Moviegoers in China Demand Refunds After Watching Chinese Film ‘731’ Depicting Imperial Japanese Army Unit

By Shotaro Demizu / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

20:00 JST, October 25, 2025

SHENYANG, China — Moviegoers in China are continuing to voice their criticisms of the Chinese film “731,” which depicts the Imperial Japanese Army Unit 731 and was released on the country’s “day of national humiliation.”

The movie is being heavily criticized for such scenes as an oiran high-class courtesan procession occurring inside an internment camp where biological weapons were being studied and developed.

Some on social media in China have demanded refunds and posted such comments as “Give me back my money” and “The movie was garbage.”

The movie, set in Harbin in China’s Heilongjiang Province, is about a Chinese man who is taken to an internment camp and tries to escape with the help of others in the camp.

The film was released on Sept. 18, the date of the 1931 Liutiaohu Incident, a train bombing that sparked conflict between Japan and China.

On opening day, “731” made more than 300 million yuan. However, box-office sales dropped to less than 10% of that figure a week later.

The Chinese newspaper Heilongjiang Daily said the movie stayed true to historical documents.

However, the film depicts an oiran procession in an internment camp as well as a female Imperial Japanese Army officer.

“It’s impossible that an oiran procession took place in an area that had such a high-risk of infection, and there were no female officers in the Imperial Japanese Army,” said Issei Hironaka, an associate professor of Aichi Gakuin University who is an expert of Chinese modern history and is knowledgeable about Unit 731. “The movie was based on a strange image of Japan.”

Chinese apps showing movie information have still not disclosed the score received by “731.” It is assumed the move is to prevent the film’s low rating from becoming too widely known.