NANJING, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- People from China, Japan and the Republic of Korea attended a peaceful assembly in Nanjing Monday to commemorate the victory of China's war of resistance against Japanese aggression.

In the Nanjing Massacre Victim's Memorial Hall, in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, representatives from the three countries recited a declaration of peace in the morning.

On Dec. 13, 1937, Japanese troops began six weeks of destruction, pillage, rape and slaughter in Nanjing. More than 300,000 Chinese, including unarmed soldiers and innocent civilians, were murdered.

This year marks the 71st anniversary of the end of the war. Every year around Aug. 15, peace-loving NGOs across the world gather in the city to remember the victims.

Miyauchi Yoko, head of an anti-war NGO based in Kobe, Japan, said the hot summer weather in Nanjing reminded her of the brutality that the Chinese suffered during the war, giving her and colleagues the motivation to do everything in their power to prevent the Japanese government from taking the wrong path.