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August 3, 2015

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War relics paint stark picture of Japanese atrocities

MANY relics of China’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-45) can still be found in Shanghai’s downtown areas, especially in Hongkou and Baoshan districts, where two major battles took place. They include some residential houses that were bombed, pillboxes and former comfort houses where the Japanese forced Chinese women into sexual slavery.

Most former residents in the houses have long moved out or passed away while many sites have been demolished or renovated beyond recognition.

“These sites must remain,” says Su Zhiliang, a professor at Shanghai Normal University and one of China’s leading experts on the war, especially China’s sex slaves. “We need to remember the crimes of the Japanese invaders and also use these sites so that we cherish the peace nowadays.”

The first Battle of Shanghai broke out on January 28, 1932 when the Japanese army attacked China’s No. 19 Army. In August 1937, the Japanese army attacked the city again in what is today known as the Songhu Battle.

A two-story, old-style building on Zhegao Road in Hongkou District’s Jiaxing area is a remnant of the Songhu Battle. The upper floors are gone, which gives it a sad, neglected look. Only several beams along with three broken walls remain on the top floor. Some people still live in the rooms on the ground floor.

Several other residential buildings on the road were hit by shells from Japanese bombers during the battle around 1937.

“Many innocent people were killed during the bombing raid and the apartments on the second floor were totally destroyed,” said an old resident surnamed Li, who has lived across the road for 70 years. She heard about the attack from her mother.

A wall that formerly had black traces left from the bombing was painted white when the city was being spruced up for the World Expo 2010 Shanghai.

A block away on Hongkou Old Street, three old houses still stand after surviving the bombing raid. The street was one of the busiest commercial areas in the city before the war. All the shops were destroyed by the Japanese as the war raged. Some residents still live in the old houses that survived.

Pillboxes

Numerous pillboxes can still be seen across the city. Some were built by the Chinese army while others were built by Japanese troops.

One pillbox built by the Japanese remains on Wuzhou Road in Hongkou District. Qin Meiying, whose parents lived beside it in 1950, says the Japanese army set up a checkpoint by the pillbox to restrict Chinese people from passing.

The 14-square-meter structure has an underground part that smells of mildew. Gun holes are still visible. Residents now use it as a storage place.

Shanghai has at least a dozen other such pillboxes with most in either Hongkou, Pudong or Xuhui, says Li Jianhua, who has researched the structures for decades.

“Most of the pillboxes are in poor condition, but they should be preserved so everyone remembers what the Japanese did,” Li says.

A hexagonal pillbox still stands near the 1933 Old Millfun, now a park hosting innovative companies in Hongkou. The 2-meter-tall pillbox is well-preserved but many air-conditioners have been added to the exterior, making it difficult to recognize its original purpose.

In the Pudong New Area, a pillbox stands in the middle of a pedestrian way on Pudong Road S. It’s now mostly covered in graffiti.

Only a few pillboxes are open to the public after having been renovated. Twin pillboxes on Caobao Road in Minhang District, for instance, have been listed as educational sites for students. They were used during both the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and China’s Civil War.

Comfort houses

Professor Su and his wife, Chen Lifei, who is also a professor at Shanghai Normal University, have for two decades studied the city’s former comfort houses.

“At the beginning, I found in a 1996 research report by the UN Commission on Human Rights that did not mention how the Japanese army forced Chinese women into sexual slavery,” Chen says. “I and my husband decided to do the research.”

The couple launched an exhibition earlier this month at the local university telling the story of Chinese “comfort women” who were forced into sexual slavery during the occupation of Shanghai by Japanese troops in the 1930s and 40s.

One of the key exhibits is a map showing the locations of 166 buildings identified as comfort houses, 40 of which remain to this day. Two former pubs in Hongkou District, the Maiden on Haining Road and the Beibei on Nanxun Road are among the properties that still stand.

About 200,000 Chinese women were forced into sexual slavery nationwide, according to Su’s research.

The most notorious site, known as the Daiichi Salon on Baoxing Road E., was the first “comfort house” established by the Japanese in November 1931. It remained open until the Japanese surrendered in August 1945.

The building was later converted into apartments and it’s currently home to more than 50 families though it is in a dilapidated state.

More than 250 people from 53 families live in the two-story building with a flat roof and arched doors. The living conditions are rather basic and residents share a kitchen on the first floor, while more than 10 families share three toilets. Electric wires can be seen everywhere — a big fire hazard — and the wooden floors creak when stepped on.

Some Japanese-style doors and wooden sculptures of Mount Fuji can still be seen.

Wu Yuzhen, 67, who has lived in the building for 65 years, says she hopes the government keeps it as evidence of the crimes the Japanese committed.

He and his wife live with his 96-year-old father in a 20-square-meter apartment in the building.

The district government has yet to announce its plan for the building because it would cost a lot of money to relocate the inhabitants. Some also believe it would be improper to have a museum or memorial with sexual slavery as the theme.

Professor Su disagrees.

“It is quite urgent for the country to preserve the evidence of these crimes as most of the victims, including the ‘comfort women,’ have died and historical sites are being demolished,” Su says.

Zhu Qiaomei, a native of Shanghai’s Chongming County, was the country’s oldest surviving sex slave until she died at age 96 in February 2005. Zhu was forced to provide sexual services to Japanese soldiers for about two years.




 

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