After the National Day, a series of film and video shows that revealed the truth of history sparked widespread public attention. On the day of the premiere of the film 731 on September 18, the audience reached 9.14 million, and the box office broke 500 million. In addition to the intense emotions aroused by the subject itself, this number also reveals the strong identity of people for the truth being concealed and eventually returned to public memory.

This is known as the ¡°black box¡± of the Japanese Army¡¯s Seventh and Third Division Crime Exhibition Hall, built on the old site of the 731 force, the ¡°black box¡± means that it hides unknown secrets.

80 years ago, on the eve of Japan's defeat and surrender, for the purpose of covering up crimes and destroying evidence, the core figure of the 731 force, Ishi Yoshiro, ordered to destroy most of the 731 building.

After World War II, the Burley Trial conducted by the Soviet Union; The Devil's Satiety written by Japanese writer Seiichi Morimura points out that the 731st Unit of the Japanese invaders is the core organization for the Japanese invaders to plan, organize and implement germ warfare, and it is the largest base camp for the development of biological weapons in history.

Kim and his colleagues found survivors who had worked outside the 731 force, and they have a common memory: a dedicated railway line, which was transported here from outside, was not goods, but a car bound alive. Everyone said that they had never seen those people come out alive. But the victim nation's narrative can only be used as part of the evidence. The testimony of the perpetrator, an indispensable part of the evidence chain, was born with the idea of going to Japan to carry out cross-border evidence.

That year, when Unit 731 retreated, all personnel were ordered to take what had happened and been done here to the grave. Therefore, to get the original members of Unit 731 to speak, it is necessary to overcome many obstacles.

This narrator is the military physician who performed an autopsy in the 731 force at the time, Fukushima. When he was 95 years old when he told the story, Fukushima finally agreed to say what he had done in the year after meeting Kim Jong-il for the third time.

Former military doctor of the 731th Unit of the Japanese Army, ´ó´¨¸£ËÉ:I personally participated in the anatomy of the living body. at the beginning, do not give food, because this is the command, and gradually people will change.

Feng Sanwei, a former member of Dalian Gendarmerie of Kwantung Army, who personally escorted the living to Unit 731, also stood up before his death and told the story of participating in the special transfer that year. And this narration has also become a key circumstantial evidence.

Former member of Dalian Gendarmerie of Kwantung Army Toyota Mitsuo:My task is to take them to Harbin Railway Station, let them sit down one by one, and escort them like this. There is an exit at Harbin Railway Station where few people enter and leave. After leaving the station, they are loaded into dark trucks without windows. It is well known that the materials of "Big Road" are used for human experiments, sent to Unit 731 and forcibly used for human experiments. It is absolutely impossible for "the big road" to get out of 731 alive.

Kim Sung-min:According to the archives we got and kept in China at that time, let him determine whether he did this. Finally, he admitted that this was the underground intelligence station he cracked during his time in Dalian Gendarmerie. Seventeen people were arrested, and four people were personally sent to 731 by him. Moreover, the names he recalled were the same as those in our files.

The archives Jin Chengmin referred to refer to the "special transfer" archives he discovered in the Archives of Heilongjiang Province, which means that after secret interrogation of the captured anti-Japanese personnel was secretly transferred to Unit 731 to be used as "human experimental materials." This file became written evidence that the Japanese Army's 731 Unit conducted live experiments. Mr. Sanwei's testimony makes the chain of evidence more complete and solid.

Kim Sung-min:Therefore, the crime of the human experiment of Unit 731 has been further solidified, achieving the level of evidence and support, and it can be done reliably. Not only the archival information was found, but also the circumstantial evidence of the military police during the transnational evidence collection confirmed that this information was completely consistent with the historical facts.

After 25 years of investigation and evidence collection, Jin Chengmin and his team interviewed 45 members of the former Unit 731 and more than 80 victims and their families of bacterial warfare, forming a large amount of oral images and archival materials. This huge piece of evidence still requires the most critical piece: the identification of the perpetrator returning to the scene.

In August 2024, the puzzle appeared.After a long time of preparation, the former member of the 731 force, Qingdao, returned to Harbin after 79 years.

Hideo Shimizu, former member of the 731st Unit of the Japanese invaders:Specimens of pregnant women with children in their stomachs, human hands, gastrointestinal internal organs, brain, etc.

Historical reasons led Unit 731 to escape the trial of the post-war international court, and the truth was systematically covered up. Therefore, revealing the truth had to break through various restrictions, and it was destined to be long and arduous. Jin Chengmin believes that to this day, if 731 is compared to a case, the point of solving the case is still to constantly prove to the world that during the Japanese war of aggression against China, the human experiment committed by Unit 731 was true and the crime was established.

With the deepening of knowledge, the quality and positioning of the 731 site became clearer and clearer. but how to break through the limitations of physical space, let this period of history go out of the site, to the world, became another important issue facing the people of Kim.

Kim Sung-min:As a museum, despite being open to the outside, the number of spectators that can be held every day is limited.I remember that a decade ago we calculated when our annual audiences were less than 1 million, and if by 1 million spectators, I wanted to get 1.4 billion people in China to come to this hall, it took 1,400 years, so at that time we thought, what way could there be a greater spread effect?

For Jin Chengmin, this is not a simple choice, but a more prudent entrustment. Over the years, there has been an endless stream of directors and screenwriters who have come to negotiate, including Zhao Linshan, a young director from Changchun Film Studio.

Kim Sung-min:When he came, he should say it was a team behavior, not a single person. His purpose was also clear, which is to let more people know the 731 force, and there is such a crime fact. His purpose and my purpose can also match.

Whether it is Jin Chengmin, as a film history consultant, or Zhao Linshan, as a director and screenwriter, to express the theme of 731 in a movie, the biggest challenge faced by the two is still "evidence."

Zhao Linshan, director of the movie 731:All of my information, including the evidence I collected, was able to set up a small crime archive on my own, including the rescue footage that we later took to Japan, some testimony from the former team members, and so on.

In a cross-border evidence-seeking experience, Zhao Linshan, who was in Japan, heard a voice: "Those who were beaten have forgotten. Do those who beat people still need to remember?" This sentence made Zhao Linshan regard "forgetting" as another aggression.

Zhao Linshan said,It¡¯s not just a movie, it¡¯s a moving 731 Crime Exhibition, and many people now don¡¯t have the opportunity and opportunity to go to the Harbin square to see such a site. Then we use the way of the movie, not only to let the Chinese see, but also to let more people, many of the world see. We hope to reach more consensus, unite more people who love peace, keep the history of the future, that¡¯s the meaning of this film.

From site to screen, it¡¯s both a mission link between historians and film directors and a generation¡¯s response to history.

The exit design of the Crime Evidence Exhibition Hall of the 731st Unit of the Japanese Invaders has profound implications. When visitors walk in the narrow passage, the natural light at the entrance of the cave gradually increases, and the exit faces the former site of Unit 731, aiming to remind visitors that the bright present is based on facing up to the dark history.

journalist of the army.