Date of Letter:1992-08-15
Address of Author:Kunming City, Yunnan Province
Date of Event:1944-1945
Location of Event:Guilin City, Guangxi Province
Name of Author:Mo Baomin（former name: Mo Nengyu）
Name(s) of victim(s):Mo Baomin
Type of atrocity:Slave Laborers(SL）
Other Details:In the fall of 1944, after Guilin fell into the hands of the enemy, my family had to flee to the mountain area. I was captured by Japanese searching the mountain and forced into hard labor. Only 14 years old then, I was beaten a lot and taken to Vietnam and Thailand before being released after surrender of Japanese. 95 Chinese Slave Laborerss were released then in Thailand. The youngest of them was merely 9-year-old and the eldest was 50. They were survivors after all the sufferings.
Resolutely Support Damage Compensation Claim by Chinese Civilians toward Japan
I am a professor level senior engineer of the Kunming Institute of Physics, the Ministry of Machine and Electronics Industry, male, now 62, a native of Liangfeng township, Southern Suburb of Guilin, Guangxi, member of the Communist Party of China. In the Autumn of 1944, when Guilin fell into the hands of the enemy, my family fled into the mountainous zone south of Guilin. I was captured by the Japanese soldiers who were looting the mountains, and was forced to work as laborers of the army.. Back then I was only 14. I suffered all torments, and often received beating. I was seriously illand lived worse than cattle and horse. I had been walking with bare feet for nearly one year. We were released only when we learned the news that Japan had surrendered, upon arriving at Lampang in Thailand after passing Vietnam.
A total of 95 Chinese coolie laborers were freed in Thailand (there were also 7 Guangdong native army sex slaves aged around 20), the youngest was only 9, the oldest was 50, all of them were survivors of the journey despite the torment along the way. Overseas Chinese in Lampang donated money, and gave us clothing and shoes. Afterwards we took a train to go to Bangkok, where we received relief and management from the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce. We lived in a Khek Guest House of overseas Chinese in downtown district of Bangkok (back then it was located at Annan Alley, Tianwaitainheng Street) for nine months. Afterwards, we were arranged to take a ship to Hong Kong, then to Guangzhou, and received travelling expenses from the Guangzhou Relief Administration for us to go home.
During our stay in Bangkok, several British officials once came to interview us one by one and recorded the persecution details. They took us to the Japanese Concentration Camp to identify the exact persecutors. Soon afterwards, the KMT government dispatched a delegation to Bangkok. The head of the delegation Li Tiejing also visited us.
We were often marching in the night and in the rain without shelter. When arrived at the camping ground in midnight, we, the horse-keepers, had to feed the horses, then slept on the wet grassland together with the horses in the forest. Many Chinese coolies developed ulcer on legs. My right leg was also infected to develop a big ulcer (even today there’s a big scar, in 1990 it relapsed and I was hospitalized for 2 months). Over the recent ten years, I am suffered severe arthritis, joints all over the body were swollen and sore. In 1991 I was hospitalized for half a year to receive medical treatment, even today I still have difficulty to walk around. This illness was associated with my collie period working for the Japanese Army in my teenager years.
Coolies like me who were forced to follow the Japanese army as laborer after being captured in the mountain have similar nature of suffering as the Japanese army sex slaves. There are differences in the types of torture and suffering, but in both cases they were captured by the Japanese military and then forced to provide free services while suffering through maltreatments and tortures. ,
Among the 95 persons released in Lampang, Thailand, the majority were from Hunan, and Guangxi. Those who came from my own prefecture-level county (Lingui County, Guangxi) and returned home with me included 11 persons. This segment of my history was recorded in detail in my personal file since I was enrolled into university in 1949 (I was enrolled into university after one year study in junior high school and one year study in senior high school). During the “Cultural Revolution” period, I was slandered as “counterrevolutionary” academic authority. The superior organization dispatched investigators to find 3 persons from the 11 persons in the same prefecture country who shared the same experience like myself (the remaining several persons had passed away or lost contact and no one knew their whereabouts). Thus, they have clarified my experience. These 3 persons are farmer Wen Kuaifu of Shishimen Village, Liangfen Town, Lingui County, Guangxi, and Liao Jinyan, and Liao Jinyi, who were farmers of Shangpa Village, Yongfu County, Guangxi.
My father passed away in the refuge time. I personally experienced and witnessed the tragic scenes of burning, killing and looting committed by the Japanese Army against fellow villagers. My resentment toward Japanese imperialism is deep-rooted. Consequently, I resolutely support all actions of Chinese civilians to demand damage compensation from Japan. The Japanese government must openly admit crime and apologize to the Chinese people, and must offer total compensation to Chinese civilian victims. Otherwise, this debt of blood will never be put to an end! In order to reach the success of the claim fight, all kind-hearted Chinese people must be united!
Mo Baomin
Professor level Senior Engineer of the Kunming Institute of Physics,
Ministry of Machine and Electronics Industry
August 15th,1992.8.15
Note: My former name: Mo Nengyu
Correspondence address: Kunming Institute of Physics, Kunming Postal code: 650223
Tel: (0871) 51226 Ext 324 (home), Fax (0871) 52601
