At 10 am on Sunday, residents of Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province, stood in silence to pay tribute to the victims of the Nanjing Massacre, as an air-raid siren sounded sharply across the city.

Thousands of people in black clothes and with a white flower pinned to their chest bowed in remembrance of the 300,000 victims as part of China's second National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims at a memorial hall for the victims.

Representatives of the city's young people read a Peace Declaration, emphasizing the importance of peace and development, and some 3,000 pigeons were set free at the end of the ceremony.