Date of letter:1992-10-27
Address of author:Dalian City, Liaoning Province
Date of event:1943
Location of event:Qinshui County, Jincheng City, Shanxi Province
Name of author:Guo Lifang
Name(s) of victim(s):Guo Lifang’s great-grandmother and grandmother, Guo Lifang’s mother
Type of atrocity:Murders, Others（MU, OT）
Other details:In 1943, the Japanese soldiers invaded my mother’s hometown Qinshui County. They killed my great-grandmother and grandmother, and stabbed 12 times my mother who was then a child. Luckily my mother survived. She wants to accuse the Japanese troops of the atrocities and require the Japanese government to compensate.
Comrade Tong Zeng:
How have you been?
After reading the article History Is Not Forgotten-Records of Chinese People Demanding Damage Compensation Against Japan from Issue 10, Reader’s Digest of 1992, my whole family were so excited and moved by your patriotism. You’ve spoken what’s on the mind of Chinese people for years and expressed our common wish. We will support you. My whole family’s wish is to firmly support the Chinese people to demand damage compensation against Japan.
September 18 is a day to remember. Countless kind Chinese people have suffered much from Japanese imperialism’s insult and torture. My mother, a kind Chinese woman, also suffered physical and mental trauma caused by Japanese soldiers in her innocent youth period. In 1943 when she was 9, the Japanese army raided her hometown Zhengzhuang, Qinshui, Shanxi. My great great grandmother and great grandmother were killed and my young mother didn’t just lose her closest family members, but was stabbed 12 times in her tiny body. God bless us. Today, 50 years later, my mother will demand the Japanese army to pay our debt.
Comrade Tong, my mother and other family members strongly hope to participate in the signature program of demanding damage compensation against Japan launched by you. But we are in Dalin far away from Beijing, how can we participate in the program? Hopefully, you can take time to tell us in a reply letter. Moreover, we also want to directly demand damage compensation against the Japanese government, but we don’t know whom or where the letter should be written to so we can get a reply instead of being ignored?
Comrade Tong, demanding damage compensation is the business of Chinese people themselves, but we need a leader and guide like you. We admire you deeply for what you’ve done and hope that you can carry it on and overcome the barriers and difficulties you may encounter on the way to meet your goal (also the goal of countless Chinese people). My family are all common people without power. We don’t know how to help you, but support you spiritually. We are also willing to do our bit for your signature program. If you need us to do anything, just tell us and we will try our best to do it.
At last, thank you again for speaking what’s on our mind!
Best regards,
Guo Lifang
October 27, 1992
Address: Meteorological Department, 39023 Troops, Dalian, Liaoning
Tel: 471911-51155
Postal code: 116023
