A senior Communist Party of China official warned against "reviving militarism" on the 12th National Memorial Day, marked on Saturday to honor the victims of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre.
"Any attempt to revive militarism, challenge the post-war international order or undermine global peace and stability was doomed to failure," Shi Taifeng said in Nanjing, the capital of east China's Jiangsu province, according to the South China Morning Post.
Despite cold weather, thousands gathered while dressing in dark attire at the public square of the Memorial Hall, state-run news agency Xinhua News reported.
Shi emphasized the need for continuing "the great spirit of the War of Resistance, advance with determination, strive to promote China's modernization and national rejuvenation, and make greater contributions to the cause of peace and progress for humanity."
Sirens sounded at 10:01 am (0201GMT), prompting drivers in the downtown area to halt their vehicles and honk in unison, while pedestrians paused to observe a moment of silence in remembrance of the victims.
The national flag was flown at half-staff in front of the crowd that included survivors.
In 1937, the Japanese army captured Nanjing, the then capital of the Chinese Republic. China said more than 300,000 people were killed by Japanese forces.
Japan continues to dispute that a massacre of that scale took place, while much of the world has long accepted its occurrence, despite varying figures about how many were killed.
In 2015, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, accepted Chinese documents supporting claims of Japanese "atrocities" in Nanjing in its Memory of the World register-a move that drew objections from Tokyo.
