Four former Japanese POWs (prisoners of war) have written letters to the Fushun POW Prison, to show their gratefulness for the care by Chinese hosts during their recent tour in China.

Hou Guihua, the warden, received the letters from the former Japanese soldiers who showed their apology for what they did during Japanese invasion in China during the 1930s-40s.

In 1956, the Special Military Tribunal of China's Supreme People's Court exempted lawsuit against 897 Japanese POWs and sent them back home, while sentenced 45 of those who had committed severe war crimes to 12-20 years in prison. Actually, these 45 Japanese POWs had returned home before they completed their imprisonment terms. The last groups of the Japanese POWs returned to Japan in 1964.

Upon returning home, the Japanese POWs vowed to give up vice and return to virtue and make endeavurs for Sino-Japanese friendship and world peace.

To date, over 20 of those Japanese POWs who had served their terms in the Funshun Prison are still alive. Four of them paid a visit to Funshun Prison on June 27.

The prison held a welcoming ceremony to mark the visit of the "Peace Mission" delegation as well as the 60th anniversary of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War (1937-45).

(Xinhua News Agency September 19, 2005)