<div>Sequence number:s1668
Date of letter:1992-10-09
Address of author:Lvliang City, Shanxi Province
Date of event:1938-01-16（lunar calendar）
Location of event:Wenshui County, Lvliang City, Shanxi Province
Name of author:Liu Desi
Name(s) of victim(s):Common people in Wenshui County
Type of atrocity:Other Massacres（OM）
Other details:In 1938, the Japanese troops launched a battle in our village where there were more than 200 people then. They entered every house in the village, demanding all male villagers to attend a meeting. When these men were gathered, they suddenly shot them to death with machine guns. They laid the bodies in a heap, covered them with thatch and burned them down. Since then, the village became widely-known as a village of widows. We can’t imagine how much our forefathers suffered. I wish to join the team to claim for compensation and redress injustice for the victims.
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Teacher Tong Zeng,
Today, after reading the article “History Is Not Forgotten” in the Issue 10 of Reader’s Digest that described in detail about you, a common scholar, demanding damage compensation from Japan by submitting a proposal to the National People’s Congress, writing a letter to the Japanese Prime Minister and going to many places to gather information, I am filled with respect to you. Meanwhile, as an offspring of a victim of Japan’s war of aggression against China, I’d like to extend my gratitude to you on behalf of all people of my village. I sincerely support your 100-million-signature campaign and I am planning to organize victims’ family members to actively participate in it. I am unlearned and ignorant and know about the news too late, so I am writing to you at the first night after reading the article, hoping that we can be a part of the campaign before the Japanese Emperor visits China.
The details of the incident are provided below. On the early morning of lunar January 16, 1938, the Chinese army and the Japanese army fought a battle near our village (Liangyukou Village, Wenshui County, Shanxi Province). Several hours later, the Chinese army retreated, while the Japanese army entered our village. Our village was very small, located at the entrance of a valley and had only over 200 people. After entering the village, the Japanese army searched door by door for young men. Finally, they gathered 58 men to the threshing field in the north of the village, claiming that a meeting would be held. So when all the Chinese people were unprepared, the Japanese army suddenly began to shoot them. All 58 compatriots fell down on the ground. Some died on the spot and some were seriously injured. But instead of letting it go, the Japanese army dragged them together, piled them up, placed straws on them and set fire to it. It was really a horrible sight to see. As it’s difficult to identify the corpses after they were burned, two families later realized they buried the wrong corpse and had to open the tomb and exchange the corpse. Thus, our village became a well-known widow village. It’s hard for us to image how much pain our ancestors endured.
You are the first to stand up for millions of victims by pursuing justice and demanding compensation for them. We shall not keep silent anymore. Please allow us to join your compensation army and take time to reply to me and give instructions. I will handle the work here. Just tell what to do.
<p style=”text-align:right;”>General Office, Wenyu River Irrigation Administration Bureau, Lvliang District, Shanxi
Liu Desi
Night of October 9, 1992</p>
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