Date of letter:1993-10-15
Address of author:Deqing County, Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province
Date of event:1941
Location of event:Jinzhai County, Liu’an City, Anhui Province
Name of author:Xu Jiyao
Name(s) of victim(s):Xu Jiyao’s father, brother, etc.
Type of atrocity:Air Bombings, Murders, Others(AB, MU, OT）
Other details:In Dec. 1941, the Japanese raided Lihuang County (now Jinzhai County), Anhui and launched a great sweep, burning for three days, killing, raping and looting…I witnessed groups of common people being burnt to death. What’s more, the Japanese bombed the civilian areas, even with gas bombs. My seven-year-old brother was shot dead. It was winter days, when my father and 17-year-old brother was stripped and stabbed to death. Therefore, we claim compensation from Japan for the atrocious crime they committed.
Comrade Tong Zeng:
How have you been?
I am sending you No. 16 Letter of Claim, which is Xu Jiyao’s third letter demanding compensation from the new Japanese government. The great debt owed by the Japanese army during the World War II must be paid quickly. The new Japanese government should not further avoid shouldering responsibility. (I hereby urge the Japanese government to) deal with the compensation issues as soon as possible.. This is the urgent hope of tens of millions of Chinese victims. Please take your time and effort to forward this to the Japanese government. Thank you!
Best regards,
Xu Jiyao
Retired employee from the Post Office of Deqing, Zhejiang
No. 53, Zhaojia Avenue, Chengguan, Deqing, Zhejiang
October 15, 1993
Postal Code: 313200 Tel: 425059
Domestic long-distance area code of Deqing: 05821
Attached is the No. 16 Letter of Claim (in duplicate)
No. 16
October 15, 1993
The Japanese army took the life of three of my family members and set fire to our house and all things in it. For the third time, I strongly demand the Japanese government to compensate our losses.
During its invasion in China, the Japanese army regarded the Dabieshan anti-Japanese base as a pain in their ass. To completely root it out, thousands of Japanese soldiers secretly left from Tengjiabao, Hubei to ambush Lihuang (now Jinzhai), Anhui at the end of December 1941. On January 2, 1942, after the Japanese army quickly occupied Lihuang, they implemented a three-day sweep, burning, killing, raping and plundering. On January 5, the Japanese army shot and bayoneted civilians escaping from Lihuang and burned houses along mountain trails and roads. Japanese planes heavily dropped napalm bombs at civilians for several days. I witnessed that many Chinese civilians were burned alive. The corpses laid on the ground like pieces of charred wood. More cruelly, the Japanese army used gas bombs. I saw the swollen and black faces and pain of many civilians hit by the gas bombs. It was a sad and horrifying sight. The cruel Japanese army even killed disabled children, pregnant women and babies. Thousands of unarmed innocent Chinese people were killed in this sweep. It was another tragedy caused by the reprobate Japanese army by implementing the notorious “Three Alls” Policy in China. The Japanese army killed and burned on our sacred land; they completely lost humanity and reason. It was outrageous and utterly mad. The hard truth shows that Japanese militarists not only invaded China, but intended to completely eliminate our Chinese people. War prisoner Lieutenant Masaya OKAMOTO, born from Nagasaki, Japan, a military officer of Yoshio WATANABE garrison troops stationed at Wukang, Zhejiang, confessed that the Japanese army made preparations for decades to occupy China and that Japanese school textbooks said that Japanese people could live a good life only by invading the vast land of China. Therefore, the Japanese army committed unforgivable crimes in China by seriously violating the laws of war and humanitarian principles.
As for the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty, Foreign Minister Zhou Enlai made a solemn statement, “A treaty signed with Japan without the participation of the People’s Republic of China is illegal and invalid.” All Chinese victims have the right to claim for compensation against the Japanese government. Tens of millions of unarmed innocent Chinese people shall not die in vain. The issue of personal compensation resulting from the World War II is not settled at all.
My family suffered from the Japanese army’s blood sweep at Lihuang, Anhui. My 7-year-old brother Xu Xiaomao who had difficulty in walking due to right leg disability was shot in the brain and died on the spot. I was 19 years old at that time and was hit in the head, right face and right shoulder by shrapnel and fell down in blood. My father Xu Nianci and younger brother 17-year-old Xu Yougen were captured by Japanese soldiers and taken to roadside. The soldiers took off their clothes in the cold winter and bayoneted them to death. My father was bayoneted for 7 times and covered with blood. My younger brother was bayoneted in the chest. Additionally, the Japanese army burned down our three big huts on the hill of Lihuang, Anhui and all furniture, clothes and grain in them. The sudden disaster took away four lives of our seven-member family and caused me a lifelong disability. We suffered tremendous losses caused by the Japanese army, which must be paid. So, for the third time, I strongly demand today’s Japanese government to compensate Chinese victims for their losses as soon as possible.
Witness: Zhang Wenbao, a living retired Post Office employee, who lives at the Post Office Dormitory, Hefei, Anhui.
Witness: Zhu Yunsheng, a living retired Post Office cadre, who lives at the Post Office Dormitory, Zhong’er Street, Wuhu, Anhui.
A victim and a relative of victims: Xu Jiyao (70 years old, personal seal), a retired employee from the Post Office of Deqing, Zhejiang
Address: No. 53, Zhaojia Avenue, Chengguan, Deqing, Zhejiang
Postal code: 313200
Tel: 425059
