Date of Letter:1993-03-01
Address of Author:Huangshi City, Hubei Province
Date of Event:1938-04
Location of Event:Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province
Name of Author:Zheng Weiqiang
Name(s) of victim(s):Zheng Weiqiang’s father
Type of atrocity:Nanking Massacre, Others(NM, OT)
Other Details:In 1938, the Japanese invaded Nanjing and waged the “Nanjing Massacre”. 300,000 Chinese fellow citizens were killed in merely a few days. My father was kidnapped by Japanese to its military police headquarters, tortured and then escaped, leaving permanent disability. Now with the help of Tong Zeng, we seek justice from the Japanese.
Comrade Tong Zeng,
We are filled with strong emotions after reading the article entitled “Wave of Civil Claims: Records of the Chinese People Demanding Damage Compensation from Japan” from the Issue 10 of monthly magazine East, West, South and North Digest (extracted by Lu Xingkui from Jiangxi from Information Daily of July 1992).
During 1931 and 1945, Japanese invaders launched a war of aggression against China, bringing an unprecedented catastrophe to the Chinese people millions of whom sacrificed for their country, injuring over 20 million and disabling numerous survivors.
Victims like me are very pleased that comrade Tong Zeng, a lecturer of jurisprudence of the Beijing Management Institute of Chemical Industry, is pursuing justice for us half a century after Japan’s invasion of China. My father is one of the millions of victims. He is 84 and disabled permanently. We also demand Japan to compensate Chinese victims.
In 1931, my father studied in a police training center in Nanjing and in 1935, he became a policeman in the No.2 Branch of the Police Station of Nanjing. In May 1935, he was transferred to Nanjing Chaotian Palace Smoke-Quitting Hospital to serve as a full-time guard. In April 1938, the Japanese army invaded Nanjing and committed Nanjing Massacre. In just a few days, 300,000 Chinese people were killed. My father was captured by the Japanese army and sent to the Kempeitai Headquarters. On that day, my father was bayoneted for 18 times. Later at night when there were no guards watching my father, he bound up his wounds by tearing old quilts and sheets into strips, climbed out of the Headquarters and fled to the Refugee Area of Nanjing. After that, my father received treatment from an American doctor in the Capital Hospital (now Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital) run by the Nationalist Party for more than a year. In November 1939, my father was appointed as a guard in the Shuiximen Branch of the Police Station in western Nanjing and he worked there until the People’s Liberation in 1949. Afterwards, he served as head of the Household Registration Team of the Fourth Branch of the Police Station. In 1952, he was reappointed (we have a certificate issued by former mayor Ke Qingshi) to work in a thrift store. Now he has retired. Although my father has never stopped working, he has trouble walking and spends his life in disability. He is overwhelmed with anger every time he talks of Japan’s invasion of Nanjing. If we can receive compensation from Japan when my father is still alive, he would die in peace.
Moreover, according to my father, the Chinese people launched a campaign of revealing and denouncing Japan’s crimes after the People’s Liberation (1950) and he published an article in Xinhua Daily of Nanjing and made a speech at Jiangsu Provincial People’s Radio Station.
Today, I am writing to give a simple description of my father’s suffering. As I work in Huangshi, Hubei while my father lives in Nanjing, I haven’t contacted him after I read the article. So the information I gave is based on my memory of what my father told me. I need time to communicate with my father about the details. I am eager to get your help.
Best regards,
Zheng Weiqiang
Machinery Plant
15th Metallurgical Construction Group of
China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group
Huangshi, Hubei
March 1, 1993
My father’s address:
No. 35-103, Building 9, Nanhu Yiyuancun, Jianye District, Nanjing
Zheng Zongli
Postal Code: 210017