China on Wednesday marks the 80th anniversary of the Nanking massacre by Japanese troops, an enduring source of bad blood between the two nations.
Top leaders will preside over memorial services in the eastern city, but Beijing has yet to confirm whether President Xi Jinping will lend weight to the occasion by attending.
China says about 300,000 civilians and soldiers were killed in a frenzy of murder, torture, rape, arson and looting in the six weeks after the invading Japanese military entered Nanjing, then the capital city, on December 13, 1937.
It remains one of the most fraught anniversaries for the two powerful neighbours due to stubborn disputes over the toll and periodic denials by Japanese arch-conservatives that the episode took place.
Many in China say this symbolises Japan’s unwillingness to completely atone for its wartime aggression.
Officially, Japan concedes that “the killing of a large number of non-combatants, looting and other acts occurred” but says it is difficult to determine precise figures.
The issue receded during the cold war, but has re-emerged as China strikes an increasingly muscular stance under Xi, while critics say Japanese revisionists have grown bolder since conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office.
