Chinese farmer writes Unit 731 novel

A farmer in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province has written a novel based on oral accounts by forced laborers in the notorious Japanese army Unit 731 in Harbin, the provincial capital.

Ju Bingnan, 64, spent six years writing the 800,000-word work named "Heibao," the name of Unit 731 before 1942.

It was a top-secret biological and chemical warfare research base at the center of Japan's biological warfare in China and Southeast Asia during WWII.

Ju donated his books to the district government of Pingfang, where the remains of Unit 731 are located, last week, as a gift ahead of the upcoming anniversary of the end of WWII.

The junior high school graduate was born in Pingle Village near the remains. As a child, he often heard fellow villagers talk about their experiences of being forced to work in Unit 731.

"In 1972, I left school and began to realize the importance of recording their stories," said Ju.

By 2009, he had interviewed more than 100 forced laborers across more than 30 villages. These people are the prototypes of characters in his novel.

Mei Shixue is the only one of Ju's interviewees still alive. "We are key witnesses to the atrocities committed by Japanese invaders," said 87-year-old Mei.

Unit 731 was established in Harbin in 1935. Retreating Japanese invaders blew up the base when the Soviet Union took Harbin in 1945. Endi