Zhongma Fortress - Background

Background

Shirō Ishii, an Imperial Japanese Army senior researcher in biological and chemical warfare, was assigned to establish a clandestine program to develop weapons of mass destruction under the patronage of Army Minister Sadao Araki.

Ishii built a medical research facility in Harbin shortly after the city came under Japanese control after the Manchurian Incident in 1932. This facility conducted legitimate medical research on vaccines and public health. However, the facility was too close to a highly populated area to be able to conduct clandestine biological warfare research, so Ishii selected a second site about 100 kilometers to the south of Harbin at the village of Beiyinhe. The local inhabitants were forcibly evacuated and their village burnt down, and a large tract of land was fenced off.

Read more about this topic:  Zhongma Fortress

Famous quotes containing the word background:

    ... every experience in life enriches one’s background and should teach valuable lessons.
    Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)

    They were more than hostile. In the first place, I was a south Georgian and I was looked upon as a fiscal conservative, and the Atlanta newspapers quite erroneously, because they didn’t know anything about me or my background here in Plains, decided that I was also a racial conservative.
    Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)

    I had many problems in my conduct of the office being contrasted with President Kennedy’s conduct in the office, with my manner of dealing with things and his manner, with my accent and his accent, with my background and his background. He was a great public hero, and anything I did that someone didn’t approve of, they would always feel that President Kennedy wouldn’t have done that.
    Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)