Date of letter:1994-10-06
Address of author:Guoyang County, Bozhou City, Anhui Province
Date of event:1938
Location of event:Bozhou City, Anhui Province
Name of author:Li Jiansan
Name(s) of victim(s):Li Hongbiao (Li Jiansan’s father) and Li Hongbiao’s fellow townsmen
Type of atrocity:Murders (MU)
Other details:In 1938, my father and his fellow townsmen witnessed the Japanese soldiers killing innocent people when they passed by the Tangweizi area. With a sense of justice, my father went to prevent and fought with them, but he was outnumbered and shot to death by the Japanese soldiers. The Japanese soldiers bayoneted my father’s face and body several times and separated his head from his body. I require the Japanese government to compensate for this debt of blood.
Letter of Claim
I am Li Jiansan, Han Chinese, male, the only child of my family. I am a farmer, 60 years old. My family lives in Liyaozhuang, Danjilinchang, Woyang County, Anhui Province and now I live in Agricultural Machinery School, Woyang County. I charge the Japanese army with inhuman killing of my father Li Hongbiao.
My father Li Hongbiao was born in 1908 into a poor family and had farmed since he was young. Back then, the whole family had 6 members and 1.8-mu (1 mu is about 667 square meters) land. To make a subsistence living, my father also did small businesses such as pulling a small wooden cart to sell coal.
On June 20, 1938, in response to the reference of a friend, my father left home for Tang Buwu’s family in Tangweizi Village, Linhuan, Suixi County about 25 km away from home along with Feng Xiaozhe from Dafengzhuang to work as their guard. When they reached a place to the south of Tangweizi on the way, they saw several Japanese soldiers hurting innocent Chinese people. They became indignant and tried to communicate with the Japanese soldiers, which caused a fight. As they were outnumbered by the Japanese soldiers, my father was shot down. Then, a cruel Japanese soldier bayoneted my father in his face and body for several times and beheaded him. My father was then 30. (Feng Xiaozhe also died under the gun and bayonet of the Japanese soldiers.) After their death, the local Chinese people donated money to buy two large cypress wood coffins and informed my family. By the time my family used an old cart to move my father’s badly-mutilated corpse home, his corpse had badly decomposed in the sealed wood coffin.
At that time, I was only 4 years old and my mother Mrs. Li, Han was 29. With my father’s death, my family’s livelihood went from bad to worse. Our suffering cannot be described by words.
We appeal to the Party and relevant authorities for pursuing justice, and recovering blood debt. We solemnly demand compensation from the Japanese government for the death of my father.
Claimant: Li Jiansan
Address: Agricultural Machinery School, Woyang County, Anhui Province
Postal code: 233605
Tel: (05684) 213731
