On the morning of July 9, nearly 70 participants in the Third Nanjing Sister City Students Camp visited the Memorial Hall. The young people came from seven cities across six countries—the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Turkey and Spain. Most were confronting this painful chapter of history up close for the first time. They admitted that the images of the atrocities committed by the Japanese military during the Nanjing Massacre went far beyond anything they had previously known.

A brick from Nanjing’s Ming Dynasty city wall is set into the city gate, symbolizing the fall of Nanjing and the ensuing Nanjing Massacre. 

A camper gently touches the brick

The campers took out their phones to photograph the historical images and materials on display. They planned to take the photographs home and share the history with their classmates and friends.

Amy, a girl from Essex in the United Kingdom, continually took photographs on her phone during the visit. “I had never heard of the Nanjing Massacre before. I want to photograph what I see here, take the pictures home and show them to my friends,” she said. The exhibits made a profound impression on her. “They present in full an extremely dark chapter in the history of human civilization—what the Japanese military did in Nanjing. It is essential that this history be presented.”