China Lists Sex Slaves Documents as National Heritage

China has raised historical records on imperial Japan's drafting of wartime sex slaves to national heritage status.

The documents on sex slaves were collected from nine archives since 2013.

"Until recently China has felt ashamed of the history of sexual slavery," a diplomatic source in Beijing said. "But now it is determined not to let the Japanese atrocities slip from the collective memory."

The records mostly cover the Rape of Nanking in 1937-38.

The selection includes records of a building in the city now mostly spelled Nanjing, which was used as a military brothel.

"It's a historical fact that Ishine Matsui, the commander of the Japanese Army's Central China Area, ordered the 'comfort women' system to be launched in Nanjing in December 1937," a Nanjing Archives official said.

China applied to UNESCO in June last year to gain world heritage status for the documents on sex slaves.