Pan Qiaoying, a survivor in the Nanjing Massacre, passed away on January 1, 2026, at the age of 95. In that harsh winter of 1937, six-year-old Pan Qiaoying huddled behind a kitchen stove, watching in despair as Japanese soldiers stabbed her grandpa, father, cousin, and other family members to death with bayonets. The sheer terror was so overwhelming that she even forgot to cry.

Pan Qiaoying (1931–2026)

Xu Deming, another survivor in the Nanjing Massacre, passed away on January 2, 2026, at the age of 96. His father was taken prisoner by a gang of Japanese troops who burst into his house on December 13, 1937. First, Xu’s father was taken to Shuixi Gate and later escorted to the Qingliang Mountain area, where he was killed in a mass execution. The whole family looked everywhere for him, but could never find his body. At the time of his father’s death, Xu was only 54 years old.

Xu Deming (1930–2026)

According to the statistics from the Association for Aiding Survivors of the Nanjing Atrocities by Japanese Invaders and Inheriting Historical Memory of the Nanjing Massacre (AASIMNM), only 22 registered survivors are still alive today.