The site of a former military tribunal in Nanjing in which Japanese war criminals received their sentences will be opened to the public.

The aim is to illustrate war crimes committed by Japanese militarists during World War II in this capital of East China's Jiangsu Province.

Huangpu Hall at the Zhongshan Hotel was used to hold a military tribunal trying Japanese war criminals in February 1946, one year after Japan surrendered.

War criminals tried at the court include Hisao Tani, commander of the Japanese Army's Sixth Division and Gunkichi Tanaka, senior captain and company commander of the Sixth Division, who killed more than 300 civilians and POWs in a southwestern suburb of Nanjing in December 1937.

Two other soldiers who competed with each other in a race to slaughter as many people as possible were also tried at the tribunal.

The building was turned into a hotel in 1998 and Huangpu Hall is usually used as a meeting room.

"By August 15, the 60th anniversary of the Chinese people's victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-45), the hall will be restored to its former status.

"It will showcase the trial of these war criminals and will be open to visitors," said Ge Lin, deputy secretary-general and member of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

According to Ge, posters will be hung outside the hotel when Huangpu Hall is open to the public, reminding them of the unforgettable history of the place.

This January, on behalf of members of the Zhigong Party, one of China's non-Communist parties, Ge proposed turning Huangpu Hall into an exhibition centre, marking the trial of Japanese war criminals and revealing their crimes.

The provincial committee of the CPPCC has attached great importance to the proposal.

The province's State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the Provincial Information Office and Zhongshan Hotel were all involved in the project.

"We want to use it as a base for the patriotic education of our young people. We might need at least three to five years to turn it into a substantial exhibition venue for that purpose," Ge added.

"Together with the Memorial Hall of Compatriots Murdered in the Nanjing Massacre, people from home and abroad will be able to better understand that part of history."

He also said that a new monument is planned for the front of Huangpu Hall, over which the public will be consulted.

"I think before this August 15 we will consult citizens through the local media, like newspapers and websites," he added.

Zhongshan Hotel is a four-star hotel and includes five buildings, of which Huangpu Hall is one.

In 1946 and 1947, several Japanese war criminals who slaughtered Chinese people during the Nanjing Massacre were sentenced to death in the hall.

Together with Huangpu Hall, two other buildings at the hotel could also be renovated.

(China Daily June 30, 2005)