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september 3 this year marks the 79th anniversary of the victory of the war of resistance against japanese aggression，in order to win this war, china made arduous efforts and paid a huge price, and the war also caused countless pains to the chinese people.

as time goes by, the number of women who have experienced the war of resistance against japanese aggression has gradually decreased, and the vast majority of them are over 90 years old. among these women, there are both victims of the "comfort women" system and female soldiers who bravely took up arms to participate in the anti-japanese war.

for more than a decade, phoenix tv has been paying attention to women who experienced the war of resistance against japanese aggression, especially the victims of the "comfort women" system.in the second half of 2022, the phoenix tv crew interviewed14 victims of the "comfort women" system, dozens of witnesses and historical researchers.

today, many of the elderly people in the documentary have passed away, and these images have become their last cries before the end of their lives.

please watch this weekace big giveaway "the truth will not be silent: women's memories of the war of resistance"，saturday night at 10pm, phoenix tv chinese channel.

"comfort women" and the offspring of japanese soldiers she gave birth to

in 2007, phoenix tv first turned its camera to wei shaolan and her son luo shanxue. facing the camera, the 88-year-old wei shaolan publicly disclosed her identity as a "comfort woman" for the first time.

wei shaolan

wei shaolan:

"it was this wing room. i slept in that place. after being here for three or four days, i stopped having my period and became pregnant."

wei shaolan's son luo shanxue publicly testified as a descendant of a japanese soldier about the atrocities committed by the japanese army against his mother.the first offspring of a japanese soldier born to a "comfort woman" in history who was willing to reveal her identity.

luo shanxue

wei shaolan's son luo shanxue:

"no matter whose blood is flowing in my body, i don't recognize this relationship. i don't recognize my relationship."

in 1944, the invading japanese army launched a mop-up operation against xiaogugaotun village in lipu county, guangxi. wei shaolan and her one-year-old daughter were taken to the shaziling "comfort station" set up by the japanese army 20 kilometers away.

wei shaolan:

"the devil told me to go to another room. he hit me with a knife. i couldn't cry loudly. i could only sob. you had to agree with him. how could you dare to disagree? i didn't dare."

wei shaolan, who was in the shaziling "comfort station", was already two months pregnant. she was in a panic and didn't know how long this life would last. she had no time to think about what it meant to be pregnant with a japanese soldier's child. wei shaolan just wanted to find every opportunity to escape.

late one night, wei shaolan sneaked out of the "comfort station" and hid in waist-deep weeds with her daughter on her back in the dark.

wei shaolan:

"my heart was pounding, i was panicking, tears were streaming as i walked."

after running for a day and a night, wei shaolan, who had been detained for more than three months, returned to xiaogugao village. at this time, her husband luo junxian had already given up any hope for his captured wife and daughter to survive.

wei shaolan:

"he said, 'i never thought you would come back, it's good that you're back, don't cry.' grandma said, 'don't cry, girl, why are you crying? hurry up and cook some porridge for the child.' when you came back, the child got sick and there was no medicine to take. my daughter died of the illness."

seven or eight days after wei shaolan fled back home, her daughter died of illness.

many years later, when luo shanxue learned about his life, he finally understood why he had never been loved by his father. luo shanxue had always depended on his mother, and he said that his mother had suffered too much in her life.

in 2019, wei shaolan passed away without waiting for an apology from japan。

after his mother's death, luo shanxue remained single and had less and less contact with society. on december 7, 2023, luo shanxue passed away.

many women who were tortured by the japanese invaders have entered their twilight years. like wei shaolan, some of them have passed away, but china has never stopped searching for the relevant victims.

at their advanced age, they chose to stand up bravely...

since 2019, more victimized women have bravely come forward, and the phoenix crew also came to hunan in 2022 to visit three newly discovered "comfort women" victims.

fang xiuzhen

fang xiuzhen is the oldest of the three newly discovered "comfort women" victims in hunan in 2022. a stroke in 2021 left her paralyzed in bed and unable to take care of herself. the meager income of the family was used by her children to take care of her.

fang xiuzhen's daughter-in-law wu huaiyu:

"(she) just has a weird temper. she's a good person."

it was not until two years before her stroke that fang xiuzhen told her daughter-in-law for the first time the secret that she had kept for more than half a century.

it turned out that in 1939, when fang xiuzhen was 18 years old and had just given birth to a child and was not yet out of the confinement period, fang xiuzhen was forcibly abducted by a group of invading japanese troops from xiushui, jiangxi, and was forced to become a "comfort woman."

fang xiuzhen's daughter-in-law wu huaiyu:

"the japanese asked her to go to a 'meeting'. her husband didn't want her to go, but the japanese said she had to go. when the japanese came, they looted everything, ate at home, killed all the pigs in the house, and killed her father (brother-in-law) as well."

the japanese army killed people, stole fang xiuzhen's pig, ate her food, and stole some other supplies. then they took her away to a "comfort station" where she was treated cruelly.

eight days later, fang xiuzhen returned home covered in wounds.only then did they discover that the baby in the cradle had starved to death because of lack of milk, and they didn’t even have time to give him a name.

fang xiuzhen's daughter-in-law wu huaiyu:

"when she came back from the 'meeting,' her father-in-law had died (of anger), and her children were gone."

due to the atrocities committed by the japanese army, fang xiuzhen lost her fertility forever. in 1954, fang xiuzhen and her husband adopted a 4-year-old son, and her daily life in her later years was carefully taken care of by her adopted son and daughter-in-law.

on december 12, 2022, fang xiuzhen passed away.

the issue of "comfort women" did not finally surface until the 1990s, half a century after the victory of the war of resistance against japanese aggression.however, china, from the official to the private sector, has never stopped pursuing this history and caring for and helping the victims.

starting from 2011, xiong lixiu and his wife visited 14 towns and 126 villages in the county, interviewed 632 witnesses and victims of the "comfort women" system, and left behind a lot of first-hand information.

xiong lixiu's visit pictures

in 2014, the last "comfort woman" victim in cili county died. with the encouragement of her husband, xiong lixiu completed the documentary literature "wounds".

xiong lixiu's husband cao chengming:

"my wife became almost mentally ill six months after this incident and could not sleep at night. the japanese army raped our women, the youngest of whom was only 10 or 12 years old and had not yet developed!this is a wound for our entire chinese nation. this wound can never be healed, but this history can never be forgotten."

according to statistics, during world war ii, the japanese army captured approximately 400,000 women to serve as "comfort women," and more than 200,000 of them were tortured in china.most of the elderly people who were victims at that time have passed away now, and the stories of some of them have been preserved in museums.

the display case of the "comfort women" blanket at the xinqianghe anti-japanese war history exhibition hall in yueyang county

this white blanket in the display case was donated to the museum by ms. tang genzhen before her death. this blanket was given to her by the japanese when they retreated.

in august 1938, when tang genzhen was only 18 years old, she was arrested by a japanese officer named ueda taijun and locked up in a dark room. tang genzhen was subjected to humiliation when she was arrested. the old lady recalled that the japanese grabbed her mouth and forced a red medicine into her mouth, and she became infertile after drinking it.

tang genzhen

in 2019, ms. tang genzhen passed away. her belongings were collected and exhibited at the xinqianghe anti-japanese war history exhibition hall in yueyang county. this once-lost piece of history has returned to the public eye.

in the 14 years from the september 18th incident in 1933 to the victory of the war of resistance against japanese aggression in 1945, more than 10 million chinese soldiers and civilians were killed or wounded, and countless women were devastated among them.when the country was occupied, many people chose to go to the battlefield, including many women.

the anti-japanese female fighters walked out of the japanese prison cell

li yingyu was born in 1926. not long after her birth, she was abandoned by her biological parents and taken by her adoptive mother to remarry into a wealthy local family named chen sichao.

the year li yingyu went to school, the nationalist government abolished private schools. as the only female student in the class, li yingyu began to learn new chinese with the boys in school and accepted new culture and new ideas.

in 1943, 17-year-old li yingyu joined the anti-japanese team led by the communist party of china with her husband.

li yingyu, a female soldier in the war of resistance against japanese aggression:

"we sisters mended clothes and made straw sandals and handed them over to brother shan (underground party member), who then handed them over to the communist party (guerrillas)."

in 1943, the japanese army captured zhanjiang and used it as a frontline base to control mainland china, hainan island and even southeast asia.

japanese troops attack zhanjiang

li yingyu, a female soldier in the war of resistance against japanese aggression:

"because after the japanese devils came ashore, traitor activities were rampant. if we knew who the traitor was, we would wrap his head in the middle of the night, tie him to beichao mountain, and strangle him to death with a hemp rope."

beichao mountain was the base of the chinese communist party's anti-japanese organization in suixi county, zhanjiang. after the japanese army captured tiantou village, they launched a sweep around it to look for the whereabouts of the guerrillas.

at that time, li yingyu often traveled back and forth between tiantou village and beichaoshan on missions for the organization.on august 14, 1944, while sneaking back to the village to transfer comrades, li yingyu was discovered by a traitor and detained.

in prison, li yingyu was placed in a female prison camp. at first, the japanese deliberately tortured the guerrillas in front of her, hoping to break her psychological defenses.

le anh ngoc

son of le anh ngoc chen zhonghao：

"after the beating, they put her on the tiger bench. after a day on the tiger bench, she didn't get any results. the second time they beat her, they handcuffed her hands and tied her to the tiger bench again. they tied her legs apart and stripped her clothes off. she was in great pain at that time."

in the following days, the japanese army tortured li yingyu inhumanely.however, li yingyu, who fainted many times, never provided any information to the japanese invaders.

upon learning that li yingyu was imprisoned, her mother was extremely anxious and tried to raise money to clear the way for the imprisonment.

more than 70 days after li yingyu was imprisoned, one night, li yingyu and his fellow prisoners quietly broke down the prison gate and, with the help of guerrillas outside the cell, escaped from the clutches of the prison through a gap in the wall.

chen zhonghao, son of li yingyu:

"after the gate was opened, everyone escaped one by one. by then, almost all the japanese devils had retreated."

after being released from prison, li yingyu became the number one wanted target on the japanese army's list.

once, li yingyu returned to her ancestral home to deal with her grandmother's funeral. she was targeted by a traitor and used the traitor's trick to lead the japanese army into the encirclement of the underground party...

li yingyu's son chen zhonghao tells the story of the battle of peking beach

chen zhonghao, son of li yingyu:

"on october 6, 1944, my mother and my aunt and sister brought the japanese devils here. the guerrillas on both sides of shuangbiankan were ambushed, and our guerrillas killed the enemy as soon as they entered.twelve people were killed on the spot。”

in the battle of beijing beach, the japanese invaders suffered more than 20 casualties, and the guerrillas suffered 7 casualties. this was the most direct battle between the people of chengyue town and the japanese army during the three-year war of resistance.

mulan in the war of resistance against japanese aggression - li xiuqing

500 kilometers away from zhanjiang, in chenzhou, hunan, there lives a female anti-japanese veteran who is 102 years old this year.

li xiuqing

li xiuqing was born in 1922. as the village favored boys over girls, she was raised as a boy by her parents. after the outbreak of the anti-japanese war, she was raised in hengshan, hengyang, hunan.after receiving military training, 16-year-old li xiuqing was incorporated into the new 23rd division of the national revolutionary army and sent to fight in southwestern shandong.

in order to hide her identity as a girl, li xiuqing could only take a shower and go to the toilet away from her comrades at that time.

li xiuqing's daughter yingzi:

"she never said she was going to pee with others. she would say she would go when there was no one around. she would also pretend to stand up like this with a bamboo tube, which she often carried on her back."

at that time, the anti-japanese war broke out, and li xiuqing followed the army to participate in the front-line combat. during a battle, li xiuqing's palm was shot through by a japanese bullet and was sent to the rear hospital for treatment.

during her recovery, she met a wounded fellow villager, so the slightly injured li xiuqing took the initiative to take responsibility for taking care of the seriously injured comrade.

li xiuqing's daughter yingzi:

"it just so happened that her injuries were not that serious, so she said she could take care of others, the minor injuries taking care of the serious injuries."

after recovering from her injuries, li xiuqing returned to her hometown. her mother was reluctant to let her daughter go back to the army, so she told the village head her true identity as a woman disguised as a man to join the army.

not long after, the injured comrade returned to the village to look for the whereabouts of his comrade li xiuqing...

li xiuqing's daughter yingzi recounts her experience

li xiuqing's daughter yingzi:

"my father asked someone if anyone knew about (li xiuqing's male comrade), and everyone said no, (but) there seemed to be a female. he said it was impossible, it was obviously a male. (my mother's) family brought him to my grandmother's house to see him.when my father saw her, (my mother li xiuqing) really had ‘turned into’ a girl…”

after learning that li xiuqing was a woman disguised as a man, he immediately asked his family to propose marriage to the li family.after a simple ceremony, li xiuqing's husband continued to go to the front line.

however, at the end of 1944, the japanese army came to jiahe county for a raid. li xiuqing followed a few villagers and ran in a panic towards the direction of aunt li's village. as a result, they encountered the japanese army on the way to li's village.li xiuqing was captured by the japanese army.

on that day, the japanese army locked up li xiuqing and several other women captured from other places in a large blue brick house in tanping town and raped them in turns. li xiuqing was very scared and would be beaten by the japanese army if she resisted.

li xiuqing spent the most painful days of her life in the japanese military comfort station.

after learning that his lover had been humiliated, li xiuqing's husband organized a team with the guerrillas to rescue her.a few days later, the japanese army learned that the guerrillas would come and decided to withdraw. they poured gasoline around the house and prepared to set it on fire. before they could set the fire, the guerrillas arrived in time, broke the door lock and rescued li xiuqing and several other women.

after her husband passed away, li xiuqing's daily life was mainly taken care of by her youngest daughter. as she grew older, she suffered from brain atrophy and her memory was not as good as before. however, whenever she recalled her encounter with the japanese army, she would still wake up in her sleep...

this year marks 79 years since the end of the anti-japanese war.the great era left its mark on them, and these marks influenced their lives.many of them are reluctant to talk about the past. however, many elderly people have bravely chosen to face it.let the historical truth no longer remain silent.