"It's betrayal if one forgets the history," 67-year-old Chinese American Robert Cup Choy voiced with emotion when he heard that the government of Zhuhai city in south China's Guangdong Province has planned to input over eight million yuan for an expansion of the site of the mass grave in Sanzao.

Robert's grandfather Chen Jiacai was born in Sanzao in Zhuhai city. He went to Hawaii in at the end of the 1990s to make a living. In 1998, Robert in his sixties made the first return to his hometown. Immersed in fellows' deep affection, he was, however, shocked by the unbelievable fact: as many as ten housand innocent compatriots killed by Japanese aggressors were buried at the grave in Sanzao.

On January 17, 1938, 6,000-odd Japanese troops landed in Liantang, Sanzao, making Sanzao their military base for the invasion in southern China. At least 10, 000 Chinese were killed during Japan's eight years' occupation there. In 1948, overseas Chinese and compatriots in Hong Kong and Macao funded the construction of the mass grave. As a survivor, Robert's brother Chen Fuyan remembers clearly that over 8, 000 names were announced at the memorial meeting then.

Over the years, Robert has collected large quantity of photos, materials and articles recording the Japanese troops' invasion in Sanzao. He has accumulated a great deal of information through visits to ten remains such as the the mass grave, the military brothel and the blockhouse once and again.

Robert returned to Sanzao again in December 2004 and completed in three months nearly 20, 000-word English draft on Japanese troops' atrocities in his hometown and had it translated into Chinese. I have Chinese blood, he said, Japan has always refused to admit its invasion of China, and now even brazenly distorts history by tampering with its history textbooks. I want to express my dissatisfaction with the Japanese government through my book.

By People's Daily Online