80 ceramic shoes poignant tribute to Nanjing Massacre victims

80 pairs of ceramic shoes representing victims of the Nanjing Massacre are on display at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall, Jiangsu province, on April 3, 2017. [Photo: Chinanews.com]

Eighty pairs of ceramic shoes, representing the victims of the Nanjing Massacre have gone on display at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall.

Over 37,000 people came to visit the site to pay tribute to the victims and lay flowers on Sunday, the first day of the Tomb-sweeping Day holiday, according to official figures.

80 pairs of ceramic shoes representing victims of the Nanjing Massacre are on display at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall, Jiangsu province, on April 3, 2017. [Photo: Chinanews.com]

Some of the shoes have been placed on top of the soil, some are half buried, and some completely covered by the soil in the display to symbolize the distressing pain and stifling oppression suffered by the victims during the massacre. 

Thirteen meters long and 1.2 meters wide, the display represents the day that Nanjing was invaded by Japanese invaders on December 13, 1937. Over 300,000 people were killed in the following massacre. The 80 pairs of ceramic shoes represent the 80 anniversary of the massacre.

80 pairs of ceramic shoes representing victims of the Nanjing Massacre are on display at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall, Jiangsu province, on April 3, 2017. [Photo: Chinanews.com]

Wang Cheng, who made the ceramic shoes and a primary school teacher in Nanjing, said that the idea of making the ceramic shoes was inspired by his visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in Poland. 

"Shoes reveal people's ages, identity and family lives," said Wang. "Every pair of shoes represents a group of people who lost lives in the massacre, including teenagers, adults, the elderly, babies, both male and female."

80 pairs of ceramic shoes representing victims of the Nanjing Massacre are on display at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall, Jiangsu province, on April 3, 2017. [Photo: Chinanews.com]

In a moving gesture, representatives of the massacre survivors took clay from the victims' cemetery and placed it on the ceramic shoes.