- Title: Museum dedicated to Chinese comfort women opens in Shanghai
- Date: 26th October 2016
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) 22-YEAR-OLD UNIVERSITY STUDENT, DONG ZHENYU, SAYING: "My first feeling is that I'm shocked. Those pictures on the wall that are testimonies to the lives of some of the survivors (shocked me). I think that this historical development has passed, and the people and the primary motivation (which forced these women to become comfort women) are no longer
- Embargoed: 9th November 2016 10:38
- Keywords: museum war comfort women Japan China
- Location: SHANGHAI/XI VILLAGE, YU COUNTY, YANGQUAN CITY, SHANXI PROVINCE/NANJING, JIANGSU PROVINCE, CHINA
- City: SHANGHAI/XI VILLAGE, YU COUNTY, YANGQUAN CITY, SHANXI PROVINCE/NANJING, JIANGSU PROVINCE, CHINA
- Country: China
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA00755N56PX
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS FOOTAGE WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
A museum dedicated to Chinese comfort women, a euphemism for sex slaves forced to work in Japan's wartime brothels, has opened in Shanghai.
The museum, which was opened by Shanghai Normal University's comfort women research centre on Saturday (October 22), showcases testimonies and evidence of the victims' experiences as well as official documents from their court hearings in their cases against the Japanese government.
Its walls are lined with powerful photos of former comfort women from across China, whose stories have been collected over the years by the research centre.
"There has been little actual reflection nor concern in regards to this sort of disaster committed against our people. That's how I feel. So because of this, we provide a window for people to reflect on this issue. We must face history and understand how we must walk the path of a better, peaceful future. We must reflect on this through these cases," said the research centre's director, Su Zhiliang.
Sino-Japanese relations have long been affected by what China sees as Japan's failure to atone for its occupation of parts of the country before and during World War Two, and China rarely misses an opportunity to push that message.
Chinese academics estimate about 200,000 Chinese women were forced to work as "comfort women".
The research centre, over a period of decades, has collected thousands of photos and evidence showing the Japanese Imperial Army's enslavement of Chinese comfort women during the war.
In particular, the museum displays internal Japanese war-era military publications and documents showing photos of Japanese soldiers posing with comfort women, and even unused condoms distributed to Japanese soldiers.
Su said that other museums dedicated to Chinese comfort women can be found across the country, but the one in Shanghai has one of the most extensive and meticulously researched collections of evidence.
For decades, China's comfort women have remained silent about their past.
The remaining survivors usually live in poverty and still suffer physical ailments and psychological damage from the experience of being forced to work in Japan's military brothels as "comfort women". Only a handful are still living today.
University student Dong Zhenyu said he was largely unfamiliar with the suffering of China's comfort women before he visited the museum.
"My first feeling is that I'm shocked. Those pictures on the wall that are testimonies to the lives of some of the survivors (shocked me). I think that this historical development has passed, and the people and the primary motivation (which forced these women to become comfort women) are no longer in this world. But we cannot shake off the pain or memory that they have given us," he said.
Material on Chinese comfort women has not always been readily available. Aside from the research centre at Shanghai Normal University, there have been few official efforts to document their stories.
"I think there are some limitations to understanding the plight of the comfort women. Most of our understanding comes from anti-Japanese TV dramas. Students get most of their understanding through middle school text books. Middle school textbooks give a more politically charged introduction to this history, and there is little explanation of what comfort women are. Another way to understand this history is to look it up online, but there are very few online reports on comfort women," said university student Bi Lihua.
The museum is on Shanghai Normal University's campus. Bronze statues of a Chinese and Korean comfort woman, which were created as a collaboration by artists from both countries, can be found just outside the museum entrance.
Although comfort women in South Korea have been provided with official aid from the Korean government, most Chinese comfort women have not received such help except from local governments, lawyers and experts in China have said.
Many of China's former comfort women have filed lawsuits against the Japanese government with a team of Japanese and Chinese lawyers, but the cases have failed to produce any results.
Last year, Zhang Xiantu, the last living Chinese comfort woman who was involved in the suit, passed away at the age of 89. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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