Cold comfort for former sex slaves

Fu Meiju (center) is one of the few surviving "comfort women", a bland euphemism for brutal sexual slavery by Japanese troops during World War II, in South China's Hainan province. Using a wheelchair, she now lives with her grandson, his wife and their children. HUANG YIMING / CHINA DAILY

Many women abused in military brothels by the Japanese army during World War II are now neglected by society and living in desperate conditions.

At 8 am in the jungle of Hainan Island, China's southernmost province, the sun was burning off the mist in a quiet village in Chengmai county, and even at that early stage of the day, the heat was beginning to make Li Meijin's tiled-roofed apartment unbearably hot and humid.

The surrounding countryside hasn't changed much in the 69 years that have passed since a 16-year-old Li escaped from a Japanese military brothel, running haphazardly through the same forest of giant banana trees and banyans.

Statistics published by the Comfort Women Issue Research Center at Shanghai Normal University show that during World War II, Japanese troops commandeered about 200,000 women in the Chinese mainland for use as "comfort women", a bland euphemism for brutal sexual slavery. Li Meijin was one of them.

Fewer than 20 of the former comfort women in China are still alive, but about 10 of them live in Hainan, including Li Meijin, who was abused by the Japanese troops for for about a month.

"One night, I heard a woman scream. The Japanese soldier got up off me and ran out, pulling up his pants," the 85-year-old said.

When she peeked through the open doorway, she saw a dead woman being carried out of a nearby building. "She was naked and ghostly pale under the moonlight," she said. "I was terrified. I knew I would soon be dead too if I stayed. I had to escape."

One night, while the soldiers who had just raped her were distracted, she fled into the jungle and ran as hard as she could. Although she survived, the gruesome experience left her with long-term gynecological problems and a severe backache that still troubles her.

"They raped me during the night, and beat me to do construction work during the day. The pain was so bad that I couldn't even stand up, so I had to work on my knees," she said. "Ever since then, I've had a hard time getting out of bed because of the pains in my back and waist."

Desperate conditions

Most of the former comfort women still alive in China live in desperate conditions - physically, socially, and financially - and they long for attention, recognition, and support from society, according to Su Zhiliang, director of the research center at Shanghai Normal University.

Su said the abuse the women suffered in the camps left many of the survivors infertile and caused long-term health problems. About 40 percent of them never married, so they have no families to support them now that they are elderly and sick.