Survivor of Japan's 'comfort women' system dies, leaving 8 on Chinese mainland

SHANGHAI -- A 95-year-old survivor of the Japanese army's "comfort women" system during World War II, passed away on Saturday in Central China's Hunan province, leaving only eight registered survivors on the Chinese mainland.

Previous research has shown that some 400,000 women in Asia were forced to be "comfort women" — sexual slaves for the Japanese army during World War II — and nearly half of them were Chinese.

The survivor, born in 1930 in Pingjiang county, Hunan, was abducted by Japanese soldiers with her cousin in early 1945. They, along with other girls taken from various locations, were confined in a house in Pingjiang, where they endured severe sexual abuse, according to the Research Center for Comfort Women at Shanghai Normal University.

After more than a month of captivity, she was rescued by Chinese soldiers.

The research center has conducted multiple investigations in the provinces of Hunan and Shanxi, collecting information through site visits, testimonies of survivors, and historical records to establish research archives on victims of the Japanese army's "comfort women" system.

It has also set up a fund for "comfort women" research and assistance, which assists the victims and supports relevant research.