The Case of Zhong Wei Shipping vs. Mitsui

The recent public apology Mitsubishi Materials extended to American POW for their stint as labor slaves in Japan during WWII followed by the company’s offer to pay damages to Chinese prisoners who also served as slave labor was widely acclaimed as the first legal win for Chinese victims of Japanese atrocities in WWII. In the course of doing my research, I found that even if Mitsubishi goes forward and actually pay indemnification; theirs was not the first for Chinese plaintiffs.

That dubious honor goes to the Chen family who doggedly pursue justice from Mitsui that span three generations. Finally, in April 2014 the grandson was awarded a judgment of RMB 260 million (about $43 million) on a lawsuit his grandfather initiated. This is widely regarded as the landmark case in the history of China Japan relations.

The grandfather, Chen Shuntong (陈顺通), started as a dock worker at age 14 and became the owner of Zhong Wei Shipping, then China’s largest shipping company by 1930 when he was 35. In 1936, the predecessor Japanese company to Mitsui signed a one-year lease for the use of Shunfeng and Xintaiping. With the capacity of more than 6000 tons and 5000 tons respectively, those were at the time considered the largest and state-of-the-art ships in China.

By 1937, Japan and China were officially at war and the ships were never returned to the owner. Upon conclusion of the WWII, Chen found out that both ships sank and were lost at sea during the conflict. The War and the loss of his ships led to deep depression and drove him to bankruptcy. He fell ill and died in November 1949. On his deathbed, he made his son swore to continue to pursue justice from the Japanese.

His son, Chen Qiaqun, left Shanghai and began to pursue justice out of Hong Kong. In 1962, he went to Japan and because Japan’s imperial navy had commandeered the ships, he began to seek compensation from Japan’s government before the Tokyo district court. The court ruled in 1974 that the statues of limitation on this suit had expired. End of the story in Japan.

In 1987, China’s court ruled that because the lease signed in 1936 took place in Shanghai and the principals were residing in Shanghai as were the ships in question, then the court in Shanghai has jurisdiction over the case. Next year Chen Qiaqun again filed the case on behalf of the Zhong Wei company. The first hearing in the Shanghai Maritime Court（上海海事法院) took place on August 15, 1991

In April 1992, Qiaqun passed away due to illness and he again made his two oldest sons promise to carry on the wishes of their grandfather. Between 1995 and 2003, there were four more hearings in court. Finally on December 7, 2007 the Shanghai court ruled that Mitsui, the successor owner, owed the Chen family 2.916 billion Yen or equivalent to 200 million Renminbi. At that time, this case was celebrated as the longest running case against a Japanese entity and the largest award for damages.

But that was not the end of the story because Mitsui did not take the case to China’s higher court nor pay the damages. On April 19, 2014, the Shanghai court seized a ship belonging to Mitsui for not honoring the ruling of the court. This move caught Mitsui by surprise and caused a sensation in Japan. The spokesman from the foreign affairs ministry of both countries quickly exchanged public statements into a media standoff.

Four days after the seizure, Mitsui appeared before the Shanghai court and paid 4 billion Japanese yen equivalent to 260 million Renminbi. Next morning, the ship was released to Mitsui.

Lesson learned from this story: Victims of Japanese WWII atrocities had no recourse until recently, only becoming possible now that China has become an economically strong nation and a judiciary system willing to hear cold cases more than 70 years old. It’s worth noting that the court in China did not rush to judgment but took the time to examine the issues involved.

My thanks to Thekla Lit for calling the original material in Chinese to my attention.

My friend, Professor Ivy Lee, has reminded me that there have been other cases that settled between Chinese slave laborers and Japanese companies. Somehow these cases have always led to controversy as is the case with the current pending cases.

Book Review: Empress Dowager Cixi By Jung Chang

This book review is on Amazon.

The author takes advantage of archival material only available in recent decades to write a remarkable and revisionist history of China's last Dowager Empress. Some the narrative will surprise the reader by the plethora of minutia the author uses in her portrayal of Cixi. She is unequivocal in presenting Cixi as a progressive, intelligent and reform minded leader, every bit as worthy to sit on dragon throne as Wu Zetian of the Tang dynasty, the only woman in China's long history who did reign in her own name.

At other times, perhaps lacking supporting reference material in her research, the author resorts to broad sweeping statements and generalizations that leave the reader to decipher between that which is based in historical fact and that's merely her conjecture and opinion. Indeed, just as Ms. Chang effectively raised the image of Cixi in her book, she has diminished the reputation and integrity of many of the ranking officials in the Qing court. For example Li Hongzhang, the most senior Han Chinese in court, widely regarded as a brilliant statesman and lead negotiator with the western powers is depicted as a less than competent person of doubtful integrity. Kang Youwei was nothing more than a scheming, conniving person in cahoots with Japan, who plotted to assassinate Cixi, restore Guangxu to the throne so that he can become the power behind the throne. Until this book, Kang enjoyed that reputation as the initiator of the famous hundred days of reform while Guangxu was in power.

The author has the irritating habit of bestowing handles to people as a way of denigrating them. For example, throughout her book Kang was consistently referred to as "Wild Fox" Kang. Zeng Guofan was "Marquis" Zeng and earlier mentioned Li Hongzhang was "Earl" Li. Presumably honorific titles relevant to the British peerage and merely dissonant in the context of the Chinese imperial court.

Perhaps because the author lives in U.K. and is married to a Brit, she goes easy on, much less squarely blame, the British empire for forcibly crammed opium into China and was responsible for the destruction of China's society and economy. The strongest condemnation I found in her book was, “Foreign opium imported into China was chiefly produced in British India and shipped solely from British ports.” Oh my goodness sake.

The merit of this book lies in filling the blanks in the history of the end of the Qing era. For example, not remembered was Robert Hart, an Englishman who came to China while young and stayed. He set up the customs collection system for China and by managing the duty collection, he became the de facto treasurer of China and responsible for a major source of revenue for China, without which China would not have been able to continue to enter unequal treaties and pay indemnity to the western powers. Towards the end of her life, Cixi conferred a title to Hart that ranked him third in the hierarchy of the imperial court, a rare honor for someone not related to the imperial family much less a big nosed foreigner.

For the history buff wanting to know about the last years of the Qing Dynasty, this book is a welcome and valuable addition--especially for the discerning reader with the care and willingness to separate the gems from the author's rant.