(Note: Li Fenglai, born in 1924, lived in Chengnanpu village Fanhe town Tieling county. He was a member of “Hardworking for official” during the puppet Manchuria. This article makes extracts from “The Literature and History data of Tie Ling City” No.4)

I live in Chengnanpu village Fanhe town Tieling County. My ancestor and elder generation are poor parents who live on renting the land. I was born in 1924. When I was young, the whole family had about ten people, the aged were too older and the young were too younger. My father was one and only labor, we lived in straitened circumstances. I was the oldest child in my family. I managed with effort to finish my primary school. I had to work with my father at 14 and was looked on as ‘Semi-able-bodied’. Because my family was too poor, and have no enough food to eat and no enough clothes to wear, I was thin and small and not 1.5 meters in height yet. I was so thin and weak that I walked vacillatingly and staggeringly. But I must accept a physical examination according to the conscription system of puppet Manchuria.

In 1944,the other young men of right age and I arrived Tieling county town to accept the physical examination by the provisional conscription group of Tieling county. This group is made up of Tieling county persons in charge with conscription and the medical officers from puppet Manchuria army. They are all laughing when they see me because I am unqualified thoroughly. A medical officer about thirty years old shows the whites of his eyes and gives me an ironical remark. Which makes me angry very much. They also kick me and drive me away, so I become a “guobinglou”.

It was the morning on Feb. 1945 when Li Changxiang in charge of military service in Dafanhe town ship Tieling county with two villages come my home. He unhurriedly lights a cigarette, which I buy just now when he catch sight of our whole family nervousness. Then he says: “your father and son all are home opportunely, Li Fenglai must serve ‘Hardworking for official’. ‘Hardworking for official’ sounds as if it is a good thing. In fact it is to force common people to be coolie and its members are all young laborers. My father asks with great care: “Is this thin and weak child up to standard?”

Li Changxiang says laughingly: “the member of  ‘Hardworking for official’ group does not need physical examination. Anyone unfitting for national army is all qualified!” then he adds: “ the service place locates at Yinjia village. It is just about ten Li from here. Family members may go and see him and he may go home to visit his family too. Hurry up to get things ready and go now! ” “ Go now? ” The whole family gets a nasty shock. They are tearing when packing my luggage. Thus, carrying the old and shabby bedding and pillow, I part in tears with my family members and arrive at the village office supervised by Li Changxiang and two villages.

About two hours later, the right age youth for “ Hardworking for official ” are all sent away and to the county town under escort. In order to wait the service youth of the countywide villages, the men from Dafanhe village are locked up in a basement. It lasts three days and we endure three days hardships. We have no little freedom in the basement. We cannot speak loudly and have only two thin porridge meals which are not enough a day. There are many people standing guard on the basement. All countywide service people are sent to the county town on the forth day, so we are sent away under escort to the building site of Japanese GuanDong troops in Yingjia village. From then on, I begin the service life of “ Hardworking for official ”.

Yinjia village is a hilly land. There are mountains and flat grounds, rich soil and beautiful scenery. Japanese GuanDong troops take a fancy to this site and set up a large building site. At that time, it is said that they want to build the second Tokyo. In fact, it is a warehouse of Japanese GuanDong troops. The circumference is tens Li there. It also includes Heiniujuan and so on areas beside Yinjia village. So its second name is Heiniujuan warehouse of Japanese GuanDong troops. This warehouse begins to be built in 1944. A special railway is opened to traffic in April 1945. There are ten thousand laborers and “ Hardworking for official ” members working there. Up to Japanese surrender, some caves and two military groups and one engineer group they build still station there.

Laborers and members of “Hardworking for official” are most common people press-ganged from puppet Fengtian province. Laborers’ situation is more miserable. I don’t know where they come from. I only know that members of “Hardworking for official” come from Tieling, Kaiyuan, Changtu, Xinbin and so on areas. The highest establishment of “Hardworking for official” is column. Japanese is the captain. The column has group, squadron and squad. The head of the group and squadron are Japanese, Chinese and Korean, but Japanese have the final say no matter which officer rank they are in. I am in squad 3, squadron 3 and group 1. There are about sixty or seventy people in squad 3. Our station is at Jinjiafen. There is some wire netting electrified around the station. Japanese troops, a few Korean and Chinese stand guard with rifle whether day or night. So it is very difficult to escape.

The group captain Zeng Raotian admonishes us on the second day after we arrive. He speaks a lot, such as “ Goodwill between Japanese and Man”, “Be patriotic” and so on. He also announces the principle of the “Hardworking for official” group and requests everyone must obey it. The principle is nothing more than the thing, such as to obey orders, to work well, to accomplish the task on time, to ask for leave if you are busy, not to do bad thing and not to escape etc. After the admonition is over, every one is given a suit of yellow gunny unlined garment. There are not any reward and treatment in addition. ‘Hardworking for official” has the great militia character. Its members live semi militarily. The eating, sleeping, working and other daily life are all controlled by the principle. We must take action unified. It is a high and low relationship between the header above the squad and members. The junior must obey the senior’s orders, or they will be punished, such as being taken a beating, being abused etc. “Hardworking for official” members also must learn to sing two song. One names “Hardworking for official”, one names “ideal of youth”. Whenever to have an admonishing meeting, we are singing the songs in turns. We only sing this two song because we don’t know any other song.

The staple food of three meals a day is the pancake made of acorn powder mixed into mold corn flour. For saving trouble, every pancake weighs about two Liang and set limit to us. Every one only has a piece of pancake for each meal. For saving firewood, they use one caldron and pour a little water into the caldron center. Then stick on four circles big pancake around the caldron inner and comes to end as the water boiling. As a result, the downside of the pancake burnt deeply and the middle of the pancake is fresh but the upside of pancake is very red and hard. Moreover the mixed flour with the mold gout makes it difficult to swallow. The dish wasn’t mentioned even more. There are only two battle of soup for the whole squad about sixty or seventy peoples. They sometimes make out soup using the potato which less than three Jin. We name it dice because the potato was cut to be too small. It’s not just that, the header of the squad takes a spoon of perfect dish himself. So the remain is less and every one can just gets more than half bowl of soup just liking salt water.

Members of the “hardworking for official” have no holidays and their food never increased. We are in low spirits all the day even sway when we are walking. Though has not enough food, we must work from the sun rising to the sun setting. We had to work for 15 or 16 hours except for one hour at noon including the eating time. Our squad task is mainly to carry the soil and material. We are all tired out for carrying more than one hundred Jin baskets throughout the day. I can even not stand for my thin and weak body but not working will suffer beating by the stick and fist at any time. I have to stand with gritting my tooth. I have to stand even I am so angry that my stomach send out the ‘gugu’ sound. Chinese are worse than cows and the horses.

The residence for “working hard for official’ members is even worse” which can’t be compared with the cancha of the rich family. They put some woods on the ridge and then lay some old straw mats. These are our “bed”. In order to shield form wind and rain they put up the frame like ‘ren’ and lay two-layer straw mats. We call that the “laborer shed”. Every shed is 20 meters long. Inside the shed the breadth is not enough for five meters to put up two lines of beds face to face. There is about a half-meter passage in the middle of two lines of bed. Every one has only 0.6 meters place on the bed. One has to lie on his side so to turn over is not easy. The tall person has to huddle up his body to sleep and to bend his waist to come in because the shed is to low. It is very moist especially in the summer. You can’t sleep for biting by flies, louses and fleas all over the shed, which come form the dirt water of field ditch inside the shield. Sometimes we sleep even are bit severely because of too tired. More often we do not have daybreak so we have to work as the whistle ring. We, the slave of the foreign power, are living in an inhuman life.

The principle of the “hard working for official” is very harsh. He must suffer frombeating for offended. The gangers give their angry on team members with condemning and beating at will. Person who is beaten must stand at attention to bear “No moving when beating”. If you can’t finish the task, you will suffer more severe beating. Sometimes our squad can’t continuously finish the task for two days because we have not enough food and sleeping. The header of our squad is condemned greatly. The head of the “hard working for official” doesn’t beat him for their distant relative but order him to teach us members greatly. So the squad header orders us not to go back shed and not to eat after knocking off as he is back. He scolds us with livid face. That’s not just end. He orders us to slap each other with two lines face to face. In spite of his order, nobody of us do. He becomes more angrily when seeing this. Then he runs angrily to somebody in front of the row and slap him twice first using one hand and then using the other hand without demur. Then he shouts: “beating for me. No beating, no food, no going back to the shed”. Under his abusing of power we all have no way but to slap each other. Then the thing is over.

I was thin and short. I was too weak to load and to carry baskets. So it is routine to be stroked and kicked all day. There is more person who had a poor constitution in our squad. In order not to affect the rate of construction header of our squad reassigns jobs. He lets me pull railway switches for the “luluma” (a small tramcar) at pouring site when he sees I really can’t carry baskets. I am very glad at that time and I think to pull railway switches more brisk than to carry baskets. I am unexpected that I almost lose my life for pulling railway switches.

There are many gullies and forks for many mountains there. Caring stones, materials, cements and sands must completely depend on ‘luluma’. The small railway for it undulates and crisscrosses as for the high and low physical features of a place. Especially the ten temporary wood bridges crossing the bread ditch and the small mountain valley are not consolidate and very dangerous. There are a lot of ‘luluma’s to carry material. There is a switch controlled by special person at every fork.. I am terribly frightened after I arrive there lead by the squad header. No wonder there is no person who is willing to do this job. It is too dangerous. I take a look from top to bottom and find that this railway is over 50 meters, which in fact is a bridge over the mountain stream. It is at least 8 or 9 meters deep from the mountain stream to the bridge. If someone falls into the stream carelessly, he must be dead. I am irresolute. The squad header maybe finds out my thoughts so he says severely: “you can’t do other jobs so I let you pull the railway switches for helping you. But you are not willing to do this. Here is no job for ‘yangdaye’. ” Walking several steps, he turns about to shout loudly: “to tell you, only permit to do well, not permit to have accident. It is an order.” So I work as a switch puller against my will. On the first day I am so careful that nothing happens. But I am tired. This is almost equal to carry the soil. Carrying soil can walk everywhere but pulling railway switch can’t. On the second day the weather is bad. It blows fresh breeze or strong breeze and dust clouds flings up. The wood bridge sounds loudly for blown by the wind. I am tearing as soon as I meet with the wind for my eyes’ sickness. It so happens that it is blowing hard, which makes me tear continuously. At this time a ‘luluma’ is coming here from the far away place. I haven’t seen its turning sign and still think it is moving straightly. When it has reached I just see clearly that it will turn left. I am disorder greatly and hurry up to pull railway switch. I don’t catch the handle of the switch in a rush and muddle. The hard wind takes advantage of my precarious position to make me plunge into the mountain stream from the bridge. By chance I am hanged by a ‘ren’ letter shelf and don’t fall into the stream. I am very lucky that I am still alive only with my clothes scratching and hurt slightly. After the accident, header of the “hard working for official” and the squad come to the spot and scold me ruthlessly. Then they recall me to carry soil again.

Though escaping from death in a great catastrophe, I am down with an illness. I have a high fever and unable to eat any more. Walking needs great efforts so I only want to lie. The squad head thinks me to pretend to be ill so he forces me to work. I manage with effort to work all afternoon. Then I fall unconsciously at the building site with foaming my mouth. I have a fever with highest temperature. The head sees me really ill then he permits me to go to clinic to see the doctor.

The clinic house is almost the same as the shed that we live. It has the ridgepole in the roof and an old desk inside. And it is about 10 meters and about equal to four small rooms. Two are occupied by the clinic and the other two center rooms are the special kitchens for guards and headers. A wood bars wall which two sides are plastered with mud separates them. It is summer and the creeping maggots are full of all over the clinic. The smell is badly. Don’t say the patient, even for a good man who is in the clinic must have been ill. Nothing can I do about it. I have to see doctors and ask for some good medicine. The doctor says with smile: “good medicine! Good medicines have been taken out by headers. It is quite good to give you a few aspirins.” Then he gives me three pieces of medicines and says: “go back whether get well or not. Don’t come here again and I have no medicines!”

After taking the medicines, I am unexpected getting well gradually. Members all talk privately: “the boy is a lucky fellow. He doesn’t lose his life for that serious illness. He really escapes from jaws of death!” Somebody says: “if a member is seriously ill. They send him to serious disease ward without doctors and medicines. It is over that he is carried to the crematory.” I once see with my own eyes a crematory. One day we go to another building site, which is in a large slope. Its opposite side is a high mountain. I see it sending out black smoke at the halfway up the opposite hill. Smell is blown here by the wind, which is badly. I hear somebody saying that is the crematory afterwards and just two or three days does it burns person. Seeing and hearing we all have a feeling expressed with no words, which is a mixture of sadness, sorrow and fear. I say in heart: “fortunately I don’t lose my life for falling and illness or I must have gone that crematory.”

It is the morning a few days after the Dragon Boat Festival in 1945. We just want to work after having the breakfast. Office of the group informs the squad header to gather all the squad right now at the hillside behind the office because here is an important thing. We run to the gathering site with forming a line immediately. There is a hillside and the slope is not steep. But the area is large. It must be there if the office wants to have a meeting for emergency. All group members arrive and stand well behaved to listen to the lecture. Japanese header of the group gives a lecture first then he tells us why convene the meeting. There is no microphone at that time so he shouts with full effort: “six members of Xinbin county squadron escaped in partnership last night and were caught by guards. I will punish them. ” After drinking water, he continues: “you must sure not to learn them! Tell you the truth that the surrounding wire net has been charged with electricity all day and night. And you will die if you touch it.┄take those six fellows here! ” When he just finishes speaking, the fellows have been sent here and pressed on the ground. At this time, six strong men with shoulder pole come over and begin to beat them. Those men piteously entreat and howl with extreme pain, but the header of the group does not move. The merciless shoulder pole is beating with raindrop. After a while, their trousers has been broken to pieces, and their buttocks and legs swelled high, the skin is torn and the flesh gapes open, the flood dripping all over the ground… Seeing this, members dry their eyes stealthily. Being 20 years old, it is the first time for me undergoing this situation so I tremble with fear. Those six men are half alive by beating. They all fall unconsciously. They revive for cold water but cannot move again. And they are pulled back shed. It’s the end of the meeting when they finish beating. Members still go back building site to work. On the second day morning those six men all hang themselves for unbeared pain. The group office does not make it public and send them to crematory. We hear later: “ those six men don’t want to escape. Their home locates at deep gully in Xinbin County. It’s far away from building site and there are no transport facilities. And you cannot escape even if you want because caution of “ hardworking for official” team is very well. In fact their squad is in charge for water construction and the work is heavy, but they are not full and cannot sleep well. Those six men cannot endure actually so they partnership go up to the mountain to dig some edible wild herbs for allaying their hunger. Luckily no one find them for the first several times. It so happens that they are caught by guards this time and accused to escape. Whatever do they explain are of no avail. Those six young compatriots from Xinbin County are tormented alive to death.

We, “hardworking for official” members and laborer survivors, are just delivered from oppression on persecution and begin new lives after Japan surrounded on August 15th 1945.

Wang Shifu, Xu Yongfa

(Note: Wang Shifu is the former branch secretary of CPC in Zhouantun village. Xu Yongfa is the former secretary of the Party committee of CPC in Aji town. Those two men are ever laborers of Mount Luanshi engineering project during the puppet Manchuria. This article makes extract from “the Literature and History Data of Tieling City ” No. 4)

Japanese aggressor performs the project to build the second Tokyo at the south of Tieling city, the area from Xintun to Zhouantun, in winter 1944. It’s an area, which three sides surrounded by mountains and the intermediate zone is tens square kilometers plain. It stands across Hada highway and close near Zhongchang railway. The water resource is rich for Fan river flows across there. In a word it’s a beautiful and transport facilities place.

One day in the winter 1944, Japanese arrive at Zhouantun seating in automobiles and survey there with stepping on thick snow. About one month later they carry large quantities of goods and materials such as the timbers, reinforcing bars and cements etc. Just passing the Spring Festival in 1945, Japanese begin to requisite numbers of mandatory laborers. There are more than one hundred thousand laborers on the road one after another from Deshengtai railway station to Xintun, Zhouantun and Heinujuanzi area. Seeing on Mount Zhouantun, there is all the laborer sheds built with reed mats occupying an entire gully. Farmers do not plant crops that year.

Mandatory laborers belongs to three parts: one part is requisite and pressed from everywhere of the Northeast, south to Dalian, west to Suizhong and north to Harbin and Baichengzi. The other part is from Architect Company. The director of the company is Dagui. He controls several gangers who supervise laborers. And the third part is “hardworking for official” group members.

> There are three construction spots. The first is Xintun south hill, which mainly dig caves. The second is Zhouantun to build airport at west of the village and build military camps and guns factory at east of the village and build some houses at northern hill. The third is HeiNiuJuanZi. Laborers there mainly dig caves. In order to control them, Japanese move two battalions station at south and north of Zhouan village. The code name of the army is 4368 and it all has 700 soldiers.

The construction is intensive and progress rate is quick. Electricity is put through soon after laborers come here. A railway from Mount Luanshi to Zhouan is completed and opened to traffic in April. Laborers there construct a square well which diameter is more than 10 meters. The well draws water up to the Mount Yuanbao of Zhouan village. Tunnels inside the hill are built by Japanese engineers themselves. They are vertical and horizontal. The length is more than 800 meters. And they get through no sooner than.

Chinese laborers are persecuted by Japanese cruelly and inhumanly. They sleep on the damp ground. What they eat are cereal-chaff and oak flour mixed with fragmentary millets. They are continuously beaten cruelly by Japanese and the puppet devil (Korean gangers) when working. Their working intensity is higher. If they are ill, they will not be treated. So many laborers meet their death everyday. Their bodies are bound with mats and carried from the shed by other laborers then thrown to the born hillside to be eaten by wild dogs after their death. When building military station and building site at Gaojiafen, the site is completely constructed by “hard working for official” group. There are 10 group all together and 12 thousands peoples. Among them three groups including Tieling, Binjiang and Bayuan County group live together. Mr. XuYongfa serves “hard working for official” in 1943. He serves as a hard labor at first in Heilongjiang province. Then he is transferred to build military site at Zhouan village. He suffers many kinds of misery himself and finally has a narrow escape. Mr. Xu is beaten cruelly by Japanese and puppet devil for several times. Once it rained heavily, “hard working for official” members run to the shed to take shelter from rain. Japanese Bailang Shantian strikes Mr. Xu and other persons violently and makes them “mayinatai” (let a person downward his head and lie on the ground with hind legs upward) then step on the calf.

Building site supervisor of the Tieling County group is a Japanese named Shantian. He carries saber on the arm and guns on the back. He is very fierce and malicious. He is also cruel and inhuman. He often beats the “hardworking for official” members cruelly. Once Xu Yongfa and the other persons want to see bodies of the cremated teammate. Shantian does not permit and says: “Kenlaodai”(hardworking for official), the death does not matter, the Mikado army’s projects are important. For the higher working intensity and malnutrition, many peoples of two groups of Binjiang and Bayan County get the “xishilao” disease in less than one month. But Japanese don’t treat them. So everyday there are more than ten to twenty people who died. If one person is dead, a barrel of kerosene and two woods are given then he is carried uphill to cremate. Sometimes the leg or the head is left. All remnants are thrown to hill to feed wild dogs. It is so tragic that one can’t bear to look at. From the spring in 1945 to Japanese surrender, only 5 months, “hard working for official” members of the two groups of Binjiang and Bayan Count have reduced from 2400 to 600. After Japanese surrender family members of the two groups go to Tieling to find their bodies. Everywhere of the hill is full of remaining human body’s bones and incomplete limbs eaten by wild dogs. Crying spreads all over the northern hill.

Wang Huailiang

(Note: Wang Huailinang, 52 years old, lives in Yin village Tieling County. His ancestral home is Xinglong County Hebei province. The material makes extracts from informal discussion record of investigating meeting in Dec. 20th 1964. Its manuscript is kept in archives of Tieling County. The page is No. 28-1-283 volume, No.54.)

I come from Xing long Hebei province. At first laborers is recruited from ten families in order. But they order me must go. So I go to Rehe by train. Every meal I only eat two-steamed bread with corns made of oak flour mixed with corn flour. Then I go to Jinzhou to build houses for making paper and carrying woods. More than one year, 23 of the 38 persons are dead and only 15 are left. Later I go to Fan village Tieling to plaster cement. Having no clothes, we wear the cement pockets. Not a single end of a thread on our body. Shan Xishan wants to drink water for illness. I give him a little and am seen by Japanese patrols. They beat me and let me handcuffed for two hours. My hands are swelling widely. Till Japan is collapse only I am left among the15 persons. If someone is ill, Japanese say that there are hospitals in Yin village. In fact they are pulled to be cremated as soon as they lie. Someone doesn’t breathe his last and Japanese carry him with automobiles to cremate at Houjiafen. There are two cremating beds built by seven or eight stones in there. Everyday the bed is used. Some people are not buried after death. They are thrown to ditch or buried alive. Only half of 100 thousand persons are left when the factory closed.

Wang Mingzhang

(Note: Wang Mingzhang, 47 years old, lives in Donggou village Tieling. The material makes extracts from informal discussion record of the Yaobao commune-investigating meeting on Dec. 20th, 1964. Its manuscript is kept in archives of Tieling County. The page is No. 28-1-824 volume, No.60.)

When the puppet Manchuria has almost collapsed, I work as a laborer for several months. At that time, the sheds covered all over the Xinlitun area. Its numbers were up to hundred thousand of people. The food was oak flour porridge and it was not full. In the evening the header orders us to take off all clothes to prevent us escaping. The dead for both hungry and illness were many. Persons who are beaten are uncountable. We could see one or two people being carried out of the sheds on average every day.

Yu Xiwen

(Note: Yu Xiwen, 72 years old, his homeland is Fengcheng county Liaoning. He lives in Fanjia village Yaopu town Tieling county. He is one of laborers of the mount Luanshi. This material formed on Oct. 4th 1999.)

> My name is Yu Xiwen. I am seventy two year old. I am the village people at group three, Fanjia village Yaopu town Tieling county. My hometown is Fengcheng county Liaoning. I come here for working as Japanese laborers in March 1945. After the Japanese collapse, I stay here to settle. I am one of workers recruited. I am seventeen in that year. I am sent here to dig the cave from the north to south. The cave is No.1. The manager is a ganger. There are “Dagui” and “Ergui” below him. We live in the laborer sheds. Where lay rice straw on the underground and there are a lot of sting fleas. It smells awful inside the shed. The laborers’ death is just like the chicken’s death, and it doesn’t matter. We have fifty people mastered by Xie ganger. People are dead for all kind reasons such as collapse, knocked by “Luluma” and illness. They are buried with a coffin made of five cm. thicken board at south hillside (Mount Xiaotuan at north Fanjia village, which is the north of the stone pit.). It isn’t buried deeply. Afterward Japanese don’t bury the dead and throw the bodies at the hillside since the dead are more. Eight people mastered by our ganger are dead. And every ganger’s team has the dead people. There are more than one hundred people buried at the south hillside. There are three entrances of the caves at the south hillside, which the inside has collapsed and no one charges. I go to see the unmarked common graves where has nothing and has become the cultivated land now. Fifty years past, holding by the wolf and wild dog in mouth, there are not any bones there.

Zhao Jinsheng

(Note: Zhao Jinsheng is seventy six year old. He lived in Shishangzi village Yaopu town Tieling county now. He is a laborer of the Manchuria in Mount Luanshi. The material formed on Oct. 10th, 1999.)

I am Zhao Jinsheng. I am seventy and six years old. I am the village people of group one, Shishangzi village Yaopu town Tieling county. I work as a laborer at Xiadianzi. My main job is carrying cannonball boxes and pulling gas pail etc. Japanese engineering team is Feidao group here. The auto door marks it. Laborers have the red broomcorn porridge in the evening. More than half barrel porridge with small half iron barrel is one meal for 13 peoples. And one will eat more if he eats fast, or eat less. At noon, it is small pancake which given in the morning and laid in the shed to eat. We have the Jianguo porridge in the evening i.e. the mixture of moldy maize flour and oak flour. We are not full. It is so hard that people will all escape without the electricity nets. Wei Zhongxi in our village is killed by the electricity net. His son is alive. Laborer Li who is more than twenty is also killed by the electricity. Before Japanese collapse, more laborers come from Wafandian. I see that a laborer from Wafangdian died with my own eyes, he is carried out of the tollgate and buried at the back of hill in Shishanzi.

Liu Yuhua

(Notes: Liu Yuhua, sixty and nine years old, lives in Liaoguantai village breeder plant Tieling county. His hometown is Pingquan county Hebei province. The materials sorts out of records and notes gathered news on the June 12th, 1999.)

I dig cave at Heiniujuanzi i.e. the third site of the Mount Luanshi engineering project. My hometown is Pingquan county Hebei province. I am recruited to here with my father at that time. We build the railway in Changchun city first. Then we come to Tonghua city where I scatter with my father. I am sent to Mount Luanshi from Tonghua city where I become a laborer.

I am only fourteen that year. I have to work for twelve hours a day. The foods are the maize flour, bean cake and oak flour. All things are moldy so it is awful to eat. I live in a mat shed. Forty or fifty peoples live in one shed. Laborers stay at two sides of the shed. The strew mats are laid on the ground. The fleas are full of laborers bodies from head to feet. The shed has only one layer mat so it will leak and we can’t live there when it is raining. Anything is given to wear so we all like beggars. Where can we escape? We must be caught before we run far away. No one cares about laborers’ illness and to die is the end.

Watched by Japanese and traitor, we are beaten by them using the wood sticks and the handle of the pickaxe if we do well. I have to pull “Luluma” because I am too young. There is a railway at Yinjiatun and it has not gotten to Heinujuanzi. There has not electricity either. We use gas lamp when we are digging the cave. The Guandong troops transports a lot of goods and materials. Woods and cements are quite many. People digging cave come from everywhere. I can’t remember where they come from for I am too younger.

It is more than two months when the Northeast of China is recovered. After the project stopped I wander to the Laoguantai village nearby the building site. I sever as a “ banlazi” in “Shongs”. And then settle here.

Wang Hongxian

(Notes: Wang Hongxian, seventy eight years old, lives in Shengli village Shengli town Bin county Heilongjian province now. He has been the “hardworking for official” member during the puppet Manchuria and joined the performance of the Mount Luanshi engineering project. This material sorts out records gathered news on Jan. 15th 2000.)

I am Wang Hongxian. I am seventy eight year old and live in Shengli town where the original name is “Bin Xian Gong Shu”. I was twenty in 1945 and was a “Guo Bing Lou”. I go to Mount Luanshi of Tieling as the “hardworking for official” when the snow has not melted in spring. Two groups come from Bin county and I am in group one. The senior header’s surname is Bian and the squadron header’s surname is Yang. Our squadron with sixty members lives in one shed, which lies at eastern of the cement rack.

The shed just likes the wick up. Woods and trew berries lay on the ground. There are a lot of flies, mosquitoes and fleas inside the shed. The food is the seamed bread of mixture with oak flour and maize flour. Two seamed breads are given afternoon one day. And it is only half glass large and quite thin. The dish is something that put vegetable leaves and salt into water remained after making the seamed breads. For lack of salt, we have to add by asking someone to buy from Yinjia village. The supper is porridge more watery than the diarrhea water, we are not full at all. We must exercise in the morning and yell the countersign in Japanese. We must work for more than ten hours. The jobs are digging soil, carrying baskets and concreting. Because foods are bad but jobs are hard and the sanitation is bad, many people are dead for illness and tire. Eight members of our squad are dead. He will be thrown to a big pit at the east ditch. Nowhere is harder than Mount Luanshi.

I ask leave to go home. It is the half-month before recovering when I ask leave to go home. The northeast China recovers before I go back. I serve as the secretary of the village branch of CCP and the vice secretary of the commune branch of CCP. I retired in 1983. The people go to Mount Luanshi with me together are not alive now.

Li Diancheng

(Notes: Li Diancheng, 67 year old. His hometown is Baodi county Hebei province. He lives in Niugou village Zhouantun branch of the Tieling breeder plant now. This material sorts out of records gathered news on Jan. 19th, 1999.)

I am Li Diangcheng. I am 67 year old. My hometown is Baodi county Hebei province. I was recruited here with my father in 1945 when I was about eleven. We are two thousand peoples coming from inside Shanhaiguan Pass by boxcar. They promise to give my family the grain ration but they don’t give again in the last period.

You cannot see end of the sheds from here. People cannot cultivate. And the Wenhuami’s piles are quite many. There is the electric lamp at the building site. It is lighted in the evening the same as daytime. The water is feeding to the upward of the hill. The dead laborers are quite many. There are some laborers died every day. They are sent to the north ditch and burned. I have seen that.

After recovering, Russian comes here. I see that one hundred Japanese were disarmed by Russian army. My family doesn’t move after Japanese’s collapsing. My family gets houses and land here during the land reform period.

Liang Jinchai

(Notes:Liang Jinchai is 77 year old, lives in the Zhouantun branch of Tieling breeder plant now. He is a native and works in the Mount Luanshi engineering project as the “hardworking for official” member at the puppet Manchuria time. This materials sorts out of the records gathered news on April 19th 1999. )

I am Lang Jinchai. I am 77 year old and am the original inhabitant in Niugoutun Zhouantun village Tieling breeder plant. I sever as “hardworking for offical” in Mudanjiang city during puppet Manchuria period. I work for four months at Yinjiatun in recovering year. I dig dirt and build cement wall at east Gaojiafen Yin village. Which starts on the melting time of the spring.

Tieling county group of the “hardworking for official” charges this at that time. One squad has more than sixty peoples. One squad equips one shed. I am in squad 4. Our food is the husked Kaoling and the oak flour etc. The “hardworking for official” member is given a piece of unlined regeneration blue frock. The mixer is on the big rack in Yinjiatun. Under which is the “Luluma”. The “hardworking for official” members don’t work with laborers together. Laborers are many and one group has more than one thousand people. The supervisors are Japanese and they don’t work. Korean is puppet devil and they don’t work either but beat us. The rain is leaking in the shed when it is raining. I have ever hit puppet devil for the mat. I escape before Japanese collapses. Because my “hardworking for official” is mature. I escape because they don’t let me leave. I hit the header of the squad out with the shoulder pole when he comes and wants me back.

Only several people of Tieling county are dead. But many peoples of Binjiang county are dead. The treatment of other places is worse than that of local place. The head of laborers is greedy. The treatment of the carriage team is the worst. If the member die, he will be cremated and then be post to his home with an ashes box.

Gu Yuqing

(Notes: GuYuqing, female, 77 year old and his hometown is Puyang county Henan province. She lives in Xintun village Fanhe town Tieling county. And she is the family member of the puppet Manchuria laborers of the Mount Luanshi engineering project. This material forms in Nov. 1999.)

I am Gu Yuqing, 77 years old. My husband is Lang Deshan and he has passed away. Our hometown is Puyang county Henan province. We are recruited to work at Mount Luanshi by Japanese on the Spring Festival of 1945. That day is exactly the thirty of the lunar calendar. Lang Deshan is twenty and four or five. We arrive at the south building shed in Xintun with our children on the second day of the first month. Lang Deshan binds the rack pole for Japanese and he works for Japanese Yiheyuan team. Many people live in a big shed. We are cold, hungry and tire and don’t fit the natural environment. So three members of my family are dead. Lang dies after the liberation. The dead is not as good as a dog’s death.