CHINA:One week before the 70th anniversary of the massacre of thousands of people by Japanese troops in the wartime capital Nanjing, China has published an eight-volume list of 13,000 victims of the invasion.
The Japanese ground assault began on December 10th and the city fell three days later, signalling the start of the six-week-long "Rape of Nanking". Eyewitnesses say captives were tortured, burnt alive, buried alive, decapitated, bayoneted and shot en masse, and up to 80,000 Chinese women and girls of all ages were raped and many more murdered or forced into sex slavery.
The incident is an iconic event in Chinese history. The Chinese say the invaders killed 300,000 civilians, while the Japanese say it is less, although Japan concedes that there was great loss of life. An Allied war tribunal puts the figure at some 142,000.
It has left enormous psychological scars and remains a huge stumbling block in relations between Beijing and Tokyo even today, as the Chinese believe Japan has not done enough to atone for its militarist past.
The list includes the names, ages, sex, occupations and addresses of the victims, which Japanese army unit was responsible and how the victims were killed.
"The publication of name lists is just a start. We will continue collecting information," Zhang Xianwen, editor-in-chief of the compilation, told the China Daily.
The volumes are the latest addition to historical data about the incident. They include first-hand historical documents and records, such as US news reports, diaries and circulars of Japanese troops, British and German diplomatic letters, and lists of casualties and economic losses.