The 78-year-old man, Luo Shanxue, who is the first in China to publicly acknowledge that he is the son of a comfort woman, is critically ill and urgently needs assistance.
Recently, Luo has been facing a life-threatening situation at Wuhan Union Hospital in Hubei Province. After the elderly man had been hospitalized for several days, his guardian did not show up. A Christian woman L (pseudonym), acting as a volunteer, and the director of the Tianmen Nursing Home in the province, where the elderly man lived before falling ill, have been tirelessly shuttling back and forth for his examinations, surgery, and subsequent treatment. After spending over 100,000 yuan on medical expenses, the elderly man has not yet passed the critical period. L and the director have already exhausted all their resources and are unable to continue paying for the daily medication. They have also found a volunteer Christian man to accompany the grandfather. Currently, he can’t persist as he hasn’t had a break for many days.
L introduced some information about Luo to the Christian Times, a Chinese online Christian newspaper. In June of this year, a male believer who had been involved in charity work asked for L's help in finding a hospital in Wuhan to treat the knee problem that Luo had been suffering from for years. Later, Luo and his nephew came to Wuhan Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, where the doctor suggested conservative treatment initially, with surgery only if necessary, to be performed after autumn. During his stay in Wuhan, many tender-hearted Christians and volunteers came to visit him, which made him reluctant to leave them, then he did not return to his hometown in Guangxi with his nephew. Later, he came to the Tianmen Nursing Home. During this time, he expressed that it was the warmest and most dignified period of his life.
In October, as the leaves fell at the nursing home, he took the initiative to sweep them. However, he suddenly fainted while sweeping the leaves. The director immediately wanted to take him to the hospital, but the elderly man, feeling that he was in relatively good health, stubbornly refused to go. Seeing no improvement two days later, the director insisted on calling an ambulance to take him to the hospital. On October 23, after an examination at the First People's Hospital of Tianmen, it was determined that there was a rupture and bleeding of a cerebral artery aneurysm. That afternoon, Luo was sent to Wuhan Union Hospital for treatment. Learning of his identity, the hospital performed surgery on him throughout the night without receiving the surgical fee at first. The surgery carried significant risks, with L and the director praying outside the operating room all night. The surgery went smoothly, and they jointly paid the surgical fee of 70,000 yuan as volunteers. Following the surgery, Luo spent several days in the ICU, incurring daily expenses of over 10,000 yuan, which they also covered.
As of November 6, after 15 days of examination in Tianmen and hospitalization in Wuhan, the total treatment expenses amounted to over 140,000 yuan. This included a special assistance grant of 6,000 yuan from the Shanghai Normal University Education Development Foundation's "Comfort Women Investigation and Aid" project for 2023 and a personal donation of 10,000 yuan from Professors Chen and Su of the research center.
In these days, the elderly man has been experiencing recurrent fevers after the surgery, and the doctors said that this situation was quite dangerous, and they could not guarantee if he could withstand it. However, the guardian of Luo Shanxue has not yet arrived.
Therefore, the volunteers hoped that more individuals would pay attention to this senior man so that he could continue to get medical treatment.
When speaking to the media many years ago, Luo claimed that he was someone who shouldn't have been born into this world. He was subjected to insults by relatives and neighbors from the moment he was born, and in the impoverished era, he only received three years of education. As he grew older and learned about his identity, no girl was willing to marry him, and thus, he remains single to this day. Most of Luo's life was spent in humiliation, but he was brave, willing to openly acknowledge his identity and testify to the atrocities committed by Japan during its invasion of China.
Documentary films featuring Luo Shanxue and his mother Wei Shaolan, titled "Thirty-Two" and "Twenty-Two," have revealed these elderly comfort women survivors’ challenging lives to the public.
Directed by Guo Ke in 2017, "Twenty-Two" focuses on the lives of elderly women who were forced to serve as comfort women during the Japanese invasion of China, according to Wikipedia. Previously, Guo made the film "Thirty-Two," which depicts the lives of the comfort woman survivor, surnamed Wei, and her "Japanese son," surnamed Luo. At that time, there were only 32 publicly identified survivors of comfort women in mainland China. As a result, the first documentary short film was named "Thirty-Two." After being released in the United States on March 30, 2014, the film was on show in China on November 11, 2014, when there were only 22 elderly survivors remaining.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
中国首位公开承认自己是“慰安妇”之子的78岁老人罗善学病危，亟需救助。
近日，78岁的罗善学老人在武汉协和医院面临病危。罗善学老人的监护人在老人住院多日后未到现场，一位基督徒姊妹作为志愿者和老人发病前所天门养老院的院长全程为罗爷爷的检查、手术及后续的治疗来回奔波。在花费10余万元的治疗费用后，老人还没有度过危险期。志愿者L姊妹和养老院院长已经倾尽所有，无力再支付每天的药费。她们还为罗爷爷找到一位志愿者弟兄作为陪护。目前，陪护的弟兄因为连日来无法休息，也已经再难坚持。
志愿者L姊妹向中国一网络基督教报纸基督时报介绍了关于罗善学老人当下的一些基本情况。今年6月份，一位长期做公益的弟兄为了帮助罗爷爷治疗多年来的膝盖问题，请L帮助在武汉找医院。后来罗爷爷和他的侄子来到武汉中医院，医生建议先保守治疗，如果必须手术，他的建议是等到秋天之后。罗爷爷在武汉期间，很多有爱心的基督徒和志愿者都来探望他，他很舍不得大家，因此没有跟随侄子返回广西老家。后来罗爷爷来到了湖北天门养老院。这段时间里，罗爷爷表示他度过了人生中最温暖、最有尊严的一段时光。
今年10月份，养老院落叶多起来，爷爷就主动扫落叶。然而在扫落叶中突然晕倒，院长第一时间要带老人去医院，但是老人自恃身体情况比较好，坚决不去。2天后，院长看到没有好转，坚持请救护车把老人接到医院。10月23日，经天门第一人民医院检查，结果是脑动脉血管瘤破裂出血。当天下午，罗善学老人被送往武汉协和医院救治。协和医院了解到罗善学老人的身份，在没有收到手术费的情况下，辛劳一整夜为老人手术。手术风险很大，L与院长一直在手术室外祷告。后来手术很顺利，他们以志愿者的身份共同为老人支付了手术费7万元。之后罗在ICU病房住了几天，期间每天费用上万元，也都是他们垫付。
截止2023年11月6日，在天门医院的检查和武汉协和医院住院第15天，治疗费用总支出14万多。其中，收到上海师范大学教育发展基金会“慰安妇调查与援助”项目专项基金的2023年度特别援助金 6000元，以及研究中心的陈教授和苏教授的个人捐赠1万元。
这几天，老人术后反复发烧，医生说，这种情况比较危险，不能确定老人是否能扛得住。但是，罗善学老人的监护人目前还未到场。
志愿者希望有更多爱心人士关注这位罗善学爷爷，希望不要因为没有药费而导致老人失去被救治的权利。
多年前，罗善学老人被媒体采访时说自己是一个不该来到这个世界上的人。他出生后便被亲人和邻居羞辱，在贫穷的年代，他只读了三年书。长大后，得知他的身份，没有女孩子愿意跟他结婚，因此他到如今仍是单身。罗善学老人的一生大部分时间是在羞辱中度过，但他是勇敢的，他愿意公开自己的身份，为日本侵华的罪行作证。
以罗善学及其母亲韦绍兰为主角的纪录片《三十二》、《二十二》将这位老人不堪的人生展示在公众面前。
《二十二》是2017年郭柯执导的慰安妇题材纪录片，纪录日本侵华战争时期被迫充当“慰安妇”的老人的生活现状。
据维基百科介绍，据统计，当时中国慰安妇数目至少20万人。导演郭柯于2012年开始拍摄慰安妇题材，拍摄了广西“慰安妇”幸存者韦绍兰老人和她的“日本儿子”的生活，当时在中国大陆公开身份的慰安妇幸存者仅余32人，因此他将其首部纪录短片命名为《三十二》。《三十二》于2014年3月30日在美国正式上映，后于2014年11月11日在中国上映。2014年，幸存的老人只剩下了22位。
中国首位公开承认自己是“慰安妇”之子的78岁老人罗善学病危 亟需救助
The 78-year-old man, Luo Shanxue, who is the first in China to publicly acknowledge that he is the son of a comfort woman, is critically ill and urgently needs assistance.
Recently, Luo has been facing a life-threatening situation at Wuhan Union Hospital in Hubei Province. After the elderly man had been hospitalized for several days, his guardian did not show up. A Christian woman L (pseudonym), acting as a volunteer, and the director of the Tianmen Nursing Home in the province, where the elderly man lived before falling ill, have been tirelessly shuttling back and forth for his examinations, surgery, and subsequent treatment. After spending over 100,000 yuan on medical expenses, the elderly man has not yet passed the critical period. L and the director have already exhausted all their resources and are unable to continue paying for the daily medication. They have also found a volunteer Christian man to accompany the grandfather. Currently, he can’t persist as he hasn’t had a break for many days.
L introduced some information about Luo to the Christian Times, a Chinese online Christian newspaper. In June of this year, a male believer who had been involved in charity work asked for L's help in finding a hospital in Wuhan to treat the knee problem that Luo had been suffering from for years. Later, Luo and his nephew came to Wuhan Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, where the doctor suggested conservative treatment initially, with surgery only if necessary, to be performed after autumn. During his stay in Wuhan, many tender-hearted Christians and volunteers came to visit him, which made him reluctant to leave them, then he did not return to his hometown in Guangxi with his nephew. Later, he came to the Tianmen Nursing Home. During this time, he expressed that it was the warmest and most dignified period of his life.
In October, as the leaves fell at the nursing home, he took the initiative to sweep them. However, he suddenly fainted while sweeping the leaves. The director immediately wanted to take him to the hospital, but the elderly man, feeling that he was in relatively good health, stubbornly refused to go. Seeing no improvement two days later, the director insisted on calling an ambulance to take him to the hospital. On October 23, after an examination at the First People's Hospital of Tianmen, it was determined that there was a rupture and bleeding of a cerebral artery aneurysm. That afternoon, Luo was sent to Wuhan Union Hospital for treatment. Learning of his identity, the hospital performed surgery on him throughout the night without receiving the surgical fee at first. The surgery carried significant risks, with L and the director praying outside the operating room all night. The surgery went smoothly, and they jointly paid the surgical fee of 70,000 yuan as volunteers. Following the surgery, Luo spent several days in the ICU, incurring daily expenses of over 10,000 yuan, which they also covered.
As of November 6, after 15 days of examination in Tianmen and hospitalization in Wuhan, the total treatment expenses amounted to over 140,000 yuan. This included a special assistance grant of 6,000 yuan from the Shanghai Normal University Education Development Foundation's "Comfort Women Investigation and Aid" project for 2023 and a personal donation of 10,000 yuan from Professors Chen and Su of the research center.
In these days, the elderly man has been experiencing recurrent fevers after the surgery, and the doctors said that this situation was quite dangerous, and they could not guarantee if he could withstand it. However, the guardian of Luo Shanxue has not yet arrived.
Therefore, the volunteers hoped that more individuals would pay attention to this senior man so that he could continue to get medical treatment.
When speaking to the media many years ago, Luo claimed that he was someone who shouldn't have been born into this world. He was subjected to insults by relatives and neighbors from the moment he was born, and in the impoverished era, he only received three years of education. As he grew older and learned about his identity, no girl was willing to marry him, and thus, he remains single to this day. Most of Luo's life was spent in humiliation, but he was brave, willing to openly acknowledge his identity and testify to the atrocities committed by Japan during its invasion of China.
Documentary films featuring Luo Shanxue and his mother Wei Shaolan, titled "Thirty-Two" and "Twenty-Two," have revealed these elderly comfort women survivors’ challenging lives to the public.
Directed by Guo Ke in 2017, "Twenty-Two" focuses on the lives of elderly women who were forced to serve as comfort women during the Japanese invasion of China, according to Wikipedia. Previously, Guo made the film "Thirty-Two," which depicts the lives of the comfort woman survivor, surnamed Wei, and her "Japanese son," surnamed Luo. At that time, there were only 32 publicly identified survivors of comfort women in mainland China. As a result, the first documentary short film was named "Thirty-Two." After being released in the United States on March 30, 2014, the film was on show in China on November 11, 2014, when there were only 22 elderly survivors remaining.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
The Man Who First Admits Himself as 'Son of Comfort Woman' Needs Urgent Help for Severe Illness
