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Japanese Comfort House Found in East China
An old building in Ningbo, an east China city, Zhejiang Province , was recently identified as a former comfort house used by the Japanese invaders in China over 60 years ago, offering an evidence of the existence of comfort women during World War II.
The house on Manao Road in Jiangbei District was built in the 1930s and has the white walls and black tiles commonly seen in the Yangtze River area.
Wang Zhuxuan, an 84-year-old woman who has lived on a nearby street for over 60 years, said the house belonged to a landlord whose name was Zhuang, but was seized by the Japanese troops and turned into a brothel when the city fell in April 1941.
A few Ningbo women served as comfort women -- sex slaves -- in the house, Wang said, adding that after the Japanese surrender, one of the women moved to nearby Taoyuanlu Street.
"She seemed to have no friends and relatives, and never mixed with others. The neighbors all knew her, but would not bother to say hello to her when they met on the street," Wang said.
Li Weibo, an elderly man who works in the editing office of the local chronicles, remembered the Japanese words on the gate of the house: "the Moon House," or brothel.
Chen Agui, 93, said that he was a rickshaw man at that time, and often carted Japanese soldiers to the house.
"The house was guarded by Japanese soldiers, and only the Japanese were seen in and out of the house. People knew that it was a brothel for the Japanese. But no one dared to look into it when passing by," said Chen.
The house was partly renovated in 1984 and now houses the Jiangbei District Culture Center. But seven rooms on the second floor remain intact as they used to be alike 60 years ago.
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