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Teacher Tong,

Hello!

Several days ago, when I was chatting with my friend, he mentioned that an organization in Beijing was launching an activity to contact the Chinese civilians who were harmed during Japan’s invasion, and was raising relevant reparation claims towards concerned parties. He advised me to write to you and introduce my family’s suffering to you. This is the cause of the whole nation; I will spare no efforts to ask the Japanese to repay their blood debts and seek justice for the Chinese nation. The issues of a whole nation cannot be settled by one person, but should be approved by every one; one’s opinion cannot represent that of the mass. Therefore, issues like this shall be declared for or against by the National People’s Congress, and also take into consideration the voice of common people.

In around 1943, when the Japanese invaded Hunan Province, I was only about 6 years old. Dark clouds were gathering in the sky of Changsha; the Xiang River was accusing the crimes of the Japanese. People fled hurriedly and blindly all around, including 13 people in my family at that time: my grandmother, father, He Shoudong, older uncle He Fuhai, second uncle He Keng, my mother Liao Taozhen, younger brother He Lixing, younger sister He Ronghua, myself, He Xijun, older aunt, younger brother He Dongcheng and another younger brother, plus an apprentice who fled with our family called Liu Chunhua (later became the chairman of Changsha Rubber Plant Labor Union). My mother was pregnant at the time, making a total of 13 people. We passed by Hunan, Guangxi and Guizhou, where the roads were littered with corpses. The numerous refugees had nothing to eat, no shelter or clothing; life was miserable. Furthermore, the Japanese aircrafts were bombing everywhere and the soldiers of Kuo Min Tang were trying to profit from the refugees, so what awaited the Chinese people seemed to be certain death. My younger sister Ronghua died in Lengshuitan; younger brother Lixing was abandoned on the way, for the adults were too hungry and tired to hold him. My mother gave birth to a younger brother during the fleeing, who also died within one week; grandmother died of sickness in Liuwai; older aunt and three younger brothers were separated on the way, so did the apprentice. One morning, when we reached a place called Shangsi at Dushan, Guangxi, the Japanese came and captured my father and uncles to be their porters. That night, my second uncle ran back and found my mother and me. After one year, we were finally back to Changsha. After the Japanese surrendered, my father and older uncle came back to Changsha weak with illness. The apprentice Liu Chunhua returned in 1945 as well. The entire family of 13 members fled that year, but only six managed to come back.

Families like mine were numerous; this is a hatred shared by the whole nation. Now the action of claiming reparations against Japan is both reasonable and legitimate. I suggest we carry out this campaign soonest and speedily, and call on the mass to participate, for there is not much time left for us: I was only 6 at that time and now 56 years old; there may not be many victims alive now who were grown ups then. My father and two uncles have passed away; the living witnesses are just my mother, Liu Chunhua and I. I joined the army in 1956 and worked in air force; transferred to civilian work in 1982 and moved to Shijiazhuang with my spouse. I planned to go back to Changsha this year and discussed this with my mother to further investigate, as well as contact more refugees and form a group to support you. We will work jointly to request the Japanese Government to pay back the blood debts in memory of our deceased family members. Please file my letter for investigation. Hope you could reply and give advices.

Wish everything works well.

From: He Xijun
April 14th, 1993 in Shijiazhuang

Contact address: No. 203, Gate 3, Building 28, Aircraft Factory Dorm, Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province
Postcode: 050062