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85th Anniversary of Nanjing Massacre commemorating event held in San Francisco Chinatown

Portia Li / 李秀蘭
Portia Li / 李秀蘭
December 18, 2022
Ignatius Ding is the first recipient of the Iris Chang Excellence Award. The attendees of the event include mother of Iris Chang (from left) , Ding, Retired Judge Lillian Sing, Event Chair Jennifer Zhang, and D4 Supervisor Gordon Ma. Photo by Portia Li
Ignatius Ding is the first recipient of the Iris Chang Excellence Award. The attendees of the event include mother of Iris Chang (from left) , Ding, Retired Judge Lillian Sing, Event Chair Jennifer Zhang, and D4 Supervisor Gordon Ma. Photo by Portia Li

(SAN FRANCISCO) This year marks the 85th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre during WWII. A commemorating event of the massacre was held on December 11 at the Chinese Cultural Center in San Francisco Chinatown.

A new award, the Iris Chang Excellence Award, was created this year to recognize a leader who has worked hard in pursuing justice related to WWII war. Ignatius Ding was the first recipient of the award.

The award was also to commemorate late author and journalist Iris Chang who spent years working on her books, including her first book Rape of Nanking published in 1991. The book exposed more facts of the Nanjing Massacre to the world. Ding provided materials to Chang for writing the book back in the late 1980s.

The 85th Anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre commemorating event is held at the Chinese Culture Center in San Francisco Chinatown. Photo by Portia Li
The 85th Anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre commemorating event is held at the Chinese Culture Center in San Francisco Chinatown. Photo by Portia Li

"We cannot find a more appropriate time to honor Ignatius Ding, a legend in the WWII Asian redness movement," said Jennifer Zhang, President of the Rape of Nanjing Redress Coalition and President of Global Alliance for the Truth of the Sino-Japanese War.

It was also the 26th annual Nanjing Ji commemorating event in San Francisco. "The event was created to remind all of us of the tragic past and the victims of the Japanese Army atrocities committed during World War II. In a short six to eight weeks in the winter of 1937, the Japanese Imperial Army raped, massacred, and maimed more than 300,000 innocent civilians in Nanjing, China," said Zhang.

In the commemoration, Retired Judges Lillian Sing and Julie Tang, two co-founder of the Nanjing Ji, conducted live interviews with the Nanjing Massacre survivors who were still alive in China and from Hong Kong.