was forced to do whatever they asked … sometimes they forced me to assume various positions … [Huang Youliang could not continue. The interview was stopped to let her take a break and drink some tea. When the interview resumed, the interviewers changed the topic and asked her about her family.]
There were only three people in my family: my father, my mother, and I. My mother was blind. My father was a peasant and I helped him with the farm work. I missed my parents very much in that place [Tengqiao Comfort Station] and wanted to escape. My body felt as if it were falling apart due to the torments every night. Many times I looked for an opportunity to run away and secretly discussed it with the other girls there. But Japanese soldiers strictly guarded the house, and we didn’t know any of the roads outside the house, so it was impossible to escape. Once one of my friends there, a girl of Han ethnicity, 4 escaped from the place, but she was captured by the Japanese soldiers and almost beaten to death. Then she was locked up, most likely killed. After that incident, I gave up my hope for escape and submitted myself to fate.
During that time I didn’t see any woman given a medical examination in the station, nor did I see any man ever use a condom. I didn’t know if any of the girls became pregnant, but I knew one woman, whose name was Chen Youhong, who was tortured to death. She didn’t want to do what the Japanese soldiers told her to do, so she was beaten until blood gushed out of her vagina. She bled to death. I heard that another girl committed suicide by biting off her own tongue.
The Japanese soldiers never gave us anything or any money. They didn’t even give us enough to eat, never mind paying us. I was kept in the Tengqiao Comfort Station for a long time, at least two years, until I became very sick and my family helped me escape. That was around the Fifth or the Sixth Lunar Month of the year. That day Huang Wenchang from my home village came to see me. He told me that my father had died. I cried loudly and bitterly, and went to beg the Japanese officer to let me go home to attend my father’s funeral. The officer wouldn’t let me at first, but Huang Wenchang and I begged and begged, kneeling on the floor to kowtow. Finally he agreed to let me go, with the condition that I would return to the comfort station as soon as my father’s funeral was over.
That was in the evening. Huang Wenchang took me out of Tengqiao and, via a shortcut, towards home. We arrived at my home in the middle of the night. As I walked through the door, I was stunned to see my father in perfectly good health waiting for me. It turned out that my father and Huang Wenchang had made a plan to rescue me from that comfort station by deceiving the Japanese troops. They were afraid that I would have been unable to act as if it were real, so they didn’t tell me the truth until I got home.
My father and Huang Wenchang worked overnight with hoes and shovels to make a fake grave for me on top of a desolate hill on the outskirts of the village. They told people that I had committed suicide because of excessive grief. My father and I fled from the village right after that. My mother had already died by that time. My father and I became fugitives and for a period lived as beggars. We stayed in one place for a while then returned to Jiama Village. People in our village told us that the Japanese officer “Jiuzhuang” had come with a group of soldiers to arrest me. The villagers told him that I had committed suicide. He saw the fake grave and believed them.
Since everyone in the village knew that I had been ravaged by the Japanese troops, no man in good health or of good family wanted to marry me. I had no choice but to marry a man who had leprosy. My husband knew about my past and used it as an excuse to beat and curse me for no reason other than that he was unhappy. I gave birth to five children: three daughters and two sons. Two of my older
There were only three people in my family: my father, my mother, and I. My mother was blind. My father was a peasant and I helped him with the farm work. I missed my parents very much in that place [Tengqiao Comfort Station] and wanted to escape. My body felt as if it were falling apart due to the torments every night. Many times I looked for an opportunity to run away and secretly discussed it with the other girls there. But Japanese soldiers strictly guarded the house, and we didn’t know any of the roads outside the house, so it was impossible to escape. Once one of my friends there, a girl of Han ethnicity, 4 escaped from the place, but she was captured by the Japanese soldiers and almost beaten to death. Then she was locked up, most likely killed. After that incident, I gave up my hope for escape and submitted myself to fate.
During that time I didn’t see any woman given a medical examination in the station, nor did I see any man ever use a condom. I didn’t know if any of the girls became pregnant, but I knew one woman, whose name was Chen Youhong, who was tortured to death. She didn’t want to do what the Japanese soldiers told her to do, so she was beaten until blood gushed out of her vagina. She bled to death. I heard that another girl committed suicide by biting off her own tongue.
The Japanese soldiers never gave us anything or any money. They didn’t even give us enough to eat, never mind paying us. I was kept in the Tengqiao Comfort Station for a long time, at least two years, until I became very sick and my family helped me escape. That was around the Fifth or the Sixth Lunar Month of the year. That day Huang Wenchang from my home village came to see me. He told me that my father had died. I cried loudly and bitterly, and went to beg the Japanese officer to let me go home to attend my father’s funeral. The officer wouldn’t let me at first, but Huang Wenchang and I begged and begged, kneeling on the floor to kowtow. Finally he agreed to let me go, with the condition that I would return to the comfort station as soon as my father’s funeral was over.
That was in the evening. Huang Wenchang took me out of Tengqiao and, via a shortcut, towards home. We arrived at my home in the middle of the night. As I walked through the door, I was stunned to see my father in perfectly good health waiting for me. It turned out that my father and Huang Wenchang had made a plan to rescue me from that comfort station by deceiving the Japanese troops. They were afraid that I would have been unable to act as if it were real, so they didn’t tell me the truth until I got home.
My father and Huang Wenchang worked overnight with hoes and shovels to make a fake grave for me on top of a desolate hill on the outskirts of the village. They told people that I had committed suicide because of excessive grief. My father and I fled from the village right after that. My mother had already died by that time. My father and I became fugitives and for a period lived as beggars. We stayed in one place for a while then returned to Jiama Village. People in our village told us that the Japanese officer “Jiuzhuang” had come with a group of soldiers to arrest me. The villagers told him that I had committed suicide. He saw the fake grave and believed them.
Since everyone in the village knew that I had been ravaged by the Japanese troops, no man in good health or of good family wanted to marry me. I had no choice but to marry a man who had leprosy. My husband knew about my past and used it as an excuse to beat and curse me for no reason other than that he was unhappy. I gave birth to five children: three daughters and two sons. Two of my older
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