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Comrade Tong Zeng:

My family and I read the article entitled Pursuing Justice Against Japan from Weekly Digest of February 3, 1993, launched by Sichuan Daily, which described that you have been committed to the compensation program since 1989 with a strong sense of national mission and have done much work for the victims over the past years. I am so touched by your selfless dedication to national interests and I express sincere gratitude to you.

I’m now telling you about me being captured by the Japanese to be a forced laborer and hope to get your strong support and selfless help. Please forward my materials to the Japanese embassy in China.

Once again, I’d like to express sincere gratitude to you on behalf of my family, relatives and friends.

Best regards,

Victim: Duan Xinghua
Written by Duan Baozhang
February 27, 1993

Japanese Imperialism’s War of Aggression Against China Caused Permanent Suffering to Me

I am Duan Xinghua, 77 years old and live in No. 42, Minquan Alley, Nanda Street, Xiyao County, Shannxi.

In May 1944, I was captured by the Japanese on my way to visit relatives in Luoning, Henan. 3 or 4 days later, I, all tied up, was escorted by armed Japanese soldiers on a car and sent to the First Prison of Zhengzhou. In June 1944, I was sent in a box car to the Labor Training Center in Shijiazhuang (The Japanese called it Shimen). The center housed young, strong men captured from north China and war prisoners from the battle. When some of them were transferred away, a new group of people were caught in. I was held there for over a month. As soon as I got there, I was asked to take off all of my clothes, disinfected in a water tank, then had all my hair shaved and walked in a room naked. We lived in a mat hut set up on the site. There was only a single mat on the floor. We were forbidden to move or open our eyes while sleeping, even when using the toilet. We must report and get an approval before standing up to go to the toilet. We would be brutally beaten even due to the slightest mistake. We were only given some moldy sorghum rice for each meal. Many people got sick due to the torture, and never return once they were sent to the hospital (the Japanese called it a disease hole). Then, dead bodies would be transported away using several train carriages every day. Afterwards, through a physical examination, strong men (countless) were sent to Northeast China or Japan to be laborers and the remaining sick and weak people were tortured to death and thrown into a pit.

In August 1944, 200 people including me were forced in a tank train with machine guns on the top of it. The train left from Shijiazhuang, to Beijing, Tianjin and Tanggu. When we just got the Tanggu Port, we were about to be sent to Japan. All felt so painful and knew that we would die in Japan, so several people threw themselves into the sea. The Japanese soldiers found and immediately shot them dead in the sea. 2 or 3 days later, we were escorted on a Japanese ship. As the sea surface was closely blocked with torpedoes by the Japanese, the ship took a detour by passing Shanhaiguan, North Korea, the Pacific Ocean and reached Shimonoseki, Japan 5 or 6 days later. During the journey, some people caught a serious disease due to depression and despair. The patients, once discovered by Japanese soldiers, would be thrown into the water and drowned (3 or 4 people were drowned during the journey). Afterwards, we were sent in a train from Shimonoseki to the Ashio Copper Mountain, Furukawa (Nagao-cho, KamiTsuga-gun, Kiryu-shi, Tochigi Pref.).

Every day, we got up early before dawn, had a meal and then sent by the policemen to the copper mine to work. It wasn’t until dark that we could return to the camp and had another meal after over 10 hours. We were given some cornmeal bun for each meal. It’s robbed from North China and tasted musty. We all had an edema disease. More importantly, we couldn’t have diarrhea. We must work if we had a mild disease. If the patients were too ill to work, a Japanese doctor would come and treat them. We didn’t know what injection the doctor gave them, but the patients would die immediately the doctor got out of the door. Then, the patients would be taken out and burned. In the copper mine, the foremen would cursed us and beaten us such as slapping our face, kicking at our belly with nailed leather shoes or smashing our head with a hammer if we were caught taking a rest. We lived an inhuman life, so we hoped to die soon rather suffer.

The copper mine was like a building that had tens of floors. We were split up and sent to different small mines on different floors in the morning and taken up after work in the evening. The small mine was over 1 meter high and 2 meter wide and all dark inside. Each of us carried a battery lamp with us and worked under its light. There were 3 people working in each small mine. 2 people shoveled ore on an iron dustpan and then lifted it up to dump ore into a container on the small railway in the mine. After the container was full, a person pushed it down into the funnel. Water dripped down from the top of the mine like rain. They couldn’t be washed away if dripped on our clothes. And it was wet under the feet. It’s water everywhere. We were only given a set of clothes during our stay in Japan for over 1 year. The clothes were so worn out that some laborers only had several rags on. The quilts were also too worn out to prevent cold. Due to depression, bad food, heavy work and difficult environment, the laborers died of illness nonstop. The laborer sleeping next to you at night may be dead in the morning. We were all skinny and weak. Besides, we couldn’t see the sunlight all day. The laborers might die at any time any place.

Our camp was located beside a mountain with wires installed around it. There were alarms on the wire and only one gate with Japanese policemen guarding it. The Japanese would patrol and supervise us day and night and often checked on us in the room. The gate was always locked and only opened when we left for work or came back from work. There was a deep river down a hill outside the gate. In an evening several days after we got there, 2 laborers ran out of the gate when the policemen were not paying attention. The next morning, the Japanese policemen gathered us up and caught the 2 men back. They were tied up and the policemen kicked and cursed them in front of us.

At 12 0’clock on August 15, 1945, the Japanese Emperor announced surrender and we won the anti-Japanese war. After that, the Japanese stopped making us work and we could take a rest. We were so weak at that time. Only 30 or 40 out of over 200 people returned to China. 160 or 170 people died in a year. On the eve before we returned to China, we had a gathering in memory of the dead compatriots and took the ash urns of local dead fellowmen with us.

In November 1945, a Japanese ship entitled KAIKO MARU sent us from Japan Hakata Port back to Qingdao, China.

Although I survived the inhuman life of over 1 year at Japan’s Furukawa mine, I’ve suffered from permanent disability. My right little finger is partly cut off by ore, my left eye goes completely blind and I can only see little light with my right eye. I couldn’t even see clearly to walk.

Japan’s war of aggression against China causes me to lose the ability to work and live in pain. I want the justice be served and demand the Japanese government to compensate me for my great losses.

Victim: Duan Xinghua
Written by Duan Baozhang
February 27, 1993