Two survivors of Nanjing Massacre pass away

Yi Lanying, who survived the Nanjing Massacre, passed away at the age of 99 on Saturday. (Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn)

Two survivors of the Nanjing Massacre, Yi Lanying and Tao Chengyi, passed away on Saturday, leaving just 28 registered survivors still alive, according to the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders.

Yi, 99, narrowly escaped death in 1937 during a Japanese air raid on Nanjing, Jiangsu province when a bomb struck near her family's ancestral home. Her family fled the bombings and sought refuge with relatives until it was safe to return to the city.

During the raid, Yi witnessed Japanese soldiers rounding up young men and binding them together in pairs. She later heard machine gun fire and learned that those men were shot and dumped into a nearby pond, Yi recalled in her testimony.

The haunting experience left her with lasting trauma, manifesting as anxiety, palpitations and tinnitus. She expressed a fervent desire for future generations to remember the innocent victims of the massacre.

Tao Chengyi, who survived the Nanjing Massacre, passed away at the age of 89 on Saturday. (Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn)

Tao Chengyi, 89, lost his father when he was captured and killed by Japanese soldiers during the Japanese occupation of Nanjing. His father, aged 29 at the time, was also accompanied in death by a maternal uncle and a cousin.

His father's death left the family bereft, with his mother struggling to support the children through small business endeavors.

Reflecting on his childhood, Tao lamented how the war had robbed him of his innocence and disrupted his formative years.