Mass graves - Manninkou (English spelling)

Japanese: 万人坑 - まんにんこう（英語表記）wàn rén kēng

A Chinese word meaning a place where many bodies are buried together. In the latter half of the Second Sino-Japanese War, at Japanese mines and large construction sites in northeastern China, bankrupt farmers from the area, people brought in from Shandong and Hebei provinces, and prisoners serving time in prison were overworked under orders to increase production. In addition to the bodies of those who died in accidents or from malnutrition, those who were no longer of use were buried alive, resulting in the creation of mass graves all over the place. Images of these sites, with piles of skeletons, were brought to Japan widely by Honda Katsuichi in his book Travels in China (1971).

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

多くの死体を合葬した所という意味の中国語。日中戦争後半期，中国東北地方にあった日本側の鉱山や大工事の現場では，付近の破産した農民をはじめ，山東省，河北省などからつれてこられた者，懲役労働の囚人などが，増産命令のなかで酷使された。事故で死亡した者，栄養失調で死亡した者などの死体に加え，使いものにならなくなった者は生き埋めにされて，あちこちに万人坑ができた。白骨が折り重なっている現場が広く日本に伝えられたのは，本多勝一《中国の旅》(1971)によってである。

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