Every year on December 13, China holds the National Memorial Day for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre.
December 13, 2025 marks the 12th National Memorial Day for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre.
Eighty-eight years ago today, the Japanese invading forces carried out the Nanjing Massacre—a crime of unimaginable brutality.
Eighty-eight years have passed. Why can we not forget?
Perhaps the words of Ms. Xia Shuqin, a survivor of the Nanjing Massacre, can give you an answer.
(she is also the real-life figure behind the third character in Dead to Rights).
December 13, 2025 marks the 12th National Memorial Day for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre.
Eighty-eight years ago today, the Japanese invading forces carried out the Nanjing Massacre—a crime of unimaginable brutality.
Eighty-eight years have passed. Why can we not forget?
Perhaps the words of Ms. Xia Shuqin, a survivor of the Nanjing Massacre, can give you an answer.
(she is also the real-life figure behind the third character in Dead to Rights).
“I am already 96 years old.
I am old,
but I still have to speak. I refuse to accept this.
We have been victorious for 80 years.
Why does the Japanese government still refuse to apologize?
Why do they still not dare to come and look at the names on the ‘Crying Wall’?
My family members’ names are all there.
My only wish is to see, in my lifetime, the Japanese government acknowledge the history of the Nanjing Massacre.
As long as I live for one more day, I will bear witness to history for one more day.”
We have been victorious for 80 years.
Why does the Japanese government still refuse to apologize?
Why do they still not dare to come and look at the names on the ‘Crying Wall’?
My family members’ names are all there.
My only wish is to see, in my lifetime, the Japanese government acknowledge the history of the Nanjing Massacre.
As long as I live for one more day, I will bear witness to history for one more day.”
———Xia Shuqin———