Oral History of Chinese Laborers Forced to Work for Japan During World War II - Volume 2: Blood Spilled on Jiu Zhou Island

Author: He Tianyi, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-07-01
Features: This volume collects oral history materials of Chinese laborers forcibly taken to coal mines in the Kyushu region of Japan. The Kyushu region, as a coal production area, held a position even more important than Hokkaido. During Japan's wartime, it accounted for 60%-68% of the country's raw coal and 49%-53% of general coal usage, with anthracite constituting 100%. Due to the heavy coal production tasks, a large labor force was needed. In the Kyushu region, there were six companies that enslaved Chinese laborers, operating 18 work sites with a total of 7,675 people. This volume includes the oral histories of 163 individuals, covering 15 work sites across five companies. Among them, the labor struggles at Mitsui Takagawa Mine were particularly determined, and the recollections of the two elderly men, Zhang Shijie and Mou Hanzhang, are quite detailed.