On December 13, 1937, after occupying Nanjing, the Japanese army perpetrated nearly 20,000 rapes and gang rapes during the Nanjing Massacre. Faced with international condemnation and the increasing prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases among Japanese soldiers, the Japanese army formally established the "comfort women" system in Nanjing. Subsequently, the "comfort women" system was widely implemented in various units of the invading Japanese army. Through deception, forced abduction of local women, and the coercion of female prisoners into sexual slavery, the Japanese army forced over 200,000 Chinese women into becoming "comfort women." With the expansion of the war of aggression against China, the Japanese army implemented the "comfort women" system comprehensively in all occupied areas of China, establishing comfort stations in more than 20 provinces and municipalities.
However, for a long time, Japan has consistently obscured the historical facts regarding the "comfort women" system, downplaying and evading its historical responsibility. On September 8th of this year, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology announced its approval for five publishers to delete or revise the descriptions of "comfort women accompanying the army" in textbooks, changing "forcibly taken away" to "forced mobilization" or "requisition." In response, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian stated sternly that the forced recruitment of "comfort women" was a grave crime against humanity committed by Japanese militarism, a historical fact whose evidence is irrefutable and cannot be denied.
At the Museum of Chinese "Comfort Women" History at Shanghai Normal University, two photographs silently refute the Japanese claims. One photograph, taken by a Japanese military doctor, shows the regulations of the Yangjiazhai comfort station in Shanghai, signed "Shanghai Expeditionary Army East Station Command," indicating that the Japanese army directly controlled the establishment and management of the comfort station. The other photograph, taken by a Japanese soldier in Shanghai in late 1937, shows a comfort station amidst ruins, with a wooden plaque prominently displaying the Chinese characters "Imperial Army Comfort Station."
"Currently, whether it's the UN Human Rights Committee, parliamentary resolutions in many countries, or the research of historians, a basic viewpoint is that the so-called 'comfort women' system was a military sexual slavery system established by the Japanese government and military," said Professor Su Zhiliang of the Center for Research on the Chinese "Comfort Women" Issue at Shanghai Normal University. "So far, we have found two to three hundred survivors from all over China. Without exception, they all recall being abducted against their will. They experienced the suffering of sexual slavery and endured prolonged atrocities, some lasting for years."
As early as 1993, Su Zhiliang embarked on a journey to find Chinese survivors of the Japanese military's "comfort women" system during World War II, and is known as "the foremost researcher of the Chinese 'comfort women' issue." For nearly thirty years, with the assistance of his wife, Professor Chen Lifei of Shanghai Normal University, and other volunteers, he has traveled extensively throughout China, confirming more than 1,000 comfort stations established by the Japanese military in China. In Shanghai alone, Su Zhiliang discovered 172 comfort stations, and this number continues to rise.
In 2007, Su Zhiliang established the China "Comfort Women" Museum at Shanghai Normal University, the third museum in the world, after Seoul and Tokyo, to expose the historical truth of the Japanese military's "comfort women" system. In 2016, the museum was upgraded to the China "Comfort Women" History Museum, using a wealth of historical materials and artifacts to prove that the "comfort women" system was a wartime state crime committed by Japan and to condemn the inhumane acts of Japanese militarism.
At the foot of Gaoligong Mountain on the west bank of the Nujiang River in western Yunnan, the Dongjiagou "Comfort Women" System Crimes Exhibition Hall stands silently in a secluded alley in Longling County, Baoshan City, Yunnan Province. This traditional courtyard house, built in 1921, was forcibly requisitioned as a Japanese military comfort station. After occupying western Yunnan in May 1942, the Japanese army established comfort stations in Mangshi, Longling County, Tengchong, Zhefang, Wanding, Yingjiang, and other places. Dongjiagou was the largest comfort station in Longling City.
In the Dongjiagou "Comfort Women" System Crimes Exhibition Hall, a photograph of a pregnant "comfort woman" stands out. Her name is Park Young-shim, a victim from Korea. In March 1938, 17-year-old Park Young-shim was lured by Japanese police under the pretense of recruiting female service personnel and, along with 16 other Korean girls, was sent to the Liji Lane comfort station in Nanjing, China. After several transfers, Park Young-shim and more than 20 other "comfort women" were sent from Lashio, Burma to the Mangshi and Longling Dongjiagou comfort stations in western Yunnan, China. In 1944, during the Chinese army's counterattack on Songshan, Park Young-shim and four other "comfort women" were captured. American journalist Walter Uller took this shocking photograph.
The image of Park Young-shim, pregnant and frail, also appears in the Nanjing Liji Lane comfort station site exhibition hall. Here, as one of the three "comfort women" statues, Park Young-shim, one hand protecting her unborn child, the other resting on the back of another woman, appears powerless, helpless, and hopeless. The entire sculpture group embodies the catastrophic and tragic lives inflicted on innocent women by the heinous "comfort women" system, demonstrating the wanton trampling of humanity by Japanese militarism and the suffering and pain inflicted on women.
In November 2003, with the assistance of a joint investigation team from China, Japan, and South Korea, Park Young-shim traveled extensively to Nanjing and Tengchong, Longling, and Songshan in western Yunnan, identifying evidence of the crimes committed by the Japanese military's comfort stations. In Nanjing, Park Young-shim personally identified No. 2 Liji Lane as the former "Dongyun Comfort Station," and Room 19 in the building was where she was detained.
Later, the former site of the Liji Lane Comfort Station became the first museum in mainland China dedicated to "comfort women" personally identified by a "comfort woman," and also a branch of the Memorial Hall of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders. The exhibition hall consists of eight light yellow, two-story buildings, with a total floor area of over 3,000 square meters. It displays over 1,600 cultural relics, over 400 panels, and over 680 photographs.
Zhang Jianjun, curator of the Memorial Hall of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, explained that after the Japanese army occupied Nanjing at the end of 1937, No. 2 Liji Lane was converted into the "Dongyun Comfort Station," and No. 18 was converted into the "Hometown Building Comfort Station." The former was used to receive ordinary Japanese soldiers, while the latter was used to receive Japanese officers of the rank of general and above. These are remnants of high-level comfort stations established by the Japanese army in the heart of the capital during the war.
In recent years, the Memorial Hall of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders has continuously explored the history of the Japanese army's "comfort women" system, uncovering new clues, artifacts, and historical materials. For six consecutive years, staff and volunteers of the memorial hall have visited Guangxi, Shanxi, Jiangxi, Hainan, Hunan, and other places to visit and comfort the victims of the Japanese army's "comfort women" system and their families. It is understood that only about ten survivors of the "comfort women" system are still alive in China.
"During my visits and investigations with survivors of the Japanese military's 'comfort women' system, I was deeply moved by the dual physical and psychological trauma they suffered, but also inspired by their positive attitude towards life," Liu Guangjian, a staff member at the Memorial Hall of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, told reporters. He explained that holding exhibitions on the "comfort women" theme and conducting research on the issue are meant to leave a mark on history, advocate for justice, and allow more people to understand this history. "We remember history not for revenge, but to remind people to cherish peace and uphold human fairness and justice," Liu Guangjian said.
(Guangming Daily, September 18, 2021, Page 4)