Date of letter:1993-03-05
Address of author:Chenzhou City, Hunan Province
Date of event:1944
Location of event:Chenzhou City, Hunan Province
Name of author:Ren Kunquan
Name(s) of victim(s):Ren Kunquan and his grandfather Ren Weicheng, father Ren Runsheng, grandfather’s brother Ren Liangquan
Type of atrocity:Murders, Rapes, Slave Laborers, Others(MU, RA, SL, OT）
Other details:In the summer of 1944, the Japanese invaded my hometown, burning our houses and belongings. My grandfather Ren Weicheng and a woman hid in the mountain behind and got caught by Japanese, who wanted to rape the woman. Grandfather was kicked hard for being around, causing his copracrasia and resulted death. Father Ren Runsheng was arrested by Japanese and stabbed by bayonet, which led to a feeble body and early death. I (Ren Kunquan) was forced to be a porter by Japanese. I worked day and night and was frequently beaten for being slow. My face was covered by bruises and back always injured. My grandfather’s brother Ren Liangquan was killed in Guangxi. For all above sufferings now I claim compensation from Japan.
Respectable Tong Zeng:
How have you been?
We learn from the newspaper that you have initiated a movement to demand compensation from Japan on behalf of the numerous Chinese people killed by the Japanese invaders. We are deeply grateful (for your efforts). We were also victims. Enclosed please find a Compensation Letter. Kindly please forward it to the Japanese embassy in China. Thank you.
Best regards,
Ren Kunquan, etc.
March 5, 1993
Mr. Tong Zeng, please forward the letter to the Japanese embassy in China
Compensation Letter
March 4, 1993
Imperial Japan invaded Northeast China on September 18, 1931 and launched its full scale invasion into China on July 7, 1937 in order to destroy China. Japanese invaders killed, burned, raped and robbed in China until August 1945, committing countless horrible crimes. And we were some of the numerous victims.
We originally lived at Shangsunjiawan (close to Gaofang Railway Station), Gaofang, Xiangyin, Hu’nan (now called Gaofang, Guluo). In the summer of 1944, the invading Japanese army defeated the National Army during a battle on the mountain behind our house and occupied my hometown. Our 26-room house had an area of 780 square meters including bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens, dining rooms, cow sheds, pig sheds, toilets and rice-husking workshops. There were a total of 12 beds, including 6 carved nanmu beds, 6 big cabinets, 8 tables, 60 chairs and wood benches, an exquisitely carved nanmu shrine that had a decorative pattern of two dragons playing with a pearl—an ancient artifact of a fairly high value—and exquisitely carved Sitting Lotus Buddha statue and ancestral tablets in the shrine. Moreover, there were stone grinding grooves, grinding racks, grinding bases, mills, rice hullers, rice sieves, barns, farming plows and buckets. All wood furniture, no matter precious or not, were robbed away by the invading Japanese army and burned as firewood. They demolished the whole house and burned the house frame, windows, door panels, pillows, floor panels, Purlin wood and rubber as firewood to boil water and cook. Only broken bricks were left. The house was not rebuilt and became debris. The present value of the house, tools and livestock is RMB 600,000.
When the Japanese army came, my grandfather and a woman hid in a mountain behind Tangpowu and were discovered by a Japanese soldier. The solider intended to rape the woman, so he kicked my grandfather off the mountain and to Gaokan. My grandfather couldn’t urinate or defecate for 12 days and nights and died with hatred. My father, Ren Runsheng, was captured by the Japanese invading force and injured with bayonet. He became weak after that and died young. I myself, Ren Kunquan, was captured by the Japanese invading army to carry heavy stuff all night. I was hit when I walked a little slow and was injured in the face, chest and back. My grandfather’s younger brother, Ren Liangquan, was then 22 years old, just got married and worked as an assistant in the shop owned by his uncle Tan Binglin in Hengyang. He was captured by the invading Japanese troops and killed in Guangxi. His mother became a nun and his wife, Li Xingyuan, was widowed and lived alone for the rest of her life. My family members were killed and injured by the invading Japanese army, causing tragedy and sadness. It’s hard to measure our life by money. But the victims and their relatives should be compensated RMB 600,000 (calculated by the minimum value) for two members’ deaths and another two member’s injury.
We should be compensated a total of RMB 1.2 million for our tragedy and losses to relieve our pain.
Payment address and payee name: Ren Kunquan in care of Ren Gexiang, Sales Department, Meiqiao Textile Factory, Xiameiqiao, Chenzhou, Hu’nan.
Claimants: Ren Kunquan, Huang Yumei, Ren Gexiang, Ren Lao, Wang Yue’e, Ren Rixin, Tan Ping, Ren Chunshi, Ren Chunquan, Ye Cheng, Ren Gangjian, Ren Lili, Zhu Bi’er, Tan Jingcong, Ren Bishan, Ren Yanqun, Ren Leping, Ren Manping, Ren Xiping, Duan Bojun, Ren Yiyun, Ren Xianyun, Ren Zhihua, Li Xingyuan.
