From 32 to 22: 'Comfort women' remembered in China

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Today marks the 72th anniversary of the end of World War II, the day when the Japanese army surrendered. 

The war is over, but pains linger in people's hearts. 

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Do you remember that Aug 14 marks the International Memorial Day for Comfort Women — an euphemism for sex slaves?

No matter what your answer is, now you can know this group of special victims during World War II from a documentary movie Twenty Two, which made a debut in China on Monday.

The movie got its name from the number of surviving Chinese "comfort women" in 2014, when director Guo Ke prepared to make the film. In 2012, Guo’s first short documentary was named Thirty Two.

From 32 to 22

The 90-minute documentary featured 22 "comfort women" in China, who peacefully shared their eyewitness accounts of history. As of July, only nine of the 22 women in the movie remained alive.

The number of living "comfort women" in China has dropped to only 14 in the Chinese mainland, after another one passed away on Aug 12 at the age of 90 in Hainan province. 

Huang Youliang and seven other "comfort women" sued the Japanese government in 2001, demanding an apology, but their appeals have been repeatedly rejected, claiming that they were not in position to file the lawsuit against the state.

The Japanese government has also refused to acknowledge legal responsibility for the "comfort women" issue so far.

"There is no need to create the so-called conflicts, to reopen their scars, and to provoke hatred. It is not a movie that sells pain and tears. It is just enough to bring the audience to them, to see them, and to get to know them. 

"Understanding them is the biggest help. They have their own way to take in the pain," Guo said. "In order to survive, they seldom recall those bitter memories."

Few people know how much miseries the "comfort women" have experienced in their whole life, and even they themselves can hardly describe.

Around the average age of 90, they have diseases and are unable to move much around.

Never forget history

Twenty Two aims to remind the audience that, in face of pain, not grudging all the time, but never forgetting history and always keeping calm is the best answer.

Whenever one victim in the movie died, Guo would add a black frame to her name at the end of the film.

But recently, they went away so fast that he did not even have time to add the frame...

He said that maybe one day he would erase all the frames so that he could go back to the time when he first met them.

They will smile at the camera as if they have never left us, he said.

What do you think of the history behind the movie?

Sources: People's Daily, Xinhua