It can be one of the hardest things to dig up a past one would rather forget. Yet, some history will end up fading away if we ignore the tragedies of the past.

　　揭开过去不愿被提及的伤疤是一件非常痛苦的事情。然而，如果我们真的无视并忘却了过去那些悲痛的故事，有些历史可能会真的慢慢淡去，最后彻底被世人遗忘。

　　In the spirit of remembering the tragedies of the past, a documentary featuring 22 Chinese "comfort women" premiered in Chinese mainland theaters Monday, which also marks the International Memorial Day for "Comfort Women."

　　在国际“慰安妇”纪念日到来之际，为了永久铭记这段伤痕累累的岁月，一部专门纪录22名中国幸存慰安妇的电影将于8月14日在内地上映。

　　The film, Twenty-two, was directed by Guo Ke.

　　这部电影的名字叫做《二十二》，由导演郭柯执导。

　　Originally Guo intended to shoot a feature film based on the story of Wei Shaolan and her half Japanese son Luo Shanxue. Wei was forced into sexual slavery as a "comfort woman" by Japanese forces in 1944 at the age of 20. She was fortunate enough to escape her captors three months later, but soon found that she was pregnant with a Japanese soldier’s child.

　　起初，郭柯导演是想基于幸存者韦绍兰与其半日本血统儿子罗善学的故事拍摄一部影片。1944年，这位名为韦绍兰的老人在20岁时被日本侵略军强征为慰安妇，成为了性奴隶。幸运的是，三个月之后，韦绍兰老人成功逃离了日本人的魔掌，但随后便发现自己怀了某个日本士兵的孩子。

　　"When I met Wei, I was shocked by her outlook on life. She was optimistic and always looking at the world in a beautiful light," Guo told the Global Times, adding that his meeting with her challenged his previous idea that Wei would be miserable after her experiences.

　　郭柯在接受《环球时报》采访时表示：“当我见到韦绍兰老人时，我非常惊异于她此时的生活状态。她好像永远都是那么乐观，总是看到生活美好和阳光的一面。”也正是这次见面，郭柯心中原本持有的“老人在经历过那些磨难后一定会非常痛苦”的想法也得以改观。

　　Guo ended up exploring Wei’s story in the short documentary Thirty-two, named after the number of former "comfort women" who were still living in 2012.

　　郭柯在此前导演的纪录短片《三十二》中向世人揭露了韦绍兰的故事。“三十二”代表着到2012年为止仍旧幸存的慰安妇的数量。

　　It is estimated that in the Chinese mainland alone, some 200,000 women and girls were forced to become "comfort women" by Japanese forces.

　　据统计，中国内地约有20万的少女和妇女曾经被日本侵略者强征为“慰安妇”。

　　When Guo learned that this number dropped to 22 in a mere year’s time, he decided that it was time that someone record their stories in film.

　　当了解到仅在一年的时间内幸存者的数量就骤降到“二十二”之时，郭柯便决定要导演一部这样的电影，来永久纪录她们的故事。

　　Over the next year, Guo and his team would travel to five provinces throughout China to meet and document these women’s experiences.

　　在接下来的一年内，郭柯和自己的团队先后走访了五个省份，去专门和这些幸存的老人们见面，记录她们的经历和生活。

　　"There are only eight of them still alive today," Guo noted.

　　郭柯谈到：“现如今，活在世上的只剩八位了。”

　　Guo’s project has received support as well as objections from Chinese society, with objectors stating that interviewing these women and having them relive their past pain is unnecessarily cruel.

　　郭柯的这一做法得到了来自社会各界的广泛支持，当然也不乏一些反对的声音。一些反对者表示采访老人的做法就是在揭过去的伤疤，对当事人来说过于残酷。

　　Answering these doubts, Guo said that his documentary is more about how these aged women looked at the world than it is about digging up painful moments.

　　在回应这些外界质疑时，郭柯表示自己的纪录片更多是向世人展示这些老人如今的生活现状，并非意在揭露过去的伤痛。

　　"It was just like listening to my grandma tell us stories as a child," Guo said, adding that he never pressured the women to continue if they did not wish to.

　　“整个过程就好像我小时候听奶奶讲故事一样，”郭柯谈到，并表示自己在采访的过程中从来不会逼迫老人，她们如果不想回忆，可以随时停止。

　　Guo explained that while younger generations tend to get angry when they talking about the history of "comfort women," those he interviewed, like Wei, were optimistic about life. He mentioned that one of the women was shown a picture of a elderly former Japanese soldier and to his surprise, she just giggled and said, "That Japanese man is old too. Look he barely has any mustache left."

　　郭柯谈到，尽管年轻人一谈到关于“慰安妇”的话题时就会义愤填膺，但事实上自己采访包括韦绍兰在内的很多老人对待生活的态度都很乐观。他还提到，一位老人在看到一位上了年纪的日本前军官的照片时，她本人反而咯咯笑出了声，“你看这个老家伙老得连胡子都没了。”

　　According to Guo, while the plight of China’s "comfort women" has often been talked about, the women themselves have not been taken care of very well.

　　据郭柯透露，尽管关于“慰安妇”的话题经常被世人提起，但她们本身却并没有受到应有的待遇。

　　"They are only remembered by their identity as ’comfort women.’ No one knows their real names or what their situation is like today," Guo noted, explaining that showing these women as individuals was one of the main motivations behind making his film.

　　郭柯说道：“世人只知道她们作为‘慰安妇’的身份，但并没有人知道她们的名字和生活现状。”他希望人们通过这部电影可以了解每位老人作为独立个体的相关经历，而不是只有“慰安妇”这三个字，这也是他拍摄这部电影的最重要目的。