Date of letter:1992-12-21
Address of author:Yongkang City, Zhejiang Province
Date of event:1942
Location of event:Jinhua County, Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province
Name of author:Fang Xifu
Name(s) of victim(s):Fang Jigen (Fang Xifu’s father), Zheng Hongxue (Fang Xifu’s maternal grandfather)
Type of atrocity:Slave Laborers, Biological/Chemical Warfare, Others（SL, BC, OT）
Other details:Zhejiang fell into the hands of the enemy in 1942. My father’s phamacy was ransacked by Japanese and many precious herbs were looted. My father was conscripted to do porter work and killed. My maternal grandfather died of baterial infection in his feet caused by Japanese. We hereby claim compensation for the victims from the Japanese government.
I am Fang Xifu, 59, born in 1934. I was 8 when Zhejiang fell in 1942.
My father Fang Jigen ran a pharmacy called Yongshengtang selling traditional Chinese medicine in Rangchang Village, Jinhua. The store kept 9 sika deers from which pilose antlers would be removed. Antlers are the best tonic and deer meat and bone can be made into valuable pills. Today, a deer is worth RMB 5,000, but due to the plunder of the Japanese, the sika deer originating from the Changbai Mountain in northeastern China have become extinct in southern China.
In addition, the Japanese robbed our store of many other valuable drugs such as musk, antelopes, rhinoceros horns and bezoar.
The above is the main property of my father’s store and worth RMB 90,000 by preliminary estimation.
Besides, 6 days after my father I escaped to the mountain, he decided to return and check the store. But when he reached the railway near the village, he was captured by the Japanese to carry bullets. At that time, Rangchang Village was only 300 meters away from the Zhejiang-Hu’nan Railway. After carrying bullets for 4 days, my father fled back, but caught a febrile disease caused by harmful cold factors and died. Thus, the then 8-year-old me became an orphan. As our store was destroyed and my father died, my life became very hard.
Like many other victims, my grandfather Zheng Hongxu was infected with the bacteria put down by the Japanese and died with rotten feet.
The Japanese army implemented the Three Alls policy (burn all, kill all and loot all) in my village. On the first night after the Mid-Autumn Festival in 1942, the Japanese army burned over 20 villages in Jinhua including Rangchang, Longxin, Zhengyang, Yedian and Bailongqiao. This is what I saw with my own eyes.
I demand damage compensation from the Japanese government.
Fang Xifu (Personal seal)
December 20, 1992
I am Du Fengliang, now 77. In 1942, as the Japanese army was stationed in Tutoushan Village for several months, I had to hide away in a mountain with my 1-year-old daughter. Unfortunately, my daughter couldn’t stand the torture and died in the mountain.
I demand damage compensation from the Japanese government.
Du Fengliang (Personal seal)
December 21, 1992
Yu Xinjia, Lu Tianshuang, Lu Xiaohong
Zhao Fuqi, Ni Shanyan, Jin Zuochen
Xu Rusong, Fan Yilin, Jiang Duisheng
Cai Ercong, Wang Wenshou, Gong Weijing
Zheng Yousong, Teng Chunquan, Wang Rushi
Dong Zhangzhi, Sun Xiongxiang, Xu Cunyi
The father of Du Yuye, a villager from Tutoushan, died after a Japanese soldier cut open his belly. When I contacted Du Yuye, he said the village government had reported for him.
Wish you healthy.
Fang Xifu
January 27, 1993
