Historians and community leaders gathered Saturday in the city of Houston, the U.S. state of Texas, to attend a seminar in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre.

At the seminar, participants recalled the bitter memories of the Nanjing Massacre and condemned right-wing Japanese scholars' and politicians' denial of the massacre, while calling on peace- loving people across the world to protect the fruits of world anti- fascism forces.

They also restated China's sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands and criticized the Japanese government's decision to buy part of the islands as groundless.

"We are holding the seminar to remember our Chinese compatriots slaughtered in the Nanjing Massacre," said Qiao Fengxiang, vice chairman of the Houston Diaoyu Islands Coalition, one of the host organizations. "Since the beginning of this year, the Japanese government has staged a series of provocative acts over China's Diaoyu Islands."

"We want to analyze the reasons why the Japanese government has continuously refused to regret its history of invasion of China," he said, who believed that the Japanese government's decision to purchase part of the Diaoyu Islands is an act meant to write off the fruits of world anti-fascism forces.

Japanese government announced its decision on Sept. 10 to " purchase" part of the Diaoyu Islands, which are China's inherent territory. The action fueled anti-Japan protest and discontent among Chinese people in dozens of Chinese cities in months following the announcement.

Japanese troops occupied Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province and then the capital of China, on Dec. 13, 1937 and began a six- week massacre. Records show more than 300,000 people -- not only disarmed soldiers, but also civilians -- were killed.