The son of the only living survivor of the Meihua massacre has joined a group of experts to write The History of Meihua, the first chronicle of the town, to ensure that its cultural and wartime history is preserved as a memorial to the dead.

Li Yinzhong has kept all the records of the event collected by Fan Yuexiang, his mother, along with other material related to the massacre.

In April 2000, Li accompanied Fan when she took part in talks with Shiro Azuma, a Japanese veteran who traveled to Meihua to apologize for his part in the Japanese occupation.

"From his bow, he seemed sincere in his apology and confession," the 49-year-old Li said, adding that Azuma's diary My Nanking Platoon, contained chilling descriptions of the massacre in Nanjing, and that the elderly veteran had shown a huge amount of courage when he came to apologize in person.

An 800,000-word draft of the chronicle, which will be published sometime this year, contains detailed descriptions and photos of Azuma and his apology, which, Li hopes, will provide reference points for future generations.

Li is eager to relate the town's long history, dating back more than 2,300 years, for the benefit of residents and visitors. The book tells the legend of a princess named Meihua, or "Plum Blossom", who lived and died in the region around 2,000 years ago. Her presence brought huge benefits for the residents, who renamed the town after their beloved princess.

During the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), the town was a well-known business center in North China, but the events of 1937 brought trade to a resounding halt.

It took many decades for the town to recover, but by last year the population had reached more than 4,700, almost double the number before the massacre, and annual per capita net income was 9,821 yuan ($1,582), according to the chronicle.

Li said the aim of the book is to show the events that have shaped Meihua throughout its history and the resulting changes, thus giving readers a clearer picture of the rich life of the town down the ages, so it won't be just be defined by a mass-acre that happened almost 80 years ago.

Contact the writer at: zhengjinran@chinadaily.com.cn