Published on: 2026-05-06
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
On Thursday in China, the first complete translation into Chinese of the stenograms of the Tokyo Tribunal 1946-1948 was released: 80 years after the historical court held Japanese war criminals accountable.
In 1946, 11 countries established the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo, dedicated to the conclusion of the Second World War. It sentenced two former Japanese prime ministers and other representatives of the highest military and civilian leadership to death for crimes against humanity. However, the court documents were mainly composed in English and Japanese, and recordings in Chinese were only fragmentary. The completed translation project comprises 40 volumes, more than 20,000 pages, and 22 million hieroglyphs, filling gaps in the Chinese archive.
Researcher at Shanxi University, Cziaotun Zhao Yuixiwei: “It is important to study the history of the Tokyo Trial in order to understand that 80 years ago, the international court made a decision on this issue, reaching the indisputable conclusion that Japan’s aggressive war constitutes an international war crime.”
Xian Lunwan is a professor and the son of Chinese prosecutor Xian Zhixiong, who was the chief prosecutor on the Chinese side in the Tokyo Trial and secured the conviction of Japanese war criminals. The professor says these materials are extremely important because they represent the trial records that reflect a complete picture of Japanese aggression.
Professor, son of Chinese prosecutor Xian Zhexiong Xian Lunwan: “Today we are holding a meeting dedicated to the 40 volumes of translations of court protocols into Chinese. These 40 volumes are exceptionally important as they represent the primary sources. Based on these documents, people can learn the entire trial process that took place then, as well as the full picture of Japanese aggression. This is very important.”
Translation work was carried out for more than 10 years at the Chuozhou University of Yuxi in the city of Shaoxin in the east of the country. As noted by the university president Yun Hemin, the project united the efforts of specialists from various fields, including descendants who participated in the process of Chinese prosecutors.
Director of the Jiusan Institute of Foreign Languages, Yue Xun He Min: “The publication of the full translation of court protocols into Chinese has significantly expanded the global community’s access to key documents of the Tokyo Tribunal. Thanks to this, more people in the world have gained access to these most important historical materials.”
For the translation team, the work was not just linguistic. E Singo, the head of the translation team, called it an interdisciplinary project.
E Singo, head of the translation team: “Our group of translators mainly worked with materials in English, and the verification was done by specialists not only in the field of history but also in the field of law.”
Against the backdrop of the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Tokyo Trials and considering the increasing activity of right-wing forces in Japan, Professor Xian Lunwan considers it important to warn about the dangers of the revival of Japanese militarism. According to him, these materials should make history more accessible to the Chinese and Japanese peoples, especially to the younger generation in Japan, so that they can better understand the ongoing process.
Professor, son of the Chinese prosecutor Xian Zheczong Xian Lunvan: “Most of the court protocols describe the entire process of how Japanese militarism arose, expanded, developed, and in the end sank into ruin. Having read them, I received the most important moral and ethical lesson.”
Moreover, the participants of this project assure that, thanks to thorough cross-checking and meticulous text analysis, the Chinese translation is more accurate than the versions in English and Japanese.
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