Tourists flock to offer condolences, cherish memories

This exhibition hall showcases documents, experimental utensils and tools used by the Japanese, along with videos that record the accounts of former Unit 731 soldiers.

Xu Xiaomeng and her two friends patiently waited for nearly 30 minutes before gaining entry to the hall. "It is worthwhile because this history should be remembered by every Chinese," said the 32-year-old Xu, who works as a middle school English teacher in Central China's Hubei province.

They planned their trip based on recommendations from social media, and the exhibition hall was on their "must-visit" list.

According to Xu, the frozen experiment performed on Chinese victims was the most unsettling aspect of the exhibition. She acknowledged that the curators might have omitted certain graphic details, but the exhibits still startled her.

Her friend Huang Guangjing, who is a Chinese literature teacher, said that she was profoundly dismayed to learn about the germ warfare conducted by Unit 731. "I will share everything with my students to ensure that they carry forward the memory."

Qian Xiaomin, a 36-year-old resident of Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, said that she and her 12-year-old son had planned to spend a week in Harbin, with the exhibition hall being their first stop.