In February 1958, Hunter Kiyoshi Kwata came to a mountain forest in Ishigaki County, Hokkaido, to hunt at the beginning of spring. While he was looking for the hare, he inadvertently saw a hole.
After a careful examination of the opening of the cave, he found that there seemed to be traces of human habitation, but what kind of people would live in the cave? This was difficult for Kiyoshi Takada, so without knowing whether the man was good or evil, he decided to call the police.
Soon after, Kiyoshi Kwata came to the mouth of the cave again with the police, shouted at the mouth of the cave, and then fired a gun, but there was no reaction inside, so they had to give up for the time being. Unexpectedly, after the wild man in the cave saw the people leaving, they immediately came out to gain insight into the situation, but they did not go far, and they were caught by the police who were found to be moving.
In fact, for this "wild man", the Japanese police at first did not know what his identity was, because no matter how he asked after catching him, he did not answer, because at that time his tongue was almost frozen stiff, basically losing the ability to speak.
Later, the Japanese side suspected that this person might be a Chinese, so they called in the local overseas Chinese to inquire, and finally under the inducement of Xi Zhanming, the head of the local overseas Chinese association, this wild man had a hard time, and intermittently said a sentence that was not very coherent in a very blunt colloquial language, that is, "Liu Lianren, a high-density laborer in Shandong, China..."
After that, he lost his voice and cried bitterly, and in his crying, there were actually many elements such as excitement and sadness, but more than that, it was grievance, after all, over the years, how much suffering he had suffered was known only to himself.
At that time, after he was found, many people had questions, such as when did he come to Japan? Why have you been hiding in the mountains and forests of Japan for so many years? Through the examination of these problems, a tragic history that Japan has deliberately concealed has gradually surfaced.
< h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > first, boarding</h1>
Liu Lianren was born in 1913 in a small village in Gaomi City, Shandong Province. Liu Lianren's family was poor, and in that era, in the later Occupied Areas of Japan, his life was destined to be very difficult.
In 1944, a group of fierce puppet soldiers came to Liu Lianren's village, and they were on this trip to the countryside to arrest laborers for the Japanese army. At that time, Liu Lianren was just 31 years old, just in his prime, and he had no one to rely on, so he was quickly captured by the puppet army.
However, at that time, the puppet army was composed of some hooligans, very greedy for money, as long as you give some benefits, they will help you open the back door, so some young men in the same village have made money through their families, or find connections to redeem people.
But Liu Lianren's family is surrounded by disciples, where is the money? There was no way, he had to accept this cruel reality, and then like a head of cattle, he was forced by the puppet soldiers to tie up the rope and drag him out of his hometown, and finally escorted to gaomi county.
After arriving at Gaomi County, he found that these Japanese troops were systematically captured, because there were many people like him.
At this time, although he did not know what the Japanese army wanted to do, Liu Lianren knew that what would await them in the future was definitely not a good thing, and he not only had his parents in need of support, but also his wife who was about to give birth, and they all needed to take care of themselves.
So in a hurry, he and his companions thought about escaping at the Gaomi Station.
But how could the unarmed people so easily escape from the well-equipped Japanese army? In the process of this "prison escape", more than a dozen people were shot and killed by the Japanese army on the spot, and Liu Lianren's own brain door was also shot, fortunately, the life was large, and he did not hit the fatal part.
Soon after, Liu Lianren and others were held on their backs with bayonets by the Japanese army, and then forced to board a train that did not know where to go.
On the train, these hundreds of people were like dogs, tied together by the Japanese army with ropes, because there were too many people and they were all tied together, so they could not sit down, there was no place to sit, and when they went to the toilet, they had to follow in a string, otherwise they could not go, which was very uncomfortable.
In this way, they have been supporting to Qingdao. Qingdao was not their end point, but a transit point, where all those who had been captured were assembled, where Liu Lianren and other laborers were forcibly changed into yellow uniforms by the Japanese army, and then all were driven into a huge freighter bound for Japan.
The freighter behind the closed hatch, the inside of the ship was dark, this was the lower bottom cabin of the ship, where the Japanese army stacked ore, and the group could only sit on the ore of the very buttocks and spend this long journey.
At that time, Liu Lianren had been looking at the hatch intently, thinking about it, he was incomparably attached to the motherland, he was reluctant to leave his elderly parents, and his wife who loved him deeply...
At this time, he had secretly vowed in his heart that no matter how far he would go and how much suffering he would experience, he must return to the motherland and climb the land where he was born and raised alive again.
At that time, the life inside the ship was extremely miserable, not only the environment was harsh, but also the eating was very poor, every day the Japanese army only gave each of them a hard state nest, but this is the only thing to eat, many people are too sick to eat, even can not eat.
In Liu Lianren's memory, he basically spent time in seasickness and vomiting. Finally, after a week or so, they were able to leave the cabin, because by this time they had reached the coast of Japan.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >2, gruesome</h1>
After arriving in Japan, they were sent as "prisoners of war" to the Showa Coal Mine of the Meiji Mining Company in Hokkaido, Japan, to work related to mining. At this time, they knew why they had forced this group of ordinary people in Qingdao to wear yellow military uniforms, which was originally to cover up the ugly things.
In the mines, they began their dark labor. In a way, their days here are several levels more "black" than the black coal kilns we know today.
At that time, Liu Lianren belonged to the elite youth, so he was directly arranged to go into the mine to do coal drilling work, and for Liu Lianren, it was simply a hell on earth, because after receiving this batch of laborers, the Japanese side received the above instructions: there is no need to have a benevolent heart.
When they came to Japan, it was already autumn and winter, the weather was very cold, but they were still wearing the yellow military uniform they had changed in Qingdao, and because they did not have cold clothes, they could only use the cement bags around them to keep warm.
Liu Lianren and other laborers in Japan's residence is called "Huagongliao", and most of their houses are simple houses made of wooden planks, which are ventilated on all sides and cannot withstand the wind and snow.
In this environment, countless workers froze to death.
At work, the danger is even greater.
We all know that mining is a manual work, if you don't have enough to eat, you are easy to be hungry and dizzy, you can't do the work, but the laborers don't have much to eat at all, and they have to work at least 16 hours a day, and over time, their bodies can't stand it at all.
However, the Japanese overseers did not let go of their intentions to squeeze them, if they could not do it, they would beat them with iron rods, wooden sticks and other "weapons" that could be found near the mine, and many laborers had been malnourished and their health was already poor, so many people were beaten to death because they could not stand torture.
And even if the workers finished their work at that time, Japanese companies would not give everyone the opportunity to take a bath often. Over time, they will begin to grow mustard sores, painful and itchy, forming some hidden diseases, and the Japanese side will not spend money to treat these poor Chinese, so the only thing that awaits them is death.
In fact, the above problems still belong to some "trivial" small problems, and at that time, the biggest threat to the lives of the entire labor group was still the "mine safety problem".
Japanese mines are different from China's, they are relatively small, the mining conditions are very harsh, not only the air inside is thin, but also often landslides, gas explosions and other accidents. Every time these accidents occur, it means that a large number of laborers will die in the mines, and those who are lucky enough to survive will also have some injuries and illnesses, and they will not live long.
The laborers were so regarded by the Japanese side as grass and mustard to squeeze, naturally some people also thought of escaping, Liu Lianren was also one of them, he was thinking about running away all the time, because only by escaping could there be any hope of returning to the motherland to reunite with his relatives.
However, it was not easy to escape at that time, because there were a large number of overseers around, and at that time, in order to prevent the laborers from escaping, the Japanese side also built a wall of more than 10 feet high around the laborer's residence, and the wall was installed with a 350-volt power grid.
So if you want to escape, you must wait for an opportunity and choose a good time. The timing finally arose in July 1945.
One night in July 1945, he and four of his friends took advantage of the Japanese's inattention to knock down an overseer who was watching over them, and then quietly escaped from the "living hell" of the Japanese army with shoes in their hands while other Japanese soldiers were drinking and playing cards in the room.
It is worth mentioning here that less than a month after Liu Lianren and others escaped, Japan announced its unconditional surrender, of course, Liu Lianren on the way to escape did not know about this.
< h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > three, fugitive</h1>
After Liu Lianren and his party escaped, they began their exile in a foreign country.
At that time, after discussion, they unanimously decided: they wanted to return to the motherland. But everyone was once a peasant in the countryside, all illiterate, had no geographical knowledge, and even the basic direction was not clear, so they could only walk aimlessly.
Because they were not familiar with the land and had to flee, they not only could not go to the locals to eat, but even had to avoid them. But not being able to see people means that there is nothing to eat, so they can only run to the deep mountains and old forests, relying on the unknown wild fruits and wild vegetables in the mountains to fill their hunger.
Although it can be supported for the time being, this is not a long-term solution, because wild fruits and wild vegetables are also limited.
And some things can be poisonous when eaten — although he has been careful, Liu Lianren has been poisoned, when after eating a mushroom, his tongue was swollen, nausea and vomiting, and his stomach was leaked for several days, fortunately, there was no danger to his life.
After holding out in the deep mountains and old forests for about half a month, they were finally forced down the mountain by hunger. However, just at the foot of the mountain, he was unfortunately discovered by the Japanese and surrounded.
At that time, Liu Lianren was the fastest to find out that something was wrong, so he shouted in a hurry: "Run!"! They rushed out, but two of the brothers in distress were not so lucky, and they were captured again by the Japanese.
Liu Lianren and the other 3 people had no choice but to continue to move forward. With the lesson of the last time they went down the mountain, they began to walk in the mountains during the day and only went down the mountain at night to find food, so they insisted.
It's autumn and winter again, and Hokkaido is snowing again.
The snow day was very difficult for them, they could not go anymore, because it was easy to freeze to death as soon as they left, so the 3 of them quickly found a cave to hide, planning to spend the winter and think about the next plan.
But even if they found a cave for a temporary shelter, their life was still not good, because the wind and snow were so big that they almost froze their blood in the cave, and the snow often sealed the mouth of the cave, making it extremely difficult for them to breathe.
However, despite many difficulties, they persevered with perseverance and survived until the end of autumn and winter, and the snow melted. But at this time they came out of the cave, their legs were frozen numb, and they didn't even know how to walk, and they practiced for a long time before they gradually recovered.
Once, they went to the sea and found a small wooden boat, so they wanted to take it back to the motherland, but drifted around, and found that there was a sea everywhere, and there was no way back to China? It turned out that they had traveled halfway through Hokkaido, and they had only been circling around the sea.
Later, out of helplessness, they begged a Japanese fisherman to help, but their movements were not only rejected by the fishermen, but also attracted the Japanese to search the mountains, and the two refugee friends were unfortunately arrested, and only Liu Lianren was left at this time.
In the vast Hokkaido with no end in sight, he was alone and bitter, still thinking about his motherland and his family all the time, of course, he also thought about death, and even thought of suicide.
Because of such a day, he will indeed feel helpless and hopeless one day.
However, when he remembered that he had not yet been able to return to his motherland smoothly, his family might still be waiting for him, and he still had children who had not yet met, he was a little unwilling, and he thought to himself: Even if he wants to die, he cannot die in this foreign country.
In this way, Liu Lianren has been insisting on it.
When the weather was good, he would take advantage of the night to go out to collect wild vegetables and potatoes to eat; and as for the wind and snow, he would reserve some wild grasses, and when he was hungry, he would eat these weeds, and when he was thirsty, it would be easier to do it, just put the snow in his mouth.
Winter and spring continued for 13 years, until he was discovered by Japanese hunters in 1958, which is the scene at the beginning of our article, and it was at this time that he learned that the War of Resistance had been won.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > fourth, the way home</h1>
After the Japanese captured Liu Lianren, in order to evade responsibility and cover up the original crime, they beat Liu Lianren to death and did not admit that Liu Lianren was a laborer who was forcibly escorted to work by japan.
He even bit back, saying that Liu Lianren may have been "a secret agent sent by China to enter the country illegally", and that the legal process at that time was completely in accordance with the process of "illegal entry crime".
Japan's move also completely angered the Chinese government and patriotic overseas Chinese. Not only that, but even friendly people from all walks of life in Japan at that time, such as the Red Cross and other peace-loving people, also stood up one after another to accuse the Japanese government of maliciously tampering with the fact that Liu Lianren's identity was.
In the face of tremendous pressure, the lies fabricated by the Japanese government were ruthlessly punctured, and out of helplessness, the Japanese authorities could only identify with Liu Lianren as a persecuted laborer.
On April 10, 1958, this "savage" who shocked the whole world and wandered in a foreign country for thirteen years and almost lost his ability to speak finally waited for the ship that picked him up and returned home, embarking on the road back home after a long absence, when he was also 45 years old.
On April 15 of that year, after a five-day voyage, Liu Lianren landed at the Tanggu Wharf in Tianjin and returned to the motherland where he had been haunted. And in addition to the thousands of people who came to greet him, there was also his most cherished family, when his wife took him home with the children he had not yet had time to see, and his wife had been waiting for him to return for so many years.
At this moment, Liu Lianren's heart was very excited, he was full of sorrow and joy, old tears, after waiting for so long, after suffering so much, he finally came back alive. As long as he goes home smoothly, it is a victory for him, isn't it?
After returning to China, he not only received the reception of President Liu Shaoqi, but also was arranged to the Municipal People's Hospital for medical treatment and recuperation, after careful treatment and care, since then he has been suffering from various problems in Japan for 13 years due to hunger and cold, such as gastrointestinal diseases, arthritis and other problems almost completely healed.
However, although the physical wounds were healed, the wounds on his soul have not been soothed.
Although he has been "saved", Liu Lianren has been humiliated and suffering, and all the sufferings suffered by his compatriots and workers, he has never been able to forget.
He must seek justice for his past, and for his compatriots who died in Japan.
When confronted with the Japanese's refusal to recognize the kidnapping of the laborers, he was very angry, pointing to the scar that he had been wounded by the Japanese army for escaping: "Look at the scars here, aren't they talking nonsense when they say that there are no kidnapped laborers?" Are these guys still human! ”
As evidence that The Japanese kidnapped laborers were "alive", in March 1996, the 83-year-old Liu Lianren began to file a lawsuit against the Japanese government, which neither compensated nor pleaded guilty, and his move was also supported by the people of the whole country and some Japanese friends.
At that time, in order to win the case, Liu Lianren disregarded his old age and physical decline and personally rushed to Japan three times to present the facts.
After a five-year long lawsuit, the court finally ruled liu lianren in favor on July 12, 2001, demanding that the Japanese government compensate liu lianren for 20 million yen.
But at this time, Liu Lianren could not see it with his own eyes, because he had died on September 2, 2000, at the age of 87, and before his death, he had left a last word, that is, "The biggest regret in my life is that I was not able to see the day of victory. ”
However, although it had won the case at that time, the Japanese government did not pay the compensation to Liu Lianren's family for a long time.
And not only did it not give money, but the Tokyo High Court of Japan overturned the 2001 judgment four years later, rejecting Liu Lianren's claim on the grounds that "the state is not responsible" (that is, the state does not need to bear any responsibility for losses caused by the state's actions to injure individuals).
In 2007, the third instance of the Supreme Court of Japan said that it would not accept the case after that, which can be said to be a vivid interpretation of shamelessness. But even if Japan does not admit it, it must accept this fact.
After all, Liu Lianren's existence is a witness to the evils of Japan, which they can't wash away if they want to. Only when the Japanese side itself comes out and takes the initiative to admit its mistakes and sincerely apologizes to the old man Liu Lianren can Japan make some redemption for its past sins...