"I will never forget that the Japanese army killed seven people of my family."

 My name is Ni Cuiping, and my family lived near Chaotian Palace within the city. Before the Japanese army attacked Nanjing, their planes often dropped bombs over the city. At the time, Babaitang was the place that was most severely bombed . All of the civilians were scared to hide from place to place. Some people hid in the refugee zone, and some fled to the countryside, and others dug themselves dugouts to hide.

At that time, our family fled to Shangxinhe in the northwest of the city. We were hiding on a small beach, surrounded by water. And we built a hut there for shelter.

One day in December 1937, Japanese soldiers came to Shangxinhe area. We didn’t dare to cook at home, fearing that smoke in the chimney would attract Japanese soldiers’ attention . But several days later, we couldn’t bear the hunger any more, and we thought that the tension might be eased  since the Japanese soldiers had entered the city. My mother then let father go to the river to wash vegetables and rice. However, as my father just arrived at the riverside, five Japanese soldiers fired three times at him. My father was shot and fell down to the ground. My poor fatherdied this way.

My poor mother, when she heard the gunshot, ran to my father in a hurry, trying to hold him in her arms. The Japanese soldiers shot at my mother and killed her as well. My poor mother died without a word . I was only 11 years old. I ran out and saw my parents lying on the ground . And the Japanese army shot at me and shot me in my shoulder blade. The wound scar can still be seen today. Then I fell down to the ground , bleeding and losing consciousness.

My grandfather was already over 70 years old then. He asked for help to bury my parents. But in the process, they encountered six or seven Japanese soldiers. One of the soldiers hit my grandfather  on the head with the gun handle, with his brains bursting forth . My grandfather fell down to the riverside and died miserably.  . The people who helped with carrying my parents’ bodies jumped into the river so as to have a narrow escape .

Over 20 days later, my sister-in-law was collecting clothes at home, and she was seen by the Japanese soldiers whoimmediately came after her . At that time, my sister-in-law had been pregnant for seven months. She kneeled down on the ground, begging for mercy. My grandmother with bound feet also got down on her knees to beg, but my sister-in-law was raped by the five Japanese soldiers. As my sister-in-law cried for help, my uncle rushed in and tried to stop that , but was shot dead by a Japanese soldier. On that night, my sister-in-law had a fever, her bleeding couldn’t be stopped, the foetus in the belly was aborted, and she died too.. My grandmother was so scared that she almost died .

Later, when we went back  home near Chaotian Palace, as we passed through Jiangdongmen, we saw a bridge was blown up. The killed people were thrown into the river. The Japanese killed people to fill in the river and the river was full of blood.

After returning to Chaotian Palace, we lived with our uncle and aunt. At that time, my uncle nade a living by selling sesame seed cakes. But the good times didn’t last long. One month after the Japanese soldiers entered the city, my uncle was taken away by them. There were seven Japanese soldiers. They had a “killing contest” using bayonets, in which my uncle was stabbed to death. My aunt was afraid of being raped by Japanese soldiers and she didn’t dare to stop them. When the Japanese soldiers tried to catch her, she knocked her head against a wall and died.

My own wound didn’t get timely treatment, and  was infected and festered , with worms in it. My another aunt helped pull out the bullet with a vise, but my wound was infected and we didn't have the money to go to the hospital, So I had to leave it up to chance.

Since then, I have had a serious sequelae. Even eating is difficult for me. I can only do things with one hand, which brings great inconvenience to my life.

The Japanese soldiers killed seven people of my family and raped my pregnant sister-in-law. For such a pain, I will never forget all my life. The war has brought great pain to our family. I hate Japanese militarism very much. Some Japanese deny the history, and they try to cover up the history, intending to start a second war. We resolutely oppose it and will never allow another war to break out.