The history of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression
is one full of sickening chapters, from the germ warfare
experiments in the north to the massacre in Nanjing. Among these
horrors is the story of the "comfort women," who were forced into
sexual slavery by the Japanese troops.?
The home of one of these women will soon become a memorial in
honor of them all.
The proposed memorial will be in a township on the suburban
Chongming Island, at the home of Zhu Qiaomei, the last of the
Shanghai "comfort women," who died in February aged 96.
"It was the hope of those women to have a memorial that tells
future generations what happened and makes them contemplate war,"
said Zhu Miaochun, a lawyer who helped former Shanghai "comfort
women" with their legal affairs.
Zhu and Su Zhiliang, a history professor at Shanghai Normal
University, put forward proposals for the memorial in Shanghai. The
proposals have been warmly received.
According to the local media, officials in the township have
reacted positively, saying they are going to apply for approval
following the planning of the memorial.
"The building of a memorial means dealing with several
departments, but there should be a clear decision on this within
the year," said township official Yang Cheng, in the Oriental
Morning Post.
Zhu Qiaomei was one of the five "comfort women" from Shanghai,
including two Koreans. Before Zhu, the other two Chinese women died
in 2002 and 2004.
In 2001, with the help of Zhu Miaochun, they documented their
experience of being forced into sexual slavery by Japanese
troops.
"With their experiences now recorded, hopefully their suffering
will not have been in vain," said the lawyer.
Hundreds of thousands of Asian women were forced into sexual
slavery by Japanese troops during World War II.
(China Daily August 5, 2005)