Japanese atrocities documented in new book

New copies of Irrefutable Evidence are set up on a table during the book launching ceremony at the Jilin Provincial Archives, Changchun, Northwest China's Jilin province, April 23, 2014. [Photo by Song Wei/chinadaily.com.cn]

Changchun – A new book documenting Japanese atrocities in China during the Japanese occupation was published Wednesday in Changchun, Northeast China's Jilin province.

The 729-page book, called Irrefutable Evidence, consists of 89-volumes of written materials and their interpretations. The materials were prepared by Japanese troops in China from 1936 to 1945 and left behind when they hastily withdrew from the country after the end of World War II.

“The publishing of the book would come a vigorous counterattack against Japan’s domestic right-wing forces, who have brought the Sino-Japan relationship to a record low,” said Jiang Lifeng, one of the book’s advisers, and a scholar at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

A Japanese cabinet minister and nearly 150 lawmakers on Tuesday visited the Yasukuni Shrine, which commemorates Japan's war dead, including convicted war criminals from World War II.

“The records in the book, all written by the Japanese militants themselves, provide the iron-clad evidence of their gruesome cruelties,” Zhuang Yan, the chief editor of the book said.

Eight categories of archives are included in the book: Nanjing Massacre, comfort women, Special Transfer of Personnel to Unit 731, atrocities of the Japanese military’s enslaved workers, invasion through immigration, suppression of the anti-Japanese army and UK and US prisoners of war.

Zhuang said the book is full of academic value and is also going to have a great influence in the world, with the coming of the 70th anniversary of the War of Anti-Japanese Aggression and the War of Anti-Fascism next year.

“I had a grieved heart when I was compiling the book,” Zhuang said, “but we don’t want people to hold the grudge for good, which is not our original intention of publishing the book. Instead, we would like to serve as a wake-up call for the world’s peace lovers to get united to never let this kind of historical tragedy happen again.”