Xinhua News Agency and CCTV reported that the Evidence Exhibition Hall of Unit 731 of the Japanese Army invading China announced that after more than a month of preparation, the former site of Unit 731 reopened to the public on the 13th and launched a special exhibition of "Precious Artifacts and Historical Materials on the Japanese Bacterial Warfare".
In the central corridor on the first floor of the former site of Unit 731, 3,000 rectangular black stone monuments make up the "Wall of Martyrs’ Names", forming a solemn corridor to commemorate the victims of human experimentation and bacterial warfare by Unit 731.
The "Special Exhibition of Precious Artifacts and Historical Materials on the Japanese Bacterial Warfare" will feature 2082 representative archives, historical materials, artifacts, and publications collected by the Evidence Exhibition Hall of Unit 731 in recent years. Deputy Director Zhang Yang said that some of the new evidence provides an important supplement to existing historical materials, offering support for in-depth research into bacterial warfare.
This exhibition will display various medical journals published in Japan from the 1920s to the 1940s, totaling 347 volumes. The "Journal of the Army Medical Corps" is one of the modern Japanese military medical journals. Through the joint arrangement and research by the Evidence Exhibition Hall of Unit 731 and Heilongjiang International University, they discovered 42 medical papers written by core members of Unit 731, such as Shiro Ishii and Masaji Kitano.
Researcher Jin Shicheng of the museum stated that these wartime medical journals recorded numerous so-called "research results" published by members of Unit 731, involving various bacterial and viral diseases such as anthrax and plague, revealing the interaction and collaboration between Japanese wartime medical universities, army hospitals, and research institutions with Unit 731, thus exposing the essence of the Japanese medical community serving the invasion war.
Exhibited documents related to Japanese bacterial and chemical warfare include the "Litigation Files of Harmful Incidents Caused by Abandoned Chemical Weapons by the Japanese Army in China" and "Confessions of Japanese War Criminals that Invaded China". Researcher Tan Tian of the museum said that the litigation materials for Chinese victims' compensation claims due to Japanese abandoned chemical weapons total 380 volumes, documenting the entire process from filing, investigation, and evidence collection to trial debate and final judgment.
The exhibition also includes 616 items of artifacts collected and donated by the museum in recent years, including military swords, uniforms, medical instruments, bacterial bombs, and Japanese military medals.
The Evidence Exhibition Hall of Unit 731 of the Japanese Army invading China is located at No. 47 Xinjiang Street, Pingfang District, Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province. It is the former site of Unit 731 of the Japanese Army, with a building area of 9997 square meters. It was first established in 1933 and became a research and production base for bacterial weapons in 1936, with 6.1 square kilometers of land designated as a special military zone. Before Japan's surrender in August 1945, most of the buildings were destroyed.