According to as yet unpublished research by Li
Jinwen, a historian from Shanxi Province, Japanese soldiers in WWII
buried more than 155,000 Chinese laborers in an unused mine in
Datong.
Chinese call these sites wanrenkeng, an
expression for a pit in which tens of thousands of people are
buried. The Japanese army also used many other cruel measures,
including burning and burying alive and use of biological agents,
to kill Chinese laborers during the war.
The laborers buried in the Datong wanrenkeng
had mostly died from hunger, illness or injuries, and some who
could no longer work for the Japanese army were buried alive.
Li is secretary-general of the Datong Coal Mine
WWII History Research Institution, an organization independent of
any state academies or associations. He said he has spoken to
hundreds of survivors and victims' relatives, and sifted through
eight documentary libraries in China's three northeastern provinces
in order to complete his research.
A journalist from Shanxi Evening Newspaper
interviewed Li on January 7 and was shown the photographic evidence
and historical records that he has used to back his
controversial claim that Datong's wanrenkeng was the result
of premeditation and not an extemporary act of
inhumanity.
Previously, scholars estimated the number of people
buried in the wanrenkeng at Datong as being around 60,000.
But Li, referring to records from the time and the scripts of
interviews with perpetrators since, calculated that more than twice
that many were interred there.
Many surviving miners and "comfort women," used as
sex slaves, have made increasing efforts to be compensated in
recent years for their suffering during the war.
Li has collected evidence of Japanese war crimes
since 1963, and in his research he analyzes events through 21
perspectives, many involving evidence from the perpetrators
themselves.
Li hopes his work will help survivors' future
claims for compensation.
(China.org.cn by Wang Sining January 16, 2005)