This is the first time China's held a national memorial day to mark the Nanijng Massacre of 1937.<br /> <br />Beijing says Japanese troops killed 300, 000 in what was its capital at the time.<br /> <br />A post-war Allied tribunal put the number of dead at just under half that.<br /> <br />Some in Japan deny the bloodshed ever happened at all.<br /> <br />Ties between China and Japan have deteriorated over the past year after Japan's prime minister visited a shrine honouring war criminals among Japan's war dead.<br /> <br />A spat over islets in the East China Sea has added to the problems.<br /> <br />Speaking at Saturday's memorial in Nanjing, China's President Xi Jinping said history shouldn't be forgotten but nor should the future.<br /> <br />(SOUNDBITE)(Mandarin) CHINESE PRESIDENT XI JINPING SAYING:<br /> <br />"Forgetting history is a betrayal and denying a crime is to repeat a crime," HE SAID. "We should not hate the people just because a small minority of militarists set off an invasion and war. The crime of war is on the
