professor at Nanjing University; and Chaman Gul, a foreign language teacher at NUIST. In the future, they will speak up for Nanjing and for peace in their field.

Zhou Feng, deputy director of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Nanjing Municipal Committee and director of the Memorial Hall, awards a certificate to Zijin Cao cultural exchange ambassadors

All age groups, from old to young, contribute to spreading history

At the Peace Park, some students from Nanjing Fangcaoyuan Primary School recited Zijin Flower, a poem written by famous poet Feng Yitong. They are little peace ambassadors.

Many kids from the primary school are peace ambassadors at the Memorial Hall and they have taken part in educational activities organized by the Memorial Hall many times. “We express our wish for peace by reciting poems, singing songs and other art forms. In addition, we have also set up a guide volunteer team. While offering voluntary services, we felt a strong sense of mission, value and pride. More importantly, we helped the children know what responsibility and value mean,” said Liu Ya’nan, a teacher at the primary school.

71-year old Jiang Lingye became a Zijin Cao volunteer in 2019. Over the past four years, she has spent almost all her holidays and weekends providing voluntary services. In the photo album of her mobile phone, Jiang keeps many moments she witnessed at the Memorial Hall. “I took this photo at the exhibit hall. The father is holding the child in his arms, while the mother is teaching the child to leave a message here … Such scenes take place every day. It is because of these visitors that I love being a volunteer.”

Ling Xi and Shi Pengcheng, deputy directors of the Memorial Hall, award a prize to excellent volunteers and little peace ambassadors, respectively.

The Memorial Hall launches Zijin Cao themed activities to spread voice of peace to the world

The Zijin Cao petal-shaped art installation attracted a crowd of visitors. In recent years, the Memorial Hall has rolled out a series of Zijin Cao themed activities to tell the world how people in Nanjing cherish peace. They included publishing Zijin Cao series books, setting up the Zijin Cao Volunteer Service Team, establishing the Zijin Cao International Peace School, opening the Zijin Cao Peace Lecture, and designing and developing Zijin Cao series cultural & creative products.

Chen Zhengrong, secretary of the Party committee and executive vice president at the School of Journalism and Communications, Communication University of China, Nanjing, is a senior media expert. Chen once spent 20 years reporting stories related to Zijin Cao. He published novel Zijin Cao and documentary writing Eryuelan at the Foot of the Zijin Mountain, depicting the peace journey of the little flower using his pen. “Zijin Cao is a symbol of history, and also symbolizes beautiful things. The Memorial Hall has fully tapped into the meaning behind Zijin Cao and launched a series of themed activities in a way that history and peace strike a deep chord with the public. I think this move is of great significance,” Chen said. Looking ahead, Chen will continue, by writing documentary reports and prose, and giving lectures to the young generation, among others, to spare no effort in telling the stories of Zijin Cao to the world and spread peace.