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Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall

(www.nj1937.org/english.cri.cn)
Updated: 2009-09-16 15:58

The Memorial Hall for Compatriots killed in the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Forces of Aggression is located in the southwestern corner of Nanjing known as Jiangdongmen, which used to be one of the execution grounds and mass burial places of the cruel holocaust.

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Occupying an area about 28000 square meters with a floor space of 3000, it was built in 1985 in memory of the 300,000 victims in the event. Later, in 1995 it was enlarged and renovated. The buildings in the complex are fashioned out of black and white granite blocks, looking spectacular and magnificent, rendering a feeling of solemnity and reverence. It is an exhibition site with historical records and objects as well as architecture, sculptures and video and film projections to unfold a specific chapter of history concerning one of the ugliest experiences forced on mankind.

The memorial consists of three parts: the outdoor exhibits, the remaining bones of the killed and the museum for historical material displaying. In the outdoor sector, group sculptures, full-length statues, relief carvings, signboards, monuments, redeeming and repentant tablets, withered trees and broken walls as well as a wall carved with the names of part of the victims so far that have been located cluster together with green shrubs and lawns to suggest a graveyard-style architecture with the themes of life and death, grief and indignation.

A building shaped like a coffin is to shelter some of the victims’ bones excavated from the “pits of thousands of bodies” right in the site when the memorial was in construction-an iron evidence for the bloody crimes committed by the aggressive Japanese troops. The museum lies half buried in the ground like a colossal tomb. Inside, an immense collection of pictures, objects, charts and photographs relate the horror of the Rape of Nanjing. Through a versatility of means for exhibitions such as lighted cabinets, sand trays, clay moldings, oil paintings, micro-computers appliances, documentary shows and so on, the tragedy of the cruel holocaust in Nanjing and the beastly atrocities of the Japanese militarists are pictured and recounted.

Past experience, if not forgotten, is the guide for the future. The Nanjing Memorial has become an important site for international communities to pray for PEACE as well as a site for historical and cultural exchanges. In China, it is also a “national demonstrative educational base for patriotism”.

The Rain Flower Terrace

The Rain Flower Terrace, which is one of the representative scenic spots in Nanjing, is located in the south of the city, occupying an area of 153.7hecters. The Rain Flower Terrace is rich in historical monuments as well as natural scenary, and presents an irressistable beauty to visitors. The site got its name, Rain Flower Terrace, since the Southern Dynasties, when a lengedary monk, Yunguang, preached the doctrines of Buddhism here. The monk was so eloquent that the heavenly God was moved by his preach and rain flowers like a shower, hence the name "Rain Flower Terrace". The significance of the Rain Flower Terrace in modern Chinese history is intensified because it was a executive ground of revolutionary martyrs and has been converted into a memorial site. Now, at the scenic spot, there are the solemn and magnificent memorial relics and plants of all kinds decorating the site with green all the year round, needless to mention, the well-known Rain Flower Stones and Rain Flower Tea, therefore, multifunctions of education, recreation and tourism are integrated into the place. The Rain Flower Terrace becomes the National Unit of important Monument Protection, the National Educational Base of Patriotism Monument Protection, the National Educational Base of Patriotism, the National AAAA Tourist.

Scenic Spot, as well as the Advanced National Unit of Scenic Spot and National Model Unit of the Protection of Consumers' Rights. We warmly welcome all tourists from China and abroad to sightsee in the Rain Flower Terrace Scenic Spot.