Nanjing Massacre survivor Guo Xiulan dies at 94; 20 registered survivors remain
In short
Guo Xiulan, a survivor of the Nanjing Massacre, died at her home at about 10 a.m. on Oct 7 at the age of 94, according to the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders. She was five when Japanese troops occupied Nanjing in 1937 and later recounted that her parents and younger sister were killed when soldiers fired into the air-raid shelter where her family was hiding. The number of registered living survivors is now 20.
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Guo Xiulan, a survivor of the Nanjing Massacre, died at her home at about 10 a.m. on Oct 7 at the age of 94, according to the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders. China News Service, Jiemian and Xinhua all reported that the number of registered living survivors is now 20. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
Guo was born on Oct 8, 1932, and was five years old when Japanese troops occupied Nanjing in 1937. In an account she gave during her lifetime, she said three Japanese soldiers came one morning at about nine or ten o'clock, and that her parents took her, her two sisters and around a hundred neighbours into an air-raid shelter near what is now Zhanglongqiao. A child's crying drew the soldiers to the shelter, she recalled, and they stood at the entrance and fired a machine gun into it. After roughly half an hour the shelter fell quiet, she said, and the soldiers left once they saw no movement. Only then, she said, did she learn that her parents and her younger sister had been killed — her sister dying in her mother's arms, with her father holding her mother. [ 1 , 2 ]
The figure of 20 registered living survivors comes from the memorial hall's register, as cited by China News Service and Jiemian, and Xinhua's headline carried the same number. Jiemian attributed its report to CCTV News. The documents give no further details on memorial arrangements or on Guo's life after the war. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
Why it matters
The reports put the number of registered living survivors at 20, meaning the group able to give first-person testimony from the 1937 massacre has continued to shrink. All three outlets anchor the event to the memorial hall's register, making an official count the central figure of the coverage. The documents give no indication of commemorative or other arrangements.
Key facts
- Guo Xiulan died at her home at about 10 a.m. on Oct 7 at the age of 94, according to the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- The number of registered living survivors of the Nanjing Massacre is now 20. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- Guo was born on Oct 8, 1932. [ 1 , 2 ]
- She was five years old when Japanese troops occupied Nanjing in 1937. [ 1 , 2 ]
- In an account she gave during her lifetime, her parents and younger sister were killed by Japanese soldiers who fired a machine gun into the air-raid shelter where her family and neighbours were hiding near what is now Zhanglongqiao. [ 1 , 2 ]
- Jiemian attributed its report to CCTV News. [ 2 ]
Confirmed by several sources
- Guo Xiulan died at about 10 a.m. on Oct 7 at the age of 94. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- The memorial hall's register now lists 20 living survivors. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- Guo was born on Oct 8, 1932, and was five when Japanese troops occupied Nanjing in 1937. [ 1 , 2 ]
- According to her account, her parents and younger sister were killed when soldiers fired into the shelter where her family was hiding. [ 1 , 2 ]
Still unclear
- The content of the Xinhua report beyond its headline. Only the headline of the Xinhua item was available, so it is not known whether it added details, accounts or statements not carried by the other two outlets.
What local media are saying
Timeline, local time
- Guo Xiulan dies at her home, according to the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders. [ 1 , 2 ]
- China News Service publishes its report on her death and the remaining registered survivors. [ 1 ]
- Jiemian publishes its report, attributed to CCTV News. [ 2 ]
- Xinhua publishes its report with the same survivor figure in the headline. [ 3 ]