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Unit 6—Handout 3
Survivor Testimony of Xu Wanzhi, Biological Warfare Survivor, 68
years—Interviewed on July 14, 2008, Changde, China
Mr. Xu’s family lived in the countryside, 4 or 5 km from the city. His was a typical upper-class village
family. His father and family grew rice and supplied rice and wine. This supplemented expenses for his family.
In 1941 a bomb was dropped. In 1943 plague spread to the countryside. His father was one of those
victimized. One day after his father came back from the city, he had a fever and was not feeling good. His
father’s medical situation became worse the next day. His grandmother was with them. She was worried as
was the rest of the family. They asked the doctor to stop by the next day. Even after taking medicine his
condition worsened. His fever continued to go higher. He was worse having seizures and marks on his body,
and his thyroid was swollen. His father passed away the next day.
His cousin who lived with them also became sick. His grandmother took the cousin around and tried
to fi nd a cure, but this didn’t work. His were almost identical symptoms, and by the time he died blood was
coming out of his nose. The family sent someone to bury the cousin. His grandmother had similar symptoms.
She died shortly after.
They had been a family of eleven. His grandmother had taken care of the household. Her death meant
that the main beam of the family had collapsed. My father’s younger brother went around collecting money
so the family could bury her.
Then his older brother came down sick in the fi fth grade. While he was sick, the rest of the family
members became sick and they couldn’t take care of each other. Some relatives did come by and tried to take
care of the older brother. He remembers this period: the sick lying on the bed because he was thirsty, crying
out for water. No one in the family could help him. By this time the whole village was infected. Shortly after,
his brother died and they tried to bury him wherever they could.
He was only two or three years old then. His maternal uncle bought him back to his home and the local
doctor gave him herbal medicine. The medicine worked. He said, “I survived to sit here and talk with you.”
His uncle then came down with the disease. He was strong and in good health. He was the number one
laborer in the village. His uncle went through the same process and similar symptoms and died shortly after.
By that time our family was heavily in debt, trying to pay the doctor and for funerals and burials. By the time
his uncle died and they went to the coffi n maker. The coffi n maker said, “You owe us much money and your
strongest laborer has died, so there is no way for you to pay us back.”
The Taoist priest didn’t want to come. He said probably there is an evil spirit. At that time people were
superstitious. My grandfather seeing that so many family members had died in such a short time could not
stop crying, and he became blind. His mother lay on the bed all day, and she lost all her hair. His three sisters
were very sick.
In the village they all carried the same family name—Xu. There were twenty some households. Over ten
people had died and a lot more were quite sick. The family was upper middle class before the plague. After
the plague, the family became destitute. Conditions were very, very bad. The family owed so much money
that they were not able to pay the money back. People took the furniture away. They even wanted to take the
bricks from the top of the house. His grandfather knelt down in front of them and said, “Try to fi nd a good
heart and conscience. My grandchild will be able to pay back what is owed.”
In 1947-1948, when other children went to school, Xu too was going for a while. Then his parents pulled
back; they had no money. After 1949 [end of the Civil War with KMT and beginning of the Communist era],
children were given an education. Xu had an education; he went to high school and entered the work force.
Xu became a skilled laborer, working for the electric company. He continued to live in the village after the war
while he continued his schooling. Later he moved 10 kilometers away.
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