Li Xiuying, a survivor of the Nanjing Massacre in World War II,
died of illness in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu
Province, at 6:10?AM Saturday at the age of 86.
Li, who was born on New Year's Day of 1918, fell off at her home
on July 26 and had fractures in the left thighbone, which has
worsened may of her chronic ailments ever since, according to her
relatives.
Li, who made her name known throughout China for her courage and
perseverance in standing up to battle and win an anti-defamation
lawsuit in Tokyo, Japan, early last year, succumbed to respiratory
failure despite all efforts to safe her life, her relatives
said.
In December 1937, some 300,000 Chinese civilians were brutally
killed by Japanese invaders after the fall of Nanjing, the then
capital of the Kuomintang government. Li Xiuying, who was pregnant
at the time, suffered 37 sword wounds from Japanese soldiers during
the massacre.
Thanks to timely medical treatment by an American doctor named
Robert Wilson, Li survived, but lost her baby. The crime
perpetrated against Li was recorded at the time in a documentary
made by American priest John Magee, as well as in the diaries and
letters of some other Western witnesses of the Massacre.
However, Li was later discredited by Matsumura Toshio, a
right-wing Japanese writer, who called her a "false" witness of the
war in his book entitled The Big Question in the Nanjing
Massacre.
On Oct. 16, 1999, Li Xiuying initiated legal proceedings in a
district court of Tokyo, demanding that Matsumura Toshio, the
author, Aisawa Hiroaki, the publisher, and the publishing house
issue a public apology and pay 12 million Japanese yen for damage
to her reputation. On May 10, 2002, the court issued a guilty
verdict and fined the accused 1.5 million yen, but dropped Li's
appeal for a public apology. Li then filed an appeal with the
Supreme Court of Tokyo, which, after two court hearings, decided in
Li's favor on April 10, 2003.
(Xinhua News Agency December 5, 2004)