First hand accounts expose brutality of Nanjing Massacre(2)

The second episode of a serial documentary on the Nanjing Massacre was released on Monday ahead of the inaugural National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims. (Xinhua)

Ironically, It is thanks to the Japanese that these letters survived.

During the invasion, the Japanese installed a mail censoring system, intercepting and destroying anything deemed improper information and included examples of these "improper letters" in their weekly or monthly reports.

When the Japanese were defeated in 1945, these reports became vital evidence of Japan's war crimes.

More episodes will be published in the week preceding National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims, which will fall on Dec. 13.

Japan invaded northeast China in September 1931, followed by full-scale invasion that started on July 7, 1937. Around 35 million Chinese soldiers and civilians were killed or injured in the war against Japanese invasion that continued until 1945.