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The former administrative building of Unit 731 in Ping Fan now houses a museum. The whole complex was destroyed by the Japanese Army when it fled in 1945. Only the ruins of the power plant are still standing.
Photo: J. van Aken, Matthias Ziegler
2. The death laboratories in Ping Fan
In September 1931, Japan occupied Manchuria, the northeastern part of China. Soon thereafter, the Japanese Army initiated a biological warfare program, with laboratories in Tokyo and in Harbin, today the capital of China’s northernmost province. For human experiments, a more secluded location was needed. The Japanese built a secret laboratory and prison complex in Beiyinhe, a small village some 100 km south of Harbin. For two years they used humans like guinea pigs for medical and biowarfare experiments, shrouded in total secrecy. But, in late 1934, when some prisoners managed to escape and tell the story to some local residents, the Japanese army decided to build a new facility. This much bigger and more secure death laboratory was constructed in Ping Fan, some 20 km South of Harbin.
In 1936, the Japanese Emperor signed a decree establishing two biological warfare units, one in Changchun and the one in Ping Fan. The latter lab was headed by Ishii Shiro, a medical doctor who already directed the biowarfare laboratories in Tokyo, Harbin, and Beiyinhe. Ishii Shiro is often seen as the mastermind of the Japanese biowarfare activities, but it is important to note that he was not alone. The decision to build up the biological program was taken in the highest echelons of the Japanese army, and some biowarfare units worked independently from him.
The laboratory and prison complex in Ping Fan was gigantic, with living quarters and amenities for up to 3,000 Japanese staff members, 300-500 of whom were medical doctors and scientists. An airport was built as well as a railway, which was later used to transport the victims into the death laboratories. Ping Fan was built and operated by thousands of forced Chinese laborers, who lived under miserable conditions and a constant threat to their life. The core of Ping Fan was the so-called "Square Building", with the laboratories in an outer ring and the prison in the center. The only Chinese allowed to get even near the Square Building were Ping Fan's victims.
Today, a museum is operated in the former Ping Fan administrative building. Before it fled in 1945, the Japanese Army killed all prisoners, set the (infected) experimental animals free and destroyed the research complex with explosives. Only the two chimneys of the former power plant (not, as it is sometimes reported, of the incinerator) and parts of the administrative building are still standing.
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