ThePingdingshan massacre (Chinese:平頂山慘案) was a massacre committed by theImperial Japanese Army in the village of Pingdingshan,Liaodong, (now part ofDongzhou,Liaoning) on 16 September 1932.
On 15 September, Anti-JapaneseRed Spear militia, not from the area but passing through Pingdingshan, fired on Japanese soldiers and later attacked the Japanese garrison in the nearby industrial city ofFushun. The next day, in retaliation, Japanese soldiers and police, in tracking the rebels as they fled back through the villages, deemed all who were in the vicinity to be either members of the militia or their confederates, and punished them by burning homes and summarily executing, bayoneting and machine-gunning village residents. Chinese sources place the number of victims at 3,217. Japanese sources place the number of victims at 800.[1] The village was burned down and destroyed.
In 1972, remains of about 800 dead compatriots were found in a mass grave 80 by 5 metres in size. A memorial hall was constructed to house these remains. It is situated inXinbin Manchu Autonomous County.[2]
A group of Chinese survivors of the massacre demanded 20 million yen from the Japanese government in reparations. In 2006, the Japanese Supreme Court ruled that a national court could not grant wartime indemnities, as this was a matter for international treaties.
In 2009,Kumiko Aihara, a member of theHouse of Councillors, handed over an apology letter signed by 24 Japanese MPs to massacre survivor Wang Zhimei.[3]
41°50′02″N123°55′32″E / 41.83389°N 123.92556°E /41.83389; 123.92556
