今日7点整，南京大屠杀死难者国家公祭日升旗和下半旗仪式，在侵华日军南京大屠杀遇难同胞纪念馆举行。

China marks Nanking Massacre's 80th anniversary

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese officials called for deeper ties with Japan on Wednesday as they marked the 80th anniversary of the Nanking Massacre involving Japanese soldiers.

Chinese President Xi Jinping led a citywide minute of silence but did not speak as Yu Zhengsheng, head of China's parliamentary advisory body[全国政协主席], urged China and Japan to draw lessons from history and look forward to the future.

China's government and a 1946 international postwar tribunal[国际战后法庭] say at least 200,000 civilians were killed by Japanese troops entering China's then capital in December 1937 following bitter street fighting[巷战] in Shanghai.

Some right-wing Japanese politicians, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, have downplayed[1] the death toll or denied outright that the atrocity[暴行] even happened.

[1]downplay: to make something seem less important than it really is 淡化…的重要性，对…轻描淡写

White House officials attempted to downplay the President's role in the affair. 

白宫官员试图为总统在这一事件中的责任开脱。

Wearing a white flower on his lapel[西服上衣或夹克的翻领], Xi watched somberly on Wednesday as Chinese soldiers bearing large funeral wreaths marched slowly past a memorial showing the figure 300,000 — the number of massacre victims, according to official Chinese estimates.

Denial by conservative Japanese quarters of the country's wartime history has frequently sparked controversies with Asian neighbors that bore the brunt of[2] its militarism and colonial rule, including China, South Korea and the Philippines, and it continues to fuel debate in contemporary Japan.

[2]the brunt of sth: the main force of something unpleasant …的主要压力（或冲力） 

The infantry has taken/borne the brunt of the missile attacks. 

步兵在导弹袭击中首当其冲。 

Small companies are feeling the full brunt of the recession. 

小公司饱受经济不景气所带来的压力。

A Japanese hotel chain attracted condemnation in January when it distributed a book questioning Japan's use of forced sex workers and calling the Nanjing Massacre a fake. Nanking, an ancient Chinese capital 320 kilometers (200 miles) west of Shanghai, is now commonly known as Nanjing.

Yu, a former member of the Communist Party's top leadership circle, did not touch on[提及] the historical controversies Wednesday but struck an optimistic note[表现得很乐观], saying China and Japan share a long, rich history and should promote friendship for generations to come.

China has raised alarms in Asia with its more assertive military and diplomatic posture[态度，立场] in recent years, particularly over territorial disputes in the South China Sea. But Yu said in his address that Beijing would "never be hegemonic or expansionist."

"It will never impose the tragic experience that it experienced on other peoples," he said.