Date of Letter:1993-03-04
Address of Author:Longhui County, Shaoyang City, Hunan Province
Date of Event:1945
Location of Event Longhui County, Shaoyang City, Hunan Province
Name of Author:Liu Ziping
Name(s) of victim(s):Liu Ziping’s townsmen
Type of atrocity:Other Massacres, Rapes, Slave Laborers（OM, RA, SL)
Other Details:In 1945 the Japanese killed innocent people in my hometown, buried alive 206 people, raped or gang-raped 10 people, among which two died. Some people were made porters, some were wired through the nose, and some were hung on trees with fishing nets and stabbed to death.
Mr. Tong Zeng:
Hello!
I am a staff worker at the Grain Station of Zhou Wang District, Longhui County, Hunan Province. It was from the 9th issue of “The World of Legality” last year that I learned of your illustrious name. Here I would like to express my deepest respect toward your initiating the Chinese civilian “Damage Compensation” case against the Japanese government. Thank you for making the Chinese people feel proud and elated.
Mr. Tong Zeng, in the spring and summer of 1945, in Yaoshi and Wangchong Villages (named Qiaoshui Temple before liberation), Yushan Town in our area, over 500 Japanese soldiers killed for no reason and buried alive 206 innocent victims, raped and gang raped more than 10 women, Two of the womem have luckily survived until now and both are over 70. They can still vividly remember the crimes perpetrated by Japanese soldiers. They complained that a woman, surnamed Chen, was also gang raped by more than 10 Japanese soldiers. After that her lower body bled incessantly and left behind bloody footprints when she walked away. She finally died of heavy bleeding. We also have many surviving seniors: some of them were captured by the Japanese soldiers to work as porters; some of their family members’ noses were pierced with iron wires by the Japanese soldiers; some of their family members were wrapped in fishing nets, hung on the trees, then stabbed to death by the Japanese soldiers; and so on.
Mr. Tong Zeng, when I again read the article “Chinese Civilian “Claim” against Japan Now in Action” in Hunan Women’s News in February of this year, an overwhelming power and sacred sense of mission prompted me to take on the responsibility and obligation to publicize the towering past crimes committed by Japanese soldiers in Qiaoshui Temple; so those people who have suffered deeply from Japanese invaders would be able to receive their deserved compensation.
Mr. Tong Zeng, now I’m working hard along with several warm-hearted youths; we interviewed old solders, obtained evidences, and collected materials. They felt very happy about our work. Nevertheless, we also encountered some difficulties. Some junior officials considered this matter a fantasy, saying that if it were true, why the government did not take action and that what good would inexperienced guys like you accomplish! After our patient persuasion and showing them the newspaper article, they still felt uncertain. Even after reading the newspaper, they said that the paper was clear that those with the biggest chance of success were “comfort women” and laborers who were forcefully conscripted to work in Japan. These local people who were killed, buried alive, and gang raped would not have much hope.
Mr. Tong Zeng: In your view, what should we do? Please give us your guidance.
Regards
Yours faithfully
Liu Xiaoping
March 4th,93
