Date of letter:1992-11-17
Address of author:Miluo City, Hunan Province
Date of event:1939
Location of event:Miluo City, Hunan Province
Name of author:Zhu Jiandong
Name(s) of victim(s):Zhu Jiandong’s father and townsmen
Type of atrocity:Murders, Sex Slaves, Others(MU, SS, OT）
Other details:In 1939, Hukou was occupied. The Japanese soldiers drove away the villagers at the foot of the mountain. The houses were used as firewood, and the bricks and tiles were used for paving. My father was shot by the Japanese soldiers and not until one year later did he recover from the wound. In addition, some villagers were killed, and women were raped over a long period of time.
Comrade Tong Zeng:
I am a big supporter of your claim for damage compensation against Japan. Your act completely meets the need of Chinese people and is admired by them. Our people suffered greatly during the 14-year Japan’s war of aggression against China from 1931 to 1945. The scars still remain and ache. Due to no losses resulting from the war, the defeated Japan unexpectedly grew as an economic power. It is not because the Japanese government has special capabilities, but they’ve plundered countless properties from our country in the war. That makes it easy for them to develop economy. By contrast, our country was severely plundered and damaged in the war, so the country became weak and the people poor. This is the reason why we cannot catch up with Japan in terms of post-war construction. The Chinese people have suffered greatly from the war and it’s just and reasonable for us to claim for compensation against Japan. We must carry on the cause until we meet the goal.
I am 68 years old from Hukou County, Jiangxi Province, a witness of the invading Japanese army killing Chinese people as well as a victim. In 1939, after Hukou fell, the Japanese army occupied the mountains on two banks of Hukou. My hometown Liufangshi Village was under the claws of the Japanese army. They forced all residents living at the foot of the mountains to leave. There were about 200 households from over 10 villages, including my family. Our houses were demolished to be used as firewood, tile was moved away to build roads, thousands of pigs and cows were butchered and over 10,000 mu (1 mu is about 667 square meters) of fields went barren. My father was shot by Japanese soldiers and didn’t recover after over one year. A woman surnamed Cao and her child, Zhu Qiuxiang and her two chidren were killed by gunfire on the same day. Two middle-aged men Cao Shuigou and Hu Yubei were shot dead. Xu Zhuhuai was beaten to death. Several villages surnamed Zhou and Peng were burned. The Japanese army caused property losses of no less than 10 billion yuan in a small place with a diameter of 10km. Moreover, during the occupancy, the Japanese army forced us to send young women to them so the officers could rape them for a long time. They were forced to be comfort women, I think. My village was a small place, but suffered so many losses. The losses that the Japanese army caused to so many places across the country are certainly more than 180 billion USD. We must investigate and check the amount of losses, or otherwise we let the invaders go too easily.
Guluo, Hunan recently revised the municipal records and tried to check one of the earliest records of the former Xiangyin County, but found that they were stolen by the invading Japanese army. They were just copied and returned to our country through diplomatic means. What a shame. It’s reasonable that the cultural relics the Japanese army took from our country must be returned too.
I suggest we should establish a civil association to claim for compensation against Japan and investigate the losses in each place suffered in the war to re-determine the amount of compensation. Meanwhile, we should launch a bigger signature program and organize a civil representative group, which will go to China to negotiate about the compensation. The suggestions are only for your reference.
The Japanese Emperor didn’t show any sign of apology during his recent visit to China. It makes me very angry. If we continue to give in on the compensation issue, Japanese militarism will prosper, it will be hard to safeguard the peace and stability in Asia and our country may be invaded by Japan again. It is very noteworthy of our attention.
I hope you can act quickly with strong support from the government and carry on the cause until we are compensated. If there’s any work for me, please let me know and I will do my best to help.
Best wishes to your work.
Best regards,
Retired teacher, Guluo, Hunan
Zhu Jiandong
November 17, 1992
