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Comrade Tong Zeng:
You are the first to initiate the campaign to demand compensations from the Japanese government for the civilian damage during the Japanese invasion into China. You have echoed the wishes of hundreds of millions of people. We all are behind you.

I live in the remote frontier region in the West, and learned of the news very late.

The nature of this war is a process in which Japan barbarically plundered China’s resources, occupied Chinese territories, and killed Chinese people. This war is an unjust war of invasion, it brought endless calamity to the Chinese people. The emotional trauma brought by the war is beyond compensation by any material means.

I remember back then I was studying in Liuzhou. Japanese aircrafts often came to harass us. The sight of the three black lanterns air raid alarm signals on the top of Ma’anshan Mountain in Liuzhou would make us tremble with fright! Students were unable to concentrate on the lectures calmly. We also personally witnessed the Japanese aircraft attacks in China; they bombed Liuzhou Airport, destroyed Liuzhou Iron Bridge, and bombed civilian houses. The scene of compatriots bombed to death under a big banyan tree with scattered body parts was too horrible to look at.

To avoid air raid, we moved to the countryside to live——Yuxiu Village, Baipeng Town, Liujiang County, Guangxi.

Firstly, our hometown fell into enemy’s hands. We all lived as colonial slaves under the cruel oppression of the Japanese soldiers. Those days were indeed tormenting. Take my family as an example. Once my father went out on an errand, and happened to encounter Japanese soldiers who were conscripting civilian laborers to engage in long distance shipping. My father was conscripted without any of the family members’ knowledge. With my Father’s sudden disappearance and my grandmother was very old, everyone was worried to death. We searched everywhere for my father to no avail. When we learned of the news, Father was already tortured by the Japanese soldiers to the brink of death. In the end he was carried home by others on a stretcher, covered with wounds all over the body, skin and flesh torn, and emaciated with only skin and bone. There were several hundred people conscripted together with my father. Soon after they were conscripted, they were imprisoned in a large house, then hung and beaten. It was a hot summer in South China when they carried out the shipping work, each day they carried heavy loads on their shoulders. The laborers were bound together with ropes and escorted by armed Japanese soldiers. They were very hungry and thirsty. They were not fed with adequate food and there was no water to drink. During the journey, if anyone moved slowly, they were cruelly beaten with whip, bayonet, and rifle butt. As the day passed, the number of fainted laborers multiplied, but the Japanese would stab anyone who collapsed on the ground, and left them on the roadside to feed crows and stray dogs. Fortunately my father returned alive, which was the only lucky thing in the unfortunate disaster. Though he was alive, his physical condition was in terrible shape. His wrist was fractured so bad that he could not hold a bowl, and both his feet were crippled. We had to feed him when dining. We sought out doctors and medicines everywhere to treat my father’s wounds.

We demand the Japanese government to compensate USD50,000.
Address: 83002, Wuxing Road, Urumqi, Xinjiang, Tan Rixu c/o Tushan Youlin, Healthcare Section of Jiangong Hospital.

Secondly, when the Japanese soldiers stationed at our Yuxiu Village, they fired at an unarmed farmer and killed him. They also took pedestrians around the village as living target for their marksmanship competition. The Japanese soldiers robbed chickens, ducks, pigs, buffalo and cattle for their meat. They slaughtered a large number of farm cattle. Since in the rural area farmers relied on animal labor and human labor in farming, the loss of farm cattle seriously affected farming. The way they slaughtered cattle was very cruel; buffalos were killed by bashing the head with wood sticks, so that their blood would flow into the meat to make it taste tender. Wherever the Japanese soldiers went, there would be a catastrophe, all valuables were plundered, or burnt, including clothing, money, satin and silk, curios, antiques, calligraphies and paintings, cultural relics…They raped women, and committed all sorts of crimes.

We demand the Japanese government to compensate Yuxiu Village USD 100,000.

Thirdly, the Chairman of the Civil Association of Baipeng Town was a big traitor. In addition to collecting grains for the Japanese, charging exorbitant fees, conscripting civilian laborers, finding girls to reward the Japanese soldiers, he also took advantage of the national disaster to seek personal gains. He exhorted money, bullied residents, people hated him bitterly. Baipeng Town was formerly the territory of Tan Jianfang (warlord), it is the site of the largest and most prosperous marketplace for trading in the vicinity. On one market day, the local people beat this wicked Chairman of the Civil Association to death at the marketplace along with two Japanese soldiers who stood guard in front of the gate. As a result, Japanese soldiers retaliated against Baipeng Town, innocent residents were killed, they set fire to houses after looting them. People were forced to flee to mountains and hide in caves. One headman in Guantang led the local residents to resist the Japanese invasion. The Japanese mobilized troops to surround the village, they burned and killed the whole family of this headman, burned and murdered while the he was away from home. Among the dead were his father, wife, children, and other family members. We demand the Japanese government to compensate USD 5 million to Baipeng Town.

I look forward to your reply.
Yours sincerely,
Tan Rixu
1993.2.20

Correspondence address:
Wuxing Road, Urumqi, Xinjiang 830002
Tan Rixu c/o Tushan Youlin, Healthcare Section of Jiangong Hospital