Date of letter:1994-10
Address of author:Baotou City, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region
Date of event:1944
Location of event:Baoding City, Hebei Province
Name of author:Wang Qingxiang
Name(s) of victim(s):Tian Luoliang, Tian Luoju, Tian Luowan, Wang Muer
Type of atrocity:Others (OT)
Other details:My father Wang Luoliang was from Baoding City in Hebei Province. In November 1944, he was caught by the Japanese soldiers. Tian luoju, Tian Luowan and Wang Muer from the same village were also caught. The Japanese soldiers collected 80 people and sent them to Tang County. They were forced to work, but were not given any food, so they had to beg for food from the local people. At night, the Japanese soldiers tied them together to prevent escape. In actions, the Japanese soldiers ordered them to walk ahead to trigger landmines. Once my father stepped on a landmine and was disabled in the bombing. After injured, he was carried back and passed away soon.
Demanding civilian damage compensation from Japan
I am Wang Qingxiang, male, Han ethnic group, a native of Sun Village, Hancun Town, Mancheng County, Baoding City, Hebei Province. In July 1946 I joined revolutionary work, and retired in April 1982. Before retirement I was a cadre of Hohhot Railway Bureau Engineering Department, and currently I live at No. 2, Building 2, Zhanbei Road, Donghe District, Baotou City, Inner Mongolia.
My father is Wang Luoliang. In November 1944, the Japanese Army held a mopping up campaign in the mountainous regions in North China and passed our village. At 7 o’clock in the morning, when Japanese soldiers entered the village, my father was too late to enter the tunnel, so he was captured by the Japanese soldiers, and our fellow villagers Tian Luoju, Tian Luowan and Wang Muer (the former two have passed away, and Wang Muer was still alive, residing at Sun Village, Hancun Town, Mancheng County, Baoding City, Hebei Province) were also captured. Back then, I was only nineteen. According to others who had been captured, the Japanese soldiers assembled them after capturing them, totaling more than 80 persons, who were brought to the northwest of Tang County. In the day, the Japanese soldiers forced them to cook rice and work, but did not allow them to eat things, so they could only beg things to eat from local residents, and had to suffer hunger if no one gave them anything to eat. In the night they were bundled together with rope to prevent them from escaping. When the Japanese soldiers were moving around, they forced them to test land mines in front of them. On the 46th day after my father was captured, he was heavily injured by land mine, one leg broken, another leg’s foot missing except for a layer of skin. When my father triggered the explosion, the three persons from the same village managed to escape in the chaos. After the Japanese soldiers retreated, they returned to find my father, and carried him back to home from the northwest of Tang County, stopping and walking intermittently along the way. After returning home, my father lived in the home for one day, and because the condition was critical, we carried him to Baoding City Catholic Hospital for treatment. But on the second day after going there, the condition deteriorated, and my father passed away. On that year, my father was only 51. We had seven siblings, and the youngest was only three.
It took one year harvest of our home from carrying my father back from Tang County till hospitalization in Baoding Hospital. After father was buried, the whole family had nothing to eat, and we could only depend on eating wild vegetables. In addition to material loss, the biggest damage was mental impact on the whole family. My mother each day led our seven siblings to my father’s grave to cry. After burying my father, I became seriously ill due to spiritual trauma, plus physical exhaustion, and it took me half a year to recover. During the illness, sometimes I had a fever up to 40 degrees, while shouting my father’s name, so my mother accompanied me in front of the my bed, and cried all day. My sisters and brothers also cried along. Because there was no savings in the family, food and clothing became big problems. We had no other way but to sell the land. My family originally had 20 mu of land, and at that time we sold 5 mu in one transaction. On the day of selling the land, the whole family again went to my father’s grave to cry for a whole day, and were even unwilling to return after sunset. The whole family didn’t even eat anything, or drink any water in the whole day. It was indeed helpless and hopeless.
In August 1945, when the news of Japan’s surrender reached my home, everyone in my family burst into tears due to happiness. We again returned to father’s grave, and knelt down to tell him the news of Japan’s surrender, in order to comfort his soul in heaven. Defeating the Japanese invaders was totally due to efforts of the Communist Party and the Eighth Route Army. Defeating the Japanese in fact saved the whole China, and also saved out my family. In order to express our gratitude for the Communist Party, in July 1946, I signed up to join the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, and my eldest younger sister also joined the army, determined to make contribution to the country. In April 1951, I went to North Korea to fight as a member of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army.
The invasion war waged by the Japanese Imperialism brought huge loss to the Chinese people. 21 million Chinese people were killed, and loss of property reached over USD 100 billion. My father in my family was also among the tens of millions of victims. We strongly demand the Japanese government to give open and formal apology to victims and offer economic compensation. Only in this way can it assuage the people’s anger, and truly promote the friendship between Chinese and Japanese people.
Compensation applicant: Wang Qingxiang
October 1994
