Gunkanjima, also known as Hashima Coal Mine, is located at sea 15 kilometers away from Nagasaki, Japan. It is called Gunkanjima because it looks like a warship.
Hashima Coal Mine is located in Hashima, 18 kilometers away from the port of Nagasaki, Japan. It is a submarine coal mine with a maximum depth of 1 kilometer. It is full of seawater, gas, and falling rocks. The internal temperature exceeds 45 degrees Celsius. It is one of the 505 deserted islands in Nagasaki, Japan. It is a stone island of only 70,000 square meters off the coast of Nagasaki, Japan. In 1890, after the local rich mineral deposits were discovered, the Mitsubishi Corporation bought Hashima from the local residents, and used labor to reclaim and expand the island many times. When the coal mines were first developed, Hashima was one of Japan's major coal mining areas for nearly a century. With all the inhabitants leaving Hashima in 1974, it was forbidden to enter, and for a long time, only the droppings of passing seagulls landed on Hashima. On April 22, 2009, Hashima opened for tourism. Many tourists who come and go praise it as "Paradise Island", including Chinese tourists, but they don't know that "Battleship Island" should be called "Hell Island" because countless Chinese souls are buried on this island.
After the start of World War II, the Japanese army forced more than 40,000 Chinese to serve as laborers in Japan, and 3,765 of them were assigned to Mitsubishi Corporation. They were escorted onto ships and sent to Gunkanjima to dig coal day and night. In addition to the Chinese compatriots, many North Korean laborers were also sent to the island, but Japan felt that there were not enough workers, and actually called the warship island a paradise in the media, deceiving people who did not know it to go there. Therefore, there were not only prisoners of war among the laborers, but also There are school teachers, businessmen, and more ordinary farmers who have been kidnapped. Workers were continuously sent to the island. The population of Gunkanjima was as high as 1,391 per hectare. The population density was 9 times that of Tokyo at one time, and it became the place with the highest population density in the world at that time. However, in this so-called paradise, the laborers began their most tragic fate. By the end of World War II, a total of 722 Chinese laborers (Mitsubishi Corporation) and 1,442 Korean laborers (Korean officials) were tortured to death on Gunkanjima.
The coal on the surface was exhausted, and the Japanese forced them to continue digging. The Chinese compatriots there were digging in the dark underground every day, enduring high temperature and starvation. The daily food was the residue of soybean oil extraction, and they could not eat enough at all. , If you fail to complete the task, you will be beaten, and over time, your body will collapse.
Sun Zhongwu, a survivor of Gunkanjima, was only 14 when he was forcibly conscripted to the island in 1942. He was assigned to a very small room and lived with 10 other compatriots, recalling the inhumane period. "I don't know how many times I have considered committing suicide by jumping into the sea."
Those caught on the island, in addition to Chinese compatriots, there are also ordinary North Korean people.
As of the end of World War II, a total of 722 Chinese workers (Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan) and 1,442 Korean workers (Korean officials) were tortured to death on Gunkanjima. However, I did not find official statistics from China, which is a pity!
When Gunkanjima was certified as a "World Cultural Heritage" by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in 2015, it was met with strong protests and demonstrations from all over South Korea. The Korean variety show "Infinite Challenge" boarded Gunkanjima in the name of variety show. Korean nationals popularized the history of Gunkanjima, and at the same time, the Korean government met with the head of UNESCO and expressed their opposition in person.
On our side, apart from a few new media reports, few people mention it. What's more, those domestic tourism websites are even packaged as a tourist attraction on Warship Island. The introduction of the attractions is full of intoxicating words, and there is no mention of that unbearable history!
What about Japan?
They deleted all the content about Chinese laborers in the guide words, and they were full of pride when they introduced the island: "These houses on the island are the first high-rise buildings with concrete structures in Japan, and the Japanese management of Gunkanjima 60 years ago. The monthly salary is 500,000 yen.”
Under this combination of internal and external packaging, the history of Warship Island has disappeared, and tourists are flocking to it.
Chinese people who have traveled there will also proudly say that the Battleship Island is very beautiful, it is paradise!
As everyone knows, 70 years ago, the elders of our elders have been there long ago. In their eyes, Warship Island is not paradise, but hell!
So, even though there is no mention of the Chinese in the movie "Battleship Island", we should still be grateful, at least to those who mentioned this history, and at the same time I am also very curious, those Chinese tourists who say that the warship island is paradise, are watching this How do you feel when you make a movie?
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