Liaoyuan Miners' Mass Grave

The Liaoyuan Miners' Mass Grave (Chinese: 辽源矿工墓), also known as the Fang Family Grave (Chinese: 方家坟), is a mass burial site dating to the period of the Second Sino-Japanese War located in Xi'an District, Liaoyuan, Jilin, China. The site contains the remains of more than ten thousand Chinese miners who died under forced labor conditions in Japanese-controlled coal mines during the occupation of Northeast China.^[1] In 2013, it was designated a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level.^[2]

Following the Mukden Incident in 1931 and the subsequent Japanese occupation of Northeast China, Japanese authorities intensified the extraction of coal resources in the Liaoyuan region. Four mining administration offices, known as "coal extraction bureaus", were established in and around Liaoyuan, overseeing fourteen mine shafts and forty-two subcontracting operators (known locally as dagui).^[3]

During this period, the occupying authorities implemented exploitative labor policies often described as "exchanging human lives for coal".^[4] Large numbers of laborers from Northeast China, North China, and provinces including Henan, Hebei, and Shandong were deceived or forcibly transported to work in the mines. Living quarters were enclosed with electrified barbed wire, and food and accommodation were inadequate, leading to widespread malnutrition. Corporal punishment by overseers was common, and underground mining operations lacked basic safety measures. Frequent accidents, abuse, starvation, and exposure resulted in the deaths of large numbers of miners.^[5]

The Fang Family operator (Fangjia Gui), one of the forty-two subcontractors, was managed by Fang Ming (Chinese: 方明, d. 1943) and Fang Cheng (Chinese: 方成, 1908–1967), both originally from Tianjin and reportedly affiliated with criminal organizations before collaborating with Japanese authorities. They established labor recruitment companies known as "Minggang" and "Mingji" to procure workers, employing Cai Jiuling (Chinese: 蔡九龄, 1903–1951) as general manager. In 1939 alone, over 10,000 laborers were recruited under deceptive circumstances, and more than 20,000 were brought in during the following year.^[6]

Under harsh working conditions, over ten thousand miners are reported to have died by the winter of 1941. Their bodies were buried collectively at what became known as the Fang Family Grave. Coffins used in transport were reportedly reused and not interred with the deceased. As burial space became scarce, a cremation furnace covering approximately 40 square meters was constructed in 1943. Known colloquially as the "human refining furnace", it was used to incinerate miners' remains; some accounts state that severely injured or dying miners were also thrown into the furnace. After Fang Ming's death in 1943, Cai Jiuling assumed control of the operation, renaming it the Cai Family operator and continuing mining activities under Japanese authority. Following the end of Japanese rule and the Communist capture of Liaoyuan in 1947, Fang Cheng fled to Tianjin, while Cai Jiuling went into hiding.^[7]

After the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Cai Jiuling was arrested on 27 April 1951 and publicly tried. He was executed on 22 May 1951 in front of the mass grave site. Fang Cheng was later apprehended, brought back to Liaoyuan for trial, and executed in 1967 with approval of the Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China.^[8]

On 7 September 1963, the Liaoyuan Mining Bureau organized more than 1,300 workers to excavate and clear the burial site. Large quantities of human remains and material evidence relating to the Japanese occupation were uncovered, including wage slips documenting exploitative deductions. Some skeletal remains were found bound with iron wire or bearing marks consistent with violent trauma.^[9][10]

In 1966, the Liaoyuan Mining Bureau invested in the construction of memorial facilities at the site, including exhibition halls and protective structures over skeletal remains. In 1973, a class education exhibition hall centered on the mass grave was completed. The site was listed as a Jilin Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Unit in 1983. Between 2001 and 2003, the exhibition hall was renovated and reopened to the public in 2005. It was later designated a National Patriotic Education Demonstration Base and underwent comprehensive restoration in 2015. In 2016, it was rated a national AAAA-level tourist attraction.^[9]

In 2018, research conducted by Jilin University institutions on the recovered remains identified the presence of women and children among the victims.^[11] Osteological analysis indicated that many skull injuries were caused by deliberate blows from sharp or blunt instruments, suggesting intentional lethal violence.^[12] Conservation research has also explored microbiological methods for stabilizing the remains.^[13]

The site occupies approximately 200,000 square meters and is divided into two main sections: the burial grounds and the exhibition area. The mass graves are distributed across a hillside, now surrounded by trees planted by local residents in the 1960s.^[14][15]

A seven-meter-high concrete memorial monument stands slightly east of the center of the burial area. The front inscription reads "Grave of the Miners Who Died at Liaoyuan Coal Mines During the Japanese Puppet Rule Period" (Chinese: 日伪统治时期辽源煤矿死难矿工墓), while the reverse bears the inscription "Remember the Sufferings of Class Oppression; Never Forget the Blood and Tears of Enmity" (Chinese: 牢记阶级苦 不忘血泪仇), dated September 1963.^[16] A pathway connects the monument to the exhibition complex.^[17]

The exhibition area includes a 1,055-square-meter exhibition hall, partly constructed over the burial grounds, displaying more than 230 items of mining equipment left from the occupation period. Additional sections include preserved skeletal remains sites, the cremation furnace remains, a commemorative stele forest, and a modern exhibition hall. In front of the site stands a cast-iron kneeling statue of Cai Jiuling (Chinese: 蔡九龄), former general manager of the Fang Family operator.^[9]