Nanjing begins WWII 'comfort stations' survey

NANJING - The Liji Alley Comfort Women Museum, Nanjing, has begun to collate information on military brothels, or "comfort stations," established by the Japanese during its occupation of the eastern city during World War II.

The investigation will result in a comprehensive record of Japan's war crimes, according to museum curator Su Zhiliang, and the evidence will be used as supporting documentation for the ongoing application to have comfort women inscribed on the Memory of the World Register, established by UNESCO in the 1990s.

An exhibition and a report on the museum's findings are scheduled for next year.

The museum is on the former site of a WWII Japanese military brothel, which was established after Japanese troops occupied Nanjing at the end of 1937, said Su, there were around 60 brothels in Nanjing at the height of the Japanese occupation.

The museum opened in December 2015 with a collection exceeding 1,600 items and 19 videos. More than 20,000 people have visited the museum since it opened.

The survey will be completed in three parts: The sourcing of plans, maps, photos and videos of Nanjing's comfort stations; archiving interviews with comfort women and witnesses; and interviewing those that lived near comfort stations.

NGOs from eight countries and regions including China, the Republic of Korea and Indonesia, are working together on the nomination.