NANJING -- Doctors have removed a bullet from the head of a Chinese woman in east China's Jiangsu Province, 64 years after she was shot by invading Japanese soldiers during the Second World War.

Jin Guangying, now 77 and a retired farm worker from Suyang County, has been discharged from hospital after the operation on May 3 and is reportedly in good condition.

Jin was wounded in September 1943 when she was delivering food to her father, a guerilla soldier stationed in a village near her home in Xinyi County (now Xinyi City).

"Just as my father and the other soldiers finished their lunch, Japanese troops entered the village and a gunfight began," said Jin.

Jin, a 13-year-old girl at the time, was one of the few survivors, falling into a coma after she was shot in the head.

"When I woke up, I found I was at home. My mother had taken me back home, applied herbal medicine to my wound and dressed my head in layers of bandages," said Jin.

"My mother was told I was very lucky as the bullet went through the arm of a guerilla soldier before striking my head, but no one imagined it was still lodged there," she said.

Three months later, Jin had recovered. However, six decades of being haunted by relentless headaches began.

"When she suffered from the headaches, she would sometimes babble words we could hardly understand, foaming at the mouth, and sometimes she pounded her head with her fist," said Wang Zhengping, Jin's daughter.

But the cash-strapped family could not afford to spend money on a thorough examination for Jin, opting to send her to a village clinic for an injection of pain-killers.

In recent years, the headache attacks grew more frequent. "The situation was getting worse as the headache attacks became more regular and we were told that my mother might be suffering from a brain tumor," said Wang.

Jin's family borrowed money to pay for an X-ray which revealed not a tumor, but a three-centimeter-long bullet.

Doctors with the Renci Hospital of Suyang County removed the rusty green-colored bullet after a four-hour operation.

"It's a miracle. The operation was not that difficult, but it's unbelievable that Mrs Jin was able to survive for such a long time with a bullet in her head," said Zhou Hong, the head of surgery at the hospital.

"The bullet entered Jin's head just above her right ear. She is really lucky - if the bullet had gone any deeper, she might have died 64 years ago," said Zhou.

Experts with the military command based in Nanjing confirmed the bullet could only have been fired by Japan-made 6.5 mm-caliber firearms.

"The bullet might have been fired by a rifle or a scatter-gun, which were most frequently used by the Japanese during their invasion of China," said Tang.

"Actually, if the bullet had passed through Jin's head, she might have died immediately, because usually the wound left by a bullet leaving the human body will be much larger than the one created when it enters," said Tang.

The hospital refunded the cost of Jin's treatment after the bullet was confirmed to be a "piece of heritage" from the Japanese invasion, said Wang.

Jin's family now plans to consult with lawyers on how to seek compensation from the Japanese government and a public apology.

"The bullet has been taken out, however, the pain and hurt felt by my mother will never be eliminated," said Wang.