HONG KONG, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government held a ceremony on Saturday to mourn the victims of the Nanjing Massacre.

Chief Executive of the HKSAR John Lee and Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR Zhou Ji attended the ceremony together with principal officials of the HKSAR government, members of the HKSAR Executive Council, representatives of HKSAR deputies to the National People's Congress, representatives of HKSAR members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, former members of the Hong Kong-Kowloon Independent Brigade of the East River Column, as well as representatives of veteran groups.

The participants sang China's national anthem and observed a moment of silence. Lee laid a wreath to mourn the victims.

The Nanjing Massacre took place after the Japanese Imperial Army captured the city in eastern China on Dec. 13, 1937. The Japanese invaders brutally killed approximately 300,000 Chinese civilians and unarmed soldiers in over six weeks in one of the most barbaric atrocities during World War II.

In 2014, China's top legislature designated Dec. 13 as the national memorial day for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre. Since then, the HKSAR government and civil groups have organized memorial ceremonies annually. Enditem