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Mr. Tong Zeng:

I seldom read newspaper because I am busy making a living. Recently I’ve browsed through some newspapers and found that you are the sensational initiator of the compensation campaign. After carefully reading through your article, I was not only inspired by your powerful vision and heroic courage, but also perturbed by the ripping open of an old scar that has been buried in my heart for decades.

First of all, let me introduce myself. I am Mr. Wang, male, 53 years old, a retired worker from Jiangnan Supply and Marketing Cooperatives, Anhua, Hunan. Currently I work in the service industry while my wife does the housework. Both my son and daughter are going to school. Our 4-member family can make ends meet.

My father was born in Anhua, Hu’nan and died at age 73 two years old. He became a handyman at Jiangnan Wanshunde Tea House after dropping out of school at age 14. At age 18 (in 1936) he ran a salt business in places such as Taoyuan and Changde, where he met Mr. Zhong, an herb merchant who lived in Xiaguan, Nanjing. After frequent interactions, they gradually established a friendship. In 1937, my father partnered with Mr. Zhong to transporting herbs for sale in Nanjing, Jiangsu. In the second half of that year, the Anti-Japanese War broke out, making Nanjing a bad place for business, so my father left for Huangchi with the acquaintance Tai Xianrong who lived in Huangchi, Wuhu, Anhui to do tea business together. As the war got worse, they moved to Langchi, Xuancheng in 1938 and settled there to deal with refining and selling of teas. In 1940, my father married the 18-year-old Ms. Chen (my mother), the only daughter of the boss of Yufeng Hotel of Xuancheng. In 1941, my mother gave birth to a boy (me). As the business dwindled due to lack of transportations in Langchi and rampant battles, my parents took me to seek shelter from a friend in Hefei in 1942. On the way through Wuwei Tower Bridge, we encountered three stray Japanese soldiers. Instantly, my parents were scared to death. My father was fairly sophisticated thanks to his rich social experiences. He figured running away was too late, while fighting barehanded with the three Japanese soldiers armed with bayonets was a bit foolhardy despite his Kung Fu training. My father took me from my mother and handed the luggage to her. But when we were a dozen yards away from the three soldiers, they saw that my mother was quite good-looking. They became wild beasts and ran at my mother together. After they seized my mother, a taller solider signaled to the shorter one to seize my father and the other two taller soldiers ran away fast, carrying my mother. At that time, my father was physically strong and clever. He walked slowly on purpose with eyes always watching the movements of the Japanese soldiers, figuring how to escape. When the solider trying to seize my father lost temper, my father suddenly kicked hard at the crotch of the soldier. As the soldier fell down, my father kicked hard at his temple, finishing off his evil life. My father seized the moment to escape with me, but couldn’t save my mother. The other two soldiers carried my mother to a deserted ground and raped her by turns. Then, they took my mother to a Japanese military brothel, charged by Nagano Igawa, to serve as a sexual slave for these beasts day and night. She couldn’t bear it anymore and took her own life at the age of 20. Later that day, my father escaped to a farmer’s house with me and slept for a night. Then we came to Hefei, where my father continued the tea business. In 1943, we returned to our home. At the beginning, my father was just a small tea dealer. Later, he ran a company called Limin Tea House to sell tea to Xi’an, Shaanxi until 1952. My father was transferred to work with the Supply and Marketing Cooperatives of Anhua in 1954, retired in 1978 and passed away in 1991.

My father never married again after my mother’s ghastly death. Every time after I mourned my mother, I would suggest my father to marry again, but he would always reply, “I vow never to marry again as my way to truly commemorate your late mother and remember the atrocities committed by the Japanese bandits against our Chinese people.” Unfortunately, my father cannot see with his own eyes the scene of the invader Japan apologizing to our great nation. Mr. Tong Zeng, your selfless enterprise will surely bring redemption to countless Chinese people who died tragically under the ruthless trample of the Japanese militarist juggernaut! But for your enlightenment, I would have never known that my mother died with the ridiculous label of “comfort woman”! Hopefully, all Chinese people like me will wake up, unite together, clamor aloud, and strongly demand Japan to compensate our Chinese victims as an apology for its crimes!

I demand Japan to compensate 100,000 USD as an apology for its crimes!

Please forward the letter to the Japanese Embassy in China.

Yours sincerely,

Wang XX
A baby who had narrowly escaped death,
but whose mother had tragically died
in the hands of the Japanese devils
April 1, 1993

Wang Xianglian (forward to Wang XX), Warehouse Department, Jiangnan Supply and Marketing Cooperatives, Anhua, Hunan, 413514