NANJING, Dec. 1 -- A memorial for the victims of Nanjing Massacre was held in the city on Monday, as a prelude for the upcoming first national memorial day.

The mourning activities were held in the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall and will last until Dec. 20.

Families of the victims prayed, brought flowers or wrote and read letters to their loved ones in front of a name wall in the hall.

"108 names of the victims were carved on the wall in the family memorial hall. They were the representatives of the more than 300,000 victims of Nanjing Massacre," said Zhu Chengshan, curator of the memorial hall.

"Each of the family used to have a peaceful life until the Japanese invaders came and destroyed them," Zhu said.

Seven names of Xia Shuqin's family are on the wall. 77 years ago, the eight-year-old Xia lost seven family members in the disaster. She and her 4-year-old sister were the only survivors.

Xia is 85 now. She told Xinhua that the memory of witnessing her family being killed by the Japanese troops still haunts her today.

In February, China's top legislature set Dec. 13 as a national memorial day for Nanjing Massacre victims.

Japanese troops captured Nanjing in late 1937, killing about 300,000 people over the course of more than 40 days.