On February 8, 1958, a hunter in The town of Ishikari, Hokkaido, while hunting rabbits in the town of Ishikari, Hokkaido, found a cave covered with snow covering the mouth of the cave, driven by curiosity, the hunter began to dig the cave, only to dig and dig, suddenly out of the hole a hand grabbed his arm, the hunter looked up along the arm, only to see a wild man with a shawl staring at himself.
Startled, the hunter quickly broke free of his arm, then ran out with a loud cry and a rolling belt, and quickly called the police.
When the police followed the hunter's instructions to find the cave, they found that the wild man inside had actually "disappeared", and after several searches, they successfully captured the wild man and sent him to China two months later.
When the ship of the "wild man" arrived at the Tianjin Xingang wharf, more than 1,000 people from all walks of life in Tianjin went to greet them, and they were also received by Liu Shaoqi, then president of the country. After Liu Shaoqi saw the "wild man", he shook his hand and said to him: "The people of the motherland welcome you!" ”
What no one expected was that 43 years later, the Japanese government would be sentenced to compensate the "savage" for 20 million yen. So, who is this mysterious "savage" and what kind of story does he have?
The story of this "savage" begins in September 1944.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="8" > laborer Liu Lianren</h1>
In the early 1940s, the Japanese government, which was mired in war, fell into the embarrassing situation of labor shortage at home because it recruited a large number of young people to join the army, and in order to solve this serious problem, the Japanese government decided to arrest Zhuang Ding from Chinese mainland and go to Japan as a laborer.
On September 2, 1944, the twenty-seventh day of the eighth lunar month, a 31-year-old farmer named Liu Lianren in Caobo Village, Gaomi County, Shandong Province, walked home after planting wheat in the field, and as a result, he had just returned home, and he learned from his wife who was pregnant in October that the neighbors were looking for him.
Liu Lianren's mother watched her son being kidnapped by the Japanese puppet army, but she was powerless, and the feeling of despair and grief immediately surged into her heart, and she almost fainted, perhaps the old man had realized that her son's departure would be a long time, and she planted a pear tree seed at the entrance of the courtyard, hoping that when her son returned, he could eat a bite of fresh pears.
That night, after Liu Lianren and his neighbors and other young adults from other villages were escorted to Gaomi County for one night, they were escorted to the railway station by a group of Japanese invaders, and looking at the shining bayonets on the Japanese invaders' guns, Liu Lianren and the others did not have any intention of resisting and obediently got on the train.
After a few hours, the train finally stopped, 1 Japanese soldier and several puppet soldiers walked to the carriage where Liu Lianren was with a traitor interpreter, and after the Japanese invaders led by him grunted a few words, the puppet army around him put down the package on his body, and the traitor translator who had been nodding at the Japanese soldier straightened his waist and asked Liu Lianren and the others to take a yellow dress from their bags and change it.
Traitor (film and television image)
After Liu Lianren and the others got dressed, they were driven into a prison, and after living in it for nearly two months, everyone lined up to walk out of the prison under the reprimand of the traitors, took pictures, pressed their fingerprints, and boarded a large cargo ship.
Liu Lianren listened to a friend who knew this place and said that this was the Qingdao Dagang Wharf, and it seemed that Little Japan wanted to escort several of them to Japan.
The freighter, called the "Pruit," walked slowly for six days before arriving in Hokkaido, Japan, after which Liu Lianren and 200 compatriots were forced by Japanese bayonets to walk for a full day and a half to the village of Numata in Uzumaki, Ryūryū-gun, Hokkaido, Japan.
There, a Japanese man who looked like an official whispered a message, and the traitor interpreter next to him told the Chinese present in a high spirit: You have been "recruited" as a laborer of the "Meiji Mining Company Numawa Mining Institute", and the Japanese government will not treat you badly!
Soon, Liu Lianren knew what the traitor meant by "no bad treatment", all of their laborers were arranged to work in the mines that were filled with a dirty smell and had no safety facilities every day, and every day the Japanese distributed a small bag of semi-coarse noodles as rations.
Once, a laborer was hungry, stole two turnips from the overseer's house, was found by the Japanese, tied to a tree, and let two wolf dogs chew him alive.
Not having enough to eat is still secondary, and cold and disease are the real big problems.
Hokkaido in November was very cold, and what was worse was that it snowed non-stop every day, and the Japanese would not be kind enough to prepare cold clothes for them, so Liu Lianren and other laborers had to work in single clothes in the winter when the goose feathers were heavy snow.
Some laborers had bad feet because of the cold weather, and it was difficult to walk, and the overseer next to them came up with a kick, kicked the laborer to the ground, took the whip and beat him fiercely, and the poor laborer died within a few days.
Without enough to eat and no warm clothes to wear, the health of the laborers deteriorated, and some workers fell ill but did not dare to show it, because once the overseers learned that the laborers were sick, they would immediately cut off their food supply.
One day, Liu Lianren's three roommates could not go down to work in the well because of their serious illness, and the Japanese overseer did not even look at it after knowing it, saying that the three of them were suffering from "cholera", and ordered the three of them to be tied up and burned to death.
After the winter, Liu Lianren's group of laborers died a full half.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="25" > escape</h1>
Day after day of dark labor made Liu Lianren's heart numb, and he nibbled on semi-coarse noodles every day like a walking corpse, doing heavy physical work amid the scolding of the overseers. Until one day, while digging coal, he dug up a corpse, and although the face of the body was not clear, the number on the clothes allowed him to recognize the identity of the other party, and the man had given him a small piece of rotten apple to the hungry two months earlier.
Looking at the body of this difficult friend, Liu Lianren's long-depleted heart was once again born with a feeling of fear: "If I continue like this, I will die as obscurely as him in this foreign mine!" ”
The most primitive desire to survive took root in his heart, and at this time Liu Lianren had only one thought in his heart: to escape, to escape desperately!
After finishing work, Liu Lianren told his thoughts to his friends Deng Zhuoyou, Chen Zengfu, Chen Guoqi and Du Guixiang, who were also from Gaomi. After listening to Liu Lianren's speech, the four fellow villagers expressed their willingness to follow Liu Lianren to escape from this magic cave.
On the night of July 31, 1945, Liu Lianren and his fellow villagers found that there was only one Japanese guard near the mine gate, and the other Japanese guards did not know where to go, Liu Lianren and others felt that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and everyone went forward to smash the guard and fled to a deep mountain.
When the five people thought they were safe, they couldn't help but hug each other and cry bitterly, 8 months later, finally crawled out of hell! After crying, the 5 people decided to worship as brothers, and everyone supported each other together to survive in this unknown and dangerous land.
After the 5 people married, they were embarrassed to find that they had no food after coming out.
Although there are all kinds of animals in the deep mountains, after 8 months of torture, all 5 of them are weak and can't even catch a rabbit, so they can only dig wild vegetables to eat.
After only eating wild vegetables for two or three days, everyone couldn't stand it, and the 5 people agreed to go down the mountain together to find food to eat, but they just found a piece of farmland planted with potatoes that was discovered by the Japanese, and Deng Zhiyou and Chen Zengfu were captured by the Japanese on the way to escape, and never appeared again.
The arrest of Deng Zhuoyou and Chen Zengfu aroused the alarm of the Japanese, who launched a large-scale mountain search campaign, Liu Lianren and the two remaining compatriots had to hide around during the day and go down the mountain at night to steal potatoes to fill their hunger, after all, this behavior is extremely risky, Chen Guoqi and Du Guixiang were also arrested by the Japanese patrolling the mountains shortly after.
Less than two weeks after escaping from the demon cave, all the brothers who escaped with him were taken away, and Liu Lianren's heart was undoubtedly very sad, and he was even desperate to the point of wanting to commit suicide.
Early this morning, Liu Lianren knelt down to the west and prayed, there was his motherland, his mother, his wife and children, his home, after kneeling, Liu Lianren untied the grass rope tied around his waist, put it on a branch and prepared to hang, but how could the Japanese provide the laborer with a strong rope, Liu Lianren just put his neck in, the grass rope broke, and he fell heavily to the ground.
Just when Liu Lianren was thinking about whether he should throw himself into the sea and commit suicide, he suddenly heard a group of people shouting his name in Chinese, Liu Lianren quickly thought that this should be the trick of the Japanese, the Japanese wanted to trick him into going out and catching him, thinking of those friends who were burned to death by fire and bitten by wolf dogs, Liu Lianren suddenly gave a cold shiver, he did not want to die, and quickly got up from the ground and ran towards the deep mountains.
At this time, Liu Lianren did not know that these people who called his name were his friends in the mine, and everyone wanted to inform him: you don't have to hide anymore, Japan has surrendered, and we can go home.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="38" > caveman</h1>
As Japan's northernmost island, Hokkaido began to snow in September, and Liu Lianren, who had run into the mountains deep in Ishikari County, looked at the footprints he had left behind and felt that he might expose his tracks, so he decided to dig a cave to use as his hiding place.
In order to survive, Liu Lianren spends half the day digging holes, half of the time picking wild fruits to fill his hunger, and sometimes he will venture down the mountain to the sea to pick up some kelp to store for winter.
Before coming to Japan, Liu Lianren was just a farmer with his back to the sky facing the loess soil, and had no experience in surviving in the wild, so he dug his first cave in a low-lying place, and as a result, after the winter came, the snowflakes fell bigger and bigger, and the snow directly sealed the cave he dug.
Liu Lianren escaped with his dried kelp before the snow completely sealed the cave, and he tied a torn paper bag from the field with elm bark as a rope, and survived the winter of 1945 with tenacious perseverance.
With the lessons of the first year, after the spring of 1946, Liu Lianren dug a new cave in a higher ground and ate dried kelp for more than half a year, and he wanted to eat cooked food more and more, so he managed to get a small stove and a small teapot, a sickle, and a box of potatoes in a farmer's warehouse under the mountain for the next year.
In the winter of 1946, Liu Lianren was in tears while eating hot potatoes in the cave.
Without a watch and no calendar, Liu Lianren, in order not to forget the time, adopted a simple set of memory methods: once the dawn means that a day has passed, every time the moon is round, it means that a month has passed, and once the snow melts, it means that a year has passed.
In 1947, Liu Lianren got an umbrella and a rain cloth, in 1949 he got two needles, and in 1950 he found an American military coat and a knife, and he survived year after year with these things.
Sometimes in order to avoid the attack of wild beasts, Liu Lianren would run to a place far away from the cave, because he could not find a way back when it was dark, and he would spend the night in the tree. One summer, Liu Lianren had just climbed down from a tree and suddenly found that there was a bear not far from him.
The moment he saw the bear, Liu Lianren's legs were soft, at this time he suddenly thought of the things that the older generation often said that the bear does not eat dead people, Liu Lianren decided to try it, he quickly lay on the ground, and did not even dare to breathe. The bear walked slowly, sniffed, and then turned around and walked away. (Bears are very hungry or will eat dead people, after encountering bears, it is best to avoid the bear's sight, slowly backwards and leave)
A few years later, when Liu Lianren was picking fruit from the tree, he met three Japanese women who also went up the mountain to pick fruits, and the three Japanese women not only did not run away after seeing Liu Lianren, but sincerely knelt on the ground and worshipped him, making Liu Lianren confused.
After a while, when the hungry Liu Lianren climbed the tree to pick fruit, he suddenly saw a very thick snake, at this time Liu Lianren was so hungry that his eyes were on fire, he did not say a word and grabbed the knife and pounced on the snake, after luckily killing the snake, Liu Lianren used a knife to peel off the snake skin, and then ate the snake meat raw.
Raw snake meat was fishy and unpalatable, and the more Liu Lianren ate it, the more disgusting he felt, but in order to fill his stomach, he still swallowed the snake meat with nausea.
After eating the snake meat, looking at the full hand of snake blood, Liu Lianren felt that he needed to go to the beach to wash his hands, if the smell of blood brought the carnivores to himself, it would be dangerous, and as a result, he walked and a traveler who went up the mountain met unexpectedly, and the traveler saw Liu Lianren and ran down the mountain with a frightened cry, so there was a strange talk of "wild people in the mountains" in Ishikari County.
Liu Lianren, who was also startled, went to the beach to wash his hands, and saw his current appearance through the reflection in the water, his hair that had not been groomed for several years grew like weeds, his beard that had not been shaved for several years was disorganized, his body was covered with broken oil paper that he had picked up, and there was snake blood at the corner of his mouth, "Isn't this a wild man who drinks blood?" It seems that the three Japanese women before me had become a mountain god. Thinking of this, Liu Lianren couldn't help but laugh, laughing and laughing again.
After returning to the cave, Liu Lianren trimmed his hair with a scythe, and he felt that at least he had to make himself look like a person.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="55" > home</h1>
On February 8, 1958, when a hunter named Kiyoshi Kata in Ishikari-gun found a hidden cave when he went up the mountain to hunt rabbits, driven by curiosity, he began to dig up, digging and digging him was grabbed by Liu Lianren in the cave, after seeing Liu Lianren's appearance, Kwada Kiyoshi quickly thought of the legend of the "wild man" in Ishikari County over the years, and quickly broke free of Liu Lianren's shackles and escaped from the cave to report to the police.
Hunter (Non-Kiyoshi Kata)
Looking at Kiyoshi Kata, who was stumbling and fleeing, Liu Lianren, who did not know that the War of Resistance Against Japan was over, thought that he wanted to call the Japanese army to arrest him, and he immediately escaped from the cave and prepared to take refuge elsewhere.
Hokkaido in February was very cold, and Liu Lianren, who had been hiding in the cave all winter and was inactive, was still suffering from waist and leg arthritis, and fell into the snow before running far.
The police called by Kiyoshi Kwada came to the cave and found that the "wild man" was not inside, and launched an investigation of the surrounding area, successfully found Liu Lianren who had fallen in the snow, and Liu Lianren's 13-year cave life was completely over.
In the beginning, the Japanese government slandered Liu Lianren as an agent who had entered the country illegally.
Fortunately, the local overseas Chinese organizations in Japan and friendly people from all walks of life in Japan were very sympathetic to Liu Lianren's suffering and complained about him one after another, and Xi Zhanming, head of the Japan Overseas Chinese Association, met with Liu Lianren specifically, at this time Liu Lianren's tongue was stiff, and he could not even speak.
Xi Zhanming slowly guided him to speak with extraordinary patience, and after Xi Zhanming's unremitting efforts, Liu Lianren intermittently said 11 words: "Zhong... Country· Mountains... East··· High· ·· Mi... Labor... Liu··· Lian... Ren...
Liu Lianren's identity quickly caused a huge sensation, and the Chinese government learned of this situation and attached great importance to it, reporting Liu Lianren's deeds in the People's Daily on February 28, 1958.
On March 16, the Chinese government officially issued a statement entitled "The Japanese Government Cannot Evade Responsibility," protesting the Japanese Government's persecution of Chinese compatriot Liu Lianren, and some friendly people in Japan who were friendly to China also set off a huge movement to protest against the atrocities committed by the Japanese Government.
Welcome Liu Lianren back to China
After five days of sailing, at 3:45 p.m. on April 15, Liu Lianren's "Baishan Maru" arrived at the Tianjin Xingang Wharf, and more than 1,000 people from all walks of life in Tianjin went to the wharf to welcome Liu Lianren's arrival.
Liu Lianren was a little confused, as if he did not understand why so many people welcomed him, just at this moment, his wife came with a 13-year-old boy, and the little boy timidly shouted at Liu Lianren: "Daddy! Liu Lianren was stunned for a long time before he shouted, "I'm home!" I'm home! ”
That night, Liu Lianren's family of three had a meal at a hostel in Tianjin, and Liu Shaoqi went to the hotel where they lived to meet Liu Lianren, and Liu Shaoqi tightly held Liu Lianren's hand and said: Welcome, welcome you, the people of the motherland welcome you!
Liu Shaoqi then inquired about Liu Lianren's physical condition with concern, and the next day personally arranged for him to go to the hospital to check his body, and accompanied him to watch a play and eat a meal.
After Liu Lianren returned to his home, he saw a thriving pear tree, and looking at the pear tree, he couldn't help but shed tears again.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="67" > regret for life</h1>
After Liu Lianren returned to his motherland, he was cordially received by Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou, and with the support of great people, he held more than 1,800 speeches to accuse the atrocities of Japanese militarism.
Since 1958, Liu Lianren has been demanding compensation and apologies from the Japanese government, and he has been called a "hero who does not hold a knife and gun", and as a result, decades have passed, and the Japanese government still ignores Liu Lianren's demands for justice, so Liu Lianren, who is very disappointed in the performance of the Japanese government, said: "If there is no result in claiming against Japan, I will die blind!" ”
On August 12, 1995, Liu Lianren and his son Liu Huanxin, with the support of the people of the whole country, flew to Tokyo to participate in the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the victory of the anti-fascist war and formally launched an indictment against the Japanese government. On August 15, Liu Lianren held a press conference at the Special Court of the Supreme Court in Tokyo, demanding that the Japanese government publicly apologize for his sins and give him some financial compensation.
What no one expected was that the Japanese court chose to open its eyes and say nonsense in the face of Liu Lianren, a "living witness," saying that Japanese enterprises were very "friendly" to Chinese laborers at that time, not only had a holiday day every week, but also issued a pair of shoes and two pairs of shoe covers per person per month, two boxes of cigarettes per week, 4 dishes per meal, and enough for each person.
Speaking of this, the Japanese judge also shamelessly asked Liu Lianren: "Japanese enterprises treat you Chinese laborers so well, what lawsuit are you going to fight?" ”
In the face of such a brazen Japanese court, Liu Lianren almost fainted angrily, muttering to himself: "Is there such a reason, is there such a reason!" ”
In 1998, Liu Lianren, who had just returned from Japan, was diagnosed with stomach cancer, and although the operation was successful, his stomach was also completely rotten, and he has been suffering from stomach pain ever since.
In the early morning of September 2, 2000, the elderly Liu Lianren left with his eyes open, and before he died, he called his son Liu Huanxin to Kangqian, told him that his biggest regret was that he could not see the day when the struggle was victorious, and asked his son to do everything in his power to contact those Chinese and Japanese friends who were willing to uphold justice and fight the lawsuit to the end!
In accordance with the old man's will, Liu Huanxin and other elderly family members continued to file lawsuits against the Japanese government.
On July 12, 2001, Chief Magistrate Kiyoichiro Nishioka of the Tokyo District Court found the Japanese government guilty and demanded that the Japanese government compensate Liu Lianren's bequeathed 20 million yen. Liu Lianren won the case in an all-round way, which also became the first successful case of Chinese people's claim against Japan since the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan.
Unfortunately, just four years later, on June 23, 2005, the Tokyo High Court overturned the district court's ruling and dismissed the claim of the late Liu Lianren, a Chinese laborer in World War II.
In 2007, the Supreme Court of Japan again rejected the claim in the third instance and announced that it would not be tried against the Japanese government by Liu Lianren's bereaved family members in the future.
Fortunately, although it is impossible to sue the Japanese government, the claims of Liu Huanxin and other victimized workers' families against Mitsubishi Corporation, the actual owner of the "Meiji Mining Company Numawa Mining Institute", have made effective progress, and in 2016, Japan's Mitsubishi Corporation decided to apologize to the Chinese victims of World War II and pay 100,000 yuan to each victim or his or her surviving family.
However, Mitsubishi's apology does not represent an apology from the Japanese government, and this refusal to apologize for the crime will forever be engraved on the column of shame and spurned by the world.