Date of letter:1993-09-25
Address of author:Kunming City, Yunnan Province
Date of event:Not mentioned
Location of event:Nanjing City, Anhui Province
Name of author:Gao Yongmei
Name(s) of victim(s):Gao Zhiping’s brother, Zhang Guisheng’s family
Type of atrocity:Air Bombings, Murders(AB, MU）
Other details:My father Gao Zhiping was from Nanjing, and my mother Zhang Guisheng was from Anhui. Both of them fled to Yunan during the Japanese invasion of China. In the year when my mother was ten years old, she and her parents fled from calamity separately on the first day of the Lunar New Year. After that, her parents were shot to death by the Japanese soldiers. My father’s elder brother was killed in the bombing of the Japanese soldiers.
Teacher Tong Zeng:
I am writing you this letter after unexpectedly reading an article entitled “History Is Not Forgotten-Records of the Chinese people Demanding Damage Compensation Against Japan” from Reader’s Digest of October 1992, a magazine of Gansu People’s Publishing House.
First of all, I’d like to express my sincere gratitude to you for bringing up the historic issue of “damage compensation” that affects millions of people. My parents are victims of Japan’s war of aggression against China.
My father is originally from Nanjing and my mother Anhui. They both escaped to Yunnan during the war. My mother always cries badly when recalling the painful past memories. She left her parents at 10 and escaped with her elder brother on a New Year’s Day. The whole family cried sadly and my mother had never seen her parents until they died. My mother, her brother and other relatives encountered extraordinary difficulties and hardships all the way. But unluckily, two of their female relatives were captured and they were shot dead by the Japanese soldiers because they refused to be insulted. Then, my mother and her brother begged all the way to Yunnan. My mother was born into a family of scholars in Fengyang County and studied hard when she’s little. But she was unable to study after fleeing from her hometown. It has been a lifelong regret for her. Facts about my mother’s family and two heroines are contained in the Records of Fengyang County.
My father also left his hometown and suffered a lot. His eldest brother was bombed to death by Japanese planes. My father finally came to Yunnan and never saw his parents again until they died. In 1990, he passed away in Yuxi, Yunnan with infinite regret and feelings for his hometown.
The mental pain and lifelong suffering and losses that the war caused to that generation are difficult to heal and compensate. I hereby actively respond to your signature program out of patriotism and desire for world peace. Please tell me about the specific procedures. I will provide my mother’s name too. If there’s anything wrong with the letter, please let me know. My mother is Zhang Guisheng and lives in Yuxi, Yunnan.
I work with the Newspaper Office of Chenggong, Kunming, Yunnan. That’s also my address. Phone (area code): 0871. Company phone: 7479491. Looking forward to your reply.
Wish success to the program.
Gao Yongmei
September 25, 1993
Postal code: 650500
