The Nanjing Memorial Hall was built by the Nanjing Municipal Government in 1985 in memory of the 300,000 victims who lost their lives during the Nanjing Massacre. In 1995, it was enlarged and renovated. It is located in Jiangdongmen, one of the execution sites and meass burial places of the massacre. The memorial exhibits historical records and objects, and uses architecture, sculptures and video to illustrate what happened during the Nanjing Massacre.

On Dec 13, 1937, the Japanese army occupied Nanjing and during the following six weeks bore witness to the inhumane disgrace and bloody massacre exerted on the city. More than 300,000 innocent residents and unarmed Chinese soldiers were brutally slaughtered in mass and individual beheadings, burying alive, burning, and killing races. More than 20,000 women were raped and many were then killed. A third of the architectures together with their contents were damaged by fire and countless shops, stores and residences were looted and sacked. Corpses were seen floating on rivers and littered the streets and lanes. Whether they were children or the aged, from residents to nuns, few could escape from the savage atrocity.

The memorial consists of three major parts: outdoor exhibits, sheltered skeletal remains of victims and an exhibition hall of historical documents. The outdoor exhibit include statues, sculptures, relief carvings, tablets, and a large wall listing the names of victims, as well as an atonement tablet.

The hall was not built as a sign of indignation but a lasting memorial to the victims and a warning of history. The memorial hall and the historical materials it contains present themselves as iron proofs on the inhuman crimes the Japanese troops ever committed. The memorial hall presents not only to the Chinese but also to successive generations of the Japanese that only an acceptance and understanding of past wrongs can create a better future for mankind.