In the 1990s, researcher Su Zhiliang learned that the Japanese military’s first “comfort station” – facilities used to house women forced into sexual slavery – was established in Shanghai during World War II.

To understand more, he launched an investigation that took him to 22 provincial regions across China and confirmed that the Japanese operated more than 2,200 “comfort stations.” Shanghai alone had 192.

Only 358 survivors were ever identified, but Su estimates that at least 400,000 women were housed at these facilities. “Their lives were turned upside-down,” he says. “We must remember, and we must ask why such evil happened.”