Chairman of the state duma of Russia paid a visit to Nanjing Anti-Japanese Cemetery of Aviation Martyrs

On the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the victory of the world anti-fascist war celebrated jointly between China and Russia, at the invitation of Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of National People’s Congress of China, a delegation of 25 people led by Gryzlov, chairman of the state duma of Russia, arrived in Nanjing by a special Russian plane on May 19, 2010 as well as paid a friendly visit to Jiangsu Province under the escort of Li Jianguo, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of National People’s Congress of China. In the meantime, the delegation paid a special visit to Nanjing Anti-Japanese Cemetery of Aviation Martyrs as well as condoled upon aviation martyrs.
At about 2:00 pm on the 19th, under the escort of Bai Suning, vice-director of the People’s Congress of Jiangsu Province, chairman Gryzlov and vice-chairman Li Jianguo arrived by a special car at the memorial archway in front of the Anti-Japanese Cemetery of Aviation Martyrs located at the foot of the Purple Mountain. The entrance to the cemetery was lined with a crowd of people holding a streamer on which “Warmly welcome Gryzlov, duma chairman of Russia, to visit Nanjing” was written in both Chinese and Russian. Chairman Gryzlov greeted them with both a smile and a wave of his hand.
By walking up 165 steps from the entrance to the Anti-Japanese Cemetery of Aviation Martyrs, the delegation came to the platform at the top of the square of monument. Then, standing in two rows, they offered wreaths to the Monument of the Anti-Japanese Aviation Martyrs. Wearing an official suit, chairman Gryzlov looked very solemn. After having stepped forward and arranged the elegiac couplet, he returned to his original place as well as stood in silent tribute to anti-Japanese martyrs together with other members of the delegation. The condolence ceremony was organized by the Committee of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Congress of Jiangsu Province.
After the condolence ceremony, a group photo was taken of the delegation of Russian duma and Chinese escorts. Thereafter, chairman Gryzlov visited the Memorial Hall of Anti-Japanese Aviation. While carefully viewing exhibits and listening to the introduction of the explainer, he nodded now and then to express his high approval.
After the visit, chairman Gryzlov cheerfully inscribed and left remarks for the memorial hall, as well as donated a batch of valuable historical data and cultural relics to the memorial hall on behalf of Russia, including a rifle, an onboard machine gun and two pistols. Used by soldiers of former Soviet Union in battles against Japanese during World War Ⅱ, all these four guns were originally kept in the National Central Museum of Russia. With a caliber of 7.62mm, the smallest one is a pistol produced in Germany in 1933, and was repaired in 2005 with the originally-preserved spare parts. On behalf of the memorial hall, Wang Pengshan, head of the Administration of Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Mausoleum, awarded a donation certificate to the Russian delegation, as well as presented a gift of Nanjing Brocade (on which “ May Friendship Last Forever” was written) to chairman Gryzlov in turn.
A name list of 235 martyrs of former Soviet Union was engraved in Nanjing Anti-Japanese Cemetery of Aviation Martyrs. As a country that took the lead in offering actual aid to China during the anti-Japanese war, Russian government has been attaching great importance to the memorial site for martyrs of former Soviet Union in China. Air-force generals and diplomatic officials of Russia pay a visit to the Cemetery of Aviation Martyrs in Nanjing every year.
To commemorate Chinese and foreign martyrs of anti-Japanese aviation, further enhance the international influence of Jiangsu Province and Nanjing, as well as give better play to its function as a bridge for international friendly exchanges, its function of education as a base of patriotism and its function as a ligament linking both sides of Taiwan Straits, the construction project of Nanjing Memorial Hall of Anti-Japanese Aviation was formally initiated on April 4, 2008, completed and opened to the public free of charge on September 26, 2009. After that, a structure of trinity including “Aviation Cemetery”, “Anti-Japanese Monument” and newly-built “Anti-Japanese Memorial Hall” came into being, and a complete set of important historical buildings for commemorating the victory of the world anti-fascist war was set up. In addition, this marked the formal establishment of the only large-scale sanctum for commemorating international martyrs of anti-Japanese aviation in China.
During the construction of the Memorial Hall of Anti-Japanese Aviation, the Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Central Military Museum of Russia, the International Cooperation Committee of the USA, as well as embassies and consulates of these two countries in China, always paid their great attention and offered their great support to the construction. They offered a lot of valuable historical data, tangible objects or replicas in succession. Russian embassy in China donated 100 thousand yuan (RMB) to the construction of the memorial hall. Mr. Tomikhin, vice-head of the First Asian Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia; Mr. Paltov, deputy general consul of Russian consulate in Shanghai; paid many visits to Nanjing, as well as brought electronic versions of 24 documents sorted out of the data of the Archive Center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia to the Memorial Hall of Anti-Japanese Aviation. In addition, they donated 12 cultural relics including fur coats, flight caps, flight glasses, map-bags, surveyor’s staffs, parachutes and Lenin medals of pilots. At the opening ceremony of the Memorial Hall of Anti-Japanese Aviation, the Central Military Museum (as a national institution at the level of federation subordinated to the Ministry of National Defense of the Russian Federation) signed a ten-year cooperation agreement with the Memorial Hall of Anti-Japanese Aviation. According to the agreement, in the forthcoming ten years, both parties will carry out cooperation of many forms with each other, including regular exchange of personnel, information exchange and resource sharing.
As the leader of the delegation, chairman Gryzlov arrived in Nanjing and paid a special visit to the Memorial Hall of Anti-Japanese Aviation this time. In addition, he brought with him a lot of valuable historical data and cultural relics. His visit has further reinforced the relationship between both parties, added luster to a series of activities in which the 65th anniversary of the victory of the world anti-fascist war was celebrated jointly between China and Russia, intensified the all-round strategic cooperation between the two countries, as well as further promoted the world peace and concerted development.

Video:http://www.zschina.org.cn/video/egdm2.asp