Xinhua News Agency reporter Luo Xiaoguang Photography
▌Zhang Shuanglin
On the 75th anniversary of the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War and the Anti-Japanese War, people will recall those tragic, tragic and indignant past events. The series of tragedies that occurred during the occupation of Beiping by Japanese imperialism are worthy of deep consideration.
Kagura Department becomes a germ warfare base
During the Japanese and Puppet regime, the Japanese Army’s bacterial forces occupied the Kagura Department in the Temple of Heaven, where they researched, produced biological and chemical weapons, and produced germs. Today, under the north wall of the Kagura Department, a white marble plaque engraved with "Remains of the Japanese Invaders Bacteria Troops" is very eye-catching.
The Shenyue Department was built in the 18th year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (1420). It is located slightly south of the west gate of the Temple of Heaven, sitting west to east. It is one of the five large-scale buildings of the Temple of Heaven. It is dedicated to the music and dance of the royal worship ceremony of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Organization, and has the function of training sacrificial music and dance personnel. In the Ming Dynasty, the Shenyue Department was called "God Optimistic" and there were about 600 music and dance students in the temple. During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, it was renamed the Shenyue Office, and the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the courtyard was renamed the Ningxi Hall during the Kangxi period. There are seven small halls behind the five main halls. In addition, there are 23 rooms in the department including the worship hall, zhangle hall, xielu hall, teacher's room, Linglun hall, Mu Diaosuo and collection of Lesheng crown clothes. The facilities are complete and it can be called a court music and dance training. School for students.
Before the Japanese occupation of Beiping, the Kagura Department was a central epidemic prevention office set up by the Nationalist Government. After occupying Beiping, the Japanese army quickly prepared its second germ warfare base in China in the Kagura Department-the "North China Dispatching Army Epidemic Prevention and Water Supply Department". Under the brand name of "Sanitation and Epidemic Prevention," it actually carried out research and experimentation of bacterial weapons. produce. In 1939, the "North China Dispatched Army Epidemic Prevention and Water Supply Department" was renamed "North China North Branch (A) Unit 1855", and the commander of the army was Eiji Nishimura, also known as the West Village Army.
The Nishimura unit is one of the four new bacterial units established by the Japanese in Peking, Nanjing, Guangzhou, and Singapore. Since then, the backbone of the 731 bacteria unit has been to the 1855 unit, and the leader of the 731 unit Shijing Shiro also came to the 1855 unit to serve as technical guidance. "Chongwen District Chronicles" stated that the 1855 troops mainly developed and produced bacteria and protozoa such as plague, cholera, and kala-azar.
On the second day of the outbreak of the Pacific War, the first detachment of the 1855 troop seized the Union Medical College, and the second detachment seized the Jingsheng Biological and Social Research Institute, which was later renamed the first and third departments. It became a place for the Japanese invaders to conduct bacterial weapon development, human experiments and anatomy. However, on the eve of Japan's surrender, the 1855 troops spent a week destroying their criminal evidence. The troops were ordered to be disbanded. Some pretended to be Japanese and fled back to Japan in a landing craft, and some got into other troops and were repatriated. When Japan surrendered, the name of this unit mysteriously disappeared from the list of Japan's North China Dispatching Army, so few people knew about this unit.
From July 1937 to the surrender of Japan, various infectious diseases such as plague and smallpox continued in Peking City. Especially the cholera epidemic in July and August 1943 was even more shocking. Cholera, called "Huliela" in Japan, is one of the main products of the Japanese bacterial force. When cholera occurs, there are many deaths and rapid transmission, which makes people panic. In order to cover up the truth, the Japanese did not allow Chinese doctors to participate in the treatment. If one person in a family is ill, the whole family is isolated. When the whole family is infected, the Japanese engineers and health soldiers set fire to their houses and destroy them.
In 1995, on the 50th anniversary of the surrender of the Japanese invaders to China, Ito Kageaki, the former 1855 unit health soldier, and some other veterans came to Beijing. They went to Beijing's Temple of Heaven and Music Office and other places to testify against the Japanese army's criminal sites and apologize to the Chinese people. In May 2018, the list of "Remaining List of Unit A1855 of the Ministry of Epidemic Prevention and Water Supply of Northern China" was released, which was obtained from the National Archives of Japan through the efforts of the 731 Unit of the Japanese Invaders.
The Japanese invaders committed numerous crimes during their occupation of Peking. According to "Beijing Historical Chronicles", in those few years, there have been constant fires in Beijing, and many fires have Japanese figures behind them. Peking City is not a rural area in North China. The implementation of the "three lights" policy of killing, robbing, and burning out here is detrimental to the face of the Japanese. Therefore, the large and small fires in the city can be regarded as a "great feat" of the Japanese. The fires in Beijing recorded in "Beijing Historical Chronicles" were incomplete. In fact, there were fires every day and small fires continued. Although not all Japanese did, they did many of them.
There are 3,000 opium shops in Beiping
In history, in order to invade and occupy China, and to enslave the Chinese people, imperialism used drugs in addition to artillery and warships. Naturally, Japanese imperialism is no exception. It followed the footsteps of Western powers and turned opium into a murder weapon.
The information released after the war confirmed that the Japanese drug trafficking activities were planned by the Japanese Cabinet and were in charge of Hongji Shantang. Hongji Shantang was built in April 1939 by Japanese secret agent Satomi Fu with the cooperation of Japanese invaders. Hongji Shantang was a special agency of the Queen's Special Service, which prepared military expenses for the Japanese army. In 1941, it sold 222 tons of opium and made countless money. Their crimes in the Beiping area are shocking. The well-known scholar Yu Li (Dong Luan) published in 1942 in the "Jin Cha Ji Daily" and the Yan'an "Liberation Daily" in the long report "Beijing City inhabited by Humans and Ghosts". Some of the contents exposed Japan during the Japanese and puppet era. A large number of crimes involving drug trafficking, drug trafficking, and inducing and persecuting civilians to take drugs still have practical significance.
According to Yu Li's revelation and the memories of "Old Beijing", the Japanese regarded drug and opium trafficking as "decent business". Production, transportation, and sales were "one-stop". Every link was protected by the Japanese army and became Japan. A basic national policy of Two years after the start of the full-scale war of aggression against China, Japan, a small country with a small size, has already found financial difficulties. The Ministry of Finance of Japan (Ministry of Finance) formulated the strategy of “providing axe by itself” in accordance with the spirit of the Emperor’s “imperial order”, that is, letting it be occupied. The people of the region provide military expenses. The drug trade has become one of the means of "on-site taxation", as Yu Li said: "Using the traditional conventions of invading China to shelter and persecute the gangsters of China and Japan and some poor North Korean refugees to sell money. Dan, white flour, opium, and morphine are used to weaken the mental and physical strength of the Chinese and force them to exterminate themselves. On the other hand, they use this income to supplement military use."
Japanese drug trafficking for profit began in the early twentieth century. After the "July 7 Incident", the Japanese aggressors publicly "banned smoking" and opposed the drug trade, but secretly monopolized the drug business. They intensified their efforts to open large smokehouses (soil shops) and manufacture in Northeast, North China, and Beiping. White flour (cocaine) factory. According to historical records, there are at least more than 3,000 soil plaster shops in Beiping area alone, spreading across 49 cities and even villages. The Japanese army continued to create a large number of "smoke ghosts" amidst the sound of artillery. The "smoke shop" opened by the Japanese publicly sold drugs, and also distributed usury loans. Some weak-willed people became addicted to drugs and could not extricate themselves. They could only borrow and never pay. The loan sharks, and then the family went bankrupt, his wives broke up, and the family broke down. It is not uncommon for some people to become "smokers" and become "sleepers" in the midst of poverty. They freeze to death in the streets and alleys.
Disabled Japanese soldiers also opened a smokehouse
After Japan launched the Pacific War, military spending became even more tense. In addition to looting and looting people’s property in the city, it also increased the rate at which drug trafficking earns military spending. Not only did they encourage Koreans to open more "smoke halls" in Peking, but also encourage Japanese citizens to participate. This criminal activity. Drug trafficking is highly profitable, and with the secret protection of Japanese soldiers and Japanese Ronin, there is no risk at all. "The great advantage is where people are vying for it." The Japanese are very active in this kind of business. The Japanese aggressors monopolized drugs and concealed themselves, claiming that they would not allow individuals to operate openly. In order to create more "big smokers" and maximize their interests, the Japanese built dozens of factories and workshops for manufacturing drugs in and outside the city of Beiping. During the Japanese puppet regime, the explosions and fire incidents at the grinding factory and fresh fish mouth outside Qianmen were all related to the manufacture of drugs. In order to deceive the people, the Japanese ordered the relocation of such criminal factories to Tongzhou, Mentougou, Changxindian and Fengtai in the suburbs.
Not many opium is grown in Beiping. The opium mainly comes from Inner Mongolia, Suiyuan, and Rehe controlled by the Japanese puppet. Zhangjiakou and Chengde have become the main transfer stations. Its bulk goods are "armed escort" by the Japanese Kwantung Army. Therefore, the drug business in Peiping is very "prosperous", and of course more people are victimized.
Among the more than 3,000 large smoking restaurants in Peiping, most of them are operated by Japanese, and some are operated by North Koreans. At that time, North Korea had been occupied by Japan for more than 40 years. Although there were warriors who resisted, many of them joined the Japanese army and became Japanese accomplices. They colluded with the Japanese and issued police sticks. Some large smoking halls are "China-Japan cooperation", operated by Japanese ronin and Chinese profiteers in partnership, and are mainly opened in the area outside Qianmen and Chongwenmen. This kind of smokehouse is "very generous, with cabinets, smoking rooms, and kitchens, all clean and spacious. Most of them are rented buildings facing the street, and smoking rooms are mostly located upstairs." This kind of smokehouse mainly entertains big traitors and wealthy businessmen, "fragrant tea, cigarettes, fresh fruits, and snacks, all at once." These guys are squandering money in exchange for traitorous and prosperous and difficult wealth. The small smokehouse is called the white flour house, and its "services" are mainly the urban poor who ride three-wheelers, pull foreign carts, and do small businesses. In addition to the Dakai Smokehouse, the "izakayas" and restaurants opened by the Japanese and the Japanese brothels in Dongdan Suzhou Hutong all have drug dealing business.
There is a large smoking hall in Dongsi Tofu Alley (now Duofu Alley). The owner is a Japanese military veteran. He was blown off a leg by his own grenade in the Battle of Xifengkou. He was considered "injured for the country", to show Allegiance to the emperor and realization of the dream of "Greater East Asia co-prosperity", with the support of the military department, opened a large smoking hall that only makes no money. In addition to using drugs to harm people, it also collects military and economic intelligence. On the third day of opening, this large smokehouse became "headline news" because an elderly Chinese couple hugged at the door and swallowed "smoke cream" to commit suicide. The old couple ran pork gangs (pork shops) and were relatively wealthy. Their only son was spoiled and broke up because of bad guys who lured him to smoke a lot of cigarettes. After the family business disappeared, his son became addicted and had no money to invest in the Tongzi River of the Forbidden City. The old couple committed suicide in front of the smokehouse, which is also a bloody and tearful protest against the Japanese.
During the Japanese aggressor's invasion of China, the number of Chinese people killed with opium drugs and how many "smokers" were created are really countless. History is a mirror. With copper as a mirror, one can dress up, people as a mirror to know gains and losses, and history as a mirror to know rise and fall. More than 70 years have passed, and this period of history of the Japanese army's creation of "smoke ghosts" cannot be forgotten.