Blog

简体中文

Mr. Tong Zeng:
　　My unforgettable childhood years

　　In 1944 when the Japanese invaders was invading China, I was only 14, and was capture by the Japanese invaders and sent to Japan to work as a hard laborer, during which time I lived a pitiful life inferior to that of cattle in Japan.

　　I was lured by the security head of our village to leave home for a job opportunity in Changping that paid two liters of corn each day. I left home and went to the village office of our village, where I saw Ren Youfu of the same village. The village head took out a 10,000 yuan Puppet Government’s currency and handed it to Ren Youfu as meal expense for two of us. The time was the evening of August 29, 1944 on the lunar calendar, in the night they sent us to the Yangfang Puppet Town Government.

　　After the farm laborers lured from all villages of Yangfang Town were assembled, they were sent to the Puppet Regime New Civilian Society inside Changping City in the same night. The time was the morning of the next day. With empty stomach, all farm laborers from Changping randomly bought something to eat on the street and waited to be assigned work. However, no one came up to speak to us. In the afternoon, a medium-height Japanese wearing glasses came to see us. Then the lackeys from the Puppet Regime New Civilian Society assembled all farm laborers for that Japanese take a look, probably to check the physical condition of these old farmers being gathered here. Were they qualified? In this way, we stayed in Changping for one day.

　　In the evening, the lackeys of the Puppet Regime New Civilian Society assembled all farm laborers, and sent us to the Changping Railway Station, where we boarded the train to Qianmen Station in Beijing. In the process of boarding the train, some people escaped. From Changping Railway Station to Qianmen Station, the moment the train arrived at each stop, someone would escape.

　　After the train arrived at the Qianmen Station, those who hadn’t escaped were taken to Beichizi, at a two-story building compound with a plaque of East China Workers’ Association. We settled down in this compound, in the whole day of September 1, there’s no one on guard to check entry and exit. Some adults also escaped. Ren Youfu and I wanted to run away too, only that we were too young, and were unfamiliar with the place of Beichizi, nor did I know the escape route, or the direction of my hometown, therefore I dared not escape. One day’s time soon passed.

　　The time moved to the evening of September 1, 1944 (lunar calendar). There came two gun-toting puppet policemen dressed in black Chinese tunic suit who issued orders and assembled the farm laborer swindled from Changping.

　　Inside the compound of Beichizi Workers’ Association, two puppet policemen assembled us to line up, and brought us to Qianmen Railway Station, where we boarded a passenger train. At that moment, every farm laborer was wondering where they would take us to? What on earth they wanted us to do……? And the destiny awaiting for each of us, etc. Especially adults, who had elderly and children at home. Everyone might be wondering about these questions, but it was too late to escape after boarding the train. Jump the train? It’s not so easy now, for two policemen guarded both doors of every carriage.

　　It was a journey of over 125 miles From Qianmen Station to Tanggu Railway Station, passing several dozen railway stations in between. When the train stopped by Jifang Station on its way, some passengers boarded while others disembarked. As the train started to move on, one captured laborer seized this opportunity to jump off from train window and escaped. He was really a hero.

　　When the train arrived at Tanggu, all laborers disembarked, and were escorted to a concentration camp. This place is surrounded on three sides by barbed wires fortified with electric wires, and on one side by endless sea. Two Japanese devil soldiers stood guard at the entrance, one of them stayed behind a light machine gun, another carried a rifle. When Chinese entered this place, it’s equivalent to entering the tiger’s mouth. Seeking to escape was more difficult than climbing the sky.

　　In the evening of September 1 on the lunar calendar, these over 100 fam laborers were escorted to Tanggu Concentration Camp. From then on they began a nonhuman life totally at the disposal of others. The damned Chinese traitors in this place were particularly ferocious. They first asked everyone to line up. He then carried a fire fighting bucket and asked us to turn over all money we were carrying. After collecting the money they asked us to undress. More than one hundred of us stood naked at sea shore, shivered in the chilly sea winds. It’s really miserable. After about a dozen minutes, someone brought quilts for each one of us to cover. Then we were brought to a large wooden board house. This is the place where we took rest.

　　After being taken into the wooden board house, before sleep, one Chinese traitor with Tianjin-accent announced several rules while toting a four-edged pick hoe handle:

　　Two persons sleep together on one mat and shared one quilt. It’s not allowed to face each other, or turn sides. One must first ask permission before going to the toilet. Who violated these rules would be beaten.” In that evening, one person named Yuan Wanshan failed to report when turning sides. That vicious Chinese traitor instantly hit him on the head with the pick handle. Blood gushed out on Yuan Wanshan’s head.

　　Those several vicious traitors had no trace of humanity. Once we were inside the room, for no apparent reason, the vicious traitor wielded his pick handle and savagely hit one man’s waist twice. At that moment Li Changchun roared at that vicious traitor, “Stop hitting people like that!” This roar was really effective. From then on, that vicious traitors never hit us again.

　　We were imprisoned in the place of Tanggu for six days. At that place for detaining Chinese, we also personally witnessed the tyranny and cruelty of Japanese invaders on Chinese territory. They could go to any place to capture Chinese people. Those who were captured were bound and sent to the concentration camp. Sometimes they carried fallen Chinese out of the concentration camp without making sure they were dead. Those Chinese were thrown onto the beach outside the concentration camp. From dozen meters away across barbed wire, we could see a number of hounds ripping these Chinese apart.

　　We were detained at Tanggu Concentration Camp for six days. On the seventh day we were escorted to Tanggu wharf, and boarded a Japanese devils’ cargo ship. There were over 200 Chinese being sent out from the concentration camp. Everyone was issued a pair of rag shoes with unknown origin. These shoes were not for wearing. They all broke after being put on and walked around. It turned out the shoes were made of paper. Absolutely worthless shoes.

　　When these over two hundred Chinese left the concentration camp, they were surrounded by Chinese traitors and Japanese devil soldiers, who carried pick handle or rifles and watched us, until we all boarded the Japanese cargo ship. We moved from the deck down to the cabin. As it turned out, the cabin was packed with coal rocks from China. The coal rocks were covered with reed mat, this was our resting place. The deck was littered with iron-made stove and white flour, corn flour. Onboard this cargo ship, excluding Japanese crew, three heavy machine guns and basic equipment of a cargo ship, the remainder were all valuable assets looted from China! Among these assets the most valuable was the “Chinese” who could talk.

　　Because the ship we rode dare not sail in the night, so it took us eight days and seven nights on the sea for us to reach Moji, Shimonoseki in Japan.

　　It was the morning of September 7 when we boarded the ship, a total over 200 people. In the cabin one Japanese devil took out prepared Japanese enterprise names and a badge of white cloth to be attached to the front of left chest which bore the number for each Chinese. The 200 plus people were divided into two enterprises, Kumatani Group, and Hokutan. Because there were not enough people to form one squadron, they transferred 12 persons from 148 persons of Changping to the Hokutan squadron, the squadron of Kumatani Group had 136 persons.

　　The eight-day seven-night journey on the sea was also a devastating experience. Each day we ate a piece of dry cake made of corn flour. There was no water to drink. Inside the cabin the space was cramped. There’s no toilet. The Japanese devil nailed wooden boards into a square frame that hangs outside the ship rail as a makeshift toilet which was only one meter above the sea level. Those who had travelled by sea would know the ship was always rocking when traveling in the sea. When one was taking a crap, pounding waves would splash sea water onto trousers.

　　On September 14 we arrived at Moji, Shimonoseki. The first thing after our arrival at Shimonoseki was total disinfection: We were asked to undress and bundle up all clothing and quilt together for high temperature disinfection. All people queued up to enter a prepared disinfection bath to disinfect the body. The bath pool had pungent odor, there must be some disinfectant chemicals in the bath pool.

　　One Japanese girl stood at the entrance to the bath pool, with one hand holding a plate, another holding a flat object. The plate contained some ointment. She would smear the ointment onto the hands of each one entering the bath pool. Someone knew the purpose of ointment, and applied it at the proper place, others were unsure about where to apply it to, and smeared it on the body with both hands, we teenagers were also given some ointment.

　　After bath and disinfection, we dressed ourselves and carried the quilt to go to a railway station, where we rode the train to Tokyo Railway Station. We disembarked and entered a hotel, where everyone was given a bowl of rice to eat. After taking a rest, we were taken to the railway station, and boarded another train. When the night set in, we arrived at a place in Fukushima Prefecture, and entered a simple wooden board house build for the Chinese which could only shelter us from rain but not cold. When we arrived at this place, it was the night of September 14. Here, we met our compatriots who had arrived earlier, who cooked rye flour noodle soup for us, everyone was given a bowl of noodle soup. This was a meal for us Chinese, which was barely enough even for me as a teenager, let alone those adults. It would be not hard to image what they felt after eating such a small bowl of noodle soup.

　　Arrival at the cursed place of Fukushima Prefecture implied our beginning of days as colonial slaves. Each day before the sun rose we had to get up and eat breakfast, then went to the construction site to work for the Japanese devils. When we were working at Fukushima Prefecture, we had three meals each day, each meal consisted of one steamed bun, which was made of rye flour mixed with mildewed rice bran. One could smell the moldy odor from very far away. Each of us also get a bowl of rotten vegetable leaf soup, which were barely enough for us to alleviate hunger.

　　The place where we lived was single level wooden board house. Both the upper and lower berths were wide bunk bed for a number of people, covered with some straw. That winter we lived in that cursed place. The climate of that place was also very special. After winter set in, it began to snow, which only stopped at noon for about 20 minutes, then it continued to snow for the remaining time of the day. The Chinese working whole day had barely enough to eat, and barely enough to wear. Living in cold houses, the only way to get by was to sleep with another person in order to preserve the body heat for each other.

　　About the problem of protection against the cold, I have to mention two squadrons which arrived earlier than us. One was captured from the Beijing Model Prison, another included soldiers and officers of the Eight Route Army who were captured at the frontline of battleground. These people wore two sets of unlined clothing. Each morning after getting up, what they only needed to do was to first pick up the blanket they used in the night to wrap around their chest and waist, and stuff the four corners of the blanket into two trousers legs, in order to protect against the cold. This is the only feasible way because of the cold weather. With the aggravating climate of the Fukushima Prefecture, plus the persecution of the Japanese devils, the hardship suffered by the Chinese had reached its extreme.

　　Because of unbearable pain, and unwillingness to work like animals for the Japanese, some Chinese wanted to seek their own way of survival, and escaped. But escape was not so easy. After being captured, with both hands tied, they were beaten up by the Japanese devils. Because these two persons wore unlined clothing, it was obvious to see their bruises and wounds after beating.

　　Beating during work was also frequent. Once due to no apparently reason, the Japanese foreman wanted to beat a man carrying a knife saw. Before the Japanese moved, that Chinese brandished the knife saw in his hands, scarring back that Japanese, who backed off. Once when we were working, they asked me to dump stones, as I was too small for other works. Lacking much strength, I moved a bit slower, and was slapped twice by a 40 year old Japanese devil.

　　At Fukushima Prefecture, there also had been severe work injury accidents. Once after lunch, we needed to cross a single-plank bridge to reach the work site. The bridge was both a pathway for pedestrians and a passage of transport cart for shipping gravel materials. Among the crew was Li Changchun. When Bald Zheng, Ren Youfu were walking on the bridge, from the top of the hill someone happened to release carts. The carts slid very quickly on the rail downward toward the bridge. Being a swift child, Ren Youfu jumped off that single-plank bridge, barely escaped the disaster. But Zheng and Li were seriously injured by the sudden carts. For such a major accident, the barbaric Japanese devils pretended never happened. Because Bald Zheng was seriously hit in the head, he soon died. Li Changchun suffered lifetime handicap due to serious injury in the waist and leg.

　　Under the devilish climate of Fukushima Prefecture,, wearing single-layer rubber shoes with separate tips for big toe and other four toes issued by the Japanese enterprise, each day we treaded snow to work for the Japanese devils. Some of us suffered frostbite in the feet. I was one of them. Back then my frostbite was on the surface of left foot. Soon it was discovered by a squad leader of the Third Squadron. This squad leader tried to treat my frostbite and took me to the bath pool to warm the foot, then applied some cooling ointment, and wove a pair of straw sandals for me to put it on the rubber shoes during work. In this way, my frostbite was cured. About the squad leader who helped me treat the frostbite, I had no idea where his native town was, nor his name. Being too young at that time, I had no social skill. Now in hind sight, I regretted it but it is too late. I only knew that squad leader was a cavalryman fighting on the anti-Japanese frontline in Tangshan.

　　After receiving humiliating treatment at the coal-fired power plant in Fukushima Prefecture, we were then transported to Nagano Prefecture. The work was still supplying raw materials to coal-fired power plant. At Nagano Prefecture, everything was slightly better than those in Fukushima, but we still had to face tremendous mental pressure.

　　Since we had left home for more than three months, for those being captured and sent here, their family members must be seriously worried, for their loved ones had been away for several months without any message. Those who were particularly worried must be the parents of us several teenagers. Equally vexed were families of those who used to be bread earners of their households. Now being sent away, when could they return to China? How the elderly and the young dependents could manage to live on their own? Such inevitable shadows haunted everyone.

　　We spent the Spring Festival of 1945 in Nagano Prefecture. In fact, it was not actually celebrating a Spring Festival but an excuse for the Japanese to take advantage of the opportunity to torment us Chinese. Because we ate very little during ordinary times, we were given even less to eat when the Spring Festival came. At the time of meal, everyone was given a very small wooden bowl, the dumplings being made were also very small. Everyone only collected less than one bowl. It was not difficult to imagine how we felt after eating that bowl of dumplings. In the days as colonial slave, that kind of experience was indeed intolerable. Japanese bandits devised ways to oppress the Chinese. Someone was unable to tolerate the persecution, and began to fall ill. In minor cases, one would contract eye illness. Serious illness involved internal diseases. Those with eye illness were sent to a nearby clinic to receive eye drops therapy. After several times of treatment, most people would be cured. Only Wang Dejun’s eyes were not cured, and finally both his eyes became blind. For minor eye illness, the Japanese gave treatment, but for other illnesses that would involve expensive cost, the Japanese pretended not to know. For instance, Zhang Zeng contracted scabies all over his body, and finally died due to pain. Other people all died because of internal disease. Because the Japanese gave no medical treatment, they ultimately died of the illness. Those died of internal diseases also included Gei Jixiang, Huang Chengbin, Yan Bingtui, Wang Shutian, Liu Jiaqi etc, plus Bald Zheng who were killed in Fukushima Prefecture, all of them died in Japan due to illness because of lack of care. In summary, the Japanese bandits owed blood debt to the Chinese people. If they failed to pay the debt and apologize, we victims would resolutely not let go. It will be handed down from generation to generation, our offspring will forever hand it down.

The enterprise owners in Hokkaido were more vicious, the owners of Japanese enterprises there were even more barbaric, for they were crueler in the ways being used to persecute the Chinese. I would not give more examples here. On behalf of Chinese victims, I demand the Japanese enterprises which persecuted Chinese laborers to acknowledge crime, provide compensation, and offer apology.

Zhao Zongren (Zhao Zongyuan)
March 1993