China upgrades ‘documents on comfort women’ to nation-grade historic records

China’s documents on comfort women (sex slaves) for the Japanese military during the Second World War have been upgraded to ‘nation-grade historic written records.’

According to the Xiàndài daily on Monday, China’s state archives bureau included in literatures for upgrading the ‘documents on comfort women – Japanese military sex slaves’ that were applied by nine archives nationwide, including the Central Archive and those in Nanjing, Jilin, and Liaoning, as it upgraded 29 documents to national grade records recently.

The Chinese government upgraded documents related to comfort women apparently because it seeks to keep clear records on the Japanese military’s crimes against humanity at a time when rightest forces in Japan have denied forceful mobilization of comfort women.

To this end, the nine archives presented detailed and specific evidence on Japan’s atrocities. Shabei, a researcher at the Nanjing Archive said, “It is historical fact that Iwane Masui, commander of Japan’s Hua Zhong military command, ordered the implementation of the comfort woman system in Nanjing in December 1937,” in presenting a specific case. The documents included the fact that a building at 4-129 in Nanjing was used as a comfort house for Japanese soldiers during the war; dismissal of the comfort house after the Japanese military’s defeat at the war; and personal profiles of people who were entrusted with management of the comfort house.” The documents on comfort women at the Nanjing Archives are a selection of documents on comfort women among records on civil complaints and monetary damages that were filed when the Japanese military annexed Nanjing and forfeited private property for their use from December 1937 to the first half of 1938.

bonhong@donga.com