Danish Queen visits Nanjing Massacre memorial(2)

Photo taken on April 27, 2014 shows the "Sindberg yellow rose" placed by Queen of Denmark Margrethe II, at the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province. (Xinhua/Li Xiang)

A yellow Danish rose was named the Nanjing Forever -- Sindberg Rose by Sindberg's hometown, Aarhus Municipality, in remembrance of the events in 2004. The Danish Embassy in Beijing later gave the roses as gifts to the memorial hall.

The Queen stopped to appreciate the yellow roses at the Peace Square of the memorial hall, where she met a living survivor of the massacre Su Guobao.

"I was only 10 when the massacre took place. My family and I, among other Chinese refugees, lived in the camp Sindberg established," 87-year-old Su told the Queen.

The whole family survived on money and rice from Sindberg, Su said. "My heart is filled with gratitude. Thanks to Sindberg and Denmark."

The occasion also was a chance for Sindberg's niece Marianne Stenvig Andersen, who was among Danish delegates to visit China, to renew friendship with the old man.

The Queen and her husband added some soil to a tree symbolizing peace at the square, and watered it.

The queen is paying a state visit to China from Thursday to Monday at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping.