As the Second World War drew to a close, the Japanese army left behind hundreds of thousands of chemical munitions in rivers, caves, and mountains across China. Japan’s leaders, meanwhile, did all they could to conceal the country’s illicit chemical and biological weapons programs by destroying the evidence, including the locations of its remaining munitions caches.
The effects of this decision are still being felt today. In 1992, the Chinese delegation to the international Conference on Disarmament estimated that Japan had abandoned at least 2 million chemical weapons on Chinese territory; Japan has put the figure at about 700,000.
Although Japan agreed in 1999 to fund and participate in the cleanup process, progress has been slow, and leaky chemical weapons have continued to pose a tremendous environmental and health risk to communities around China.
In 1974, a bomb containing mustard gas and lewisite was dredged up from the Songhua River in Northeast China, poisoning dozens; in 1982, workers dug up a mustard gas cylinder at a construction site in Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang province; and in 2003, construction workers inadvertently unearthed five barrels of mustard gas and sold them to a scrapper in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang. By the time authorities got the situation under control, 44 people had been exposed, and the scrapper had died.
Mustard gas is highly carcinogenic and mutagenic, and there is no known antidote. Those exposed can suffer lifelong complications, including skin conditions, loss of sight, and respiratory problems. Many victims also experience discrimination from their co-workers, bosses, and neighbors.
The war may have ended decades ago, but its scars have yet to heal.
Gao Ming (b. 1995)
Chen Rongxi (b. 1971)
Yang Shumao (b. 1964)
Zhong Jiang (b.1961)
Sun Wendou (b. 1960)
Li Chen (b.1945)
Wang Cheng (b. 1981)
Liang Hongge (b.1963)
Liu Jianbin (b.1955)
Cui Jinshan (b.1960)
Xu Zhifu (b. 1958)
PHOTOS/WORDS Shi Yangkun
STORY EDITOR Kilian O'Donnell
COPY EDITOR Hannah Lund
PHOTO EDITOR Zong Chen
ART DESIGNER Fu Xiaofan
WEB DEVELOPER Lin Tao
Gao Ming (b. 1995)
Nov. 19, 2019
Gao Ming was the youngest victim of the so-called 8/4 Incident, when five barrels of mustard gas were unearthed from a construction site in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang province on Aug. 4, 2003. Not knowing what the barrels contained, the workers sold them to scrappers and allowed nearby residents to collect the earth to use in their yards. Just 8 years old, Gao was poisoned while playing in a pile of her neighbor’s contaminated dirt.
Gao Ming (b. 1995)
Nov. 19, 2019
Locks hang on the door of Gao’s room. Gao spent a month in the hospital after her poisoning. According to her mother, her feet turned purple and swelled up like eggplants. When she returned to school, her classmates refused to play with her. Later that year, Gao convinced her family to move to the nearby city of Fularji, where her mother grew up.
Gao Ming (b. 1995)
Nov. 19, 2019
A calendar sits on the windowsill of Gao’s bedroom. In 2016, Gao’s father died from illness. She still struggles to hold down work, and her mother has had to borrow money from relatives to pay for her care.
Chen Rongxi (b. 1971)
Nov. 16, 2019
Chen Rongxi was exposed to mustard gas when he bought a cart of contaminated dirt on Aug. 4, 2003.
Chen Rongxi (b. 1971)
Nov. 14, 2019
Four hours later, Chen’s eyes started to burn, and his skin began blistering. He spent 104 days in the hospital recovering from ulcers on his armpits, legs, and scrotum.
Chen Rongxi (b. 1971)
Nov. 16, 2019
Plants sit on the windowsill of Chen’s home. In 2006, Chen’s wife divorced him. He found a job as a security guard in the northern city of Tianjin, but he was fired for repeatedly calling in sick to work. Today, Chen is blind in his right eye and is losing his sight in his left.
Realizing he was unable to care for himself and their two children, Chen’s wife later returned home. She now supports him by working as a dishwasher in a restaurant.
Yang Shumao (b. 1964)
Nov. 13, 2019
In 2003, Yang Shumao had a successful business selling roasted seeds and nuts. He was building a new roastery in the Qiqihar suburbs and was poisoned when he bought some dirt from the mustard gas-contaminated construction site, intending to use it in his yard.
Yang Shumao (b. 1964)
Nov. 13, 2019
The interior of Yang’s bedroom. Yang spent three months in the hospital. When he got home, his neighbors started calling him “Mustard Gas.” Nobody would buy his products, and he was refused service at the public bathhouse.
Yang Shumao (b. 1964)
Nov. 13, 2019
Two zebra sculptures now stand over the site where the barrels were unearthed. “When I’m in pain, I don’t want to live anymore,” Yang says. “But then I think about my children. I have to stay alive. I want to watch them grow up."
Zhong Jiang (b. 1961)
Nov. 21, 2019
In 1982, Zhong Jiang was a 21-year-old with a job at a local municipal engineering company in Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang province. On July 16, Zhong was called to a construction site to help dig up an unidentified cylinder. When they pulled it up, a worker accidentally touched the valve, spraying its contents onto Zhong’s face.
Zhong Jiang (b. 1961)
Nov. 21, 2019
According to Zhong, his face swelled up big as a plate. “The scab was like a gourd scoop,” he says. “I plucked a piece of it and dropped it on the ground. Sun Wendou (another victim) stood on it; it didn’t break.” As he struggled to recover, Zhong’s wife took their son and left him. Today, Zhong lives alone and relies on his brothers, sisters, and friends for support.
Zhong Jiang (b. 1961)
Nov. 21, 2019
Four bottles of water Zhong keeps in his bathroom. Zhong says he cannot stand the pain of using toilet paper. “For so long, I’ve been thinking about killing myself,” he says. “When I feel a bit better, I don’t want to die then.”
Sun Wendou (b. 1960)
Nov. 21, 2019
Sun Wendou, Zhong’s former co-worker. On the morning of July 17, he went to the same construction site where Zhong had been poisoned the day before. Not knowing what had happened, he jumped into a pool of contaminated water and started pumping it out.
Sun Wendou (b. 1960)
Nov. 21, 2019
An archive photo of Zhong Jiang (left) and Sun (center) showing their injuries to doctors.
Sun Wendou (b. 1960)
Nov. 21, 2019
Sun’s thick stack of letters and documents collected over the years. Although a Japanese court rejected his appeal for compensation, he has received many letters of sympathy from Japanese who have heard about his case.
Li Chen (b. 1945)
Nov. 10, 2019
In 1974, Li Chen was working on a boat in the Songhua River in Heilongjiang province. He had gotten married three years before, and his first child, a girl, had been born the previous year. On Oct. 20, the boat’s mud pump got jammed. After inspecting it, Li and one of the ship’s engineers removed an iron, shell-like object that was leaking black liquid. The smell of garlic pervaded the room, and Li’s body began to swell.
Li Chen (b. 1945)
On July 18, 2007, Li Chen removed his pants at a press conference in Japan to show the scars caused by his poisoning.
Li Chen (b. 1945)
On July 18, 2007, Li Chen (middle right) and Sun Wendou (middle left) participated in a protest with Japanese lawyers and activists on the streets of Tokyo.
Wang Cheng (b. 1981)
Nov. 15, 2019
Wang Cheng began collecting scrap metal when he was 17. On Aug. 4, 2003, one of his fellow scrappers, Li Guizhen, heard about five iron barrels that had been dug out of a construction site in Qiqihar and brought them back to the scrapyard. Within days, Li was dead, and Wang was hospitalized from chemical poisoning.
Wang Cheng (b. 1981)
Nov. 22, 2019
Medicine bottles on display at the Unit 731 Museum in Harbin, Heilongjiang province. The museum, which is named after Japan’s notorious germ warfare research detachment, houses artifacts of Japan’s chemical and biological weapons programs.
Wang and the other victims of the 8/4 Incident received a one-time payment from the Japanese government in the form of a “solidarity fund.” Wang got married in 2005, but his wife left him after giving birth a year later. Not long after, Wang’s father died.
Today, Wang lives with his son and his mother in an apartment just 50 meters from the site where the mustard gas barrels were found in 2003.
Wang Cheng (b. 1981)
Nov. 22, 2019
Confidential documents related to the Japanese chemical weapons program on exhibit at the Unit 731 Museum.
Liang Hongge (b. 1963)
Nov. 15, 2019
In 2003, Liang Hongge was earning money by collecting metal and scrap from around Qiqihar. On Aug. 4, Liang loaded several iron barrels from Wang’s scrap acquisition station and drove them to Fularji. Around four hours later, his eyes started burning and his body began to blister.
Eight years ago, Liang’s first wife died from breast cancer. Today, Liang lives with his second wife at his brother’s waste collection station.
Liang Hongge (b. 1963)
Nov. 14, 2019
The former Qiqihar headquarters of Unit 516, which played a key role in the Japanese army’s chemical weapons program, is now a protected historical site. Unit 516 was a top-secret Japanese chemical weapons facility that operated alongside the more well-known Unit 731 during the war.
Liang Hongge (b. 1963)
Nov. 14, 2019
Plastic bottles scattered on the ground at the former base of Unit 516 in Qiqihar.
Liu Jianbin (b. 1955)
Nov. 16, 2019
Aug. 4, 2003 was the last day Liu Jianbin planned to spend at Wang’s scrap acquisition station. Five days prior, Liu’s son had left his job at the station and had gone to Beijing to take a position as a cook. Feeling embarrassed that his son had been paid for five days of work he didn’t do, Liu took his place for the week, which is when he came into contact with the toxic barrels.
Liu Jianbin (b. 1955)
Nov. 16, 2019
A goldfish tank in Liu’s bedroom. After he got off work, Liu’s hands and feet began to itch. Then he broke out in blisters and his eyes started to burn. The next morning, he was hospitalized.
Liu Jianbin (b. 1955)
Nov. 16, 2019
Plants placed on the windowsill near Liu’s bed. Today, Liu often suffers from dizziness, headaches, heart palpitations, and poor digestion. “I have to take endless pills and I still feel very bad,” Liu says. “My only income is my pension. I can’t afford my body.”
Cui Jinshan (b. 1960)
Nov. 16, 2019
On Aug. 4, 2003, Cui Jinshan bought six carts of dirt to use in his yard. The next day, the government notified him the soil was poisonous. “My whole body was rotten with pus,” Cui says. “Oh God, don’t mention it. It was too painful.”
Cui Jinshan (b. 1960)
Nov. 16, 2019
Quilts folded neatly on Cui’s bed. When Cui’s daughter was in high school, her teacher took her class to learn about the mustard gas victims’ history. When her teacher asked why she couldn’t stop crying, she replied: “Because my dad is one of them.” That’s when she decided to become a doctor.
Cui Jinshan (b. 1960)
Nov. 16, 2019
A chair placed outside of Cui’s bedroom. Today, Cui’s daughter works at a hospital in Harbin. She’s pursuing her doctorate at Peking Union Medical College, one of the country’s top medical schools.
Xu Zhifu (b. 1958)
Nov. 16, 2019
In 2003, Xu Zhifu was working as a security guard at a chemical plant. One night, his boss called him and told him the police were coming by to unload several barrels and that he should keep close watch over them. Not knowing what they contained, he gave the barrels a few tentative kicks when they arrived. The next morning, he was sent to the hospital.
Xu Zhifu (b. 1958)
Nov. 16, 2019
A nature documentary plays on the television in Xu’s bedroom. “Now, my eyes can’t see the TV very well, so I can only listen,” he says. Xu’s physical condition has deteriorated over the years. In 2018, Xu Tiannan, Xu Zhifu’s only son, quit his job in Shanghai and returned home to take care of his father.
Xu Zhifu (b. 1958)
Nov. 17, 2019
Snow falls outside Xu Zhifu’s house. Xu’s main hope is to live long enough to see the birth of his first grandchild. “My son is very filial to me,” he says. “I feel I am a burden to my family.”