Date of letter:1993-01
Address of author:Jiangyin City, Jiangsu Province
Date of event:1937, 1940
Location of event:Jiangyin City, Jiangsu Province
Name of author:Yang Lanfen, Bian Jinfeng
Name(s) of victim(s):Yang Lanfen’s father, Shan Xueqing, Xue Zhongda, Xue Peigen, etc.
Type of atrocity:Other Massacres, Rapes, Others(OM, RA, OT）
Other details:Yang Lanfen was born in April 1940. At that time the Japanese soldiers were reckless, frequently going to the countryside for male slave labour. In August, Yang Lanfen’s and Bian Jinfeng’s fathers were caught and beaten black and blue when taken to the station of the Japanese soldiers . The following night they and another eleven were escorted to a river bank and stabbed to death. According to the local chronicle, in February 1937, the Japanese soldiers committed arson and murder in Zhenjiang. Shan Xueqing, an old man over 60, was mutilated; Xue Zhongda was stabbed to death. In November of the same year, Xue Peigen was shot dead; Wang XX’s wife was raped and then was shot dead by the Japanese soldiers after she jumped into the river; Chen Linsheng’s father was tied to a tree and burned to death.
Mr. Tong Zeng:
I’ve received your letter. I thank you so much for pursuing justice for Chinese victims and speaking what’s on our mind. I am confused, you know. If the Japanese died in a car accident while travelling in China, we would compensate much money to them. But the Japanese came to China with rifles and killed the Chinese people at will, why don’t they compensate us? So if necessary, I will bring my 75-year-old mother to Beijing and sit silently in front of the Japanese embassy in China.
Today, I am sending you detailed information about myself and some materials I collected. I hope to contact with you frequently, actively participate in the claims organization launched by you and work for you. We’ll discuss about that next time.
Best regards,
Yang Lanfen
January 10, 1993
Material I
I am Yang Lanfen, live beside Zhencheng Highway in Yushiqiao, Jiangyin, Jiangsu, a place where Japanese soldiers would pass on their way to raid the countryside. I was born on April 12, 1940 when the arrogant Japanese soldiers often went to the countryside to capture young men. On August 24 of that year, a group of Japanese soldiers raided the countryside from Shen’gang and took away my father. They took him to their camp and beat him badly. His face was swollen like a rotten peach and teeth were knocked out. He suffered unimaginable torturing. In the evening of the next day, my father and other 11 young men were bayoneted dead by a river. Each of them was bayoneted many times. My father was bayoneted 8 times and there was blood flowing from each cut. 12 dead bodies lied by the river with hands tied on the back. Their blood stained the river and flowed far with the water. When their families came to collect their bodies, they could only recognize them from clothes and shoes.
My father (Yang Zhichu) was only 23 then and I was only 4 months old or like. He needed to work, live and breathe and I needed his care, but he…
My father’s tragic death is a big blow to my mother. She suffers neuropathy and has been a widow ever since. My tears well up and my heart bleeds whenever I recall these memories. I remember once I watched the film “The Red Lantern” with my mother. Afterward, she couldn’t sleep for days and suffered from neuropathy again.
I felt sad for a long time after reading the Sino-Japanese Joint Press Communique. Our country and people have suffered so much, why don’t the Japanese compensate us? The Japanese are my sworn enemies for killing my father. I demand Japan to compensate me for my losses.
Material II
I am Bian Jinfeng, born in 1938. My father Bian Rongsheng was captured by the Japanese army on August 24, 1940 and then bayoneted 14 times and dead by the river in the east of Shen’gang Town. He was only 23 then. Afterward, my mother was sold like Xiang Linsao (a character in Lu Xun’s novel Blessing) and I had no parents to depend on. I was sent to a family as a foster daughter when I was 7, but the family had kids, so in fact they treated me as a maid. I had to get up early in the morning to make breakfast while they were sleeping and after they had breakfast, I had to wash the kitchenware and feed the pigs. Later, I escaped from their house because couldn’t stand their beating and cursing. I became a foster daughter of another family at age 11 and a child bride at age 13. I’ve suffered so much because the Japanese killed my father. I demand the Japanese government to repay the debt.
Dictated by Bian Jinfeng
Recorded by Yang Lanfen
January 10, 1993
Material III
After Jiangyin fell on February 1, 1937, the Japanese army invaded the villages along Zhencheng (Jiangyin to Zhenjiang) Highway. They burned and killed wherever they went. A huge fire lasted 9 days and nights at Guangdongzhi Village, burning 265 houses. The 60-year-old, blind Dan Xueqing was killed by Japanese soldiers with a section of tree trunk. The 12-year-old Xue Zhongda was bayoneted dead. In Xishiqiao Town, 47 houses and 13 buildings were burned. In Xifan Village, 39 houses were burned, accounting for 30% of the total houses of the village. In Zhangjiatou, Beiguozhuang, 47 houses were burned, accounting for 56.5% of the total houses of the village. In Houmeixiaoxue, over 40 houses were burned. Jiang Xirong was shot twice and his mother was bayoneted in the head. They two were killed on the same day by Japanese soldiers. On November 29, the 60-year-old Xue Peigen staying at home due to illness was shot dead.
There was a man surnamed Wang in a certain village. After being raped, his wife jumped into a river and was shot by the Japanese. Chen Jinyou was tragically bayoneted 4 times. Chen Linsheng’s father was tied on a tree and burned dead alive.
In a word, in Xishiqiao Village, 49 houses and 611 bungalows were burned, 55 people were innocently killed, 34 women were raped and countless people were beaten and tortured.
Excerpt from the village’s records
January 10, 1993
