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In Yangquan Village, Xipan Township, Yuxian County, Shanxi Province, a remote mountain village more than 40 kilometers away from the county seat, Zhang Shuangbing was taking targeted drugs for lung cancer as usual. But in the past few days, he has no time to take care of his body, and almost all of his thoughts are on waiting, waiting for the news of the case being filed from the Shanxi Provincial High People's Court.
In early April, 18 children of victims of the Japanese "comfort women" system and their relatives collectively filed a complaint with the Shanxi Provincial High People's Court, suing the Japanese government for the first time in China.
Zhang Shuangbing, who is known as the first person to investigate China's "comfort women" civilian investigation, is the head of the litigation team.
71-year-old Zhang Shuangbing has been traveling for 42 years just to seek justice for the victims of the "comfort women" system. For him, filing a case is only the first step, and winning the case is fundamental. Only by winning the case can we really win back justice.
△ Zhang Shuangbing
The head of the regiment of 18 people and the justice of the delayed future
In recent days, Zhang Shuangbing has been interviewed by several domestic and foreign media, and the topic has always revolved around "seeking justice". The media attention gave him a little more hope.
From 8 to 10 April, the children and other relatives of 18 victims of the Japanese "comfort women" system submitted petitions to the Shanxi Provincial High People's Court against the Japanese government, which was the first time in 32 years that a group of victims of the "comfort women" system of Chinese nationality had filed a complaint against the Japanese government in a Chinese court.
The 18 victims of the Japanese army's "comfort women" system have all passed away, and they are Zhao Runmei, Liu Mianchang, Zhang Xiantu, Wang Gaihe, Yang Xihe, Hou Qiaoliang, Wan Aihua, Chen Lintao, Hou Dong'e, Gao Yin'e, Yang Shizhen, Zhou Xixiang, Yin Yulin, Nan Erpu, Zhao Cunni, Zhang Gaixiang, Guo Xicui, and Li Xiumei.
Zhang Shuangbing, head of the Chinese "comfort women" victims' lawsuit against Japan, said: "I have no other purpose in doing this, just to seek justice for them." Now these old people are gone, they had this wish when they were alive, and I want to help them as much as I can. ”
The first time he sued the Japanese government in a Chinese court, Mr. Zhang admitted that he was inspired by a case in South Korea. According to Yonhap News Agency, the Seoul Central District Court in South Korea handed down a first-instance judgment in 2021 on a lawsuit filed by a Korean "comfort women" victim against the Japanese government, and sentenced the Japanese government to pay 100 million won to each of the plaintiffs.
"I had many conversations with Korean volunteers before they started to help Korean victims of the comfort women system sue them, and the verdict gave me the idea of suing the Japanese government in China," Zhang said. He started the preparatory work in 2023.
Last year, Zhang Shuangbing found lawyer Jia Fangyi and sent him a judgment in accordance with domestic law that South Korea should compensate the victims of the "comfort women" in accordance with domestic law, hoping that he could help the victims of the Japanese "comfort women" system in China to file a lawsuit.
Subsequently, Zhang Shuangbing began to contact the descendants of the victims of the Japanese army's "comfort women" system. Hou Dong'e was the first in Chinese mainland to come forward against the Japanese government's victims of the "comfort women" system, and this time, her granddaughter Li Shuangqiao also chose to stand up and agree to sue.
According to Zhang Shuangbing, the case is currently awaiting filing by the Shanxi Provincial High People's Court. Like him, there are 18 descendants of the victims of the Japanese army's "comfort women" system.
△ Previously, Zhang Shuangbing attended a rally in Japan
From 1982 to 2024, he and 139 her
Once, Zhang Shuangbing, who was teaching at a mountain village elementary school, only thought about how to be a good teacher, but an encounter in the autumn of 1982 completely changed his fate.
In 1982, he met Hou Dong'e. She knelt on the ground on crutches, and with great difficulty she cut the ears of wheat, cut them twice and rested for a long time, as if she would fall down at any moment.
"It was late autumn, and I was teaching at the Gaozhuang Village Primary School next door, and one afternoon I saw an old man kneeling in the field to harvest grain, which was very pitiful. Zhang Shuangbing was moved by compassion, and finally silently escorted Hou Dong'e home. As for the old man's past, he learned from the people in the village that she had been "the woman in the turret".
After this encounter, the kind-hearted Zhang Shuangbing often went to Hou Dong'e's house to help take care of her. After going back and forth, the two are also familiar with each other, but Hou Dong'e has never mentioned the details of that humiliating experience.
Ten years later, in 1992, Zhang Shuangbing saw a newspaper report about Chinese laborers claiming compensation from the Japanese government. The report said that the Chinese victims, including laborers and "comfort women," could claim compensation from Japan.
This time, when Zhang Shuangbing stepped into Hou Dong'e's door again, she spoke, Zhang Shuangbing said: "As soon as she opened her mouth, she cried loudly, and she cried for almost an hour, and I cried too." A day later, she really said what she had buried in her heart for decades. ”
When Hou Dong'e was young, she was arrested twice by Japanese soldiers as a "comfort woman", not only lost her fertility, but also lived a miserable and helpless life.
After listening to Hou Dong'e's story, Zhang Shuangbing wanted to return the old man a "clean house", and didn't want the old man to be pointed at in his old age. After that, he began to prepare a complaint, and he compiled Hou Dong'e's tragic experience into seven or eight thousand words of appeal materials, which were forwarded to the Japanese government through the Japanese Embassy in China.
Hou Dong'e also became the first woman in Chinese mainland to publicly come forward and accuse the Japanese government of victimization.
However, fate did not favor Hou Dong'e, and the old man died in 1994, and he was unable to go to Japan in person to complain about the crimes of the Japanese army.
In the days that followed, Zhang Shuangbing embarked on the road of search as soon as he was free. Lu Huanying, Liu Gailian, Hao Yuelian...... There are more and more names that have entered Zhang Shuangbing's field of vision, Yuxian, Yangqu, Taiyuan, Wuxiang, Qin County in Shanxi, Pingshan County in Hebei, and Wuhan in Hubei...... There are his footprints. "At that time, life was hard, there was no telephone, seven bicycles were broken, and two motorcycles were broken. At that time, the investment in motorcycles consumed Zhang Shuangbing's salary, and his persistence also attracted the incomprehension of the people around him.
Over the decades, he has interviewed more than 1,000 victims, and 139 of them have bravely come forward to claim compensation from the Japanese government, but most of them are afraid to speak out for various reasons.
△ Previously, Zhang Shuangbing participated in litigation in Japanese courts
Among the old people who chose to stand up bravely, there were also those who took the initiative to find Zhang Shuangbing, such as the old man Wan Aihua.
In 1992, Zhang Shuangbing wrote a letter to Wan Aihua, in which he wrote: I heard that you were raped by the Japanese invading army, if there is such a situation, if you are willing to say, I will go to find you, if you are not willing to say, I should not have said this sentence. After Wan Aihua received this letter, she immediately came to Yangquan Village from Taiyuan to find Zhang Shuangbing. In 1943, Wan Aihua was taken away twice by the Japanese army and brutally raped. Due to the long-term torture, Wan Aihua's thighs were scarred on both sides, and her hips and ribs were fractured in many places, so that her waist sank into her pelvis, her neck retracted into her chest, and her height shrank to 147 cm. The arm was dislocated, the earlobe was torn off, and due to repeated gang rape, the lower body was severely ulcerated, and he was sterile for life.
In 1996 and 1998, Wan Aihua testified twice in the Tokyo District Court, and the lawsuit lasted eight years, with three lawsuits and three defeats.
In 2013, Wan Aihua passed away, and her bravery made the world understand the tragic experience of "comfort women", but she did not receive an apology from the Japanese government.
Not only Wan Aihua, since 1992, Zhang Shuangbing has led the old people to Japan many times to fight lawsuits to defend their rights. By 2007, after 15 years of lawsuits, nine trials and nine judgments, the Japanese government did not apologize to these victimized old people, and did not give a penny of comfort and compensation, which made the old people very angry, and Zhang Shuangbing was also full of resentment.
In 2007, the Supreme Court of Japan made a final judgment that the historical facts should be recognized, but no compensation should be made. First, the statute of limitations has expired, and second, Japanese law prohibits individuals from suing the government.
With the passage of time, there are fewer and fewer witnesses to history, and as of now, there are only eight survivors of the Japanese "comfort women" system registered in Chinese mainland.
The death of every victim is a pity for Zhang Shuangbing.
At 18:00 on December 29, 2020, the elderly man Lu Huanying, a survivor of the "comfort women" system of the Japanese invasion of China, passed away at the age of 93. Zhang Shuangbing wrote a eulogy in the circle of friends: An old man from Shanxi, a Chinese comfort woman victim who claimed compensation for Japan, passed away with hatred for the Japanese government...... Woohoo painfully, one after another people have passed away, and coupled with the scoundrels of the Japanese government, their claims are even more difficult.
△ Photo by Qian Nianqiu, a victim of the Japanese army's "comfort women" system
Publishing books, making movies, suffering from cancer, can 42 years of perseverance be successful?
Zhang Shuangbing, 71 years old this year, has entered his old age in life. Now he has silver hair and deep wrinkles on his face, and he spent the most precious 42 years of his life doing "comfort women" investigation records, just to seek justice for them.
The road of seeking justice, for Zhang Shuangbing, can be described as constant praise, controversy, and trouble. Over the years, he has compiled and published his experiences in searching for "comfort women" into books, including "Comfort Women" Investigation Record" and "Women in the Turrets - Shanxi Japanese Army Sex Slave Investigation Record" and so on. In addition, he also participated in the filming of the movie "Twenty-Two" and "The Great Cold", which tells the story of Zhang Shuangbing's mental journey of visiting and investigating the victims of the Japanese army's "comfort women". As a result, he is also known as the first person to investigate the "comfort women" in China.
△ Zhang Shuangbing's writings
While gaining attention, he always felt indebted to his family. In November 2020, Zhang Shuangbing was diagnosed with lung cancer, and after receiving treatment, he still needs to take hundreds of targeted drugs every day. At present, he can't go out because of illness, and while he is being treated, he lives with his wife, who has suffered from mental illness for more than 30 years.
"I have been doing this for 42 years now, and I have not won the compensation and apology for the elderly, I am not reconciled, and I am sorry for those old people. Zhang Shuangbing said.
Regarding the complaint filed in China this time, Zhang Shuangbing is full of expectations, "This is in China, and there should be a fair trial." ”
Modern Express/Hyundai+ reporter Xu Mengyun Zhang Ran