李曉方：用鏡頭揭露駭人史實

徐繼宏

很早就想寫李曉方和他所做的事情，只是這樣的話題太過于沉重，遲遲沒有動筆。2017年12月的一天，筆者與他相約西子湖畔的寓所，展開了關于70多年前那場慘絕人寰戰(zhàn)爭的對話。

鐵證如山揭罪行

“對于多數(shù)中國人，日軍侵華戰(zhàn)爭中進行的細菌戰(zhàn)只是一個遙遠的概念。那是殘忍的、苦難的，但業(yè)已終結(jié)的歷史。沒有人想到，在經(jīng)歷了感染后，有兩種細菌的感染者，居然一直活了下來。”在李曉方的工作間，我一邊翻看著《泣血控訴——侵華日軍細菌戰(zhàn)炭疽、鼻疽受害幸存者實錄》，一邊聽李曉方講他的調(diào)查故事。

李曉方，上世紀70年代生于安徽，后參軍當衛(wèi)生員，提干后成了專職新聞攝影干事。1995年的一天，他偶然地看到，一位退伍在媒體工作的戰(zhàn)友，拍攝的細菌戰(zhàn)幸存者一家人的照片：母親感染了日軍撒下的細菌，3個孩子受間接感染。歷盡艱辛，但終究沒有留住每個人的生命。

李曉方震撼了。后來他知道他的部隊所在地曾經(jīng)遭受過日軍的侵略和洗掠。“新聞人”的職業(yè)敏感讓他多長了一個心眼，只要一有時間，他就掛上相機到部隊附近的村莊里轉(zhuǎn)悠，和村民聊天，打聽當年的情況。

“一天，我碰到一位70多歲的老大爺。聊著聊著，大爺拉起褲腿，指著腿上留下的一大塊黑黑的疤痕對我說，‘日本佬當時不僅撒了鼠疫、霍亂，肯定還撒了其他細菌。我這腿，就是日本軍撤退后不久爛的。當年十里八村爛腿、爛手、爛臉的人可多了，很多人很快就死了，沒死的一輩子都在爛。”

李曉方想，這是種什么細菌？怎么會一輩子都好不了？“我要把這段歷史用鏡頭記錄下來……”從此，一發(fā)而不可收。他開始搜尋與細菌戰(zhàn)有關的書籍、檔案和史料。

通過研究，李曉方發(fā)現(xiàn)，凡是爛腿、爛腳的老人，大多在70歲上下，發(fā)病時間集中在1942年7月至9月間，此前當?shù)貨]有人得過這種病，此后也沒有。根據(jù)當年侵華日軍731部隊被俘者的口供，日軍的細菌部隊的確大量生產(chǎn)過炭疽桿菌，并在浙贛鐵路沿線使用過。李曉方由此得出結(jié)論：老人們的爛腿、爛腳是因為炭疽桿菌感染。

2002年，美國歷史學家哈里斯、醫(yī)學家麥克·法蘭茲布勞和馬丁·法曼斯基專程趕到金華等地，對“爛腿村”進行了調(diào)查。調(diào)查結(jié)論與李曉方一致。

“一定要把這段鮮為人知的反人類丑惡歷史公之于世！”2002年5月，李曉方連借帶湊了4萬多元，購置了一套高級相機，開始了他的記錄工程。

2002年10月，李曉方來到金華市婺城區(qū)白龍橋鎮(zhèn)下楊村尋訪。他被村民引到了村里最破的一間房子前。一推門，一股臭氣撲面而來，蒼蠅嗡嗡亂轉(zhuǎn)。在昏暗的燈光下，一位頭發(fā)蓬亂的老人，正抱著自己的腿在呻吟，腐肉和血水一滴滴地掉在地上。老人名叫華慶云。20歲時和父親上山砍柴，回來后兩人開始爛腿。5年后，父親死了，華慶云喪失了勞動能力，靠母親照料。母親去世后，他靠著村里低保生活。就在李曉方找到他的一周前，他爛了60年的右腿突然從膝蓋下斷掉了。

李曉方問老人那段斷腿呢？老人答：早扔到茅廁里去了。一個星期后，華慶云老人也離開了人世。

“我在和時間賽跑。”李曉方說，后來他每到一個村子調(diào)查，都會有人跟他說：“小伙子，你來晚了。他們大多數(shù)都死了。”

“并不是所有人都愿意接受采訪和拍攝。”李曉方說，大多數(shù)幸存者以自己的遭遇為恥辱，將記憶和痛苦一起埋藏在過去。江山市大陳鄉(xiāng)池茶村李妹頭從15歲開始爛腿，送走了大多數(shù)同病相憐的村民。后來，她在鎮(zhèn)上做小吃生意，以養(yǎng)活年幼的孩子。怕別人知道她的病后嫌棄她，她一年四季都穿著厚厚的襪子，從不敢告訴別人，也不敢去醫(yī)院。李曉方找到她時，她和家人開始都不同意采訪拍照，怕影響了生意。后來在李曉方的反復勸說下，李妹頭瞞著家人，偷偷跑出來，讓李曉方拍了，作了筆錄。

在衢州市龍游縣湖鎮(zhèn)上溪頭村，一位叫楊春蓮的炭疽爛腳老人，深受病痛折磨。為了不讓家人為自己的病腿背上負擔，自己結(jié)束了生命。這一樁樁慘不忍睹的案例，讓李曉方更加堅定了自己的選擇。

據(jù)不完全統(tǒng)計，李曉方用了10年時間，跑了浙贛鐵路沿線800多個村莊，尋訪到240多位當年炭疽、鼻疽的幸存者。當李曉方將他們的悲慘經(jīng)歷匯編成《泣血控訴——侵華日軍細菌戰(zhàn)炭疽、鼻疽受害幸存者實錄》一書正式出版時，240多位幸存者中又有三分之一離開了人世。

血淚如注控日寇

2005年，當李曉方聞聽上海師范大學中國慰安婦問題研究中心主任蘇智良披露尚有最后35名慰安婦活在人世的訊息后，當即選擇在當年脫下穿了17年的軍裝，開始自費深入調(diào)查二戰(zhàn)時期日軍實施的慰安婦制度的罪行。

他先后到過中國的北京、黑龍江、山西、南京、上海、浙江、武漢、海南等地及韓國尋訪到70余位幸存慰安婦。2016年12月11日，由李曉方編寫的大型圖片史料實錄《世紀吶喊——67位幸存慰安婦實錄》在南京首次發(fā)行，有15位來自山西沁縣、武鄉(xiāng)縣的慰安婦是首次公開身份。

一張張圖片、一件件實物、一個個風燭殘年的老人。

調(diào)查也歷經(jīng)千難萬險。李曉方說，首先想找到這些老人就很難。她們或居住于邊遠地區(qū)，或隱沒于城市人海之中。一些偏遠的地區(qū)，沒有公交車，只通摩托，或是牛車、驢車。勞頓、辛苦不說，也很危險。還有，一些老人，尤其是新“發(fā)現(xiàn)”的慰安婦，就算找到了，也不愿輕易開口。有的事先聯(lián)系好了，愿意說，但急急忙忙、不遠千里趕到那里，老人又改了主意，不想說了。endprint

“回憶那段曾經(jīng)的慘痛經(jīng)歷，對這些老人來說是一種痛苦，也是一種折磨。”李曉方說：“2007年冬天，我從媒體上看到南京有一位慰安婦‘證人雷桂英勇敢地站了出來，就立即趕往南京，見到了雷桂英。此后不到半年，這位‘活證人就離開了人世。”

在雷桂英老人離世后不久，家住江蘇如皋市白蒲鎮(zhèn)楊家園的90歲老人周粉英，在家人的一再鼓勵下，終于愿意公開自己屈辱的慰安婦經(jīng)歷。2007年6月，李曉方見到了這位雙目失明的老人。

“在調(diào)查中，我感受最深、最痛苦的是要在這些受害老人永遠無法愈合的精神傷口上再‘揭疤。只要談起那段經(jīng)歷，老人們大都泣不成聲。有位受害老人的女兒在我調(diào)查尋訪結(jié)束后對我說，老人在此后的一個月里都會睡不著覺，在被重新勾起的痛苦回憶中備受煎熬。這時，我的心里更加難受，心里非常矛盾和自責，不想再打擾她們。但每每想到侵華日軍對亞洲40萬婦女的摧殘，看到日本政府一直在掩蓋、抵賴這段罪惡歷史時，我又禁不住怒火中燒，不能讓侵略者掩蓋那彌天大罪，要讓世人都知道人類歷史上這黑暗的一頁。”李曉方說。

在當日的首發(fā)式上，來自山西沁縣的老人李金魚乘了20多個小時火車趕到南京，在這里，她第一次向媒體公開自己慰安婦的身份。

這位眼窩深陷、手如枯枝的老人面對眾多相機和攝像機鏡頭哭訴“一生都給日本人毀了”。1944年，她剛滿14歲，在農(nóng)歷二月的一天早晨，她和堂姐李金娥正在玩耍，突然被破門而入的日本兵抓到山西漳源鎮(zhèn)交口村南山頂?shù)呐跇抢铮粡娬紴槿哲娢堪矉D，受監(jiān)禁兩個月，受盡折磨。

盡管后來被父親用很多錢還有雞蛋、小米贖回了家，但李金魚的命運就此改變。父親去世后，為了還債，她被賣給了鄰村一個比她大20歲的瞎眼男人做老婆。李金魚一直不能生小孩，下腹經(jīng)常疼。后來，醫(yī)生從她的肚子里取出了大塊的黑血塊。經(jīng)過長時間醫(yī)治，李金魚生了個兒子，但兒子在42歲就去世了，丈夫在26年前也走了。李金魚現(xiàn)在一無所有，靠撿破爛為生。

李曉方說，他尋訪的70多位老人中，很多是以拾荒、撿破爛為生的，沒有經(jīng)濟來源，生活窮困潦倒，依賴民間資助生活，但這種資助并不固定。時至今日，在國內(nèi)公開身份的還健在的慰安婦總數(shù)不到60人。

史料如鏡警后人

李曉方不僅用鏡頭記錄歷史，揭露日軍的駭人行徑，他還在不斷思考如何用歷經(jīng)20年的調(diào)查、搜集整理的這些活生生的案例、口述資料、圖片影像、實物書證等，告誡后人不能忘記屈辱。

李曉方自費建立了中國首個專門發(fā)布侵華日軍各種暴行受害者的網(wǎng)上陳列館——《抗戰(zhàn)受害者網(wǎng)上陳列館》（網(wǎng)址：www.ww2china.com）。網(wǎng)站上陳列了他調(diào)查的千余名侵華日軍實施的慰安婦、細菌戰(zhàn)、南京大屠殺、重慶大轟炸、擄日勞工、遺留化學武器等各種反人類罪行受害者的圖片、視頻、手印及受害者本人的物品，供人們?yōu)g覽和紀念。

同時，為了救助被疾病和貧困所困擾的受害者，給予這些年事已高的受害者人文關懷，李曉方四處籌款甚至貸款，并在熱心公益企業(yè)的贊助下，專門成立了為侵華日軍暴行受害幸存的困難老人提供生活救助、醫(yī)療救助、生活照料及精神撫慰的純公益組織——“浙江夕陽紅困難老人救助服務中心”。

李曉方說，他搜集了300多名受難者的各類物品近兩千件，記錄了他們生活的記憶點滴，希望能夠建立一所受難幸存者紀念館，讓口述歷史與實物有棲息之地，共同為后人敘述70多年前發(fā)生的那場戰(zhàn)爭，以及戰(zhàn)爭對他們一生的影響。

“不是為了記住仇恨，而是為了真實地記錄那段歷史，呼吁世人珍惜和平。”李曉方用正義和良知，記錄歷史，還原真相。他說，調(diào)查取證，永遠在路上。

如今，他依然在多方奔走，記錄歷史，搜集史料，建立紀念館……

李曉方說，當下，他最大的心愿就是“受難幸存者紀念館”能夠早日建成。

I had long since wanted to write about Li Xiaofang and his historical photos， but the topic seemed too horrible. Ultimately， I sat down with him at his home in Hangzhou on a December day last year and talked about the war of horror about 80 years ago and its victims and survivors.

“For most Chinese people， the germ warfare staged in China by Japanese aggressors is a remote and tiny fact in the books about the atrocities of the war. It is thought that it is a fact buried deeply in remote history. Few people know that two kinds of Chinese victims of the germ warfare have survived，” said Li Xiaofang.

He has published a book on the victims who survived and suffered endless pain of anthrax and glanders. Some of these victims are still alive.

Li Xiaofang first came to know about the victims in 1995. Born in the 1970s， he was working in the military first as a paramedic before turning to photography. One day in 1995， he ran into a set of photos by a photographer who used to work with him in the army. The photos told a story about a family tragedy. The mother was infected by the germs spread by Japanese troops and her three children got infected through their mother. They survived， but their life was hell.endprint

Li Xiaofang was shocked by the atrocity of the germ warfare and the pain the victims endured. He learned that the place around the military base where he was stationed had been invaded and looted by Japanese soldiers in World War Two. As a photojournalist， he began investigating to see if he could find anything and any victims. Whenever he had time， he visited villages and chatted with people about the past.

One day， he ran into a man in his seventies. The grandpa showed his legs to the young photographer. “My legs began rotting shortly after the Japanese soldiers left. Back then， in our village and neighboring villages a few kilometers away from here， a lot of people suffered from the disease. People got rotting legs， rotting faces and rotting noses. Many people died pretty soon and survivors suffered lifelong pain，” explained the grandpa.

Li did not know exactly what kind of germs could create such lifelong ugly ulcerating. He took photographs and did research.

As data accumulated， he found that those who were suffering from ulcerating in the legs were about 70 years of age and they got infected in a period that lasted from July to September 1942. Before then， none in the region had seen such a rotting case. With the historical literature that had accumulated over the decades after World War II， Li concluded that these old peoples ulceration in the legs was caused by the anthrax spread by Japanese troops. In 2002， three American experts visited Jinhua in central Zhejiang and did a field study in a village known to many people as a village of rotten legs. They arrived at the same conclusion.

Li Xiaofang made up his mind to build a photo record of the horror and expose the little known anti-human monstrosity to the whole world. In 2002， he raised over 40，000 yuan and bought a high-class camera for taking better quality photos.

In October 2002， he came to Xiayang Village in Jinhua City. He was directed to the most dilapidated house in the village. Pushing the door open， he was overwhelmed by stench and buzzing flies. In the dark room lit by a weak lamp， he saw an old man moaning loudly with his hands on the thigh. The part under the knee was missing， blood dripping and rotten flesh on the ground. The old man was Hua Qingyun. He got infected at the age of 20 after getting firewood in the mountain with his father. His father died five years later. His legs ulcerated so badly that he was not able to make a living. His mother took care of him. After his mother passed away， he lived on a subsidy provided by the village. A week before Li Xiaofang arrived， a leg which had ulcerated 60 years dropped from the thigh. The leg was thrown into a toilet. A week later， Hua Qingyun passed away.endprint

Li Xiaofang told me in the interview that he had been racing against time in the years. His investigation brought him to many villages around Jinhua and the remark he heard most was， “You are too late， young man. Most of them are dead now.”

Li Xiaofang said some victims were unwilling to let the world know they were victims. They considered the ulceration a disgrace. Theyd rather keep the pain and memory buried. Li Meitou， a germ warfare victim in Chicha Village in Jiangshan， a county-level city in southwester Zhejiang， got infected at 15. Most of the victims in her village died. She never told anyone about the ulceration in the legs and she wore long socks all the year round. Her family said no to the photojournalists request for a photo shoot and an interview. Li Meitou agreed and let Li Xiaofang photo and interview her without letting her family know.

In Shangxitou Village， a victim named Yang Chunlian committed suicide in her old age as she didnt want to be a burden on her family.

From 1995 to 2005， Li Xiaofang visited eight hundred villages along the Zhejiang-Jiangxi （Zhe-Gan） Railway and found 240 survivors of anthrax and glanders. By the time the book finally came out in May 2005， one third had passed away.

After the publication of the investigation results of germ warfare victims in Zhejiang and Jiangxi， Li Xiaofang did not stop his investigation into other war crimes committed by Japanese aggressors in China.

In December 2016， he published a book that records 67 surviving comfort women in China. Their stories are heartbreakingly sad. In order to make his investigations best known to the world， he set up at his own expense a website www.ww2china.com to display the photos， texts， and objects he has collected.

“What I do is not for hatred. I want truth. I want an authentic record of the history. I call for world peace，” he commented. His biggest wish is to see a memorial museum for victims and survivors come into being as soon as possible.endprint