[6] In 2004, Zhao Long, then deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Jiangsu Provincial People's Congress, visited the Memorial Hall for Compatriots in Distress and had the idea of proposing the establishment of a National Public Sacrifice Day at a Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) meeting.

[9][10] In December 2013, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited the Yasukuni Shrine, triggering opposition from people in China and South Korea, and Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said that Abe "should go to the Memorial Hall for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre of the Japanese Army".

[11] After that, Xinhua News Agency reporters Cai Yugao and Jiang Fang came to the Memorial Hall several times to interview the victims, and based on this, they wrote an "internal reference", which attracted the attention of the central leadership.

On January 26, the Director of the Third Division of the State Law Office, Wang Shuguang, called the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, requesting the latter to provide two 3,000-word written materials.

On the afternoon of February 4, 2014, the Zheng Shuna, deputy director of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Standing Committee on Legal Affairs, Guo Linmao, inspector of the State Law Office, Wang Shuguang, director of the Third Division of the State Law Office, Zhang Jing, a cadre of the State Law Office, and the five staff members of the Memorial Hall for the Victims of the Massacre (including the director Zhu Chengshan) convened a symposium in the Memorial Hall.

On February 5, the Memorial Hall helped the National People's Congress to organize and revise the "Explanation on the History of the Nanjing Massacre".

After consultation with experts and thematic debates, the draft bills were submitted to the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress for a vote at its seventh session.

The meeting considered the draft decision of the NPC Standing Committee on the determination of the Memorial Day for the Victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the draft decision of the NPC Standing Committee on the establishment of a national public mourning day for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre.

[15] Li Shishi, head of the Legal Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee, made a presentation on the two draft decisions to the meeting.

Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping, Nanjing Massacre survivor Xia Shuqin [zh] (夏淑琴), and Young Pioneer Ruan Zeyu (阮泽宇, a descendant of Nanjing Massacre victims) unveiled the National Memorial Tripod (dǐng, 国家公祭鼎), and Xi gave a speech.

[23][24][25] He called for friendly relations between China and Japan despite the painful history being commemorated, saying, "We should not bear hatred against an entire nation just because a small minority of militarists launched aggressive wars.

[25] The observance is accompanied by extensive coverage in Chinese state media and is attended by Communist Party officials as well as by elderly survivors of the massacre.