China's national memorial website goes mobile

China's National Memorial launched its portal app on Tuesday allowing users to access the museum's website via smart phones just ahead Victory Day commemorations on Sept. 3.
The National Memorial's website itself, cngongji.cn, is fairly new, having just opened in July. It was designed to promote the commemoration of the Nanjing Massacre in World War II, after China's top legislature set December 13 as a national memorial day for Nanjing Massacre victims.
The Nanjing Massacre is a six week period in late 1937 which saw Japanese soldiers kill more than 300,000 people in the city of Nanjing in east China's Jiangsu, then capital of China.
One website function allows users to log in and participate in digital
candle-lighting and tree planting as part of mourning process for the victims.
The app's logo is a red seal stamp with the Chinese characters of "National Memorial". It's available in three languages - Chinese, English and Japanese.
The memorial hall co-sponsors the website along with the Xinhua News Agency website, Xinhuanet.com.
By Tuesday, the National Memorial website had logged more than 40 million clicks, with 1.7 million participating in digital mourning activities, according to Zhu Chengshan, curator of the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall.
The launch of the website has led a series of commemoration activities preluding the first national memorial later this year. Earlier this year, the hall began a drive to track down descendants of survivors, offering them a chance to register and share stories.
Zhu said about 100 eyewitnesses who survived the massacre are still alive. The memorial has organized the registration to help record their memories and those of their families.
He said so far, the memorial has registered 1,513 people. Some of them called the memorial's hotlines from the U.S., Canada and Denmark to assist in registration.
Wednesday marks the 69th anniversary of China's victory in the anti-Japanese war. Top leaders will attend a ceremony in Beijing.