Date of letter:1993-03-12
Address of author:Li County, Changde City, Hunan Province
Date of event:1943
Location of event:Li County, Changde City, Hunan Province
Name of author:Zhou Xianyu
Name(s) of victim(s):Zhou Xianyu’s father and sister-in-law
Type of atrocity:Others, Sex Slaves（OT, SS）
Other details:One day in late autumn of 1943, the Japanese invaders set fire and burned our house and all our property. They also looted our grain and cattle. My father was beaten by the Japanese soldiers, resulting in disability. My sister-in-law was caught by the Japanese soldiers and forced to be a comfort woman with other women, making her not give birth to a child in her lifetime. The Japanese imperialism has brought great loss and disaster to my family, so they must compensate all the loss of my family.One day in late autumn of 1943, the Japanese invaders set fire and burned our house and all our property. They also looted our grain and cattle. My father was beaten by the Japanese soldiers, resulting in disability. My sister-in-law was caught by the Japanese soldiers and forced to be a comfort woman with other women, making her not give birth to a child in her lifetime. The Japanese imperialism has brought great loss and disaster to my family, so they must compensate all the loss of my family.
Mr. Tong Zeng,
I am Zhou Xianyu, 58, and I live in nine Group, Lantian Village, Zhongwu Town, Li County, Hunan Province. I was only 8 when Japan invaded China (in 1943), but the memories of Japan’s atrocities are still fresh to me. Now I charge Japanese imperialists with heinous crimes they committed against my family when invading China and demand compensation for our economic losses.
One day in late autumn and early winter of 1943, the invading Japanese army burned my family’s one house and all property and grain within it and robbed our cattle and big pigs, which are worth USD 30,000.
Besides, my father was injured by Japanese soldiers with guns. To treat my father, my mother pleaded with relatives by taking me along and borrowed rice, cotton and cash, which are worth USD 5,000. But my father was disabled for over 20 years and died in 1963 due to his disabilities. I fully supported him for all these years, which costs me USD 30,000.
Moreover, my older sister-in-law, among other women from the village, was captured by Japanese soldiers and raped for fun. She was raped by about 10 people at a time, so she couldn’t give birth in her life, which has caused great suffering to her in her life. She is now about 70 and lives a very tragic later life, so she demands a compensation of USD 100,000 from the Japanese government for her losses.
In Japan’s war of aggression against China that lasted over 10 years, Japanese imperialists caused great losses and an indescribable disaster to my family.
Therefore, I demand from the Japanese government a compensation of USD 30,000 for burning my family’s house and property in it, a compensation of USD 5,000 for treating my father’s gun injury, a compensation of USD 30,000 for supporting my disabled father and burying him after he died, and a compensation of USD 100,000 for the losses of my older sister-in-law.
So, we demand a total compensation of USD 165,000.
Mr. Tong Zeng, you are doing a great thing as a representative for the Chinese people. Please tell my family’s suffering and request to the Japanese government and the Japanese embassy in China and demand prompt compensation for us. Demanding compensation from Japan is a goal shared by me and other people across China.
Please reply when available.
Zhou Xianyu
March 12, 1993
