Date of letter:1992-09-14
Address of author:Baoshan City, Yunnan Province
Date of event:1942-05
Location of event:Baoshan City, Yunnan Province
Name of author:Zhao Wenchang
Name(s) of victim(s):Zhao Wenchang’s family and townsmen
Type of atrocity:Air Bombings, Biological/Chemical Warfare, Rapes, Others(AB, BC, RA, OT)
Other details:On May 4, 1942, the Japanese bombed my hometown Baoshan City, Yunnan, killing and wounding more than 5,000 people, including three of my family members killed and one wounded. The Japanese anatomized people alive for bacteriological weapons experiment, and committed atrocious crime by burning, killing, raping, etc.
Comrade Tong Zeng:
How have you been? You must be working hard.
I read the article titled “The Yomiuri Shimbun of Japan Publishes an Article About China’s Claim for Civilian Compensation From Japan” on the Issue 647 of Press Digest of May 19, 1992.
The article on the Yomiuri Shimbun of Japan reads, “Last spring, Tong Zeng, a researcher with the China Research Center on Aging, submitted to the National People’s Congress an opinion letter about civilians claiming compensation from Japan. Within a year, more than 10,000 people nationwide signed to support the opinion letter. In addition, at the National People’s Congress in March, representatives from Anhui, Jiangxi and Guizhou respectively brought up a proposal about civilians claiming for a compensation of a total of 180 billion USD from Japan. Tong Zeng aims to get 100 million people to sign the opinion letter. Currently, he is planning to register and establish an organization responsible for claiming for civilian compensation out from Japan.
I firmly support your opinion letter. I cannot deliver this letter to you because I don’t know the address of your organization or your home despite exhausting inquiry of all sources. So I cannot express my feeling. Today, I decided to give it a try and send this letter to you, first of all I found out your address and then make an appeal. On May 4, 1942, the Japanese militarism sent 54 heavy bombers to drop hundreds of giant bombs, two times in Baoshan city (Baoshan, Yunnan). The whole city was bombed to ruins that day. Thousands of vehicles were burned and destroyed, houses were mostly burned to ashes and over 5,000 people were killed or injured.
Three members of our family were killed and 1 was seriously injured. The houses were bombed to dust. The 3 dead people were my 20-year-old third elder brother Lin Fengming who was bombed and buried in dust, my 64-year-old mother Mrs. Chen, who was seriously injured, unconscious and groaning with excruciating pain by the bombing. On May 4 early in the morning she took her last breath and died. Two legs of my 41-year-old elder brother, Lin Fengxiang, were torn by bombing, with blood gushing out from his wounds. He suffered excruciating pain on May 4. Due to the lack of medicine and doctors, we just bandaged his wounds with old cloth and ran away for our lives. He died several days later due to infection and inflammation. My 35-year-old second elder brother, Lin Fengyi, suffered serious injury in the rib area by the bombing on May 4. We sent for western and traditional doctors to treat him and spent over 400 yuan (cash and silver), but he was not completely cured and died six years later (excluded from the three people who were bombed to death).
The Japanese army’s fascist brutalities, such as killing for fun at the Songshan Battle in Yunnan, vivisection, experiment on bacteriological weapons, corpus hanging, raping and burning, must be punished. The nature of this war was historically concluded a long time ago, but some people still have a vague concept. Being Chinese people, we must see clearly that the nature of Japan’s war of aggression against China is to invade, enslave all the Chinese ethnicity and exterminate all the people of China. Except a minority of traitors and Pro-Japanese people, all the people of China of different classes, parties and political and military groups directly or indirectly participated in this holy anti-Japanese war. In this war, the Chinese people are destined to win and the Japanese invaders lose.
I voluntarily join the “Chinese civilians claim compensation from Japan for victim” organization against Japan, which is to be established, and observe all regulations, discipline and obligations of the organization. If you receive this letter, please reply promptly and tell me about your progress so that I can promptly contact you.
Best wishes for your health and life!
Your member: Zhao Wenchang
September 14, 1992
Note:
My original name is Lin Fengxiang. After the May 4 Baoshan Bombing, our house was bombed to dust and my family was broken to pieces. My father took me and my first sister-in-law to escape. I was married into a family with the surname of Zhao in 1948 when I was 19 years old. At that time, it was customary to use the surname of the family that you were married to and lived with. So my name was changed to Zhao Wenchang. Now, I retired after working for 40 years and all 20 family members live in 3 cities: Baoshan, Mangshi and Kunming.
My correspondence address: No. 6, Qingzhen Street, Yongchang, Baoshan, Yunnan.
