Harbin — The Archives of Silence

Your quest begins in front of the Museum of Evidence of War Crimes by Unit 731, located in Pingfang District. This site, once the nerve center of operations from 1933 to 1945, is the starting point of your exploration. As an archivist, your first task is to grasp the scale of the complex, which was one of the Imperial Japanese Army's most secret. The very architecture of the place, with its remnants of 3-meter-high brick walls, gives you an insight into the efforts made to maintain secrecy around these facilities. Here, you will search for the first keys to unlock Harbin's archives of silence.

Continue your investigation by approaching the remains of the inner prison, a highly secured building whose cast-iron doors recall the isolation of its occupants. It was here, in May-June 1943, that a daring escape attempt took place. A prisoner managed to knock out a guard, freeing over 100 detainees into the inner courtyard. However, the fate of these souls was tragically sealed, all suffocating after chloropicrin gas was released. Your observation of the site will lead you to look for traces of this dramatic event, a poignant testimony to the conditions of the time in Manchukuo.

The route then takes you to examine the outer perimeter of the Unit 731 complex. Protected by a 3-meter-high brick wall and a dry ditch with electrified wire, this security system reveals the strategic importance and clandestine nature of the activities carried out here. As you move around these fortifications, you will collect clues about the logistics and surveillance methods used, crucial elements for understanding the isolation of this research center. The city of Harbin, and more broadly the Hokkaido region, bears the scars of this period.

Your exploration of the Unit 731 relics invites you to consider the global implications of this site. The work of Shiro Ishii, commander of Unit 731 from 1892 to 1959, is intrinsically linked to the history of this place. Although the site is not a traditional museum at every step, each remnant is a page of history. Through the ruins of laboratories and facilities, you perceive the extent of the research conducted there, a dark chapter for Heilongjiang province. Your mission as an archivist is to leave no stone unturned, from every brick, every piece of debris.

By the end of your journey in Harbin, you will have assembled fragments of a complex history, that of a secret research center that operated between 1933 and 1945. The evidence of Unit 731's crimes, inscribed in the landscape of Pingfang District, and the accounts of escape attempts, such as that in May-June 1943, will have allowed you to grasp a historical reality often obscured. This walking tour offers a unique perspective on Harbin's heritage and China's history, transforming a simple circuit into an immersive and memorable quest for truth.