Site of the Plague Disaster

Site of the Plague Disaster

The Site of the Plague Disaster is a cultural heritage site under the protection of Yinzhou District and also serves as a patriotic education base.

The Site of the Plague Disaster is one of the remnants of bacterial warfare during the Japanese imperialist invasion of China. On October 22, 1940, the Japanese army dropped wheat fleas mixed with spiders, flour, and leaflets containing plague bacteria over an area south of Zhongshan East Road, northeast to Taiping Lane, and bordered by Kaiming Street to the south. A few days later, a plague broke out, resulting in the tragic deaths of 106 residents. To eliminate the source of the epidemic, 110 households’ homes and belongings in the area were painfully burned down, a scene too horrible to behold. On the anniversary of Victory in the War of Resistance in 1996, a memorial stele for the plague disaster site was erected outside the site, inscribed with the words “Never Forget National Humiliation, Strive for Strength,” marking it as a patriotic education base in the district. On September 3, 2005, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the victory in the War of Resistance, the plague memorial stele was relocated and re-erected within the site.

On July 6, 2009, the "Ningbo Kaiming Street Plague Disaster Exhibition Hall," which documents and condemns the tragic history of the Japanese invasion forces' bacteriological warfare, was officially opened.

It is understood that on October 27, 1940, the Japanese invading forces dropped a large number of fleas infected with plague, wheat grains, cotton wadding, and other debris over Kaiming Street in Ningbo. A few days later, a plague disaster broke out in the Kaiming Street area, resulting in the deaths of over 110 people within a month. On the evening of November 30, the then Kuomintang government of Yinxian County set fire to the epidemic area. After four hours of burning, all houses, shops, and workshops in the affected zone were reduced to ashes. 115 households and 5,000 square meters of buildings were instantly turned into ruins. Until the 1960s, locals in Ningbo still referred to the place as the “Plague Field,” and every year people came to Kaiming Street to mourn relatives and fellow victims who died from the plague.

Starting in 1995, the families of the victims of the Ningbo plague disaster formed a victim plaintiffs' group. Led by Wang Xuan, a Japanese-educated master's graduate (one of the “Top Ten Moving Figures in China” in 2002), and with the help and support of Japanese friends, they continuously appealed and sued in the Tokyo District Court in Japan. The lawsuit lasted 12 years, with 39 court sessions held in total. By 2007, the Japanese Supreme Court finally ruled that while the Japanese government admitted to the fact of bacterial warfare, it refused to provide compensation. Although the plaintiffs ultimately lost the case, they achieved a moral and political victory.

The "Ningbo Kaiming Street Plague Disaster Exhibition Hall" is themed around “Never Forget National Humiliation, Strive for Strength.” With a wealth of irrefutable historical evidence, it exposes the heinous crimes committed by Japanese militarists in carrying out bacteriological warfare in Ningbo. The exhibition is divided into seven sections: “Historical Background, Rampant Spread, The Epidemic Zone, Prevention and Control, Burning of the Epidemic Zone, Inescapable Guilt, and The Pursuit of Justice,” detailing the entire horrifying process of the plague warfare. The bloody debt owed by Japanese militarism is as solid as ironclad evidence—its guilt is inescapable.

Relevant leaders from the Haishu District Government of Ningbo stated that the district has designated the exhibition hall as a Haishu District Patriotic Education Base, allowing more members of the public and students to receive patriotic education here. Mourning the compatriots who perished in the Japanese bacteriological warfare is a way to learn from the bloody lessons, invigorate national spirit, remember the lessons of history, strive for strength, and build a harmonious China and a harmonious world.