A Chinese woman forced into front-line brothels for Japanese troops during World War Two is being remembered and honored after she passed away last Saturday. Her passing signals that all victims who sued the Japanese government over sex slavery on the Chinese mainland, have died without getting justice.

 

Huang Youliang died at the age of 90 at her home in Yidui Village in China's southern island province of Hainan. In October 1941, 15-year-old Huang was raped when Japanese troops invaded her hometown. She was later put into a brothel and forced to have sex with Japanese soldiers for two years. In July 2001, Huang and seven other abused females sued the Japanese government, demanding an apology. But the Japanese court repeatedly rejected their appeals.

 

There have been a total of 24 Chinese wartime sex slaves who sued the Japanese government in four cases since 1995, but all have failed. Huang's passing also means there are only 14 known sex slaves still alive on the Chinese mainland.