Date of letter:1992-07-24
Address of author:Heilongjiang Province
Date of event:1943-1945
Location of event:Yuhang County, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province
Name of author:Luo Qinghong（Lu Qinghong）
Name(s) of victim(s):Luo Qinghong, etc.
Type of atrocity:Slave Laborers(SL）
Other details:In June 1943, I was caught by Japanese to do hard labor in Yuhang County, Zhejiang. First I was forced into penal servitude for Mobil Gasoline Company in Pudong, Shanghai, where more than 600 people were detained. We were sent to Nanjing Jail the next year, where held more than 1400 people. In 1944, a first group of 200 prisoners, including me, were sent to work in Japan. The Chinese soldiers and Slave Laborerss lived a beastlike prisoner life there; we were never treated as human beings. We ate red unskinned sorghum for food, which we had to chew and spit the skins. Those who got ill were left untreated and dead. We were all afraid of getting ill. As we won the war, we Slave Laborerss were sent home (more than 80 died among our group of 200 people). My former name used during the period was Lu Qinghong.
Comrade Tong Zeng:
July 6-8 “Information Daily” published by Jiangxi Province, I read the article “Civilian Claim Tide” authored by Comrade Li Peiyu, and reprinted from the “China Business Journal”, thereby I learned of your upholding justice for tens of millions of Chinese people who were massacred, persecuted, and trampled by Japanese Imperialism I was deeply moved.
I was also a victim of the Japanese invasion of China. I was captured by the Japanese invaders. Under their captivity, they force transferred me to Japan and work as a slave laborer. In June 1943, which was 50 years ago, in the vicinity of Cangqian Town, Yuhang County, Zhejiang Province, I was captured by the Japanese Invasion Army during their “Cleaning-up-in-countryside campaign”. At first I was detained in the Japanese Army prisoner camp located at 107 Qingbomenzhi Street in Hangzhou. In the same year, I was transferred to Shanghai Pudong Mobil Company as a coolie labor, where there were over 600 people being imprisoned, including those Chinese soldiers who fought at the “Sihang Warehouse in the Shanghai January 28 Battle”. They came from Zhejiang Quzhou Airport, from Shanxi Zhongtiao Mountains, plus other innocent civilians. In April the next year, when the engineering project was completed, we were transferred to Nanjing Laohuqiao Prison. Those imprisoned here included all KMT soldiers and a troop of the New Fourth Army soldiers captured in Jiangsu Province by the Japanese invaders on the battleground, totaling over 1,400 innocent civilians soldiers from various battlefields. In October 1944, the first batch of over 200 captives was escorted from Nanjing to Japan to work as slave laborers. I was one of them, and we boarded a cargo ship bound for Japan with iron ore from Xiaguan, Nanjing. After the ship arrived at Shanghai, over 600 captured Shanghai laborers boarded the ship. We were imprisoned in the front cabin, they were imprisoned in the rear cabin, all of us slept on top of the iron ore. When WWII broke out, the cargo ship avoided crossing the Pacific Ocean to sail directly to Japan. Instead it passed Qingdao, detoured to Korea, and only after sailing for over 20 days did we arrive at Moji Port in Japan. After getting off the ship, they put us on a train to arrive at a Chinese Worker Center, Fushiki Port, Takaoka City, Nigata Prefecture. Each day we worked on the port to unload coal and rice, soybean, iron ore, etc shipped from Northeast China. In April 1945, we were transferred to Chinese Worker Center in Hakodade City in Hokaido, the job was also coal-carrying and train-loading work on the port. The laborers from Shanghai worked with us all the way, this city had two more labor sites, one used laborers from Henan Province, the other used laborers from Shandong Province, totaling about 2,000 captivated coolie slaves
Both Chinese soldiers and civilian laborers forced to work in Japan. We lived in inhumane slave-like, fashion. Our livelihood was inferior to that of livestock. Abused and cruelty were daily occurrence. We were not treated as human beings! In fact, we were treated less than their live stocks. Regardless in China or in Japan, we starved from morning till night. When we rode the ship to go to Japan, the ship ran out of ration when it arrived at Qingdao. Qingdao delivered a batch of red sorghum (not sorghum rice for human consumption, instead it was unprocessed grain with shell for feeding livestock). In no way should it be fed to human beings since it was almost impossible to be swallowed. But out of hunger, that was the only choice of food, we were forced to chew and crush it one by one and spit out the shell, lest we might die of starvation. After arriving in Japan, even the Japanese felt hungry though they were fed with rations, we laborers were only given meager portion of ration, everyone was only given 2.3 gō of rice each day (according to Japanese measurement, one gō of rice is 150 grams, 2.3 gō is only 345 grams). But the Japanese foreman would demand a little bribery, so there’s little left for the laborers. In each meal, we could hardly see any rice, most of the meal consisted of soybean cake and seaweed, but even such mixed meal was tightly controlled, one could only be given a small flat-toped bowl of it. In order to survive, we were forced to catch some kelp, rotten fish, discarded vegetables, and wild grasses on beachside or riverfront to ease hunger. Despite the scantily supplied food, the workload each day was heavy. Each day everyone had to carry 12~15 tonnes of coal for a distance of 100 meters. One 50 tonnes of railway wagon was assigned to four persons to load coal, only after it was fully loaded would we be allowed to stop work. Each day we had to work for 16 hours, someone were too hungry to hold on, and often fell from three meter high gang-plank to become seriously injured, anyone falling ill would be sent to sick ward for recuperation. Instead of being given medical treatment, no one knew how the Japanese treated the patients, in less than three or four days, those sick laborers sent to the ward, never returned – they all died. As a result, everyone was most dreadful of being sent to the ward. At Nanjing Laohuqiao Prison, each day 10 to 20 sick prisoners were tormented to death. In winter no cotton padded coat was issued to us for use as essential winter clothing. The cold weather was so unbearable, we even stole gunny bags for holding rice and soybean in the cargo ship to use them as clothing to cover the body, and in the night the bags were used as our blanket.
In August 1945 Japan unconditionally surrendered, in December the United Nations military ships sent the persecuted Chinese soldiers and slave labors in Japan back to China, so that we returned to the embrace of the motherland. Nevertheless, the number of people persecuted to death in Japan was incalculable, for instance more than 80 from our batch of 200 plus laborers had died, the death rate was 40%, the death rate of Shanghai labors who went to Japan together with us was over 50%, out of the 600 persons only over 200 returned. The laborers who were able to return to the motherland after the victory of Anti-Japanese War were all tempered by the harrowing experience. I also had fallen ill a number of times, fortunately my fellow laborers helped me, and keep it a secret from the Japanese so that I survived. I remember once I had a high fever and became unconscious, my fellow laborers cooked a soup with “plantain”, which saved my life. Otherwise, I would have already died in an alien soil.
Several years ago, I wrote a letter to the Japanese Embassy in Beijing, I demanded compensation for all damages and labor fee when I was forced to work in Japan, their returned letter stated: “Chinese government has abandoned the war compensation from the Japanese government.” My claim was rejected.
What on earth is the exact number of laborers being captured by the Japanese invaders and sent to Japan? According to articles published on newspapers in the 1960’s, through data collection from various channels, the Japanese Red Cross Society and friendly social groups had handed over a complete name list of all Chinese laborers who had worked in Japan to the Red Cross Society of China. That data can be accessed at the Red Cross Society of China, Beijing Branch. Furthermore, it’s still not clear how many laborers were captured to work in the Puppet State of Manchuria, and the labors working to construct secret Japanese military engineering projects there. In order to keep its secrecy, they were all executed after the projects were completed.
Comrade Tong Zeng, you personally delivered petition to the National People’s Congress, wrote letter to the Japanese Prime Minister, and travelled far and wide to drum up support for our tens of millions of innocent Chinese people persecuted by the Japanese invaders, the broad masses of Chinese people and peace-loving people worldwide will support you. On behalf of all the laborers who had been captured and sent to Japan, I wish to pay the highest respect to you. If you need my help, I will surely feel duty-bound.
I propose that it is necessary to reprint the article “Civilian Claim Tide” to the newspapers and magazines in all regions, particularly aimed at the seniors in their readership. That is because those who had relevant knowledge in the 1940’s and survivors of the atrocities now are all seniors aged between 60 and 70. When they see this article, they will surely provide more abundant and more reliable facts. The tide to demand the Japanese government to give compensation to the victims will surge more vigorously.
Regards
Wish you all the best
Victim Luo Qinghong
1992.7.24
When in Japan working as laborer, my name was Lu Qinghong, I’m 68 now, and currently residing at Tangyuan County, Heilongjiang Province, my previous job was a statistician, now I have retired.
