Date of letter:1992-11-19（date on envelope）
Address of author:Xianyang City, Shanxi Province
Date of event:1894-1945
Location of event:Many places in China
Name of author:Shi Daoru
Name(s) of victim(s):Shi Daoru
Type of atrocity:Air Bombings, Rapes, Slave Laborers, Other Massacres, Others, Nanking Massacre(NM, AB, RA, SL, OM, OT）
Other details:My name is Shi Daoru. The Japanese began invading China in 1894. After that we compensated a lot of silvers. As the Anti-Japanese War broke out, the Japanese committed atrocious crime by burning, killing, raping, e.g. strafing Chinese captive soldiers at riverside, raping women in the street of Nanjing, conducting killing contest, stuffing people into sacks doused with gasoline and burning them to death, raping preganant women before removing the fetus and stabbing it with a bayonet, bombarding Chongqing, conscripting Slave Laborerss in Hebei, etc. Here are my suggestions regarding to claiming compensation from Japan.
Comrade Tong:
I am Shi Daoru, 76 years old, born in Tianjiabao, Fengxii, Xianyang, Shaanxi. I was a lower-level officer of the Nationalist Party army during the 8-year anti-Japanese war. I nearly died under the bombing of Japanese planes. I know clearly the cruel crimes that the invading Japanese army committed in China. After Japan’s surrender, all the Japanese soldiers who butchered 10 million Chinese people were sent back and there were no war reparations. I’ve learned from news that you and others have launched a program to demand civilian compensation against Japan. I am so excited that I wished I could fly to Beijing and sign my name to show my patriotism and resentment for the butchers.
The cruel crimes of the Japanese army that I know about are described below. In 1894, China was at war with Japan and was defeated due to the corruption of the Qing Dynasty. China compensated 200 million silver dollars to Japan and paid 30 million silver dollars to redeem the Liaodong Peninsula. So it was 230 million silver dollars in total. Besides, China was forced to cede Penghu, Taiwan. The people there suffered for 50 years of colonization. During the war, the Japanese army shot 20,000 people of Lushun and only dozens of people survived. Japan intended to destroy China during the World War I. In 1927 when the Nationalist Party army was about to complete the northern expedition, the Japanese army carried out Ji’nan massacre and killed over 10,000 Chinese people. In 1931, the Japanese army suddenly occupied our eastern three provinces. Over 1 million people were killed. In 1932, Japan caused the Shanghai January 28 Incident. Shanghai suffered severe economic loss from it. In 1932, the Japanese army occupied Jehol Province (a former province in northeastern China) and established the Eastern Hebei Puppet army. The Japanese soldiers were even stationed near Beiping (a former name for Beijing) and bullied the Chinese people at will. In 1937, the Japanese army falsified an incident and provoked the Lugou Bridge Incident, marking the beginning of the Sino-Japanese war. With superior weapons, the Japanese army occupied a large part of China, killing Chinese people at random. Reliable data shows that over 350,000 people were slaughtered in the Nanjing Massacre alone. The Red Cross Society buried over 165,000 corpses. The Japanese army shot over 50,000 Chinese prisoners by the river and there were tens of thousands corpses floating on the river. Moreover, the Japanese army publicly raped women on the streets. The soldiers even held a killing competition. A team leader touted his kills of over 400 people. The Japanese army committed arson for fun, stabbed women to death after raping them, took fetuses out of dead women and bayoneted them for fun, used dogs to bite Chinese people to death and conducted experiment on Chinese people. Over 10,000 people died in a night bombing in Chongqing. Over 10 million people died of hunger and diseases due to the war. The Japanese army implemented the Three-Alls Policy near central Hebei, captured men to be forced laborers and forced women to be comfort women. How could the Chinese people not feel indignant at the thought of this? Each elderly over 70 in the occupied areas hates the Japanese army and knows well which woman was violated by them. It’s totally fine to maintain a friendly Sino-Japanese relationship because today’s Japanese people didn’t have anything to do with the crimes committed by the Japanese militarists in history. But it’s an international practice that the defeated country in a war should compensate the winning country for its losses. The Sino-Japanese friendship will last only if Japan compensates civilian victims for the loss of their lives and property. Without reparation the Chinese people will never forget the deep hatred toward the Japanese government. I think Japan’s making compensation to Chinese civilians won’t affect the Sino-Japanese friendship and that most Japanese people will feel a sympathy towards the requests made by Chinese civilians. Hopefully, you can launch a large signature program to demand civilian compensation against Japan. I provide the following suggestions.
1.Contact famous university professors from all provinces to take the lead in signing their names and calling for all students to do the same.
2.Mobilize trade unions, farmers’ associations and women’s federations to participate in the signature program.
3.Mobilize the people from the occupied areas such as the women who were raped and those whose family members were killed or houses burned to unite together and claim for compensation against Japan.
4.Mobilize the media to report about the Japanese army’s atrocities and that the civilians are claiming for compensation.
5.Mobilize all universities to report detailed losses like Nankai University does and directly claim for compensation against Japan
6.Mobilize all elderly women who were forced to be comfort women and the elderly injured during the anti-Japanese army to directly claim for compensation against Japan.
The suggestions are for your reference.
76-year-old Shi Daoru
Tianjiabao, Fengxi, Xianyang, Shanxi
Mailing address: No. 3 Mailbox, Weinan, Shanxi
