During World War II thousands of Korean and Chinese women were taken from their villages and forced to serve Japanese servicemen as 'comfort women.' One such woman was Grandma Zheng Shunyi, who at the age of 17 was tricked into leaving her town in Korea and taken to the Hunan Province in China. 54 years later, the 70-year-old Zheng returned to her hometown in Korea. But was she going home?

At the Japanese surrender in August 1945, Grandma Zheng was released from 'service.' Left homeless on the streets of Hankou Town in Hunan, she was forced to beg for food from neighbors. Eventually she met Wang Lichao, a soldier of the Kuomintang, and fell in love. They soon married and built a family together, living peacefully with their children and grandchildren. But she never forgot Korea.

When China and Korea normalized diplomatic relations, Zheng was finally allowed to visit her birthplace. Seriously ill with lung cancer, she was able to return with the aid of Japanese and Korean support groups. Although Zheng was torn to leave her Chinese family and village behind, she was truly overjoyed to be in her homeland again. She died eight months later, her last wish being to return to her family in the small mountain village. Despite her wishes her ashes were not returned to China.

Director Ban Zhongyi first became aware of former 'comfort women' in 1992 as a Chinese exchange student in Japan. He became resolved to chronicle the lives of people in postwar China, and to bring their stories to Japan. After meeting Zheng Shunyi, deeply moved by her story and her character, he set about to create a permanent record of her life. WHERE IS GRANDMA ZHENG'S HOMELAND? is the powerful result of Ban Zhongyi's resolve.

"Recommended for academic areas in Women's Studies, World War II History and Asian Studies."—Educational Media Reviews Online