China News Online, September 18th, title: "Comfort women" system is Japan's wartime national crime. Shanghai scholars: "Struggle and investigation still need to continue"
Reporter Xu Jing
On the 18th, the faint light of the sun shined through the clouds, and volunteers from the Chinese "Comfort Women" History Museum were busy on the quiet campus of Shanghai Normal University.
In the past two days, their main job is to transfer the charity sales jointly organized by the Chinese Comfort Women Research Center of the Normal University and the producer of the "comfort women" documentary "22" to the remaining 14 living mainland China" Victims of the "comfort women" system are used for special living assistance.
The Chinese "Comfort Women" History Museum restores the scene of a comfort station in Shanghai that year.
Photographed by the China Comfort Women Issues Research Center of the Normal University
"A few days ago, the volunteers sent moon cakes to the elderly. They and their families were very happy." Professor Su Zhiliang, Director of the China "Comfort Women" Research Center of SMU, who started the study of the Japanese military "comfort women" in 1992 Speaking to reporters, in recent years, the research team of the research center has visited Hunan, Hainan, Shanxi and other places for many times. It is confirmed that there are currently 14 living victims in mainland China. The Japanese army has set up more than 1,000 comfort stations in China. In Shanghai, there are more than 170, and these numbers are still changing dynamically.
The Research Center has established and used the "Comfort Women Research and Assistance" project fund. Every surviving victim has a "one-to-one" contact with volunteers, continues to increase assistance to victims in life, medical treatment and funerals, and promotes various academics Research.
The various relics and donated-related cultural relics collected by Su Zhiliang and his team from the site of the Japanese military comfort station over the past 30 years are stored in the museum. There are condoms and star secret ointments used by the Japanese soldiers during the war; those used by the victimized survivors when they went to Japan to prosecute. Passports; documents used by survivors to attend hearings abroad and an indictment for compensation to Japan, etc.
This museum, opened on October 22, 2016, is also the only museum in Mainland China whose theme is to preserve evidence of the tragic circumstances of "comfort women".
In May 2021, Chen Lifei, a member of the research team of the China Comfort Women Research Center, visited the victim's grandmother Xiao Rui and her family.
Photographed by the China Comfort Women Issues Research Center of the Normal University
"The museum has added more than 500 new collections in recent years, including maps, photos, comfort supplies and important components. Some collections are quite rare, such as the two condoms used by the Japanese Navy collected from Tokyo two years ago. There is a Japanese navy mark on the packaging." Su Zhiliang said that the museum now has about 3,000 items in its collection. A large number of historical materials and exhibits have proved that the "comfort women" system was a national crime in Japan during the war and an act against humanity.
Outside the museum, on the lawn in front of the Wenyuan building quietly stands a statue of a peaceful girl representing the tens of thousands of victims of the "comfort woman" system during World War II.
The young girls under the sun, they sit quietly, full of power.
Museum volunteer Zhu Jiawei once went to Hunan and other places to visit the elderly victims.
Three years of volunteer experience gave him more insights into the history of the "comfort women" system and war violence.
In Zhu Jiawei's view, in volunteer work, wiping young girls is like the highlight of the heart.
"The temperature of the water passed through my fingertips and through the towel to the girl's statue. For a moment, the cold statue seemed to have the temperature of life. I often felt that I was not wiping the bronze statue, but was'caring for' it. Living victims grandma."
"The essence of the'comfort women' system is Japan's national crimes during the war." Su Zhiliang said.
Today is the 90th anniversary of the September 18th Incident.
Today, Japan’s denial, justification, or downplay of the issue of “comfort women” is still widespread, including calling survivors “prostitutes who collect money and sell themselves” and attack the validity of testimony and other evidence.
Recently, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology approved five publishing houses to revise or delete "comfort women" related expressions in textbooks in an attempt to deny the crime of forcibly recruiting "comfort women" and once again set off a wave of denial of militarist aggression crimes, shocking the world.
In 1998, Professor Su Zhiliang investigated the victimization of survivor Yang Shizhen in Yuxian County, Shanxi.
Photographed by the China Comfort Women Issues Research Center of the Normal University
Professor Zhu Yitian, director of the Institute of Social Development of East China University of Science and Technology, who has long focused on the study of "comfort women", noticed that in March this year, the official document of the Liberal Democratic Party, Japan's largest ruling party, appeared as a "direct conflict" expression of "historical war".
Zhu Yitian introduced that the "Historical War" was released in April 2014. It mainly attacked the "Asahi Shimbun" report on "comfort women" and emphasized the nature of the "attack" against Japan on the issue of "comfort women" by China, South Korea, and the United States. It is a deliberate denial of historical facts such as "comfort women" and war responsibilities, and requires that the Japanese should not maintain a low profile of "default", but should bravely stand up and take the initiative to include China and South Korea as the main targets of the controversy. History is a weapon and actively engage in war.
He reminded that the "historical war" jointly promoted by the Japanese ruling party and right-wing forces is an obvious trend of the arrogant arrogance of historical revisionism in Japan. It is also closely related to political changes and diplomatic strategies. The world should be vigilant.
Su Zhiliang said that "comfort women" are a great humiliation in the history of human civilization. Chinese historians have the responsibility to thoroughly expose the atrocities committed by the Japanese army, to redress the grievances of the dead and the humiliated female compatriots, and to share the responsibility with the world. People from all countries with a sense of justice work together.
"There are fewer and fewer survivors, and the Japanese government has still not carried out deep reflection and apologization to the world and the victims on the issue of'comfort women', let alone compensation. Therefore, the struggle continues, and the investigation continues." over)