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Picture book on comfort women published

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-12-14 10:23

NANJING - A picture book recording 67 survivors of Japan's sexual slavery during World War II was published in Nanjing ahead of the 71st anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre.

The book, with more than 400 photos of the survivors and more than 100,000 words based on massive research, covered the painful memories of 67 "comfort women" in China, the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

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Li Jinyu, 79, who was forced into sexual slavery for two months when she was 14 years old, attended the press conference for the publication of the book on Thursday.

She was kidnapped by the Japanese military when she was playing with her sisters and was forced to provide sex for Japanese soldiers until her parents redeemed her.

"I was tortured for two months. I thought I would die there," she said. "After returning home, I was sick for three months and could do nothing but lie in bed. During that period, my father was beaten to death and my neighbors said his body was abandoned by the Japanese."

Li was latter married a man 20 years older than she in a nearby village, but her husband died 26 years ago. From then on, Li had been earning her living by picking and selling waste for decades. She had no child.

"My life was ruined by the Japanese," Li said.

An estimated 200,000 women were forced to serve as sex slaves for invading Japanese soldiers during the World War II, but only a score of them are still alive, and have admitted publicly that they were comfort women. More will take their secret to their graves without receiving an apology or compensation from the Japanese government.

Li Xiaofang, the author, spent three years collecting the material for the book. He works in the Zhejiang Provincial Bureau of Press and Publication.

"Lots of survivors lived in remote villages, some of which were nearly inaccessible because no road was built. But I had to continue my research because I have the responsibility to report these survivors' pains to the world," he said.

"They are quickly ageing, still suffering from complications from damage in the days of sexual slavery. If we failed to record their experience as soon as possible, the history would fade from our memory forever."

The book was published two days ahead of the 71st anniversary of Nanjing Massacre in which more than 300,000 Chinese were killed, one third of the city's buildings were burned and more than 20,000 women were raped.

"The experiences of the victims are the first-hand evidence of the Japanese atrocities, despite the Japanese politicians' attempt to whitewash the country's wartime past," said Zhu Chengshan, curator of the Memorial Hall of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre.

"Up to now, 39 massacre survivors have gone to Japan to testify to the war crimes. Their exchanges with the public and researchers in Japan would help people have a better understanding of the history," Zhu said.