Born: 1923 (Japanese-occupied Taiwan)
Died: 2011
Liu Huang A-tao (1923 – 1 September 2011) was a Taiwanese activist and a prominent figure in the movement for justice and reparations for comfort women. Born in Japanese-occupied Taiwan, Liu Huang was one of the thousands of women who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II.
At the age of 19, in 1942, Liu Huang joined the Japanese nursing corps, believing that she would be providing medical care to the Japanese forces. However, she soon found herself cruelly deceived and pressed into sexual slavery as a comfort woman for Japanese troops. Liu Huang was sent to Indonesia, where she was immediately put to work at a battlefield brothel. Just three days after her arrival, she was seriously injured during heavy fighting and had to undergo a hysterectomy. Despite her extensive wounds, she continued to be subjected to the horrors of being a comfort woman for the next three years.
After the Surrender of Japan and the end of World War II in 1945, Liu Huang returned to Taiwan. However, she chose to keep her experience as a comfort woman a secret, hiding the deep emotional scars that it had left on her. She married a retired Taiwanese soldier and the couple adopted a child together.
For decades, the experiences of comfort women like Liu Huang were largely ignored in post-war Asia. However, in the 1980s, a group of survivors in South Korea filed several lawsuits against the Japanese government, bringing the issue into the public sphere. In 1991, documents were uncovered that forced the Japanese government to issue an apology and express remorse to Korean comfort women. Witnessing the actions of these South Korean survivors, Liu Huang was inspired to speak out about her own experiences.
In 1995, Japan attempted to quietly compensate former comfort women through the Asian Women’s Fund, but most survivors, including Liu Huang, refused the offer. Instead, she began meeting with other Taiwanese survivors through the Taipei Women’s Foundation, an organization dedicated to advocating for the rights of women. Together with eight other comfort women survivors, Liu Huang became the first Taiwanese woman to sue the Japanese government for compensation and a public apology in 1999. Her courage and determination in seeking justice earned her the nickname Grandma A-tao.
Liu Huang’s public campaign brought attention to the plight of comfort women in Taiwan and contributed to increasing awareness and understanding of their suffering. She played a crucial role in empowering survivors and initiating a national conversation about the importance of recognizing and addressing the historical injustices committed against comfort women.
Liu Huang A-tao passed away on September 1, 2011, leaving behind a powerful legacy as a brave advocate for the rights of comfort women. Her unwavering dedication to seeking justice and reparations for the survivors of sexual slavery during World War II has had a lasting impact, both in Taiwan and globally.