A shrill wail of a siren pierced the air, 3,000 doves of peace fluttered and 10,000 people stood in silence commemorating the victims of the Nanjing Massacre.

China marked the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre on its fourth national memorial day Wednesday, showing the world its commitment to peace and justice.

In 1937, the Japanese military brutally slaughtered about 300,000 Chinese citizens and unarmed soldiers during a six-week rampage after they captured Nanjing, then China's capital.

It is a horrific, dark moment in history that cannot and should not be forgot. It should also serve as a lesson for people worldwide to cherish the hard-won peace.

However, Japan has chosen to hide behind the atrocity and ignore its historic responsibility.

Instead of a sincere apology, the country prefers to bury evidence, defy history and glorify the invasion.

It is incomprehensible that the massacre, one of the bloodiest in history, remains unknown to most of the younger generation in Japan. To soberly remind people of this shocking crime is not to prolong hatred between China and Japan, but merely to restore truth and justice.

Thankfully, the international community stands with China.

In Canada, members of the Ontario provincial parliament held a moment of silence to recognize Ontario's first Nanjing Massacre Commemorative Day in Toronto.

UNESCO included Nanjing Massacre documents in its Memory of the World Register in 2015, making it a crucial and indelible piece of human history.

Li Xiuying, a victim stabbed 37 times by Japanese soldiers in the massacre, said her last words in 2004: "We need to remember history, not hatred."

As the Chinese choose to embrace a peaceful future and together with the international community calls for justice, Japan is eager to downplay and whitewash the enormity of its war crimes.

Despite Japan's frequent denials, history will not change nor disappear, no matter how much time passes.

Japan has longed to present itself as a normal country, but the first step to becoming such a country is to face up to facts, confess to its mistakes and make a full public apology.

Eighty years have passed, but the Chinese people are still stinging from this tragedy and are indignant at the stubborn attitude of Japan. But they have also been lifted by faith, a faith that peace will continue to be cherished and that justice will prevail.

To win back its self-respect and gain the trust of the international community, Japan must learn to make the right choices in safeguarding peace and justice. The 300,000 lost lives deserve no less, and the righteous forces worldwide ask no more.