Association of Returnees from China The , often abbreviated to Chukiren , was an organization formed on 24 September 1957 following the repatriation to Japan of soldiers from the former Imperial Japanese Army who were interned as war criminals in China ' s Fushun War Criminals Management Centre . While the Chinese government chose to prosecute the top Japanese leadership , it repatriated accused lower - ranking soldiers to Japan . Once in Japan , they gave testimony about their experience with crimes such as Unit 731 , comfort women , and the Nanking Massacre , but often received stringent opposition from Japanese nationalists and militarists , who proclaimed them to be communists or " brainwashed " by the Chinese communist government . Its members included Yoshio Shinozuka , Yasuji Kaneko , Tadayuki Furumi , and Ken Yuasa ; the association was disbanded in 2002 . Origins . 1109 individuals were interned by the People ' s Republic of China , 969 in the Fushun War Criminals Management Centre and 140 in the Taiyuan War Criminals Management Centre , on suspicion of having committed war crimes within China during the Second Sino - Japanese War . Those held in Fushun had been captured in Manchuria by the USSR and after enduring internment in Siberia were transferred to China in 1950 . They included many Japanese soldiers as well as Chinese such as Puyi and Zhang Jinghui . Those held in Taiyuan included Japanese soldiers who after the end of the Second Sino - Japanese War had joined the Nationalists and fought against the communists during the Chinese Civil War . In contrast with their time in Siberia , Japanese POWs were given better treatment from the Chinese communists . However , a long - term " crime recognition campaign " was imposed at the same time on those soldiers who were believed to have undertaken , supported , and witnessed Japan ' s numerous and inhumane criminal acts during the war . This involved them reflecting on their own actions up to then and confessing their sins voluntarily , a process later described by Chukiren ' s detractors as " brainwashing " . Under the authority of the " Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People ' s Congress Concerning Punishment of Japanese Troops Who Invaded China " of April 1956 , the trials of 45 leading war criminals were undertaken in extraordinary military tribunals set up in Shenyang , Liaoning , and Taiyuan , Shanxi , between June and July . All the rest of the war crime suspects were pronounced at special courts within their internment centres to be exempt from prosecution and to be released immediately . In 1957 some of these repatriated former war criminals whose sins were forgiven by the Chinese founded the Association of Returnees from China and launched an anti - war , pacifist movement and a campaign for Sino - Japanese friendship . Activities and criticism . At the heart of Chukiren ' s mission was exposing the foolishness of war , especially through testifying to the things that they themselves did in the war and on the battlefield . They were known for being very active in testifying about and cooperating with witnesses of things such as Unit 731 , forced labor recruitment of Koreans , comfort women , and the Nanking Massacre . Because of this , many of the returnees ended up being branded as " red " regardless of their personal beliefs and experienced mistreatment in post - war Japan . Writers such as Toshio Tanabe have also argued that the Japanese officers and men interned at Fushun were brainwashed by China . The returnees who gained their freedom thanks to China ' s lenient pardon when they should have been sentenced to a long - term or indefinite imprisonment or death were deeply grateful to the Chinese government , but they don ' t go so far as to deny the fact that China ' s true intention was that they , due to their ideological training , were useful people to be set free as disseminators of their ideas under a debt of gratitude to China for letting them off . Dissolution . Due to the aging of its members , the Association of Returnees from China was disbanded as a national organization in 2002 and its work was carried on by the " Continuing the Miracle of Fushun Society " composed of younger activists .