Visiting Unit 731 in Harbin, China

Wednesday, September 02, 2026

Sep 2, 2026 HARBIN

In this episode, I ride to Harbin, a large city in China. Nowadays, it's a cool city with lots to see and to do, but on the outskirts of the city lies a dark place that should not be forgotten.

Posted by Corky at 10:42 AM | 7 COMMENTS | permalink | Comment on This Entry |

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Well, that's one set of atrocities I don't recall ever knowing about.... there was a movie based on the events released last year, here's the trailer:

731 - Official Trailer | Starring Wu Jiang

"Director Zhao Linshan (The Assassins) directs 731, a horrific tale of human corruption and depravity set inside the notorious Japanese Imperial Army Unit 731.

Prisoners are kept and used for gruesome and torturous experimentation for the purpose of developing bacterial and chemical weapons.

Wang (Wu Jiang) is a prisoner assigned as an interpreter for his fellow captives; through his eyes, we see this harrowing story of suffering and survival."

www.youtube.com

Definitely not going to watch the movie.

#1 | Posted by Corky at 2026-09-02 10:47 AM | Reply

Grim stuff, indeed.

#2 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2026-09-02 12:36 PM | Reply

I occasionally wonder the degree to which especially empathetic/sensitive researchers may be haunted to a degree by the subjects they investigate. Iris Chang's suicide post-publication of her The Rape of Nanking certainly comes to mind. How people like Raul Hilberg - author of the groundbreaking The Destruction of the European Jews - kept their marbles properly aligned while immersing themselves in pure horror, I do not know. I remember a scene from Claus Lanzma s monumental Shoah where Hilberg holds up a piece of office paper, explaining this was the manifest for a transport to an extermination center. "This is" - he mentioned a number - "people," he said with a sigh. Madness could not have lurked far off.

#3 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2026-09-02 01:35 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

Prolly why I've never been a horror movie fan; reality is grim enough.

There's also an apparently more realistic 1988 Chinese film about this event called Men Behind the Sun... which I also won't watch.

#4 | Posted by Corky at 2026-09-02 02:14 PM | Reply

Grim stuff, indeed.

#2 | POSTED BY DOC_SARVIS

Its the Japanese, perhaps now you can't understand why us Chinese hate them so much, US nuking them was the best outcome for them.

There's also an apparently more realistic 1988 Chinese film about this event called Men Behind the Sun... which I also won't watch.

You have to take this with a grain of salt, look the hatred is real, but the government likes to also stoke the flames when things internally get tough.

If you're keeping up with the Nepal floods caused on the Chinese side, you can see the CCP propaganda inaction. Its not more and not less than any propaganda in the West really.

#5 | Posted by oneironaut at 2026-09-03 07:17 PM | Reply

What I do notice in the youtube video is the lack of trash on the streets. I forgot how clean my China is .... America is really dirty by comparison.

I posted an image of the NY Subway from the 60's, amazing how clean and fit America was back then.

Boomers I tell ya.

#6 | Posted by oneironaut at 2026-09-03 07:19 PM | Reply

You know nothing, 1Nut Snow.

And your China's people and places are fine, but it's the Corrupt faux-Communist Crony Capitalist Defence Security State that will take your DNA when you go back.

I'm sure you'll give it willingly to Dear Leader.

#7 | Posted by Corky at 2026-09-03 08:40 PM | Reply