Tourists flock to offer condolences, cherish memories

Following their visit, her son Qian Yanchu decided to document his impressions of the exhibition in his diary. "If I could turn back in time, I would join the army to protect my fellow countrymen," the boy said, adding that for now he wants to work hard and contribute to the building of a stronger nation.

Numerous children and teenagers, just like Qian, were visiting the exhibition hall. Most of them quietly looked at the exhibits and attentively listened to the descriptions, occasionally posing questions to their parents.

Lin Yanlu, accompanied by her six-year-old son and septuagenarian parents, was among the visitors. She said that her son tried to read the descriptions himself and was petrified by the vivid accounts of vivisection. "Our country has grown stronger, but this transformation came at the cost of many martyrs," she told her son.

In addition to the exhibition hall, people also flocked to the Northeast China Revolutionary Martyrs' Memorial Hall, which has welcomed over 65,000 visitors this year, excluding those who joined virtual tours online. Of all the visitors a large percentage are young people, including more than 30,000 from 270 student groups.

Guide Gao Peng, 30, has been working at the Unit 731 exhibition hall for six years. "I always encounter visitors with various questions," he said. "Through our conversations, my aim is for them to gain a deeper understanding of the historical events from those years, fostering not hatred but rather the courage and motivation to move forward."