Date of Letter:1992-11-05
Address of:Author Beijing
Date of Event:Not mentioned
Location of Event:Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province
Name of Author:Mao Fumin
Name(s) of victim(s):Mao Fumin and his children
Type of atrocity:Air Bombings (AB)
Other Details:During the anti-Japanese war, the middle school run by my children was bombed, school buildings were destroyed and my two children were bombed to death. To survive, I went out to buy rice. On my way home, I was found by the Japanese army and they released dogs to bite me. I got bitten for 5 times and scars are still visible. A photo of my injuried leg is enclosed in the letter.
Respectable Mr. Tong,
Please accept the respect from an elderly who is very close to his end of life.
I knew from the Reader Digest of October, 1992 about the good deeds you are doing for the Chinese people. Thanks to you and your pursuit for justice, history hasn’t forgotten me as a victim.
My husband graduated from Nanjing Jingling University and had been teaching his whole life. We had six kids. Before the anti-Japanese war, my husband established the Jingling Middle School on Wuzhou Road, Hongkou District, Shanghai, covering an area of over 1000 square meters with more than 500 students. Just when the school was beginning to take shape, the ‘8.13’ bombing came. All of a sudden, the whole world was turned upside down and calamitous. The school buildings shattered into ruinsdebris. What’s was more miserabletragic, two of myour children were killed by the explosions, leaving mythe family heart broken up. With anger, mMy husband, filled with rage, went to Chongqing, Sichuan to be a teacher there instead of being a conquered person. I agreed with him, but the heavy burden of the family with four kids fell on my shoulder. I could not watch them starved to death, so I ran across the blockade to buy rice in suburbs. Since the Japanese soldiers had sealed Shanghai off and in downtown, rice could only be bought according to registered residence, which I was unable to squeeze in or afford. Therefore, I had to take risks. In the afternoon of September 10th, I was found by the Japanese military police when crossing the ditch with 25 jins (1 jin = 500 grams) of rice. Hearing a burst of barks, I saw two wolfhounds with hideous tongues coming at me. I was brought down, and kicked in panic. The ferocious beasts took five bites on off my legs. I will never forget the excruciating pain and my bleeding legs. Till now, there are still five scars on my legs and thighs. Every time I see the scars, my heart is filled with rage; they are the evidence of the Japanese military police’s crimes and the stigma of their aggression against China.
After ‘8.13’ the fall of Shanghai, my husband didn’t want to be a slaveruled by the Japanese and left to teach in Sichuan; I was bitten by the dogs on the way to buy rice. I couldn’t let the kids die of hunger, so when the wounds got better, I brought my four children to find my husband, begging the whole way there. We walked for a year and a half Ffrom Shanghai to Chongqing.. On top of the turmoil and chaos of war, we suffered from hunger and cold. Due toWith freezing and starving, the two of my younger kids died of illness one after the other on the way to Xiangfan. Japan’s ruthless bombings deprived me of my happy and peaceful life, and all four of my kidschildren. I will never forget this blood debt of blood. They Japan are is rich now. No matter how,, but they shall still repay the debt. We have lost so much in the war; I am 84 now, and old, lonely and people like tosentimental recall with the past. If my four childrenkids were still alive, I would not feel life so lonely and sadbitter.
Mr. Tong, you are doing a good deed, which will addleave a page in history. When The time you canare upholding the justice, numerous innocent wronged souls butchered by the Japanese will befinally be at peace.
Your kindness is beyond measurement. I am grateful to you from the bottom of my heart. Wish you good health. May The the Goddess of Justice blesses be with you. I lives with my youngest daughter now. Address: Hefei City No. 10 Mailbox Kindergarten Wang Hengkang
Could you please take out some time to reply to me? so thatIt would comfort my heartmind can be relievedvery much?!
Mao Fumin
On November 5th
Anhui Provincial Hospital
Out-patient Medical Record
