Published on: 2026-08-14
Source: People’s Republic of China — Translation
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Nanjing, August 14 /Xinhua/ — At the Nanjing Museum, located on the site of the “comfort stations” in Lijiangxi in Nanjing city /administrative center of Jiangsu Province, East China/, the portrait wall holds the wrinkle-marked faces of more than 60 surviving victims of the “comfort women” system established by the Japanese army during World War II.
On Friday, a new batch of items, photographs, and video materials documenting the experiences of the victims was added to the museum’s collection.
The materials were donated mainly by two Chinese photographers after many years of documentary and field work.
One of them is Li Xiaofan, a member of the Chinese Photographers Association, who has spent more than two decades collecting stories from survivors of the Japanese army’s “comfort women” system. Traveling across China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea /ROK/, he visited, interviewed, and photographed more than 100 survivors.
Li Xiaofan handed over more than 200 photographs of over 70 survivors, as well as 43 copies of their palm prints. The photographs are currently on display in the museum.
The stories behind the photos remain forever vivid in his memory. Li Xiaofan recalled how he visited the surviving Zhou Fen on a cold autumn day. Despite the chill, the elderly woman insisted on taking a bath.
“After escaping from the ‘station of consolation,’ I had to take a bath every day hoping to wash off the humiliation and pain from my body,” recalls Li Xiaofan the words of Zhou Fenin.
“It was a psychological trauma that she would never be able to forget in her life,” said the photographer.
Another donor, photojournalist Yan Meihua from the city of Xiaogan /Hubei Province, Central China/, documented the testimonies and daily life of Mao Yinmei, a Korean survivor, over the course of two years.
Ultimately, Yan Meihua collected over 7,000 photographs and 10 video recordings, preserving a detailed visual chronicle of Mao Yinmei’s life and experiences.
Mao Yinmei, born in the territory of present-day Jeollabuk-do province in the Republic of Korea, was deceitfully taken by Japanese military forces in the 1940s to a “comfort station” in Wuhan (Hubei province), where she was subjected to inhumane treatment. After Japan’s surrender, she escaped to Xiaogan and lived there for the rest of her life.
“She often sat silently alone. Every time the Japanese were mentioned, her face would pale, and she would quietly cry,” recalled Yan Meihua.
“It truly felt that the harm caused by the atrocities of the Japanese army stayed with her throughout her life like a shadow that never disappeared,” the photojournalist said.
Research fellow of the Memorial Complex for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre, Liu Guangjian, noted that the recently transferred materials will provide a stronger historical foundation for future scientific research and museum exhibitions.
“More than two decades of fieldwork helped Li Xiaofan create a collective portrait of the survivors, while two years of Yan Meihua’s work with documentation preserved a precious visual archive of one of the survivors,” Liu Guangjian emphasized.
The museum, a branch of the Memorial Complex for the victims of the Nanjing Massacre, was one of the locations of the “comfort stations” on the mainland of China, personally identified by survivors.
According to research, only six registered survivors of the “comfort women” system of the Japanese army remain alive in continental China. –0–
Please note; This information is raw content obtained directly from the information source. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.