Ten victims of the five-year bombing of Chongqing, provisional capital in the War of Resistanceto Japan (1937-1945), recently formed a group to demand compensation from the Japanese government.

The group is a non-governmental organization composed of 382 bombing victims.

Intruding Japanese troops bombed the city of Chongqing on 218 occasions, dropping 21,593 bombs from 9,513 sorties and killing 11,889 people and injuring 14,700 others in five years from February 1938 to August 1943.

The most intensive bombing occurred on May 3 and 4, 1939, whichclaimed 3,991 lives and made 200,000 people homeless in the two days, turning into one of the most tragic massacres in global air attack history.

Wang Yonggang, 41, one of the organizers, said his group had collected 320 papers recording tragic stories of the victims and adozen material evidences. The group demands a compensation of 31.5million yuan (3.8 million US dollars) from the Japanese government.

Though Wang did not experience the bombardment himself, he reada lot and talked with many victims. He resigned from an ad firm toset up a group to seek compensation from Japan in October 2003.

"This isn't something for myself. It concerns tens of millions of people in China. Every Chinese of conscience should stand up," he said.

Wang's aging father reproached him for failing to offer a helping hand for the family. Wang still insisted on working for the group pro bono, which has 382 members now.

"There must be a person to do this. The demand for compensationis not merely an economic matter, it is an act of safeguarding national dignity, opposing war and calling for peace," he said.

However, a lawyer from Japan advised the group members to prepare themselves for the setback as the demand for compensation from the Japanese government by a non-governmental organization isan arduous task.

Source: Xinhua