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Unit 6—Handout 4
Survivor Testimony of He Yingjin, Biological Warfare Survivor , 74
years old—Interviewed on July 14, 2008, from a village near Changde
Mrs. He was seven years old in 1941. There were sixteen people in her family. She lost seven in her family
to bombs and 6 from germ warfare.
Between autumn and winter, her fi rst aunt fell over by the toilet. Family members took her to bed. She
had a high fever and seizures. By the afternoon all her lymph nodes were swollen and on her arms were
patches of black. Within two days her aunt had died.
The KMT (Kuomintang—Nationalists) were very strict about quarantining families. Therefore, they
took her aunt’s body out the back door to be buried. On the third day after her aunt was buried, her brotherin-law
who had a small business selling things and carrying papers on his back, keeled over. He also died
within three days. Within an eighteen day period, six family members had died of plague. Her younger
brother, two-years-old, and a niece, three-years old, died.
They wanted to go home; they were from Jiangxi. According to regulations they could not go. So they
sent a telegram to Jiangxi and explained that four people had died. The family from Jiangxi came to visit
them. Both of her uncles, father and mother came. They became ill with swollen lymph nodes and black
spots. Once they fell over, they could not talk. Her mother and then her older brother died. After they died,
their bodies were taken out the back door to a boat. They were taken to the mountain and buried there. The
bodies were not burned as was done later.
Mrs. He’s family owned an herb shop. After these deaths, her father closed the herbal shop, where they
sold herbal medicines, wine, liquor, and cigarettes. He was not able to do business. Then they suffered
hardships.
In 1943, the city was bombed and burned. Their house also burned down. They moved in with relatives
for a time but later moved back and set up a tent, using bamboo and cloth. Her father looked up his old
customers to make a living; when the business opened, he had to repay the loans.
After the deaths, her father became very depressed. It was harder to make a living. However, after the
war ended, he resumed doing small business.
In 1945, Mrs. He was thirteen-years-old. She went to only one year of high school. Then she stayed at
home to help her father.
After 1949, she was asked to become a “barefoot doctor” [like a physician assistant who would travel to
small villages].
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