The combo picture shows the portrait, signature of Xia Shuqin and illustrated story reviving her tragedy based on facts. Born on May 5, 1929, Xia is a survivor of Nanjing Massacre, a heinous crime committed by the Japanese militarists during World War II in 1937, in Nanjing, then capital of China. On the morning of Dec. 13, 1937, a team of Japanese soldiers broke into the rented house of Xia's family, the house-owner along with Xia's father and grandparents were slaughtered. The soldiers smashed Xia's one-year-old younger sister onto the ground to death from the mother's arms. Her mother, two eld sisters, all were raped and butchered. Altogether seven members out of nine of the family lost their lives, leaving then 8-year old Xia and her 4-year old younger sister survived. The year 2017 marks the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre, in which more than 300,000 Chinese were killed by the Japanese invaders who occupied Nanjing on Dec. 13, 1937, marking the start of six weeks of destruction, pillage, rape and slaughter in the city. There are only less than 100 living survivors of the atrocity. Reporters from Xinhua spent many years to look for the survivors of Nanjing Massacre and record their current lives. (Xinhua/Photo by Han Yuqing, Illustrated by Chen Congying)
