Date of letter:1993-02-17
Address of author:Tongren City, Guizhou Province
Date of event:1941
Location of event:Taishan City, Guangdong Province
Name of author:Liu Xin
Name(s) of victim(s):Liu Xin’s grandmother, mother and townsmen
Type of atrocity:Murders, Other Massacres, Others, Rapes(RA, MU, OM, OT)
Other details:My hometown is Taishan City, Guangdong. On July 1, 1941, the Japanese occupying my hometown sent a propaganda team of 13 people to make peace, when 12 were killed by the masses on the spot. As concequence the Japanese started a retaliatory massacre, killing and burning everywhere to kill more than 700 villagers, with over 40 people injured and 500 houses burnt down. As my father Liu Da was discovered for joining in the Communist Party, my grandmother and mother were arrested, tortued and extorted confessions in March 1941, , and finally killed. My sister was arrested and managed to escape, and has never been heard from until today.
Respectable comrade Tong Zeng,
Have you received my letter? I’d like to thank you for working hard for victims like me and your efforts to pursue justice for victims and defend national interests are worth learning and admiration. You are indeed a soul engineer and a good servant of the people.
Comrade Tong Zeng, I’ve learned from your letter the object and scope of the claim for damage compensation from Japan and recalled some memories in the past few days. My hometown is Shuibu Town, Taishan City, Guangdong Province. The Japanese army invaded Taishan for the first time on March 3, 1941, the second time on September 20 in the same year and the third time on June 24, 1944. On July 1, the Japanese army that occupied Taishan sent a 13-member promotion team to publicize Sino-Japanese goodwill in Sanshe, 12 of whom were beaten to death on the spot by the indignant people. On July 4, traitor Feng Huan led over a thousand Japanese puppet soldiers to carry out a brutal retaliatory massacre. From the morning to 2 p.m. in the afternoon, the Japanese army raped, robbed, killed and burned in Sanshe. The village was filled with screams, gunshots and thick smoke. On that day, over 700 villagers were killed, over 40 were injured and over 500 houses were burned down. The cruel burning and killing of the Japanese army aroused deep hatred of Taishan people. The history shall never be forgotten. We must indignantly charge the then invading Japanese army with crimes and demand repayment of the debts of blood that the Japanese army owes to the Chinese nation. I personally experienced Japan’s war of aggression against China and was a witness of how the invading Japanese army killed my family members. In 1938, my father comrade Liu Da joined the revolution and then became a member of the Communist Party of China in the same year. On March 3, 1941 (also known as March 3 Incident), the Japanese army invaded Taishan for the first time. The traitor and local puppet village director told the Japanese army that my father joined the Communist Party, so my grandmother Mrs. Liu, née Peng was captured for interrogation. She was cruelly tortured by the Japanese army, hung on a tree and badly beaten and ordered to ask my father to return home. They said to her, “What a pity if you die with your son away from home. You should be wise under the circumstance…” My grandmother replied, “My death is nothing as long as my son is safe. And the villagers will take revenge for me.” With this, a Japanese soldier shot my grandmother dead. At that time when seeing my grandmother being taken away by the Japanese army, my mother (Mrs. Liu, née Ye) fled to another village, but was captured by the puppet director of that village and sent to the Japanese army for torture and interrogation. On their way to Taicheng, my mother died beside a blockhouse in Shuibuwei due to heavy injury. Not only my mother, but my then 8-year-old younger sister Liu Zhuxian was also captured and brutally beaten. As she was young and innocent, she escaped from the cowshed where she was kept at a rainy night. After that, her whereabouts were unknown. After the People’s Liberation, I put an advertisement in the newspaper to find her, but in vain. I don’t know whether she is dead or alive. Back then, after the death of my grandmother and mother and the missing of my younger sister, the then 11-year-old I escaped to a place far away from my hometown to beg for a living. In October 1942, my father’s leader comrade Liu Tianfu, special secretary of the CPC Guangdong Province (still alive, former member of Central Advisory Commission and director of the Guangdong Advisory Commission, governor of Guangdong Province), asked my father to ask me to join the army. Thereafter, I met my sun and my savior-the Communist Party of China. I will never forget the kindness of the Party and will never forget the history because forgetting the past means betrayal. And I will properly educate my future generations. Now I have retired for years. I hereby charge the Japanese army with heinous crimes and demand compensation for my losses from Japan. I also do not forget the suffering of our compatriots. As far as I know, the victims in South Korea and the Philippines have been partly compensated by Japan, I also demand compensation from Japan. As a good international law researcher, you may report my information to the Japanese embassy in China to prevent the tragic history from happening again. Japan is very rich with an annual output value of USD 3 trillion, while the amount of damage compensation claimed by the Chinese people is only USD 200 billion. If Japan refuses to compensate us, we shall protest and declare and write to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I will contact you promptly if I recall more memories.
Wish you good health, success and good luck with everything.
Family member of victims: Liu Xin
Address: Dormitory, Infrastructure Team of Mercury Mine, Tongren, Guizhou
February 17, 1993
