Date of letter:1993-02-10
Address of author:Chengdu City, Sichuan Province
Date of event:Not mentioned
Location of event:Xiamen City, Fujian Province
Name of author:Chen Qingsi
Name(s) of victim(s):Chen Qingsi’s father
Type of atrocity:Air Bombings (AB)
Other details:When Chen Qingsi’s father was doing business in Fujian Province, his cargo was snatched away by Japanese and his house in Xiamen was bombed.
Respected Comrade Tong Zeng:
Hello!
After reading the article “Demanding Justice from Japan” published on the “Weekly Digest” supervised by Sichuan Daily on February 3, I couldn’t help but admire the righteous cause you have been engaged in over the past several years. An overwhelming sense of national mission enabled you to whole-heartedly devote yourself to this righteous cause.
The large-scale signature solicitation activity of “Demanding Damage Compensation from Japan” published by you is just. A just cause will ultimately win victory, our whole family resolutely support you and are willing to sign the names of all my family members. The reason is very simple, because we are victims of Japanese invasion war into China.
To make a long story short, my hometown is in Hanjiang District, Putian City, Fujian Province. As early as in the 1920’s, my grandfather opened shops to do business in places such as Xiamen and Hanjiang, after my father inherited my grandfather’s businesses, he continued to do business and opened Damei Store in Hanjiang, and the business was booming. After the Japanese Invasion War broke out. My father carried all funds to Shanghai to purchase goods, and purchased a huge quantity of piece goods and other materials, he rented a sea-going ship in Shanghai named Moufu to ship the goods to Hanjiang Port in Fujian, in addition to goods purchased by my family, the ship’s cargo also included a huge quantity of goods purchased by other firms in Hanjiang. On the second day after Moufu ship departed from Shanghai Port, it was unfortunately discovered by Japanese patrol ship and taken away, all the cargoes on the ship was confiscated, since then my family became bankrupt, shops were closed down, for which my father always reminisced with bitter hatred.
Misfortune never comes alone, soon afterwards one of my family’s house in Lujiang Avenue and Xing’an Street in Xiamen was bombed to debris by Japanese aircrafts. Soon, two houses of my family at Jinghongli, Tianwei, Hanjiang, were bombed to the ground by the Japanese aircrafts.
In summary, during the Japanese invasion period, my family suffered successive blows economically, we received destructive disaster. Since then, my father spent the rest of his life in misery, anguish, anger, and resentment.
Many years after the War, Japan has become an economic superpower in the world, which makes it the right time to pay back economic compensation to the victims, if the nongovernmental demand for compensation is not satisfied, the normalization of relation between China and Japan is merely empty talk and hard to come true.
Respected Comrade Tong Zeng, in my view, you are very busy in work, and I should not disturb you, but when I think of the issue of demanding compensation from Japan, I must seek your assistance, so, out of your busy work schedule, please write letter to me to tell me if I should demand compensation from Japan for the devastating disaster sustained by my family in the war, and if it can qualify as nongovernmental compensation, if yes, how should I proceed with the formalities, if it can be successful, I will certainly express my appreciation in the future. After graduating from the Russian Department of the Northeast Normal University in 1956, I was dispatched to Sichuan Normal University to work as lecturer, now I have worked here for more than 30 years. Please address your correspondence to:
610068 Room 501, Family New 12 Society (Building 26), Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu
Regards
Yours faithfully!
Chen Qingsi
Associate Professor of the Foreign Languages Department
93.2.10
