SHENYANG, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- Yang Huafeng, a 92-year-old Chinese veteran of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, grew up listening to his parents' stories about the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, which was a collection of anti-Japanese guerrilla forces led by the Communist Party of China, active in northeast China.
The September 18th Incident of 1931, meticulously plotted and launched by Japan in northeast China, marked the beginning of 14 years of invasion. The people of the northeast were the first to endure brutal occupation -- and the first to rise in resistance.
Yang was born in Jiangdong Village, not far from the Wusihun River in Linkou County, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. That riverbank was the site of one of the war's most tragic and heroic episodes. In 1938, eight female soldiers of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, the youngest barely 13, made their last stand there.
To cover the retreat of their comrades, the young women deliberately drew fire from the Japanese and their puppet troops. Surrounded by the enemy with their ammunition exhausted, they refused to surrender and chose instead to collectively stride into the raging currents, sacrificing their lives for the Chinese people's war against invasion.
"Those heroes and heroines of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army have shaped who I am today," Yang said at the September 18th Historical Museum in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province. The museum is the only one dedicated to comprehensively chronicling the September 18th Incident.
Yang's own story was deeply entwined with that painful history. Even after more than 80 years, he cannot hide his grief and indignation when recalling how his parents were killed by Japanese troops.
On an autumn morning in 1942, nine-year-old Yang was returning home with his mother after picking vegetables from their garden when they saw Japanese aggressors setting fire to their courtyard. His mother rushed into the house in an attempt to salvage some food, only to be struck on the head with a rifle butt by a Japanese soldier. She collapsed, dying in a pool of blood. Yang survived only because a neighbor pulled him close and shielded him with his own body.
Another tragic hit two years later, when Yang's father was seized by Japanese troops as a forced laborer. During an interrogation, he defiantly proclaimed, "I am a Chinese!" and was brutally beaten to death by the Japanese.
After becoming an orphan, Yang waited eagerly every day for the arrival of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army. In the summer of 1945, when the army liberated Jiangdong Village, Yang immediately volunteered to join them. He trained diligently in marksmanship, bayonet combat, grenade lobbing and other military skills, quickly becoming a good soldier.
During a mission, the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army planned to attack a Japanese stronghold located more than 10 km from Jiangdong Village. The original plan would require a full day's detour, but Yang knew the place so well that he guided the troops to a shortcut, leading to the complete annihilation of the enemy. This successful raid marked the beginning of the liberation campaign for Linkou County.
"After the victory in the War of Resistance in 1945, people in my hometown poured into the streets, cheering: 'Japan has surrendered! At last, we can truly call ourselves Chinese again!'" recalled Yang, his eyes brimming with tears and lips trembling with emotion.
While never forgetting the personal and national wounds of war, Yang, who experienced the war firsthand, maintains a profound yearning for peace.
"Although some Japanese politicians have strongly denied that period of history, I still believe that the Japanese people are fundamentally good," Yang said. "I sincerely hope Japan will learn from historical lessons, and I look forward to a strengthened friendship between our peoples to advance China-Japan relations. This is my greatest aspiration."
"Peace is the aspiration of people worldwide," said Yang Dongmei, daughter of Yang Huafeng. "We must uphold the great spirit of the War of Resistance and transform it into a driving force for excelling in our work, because only when the nation is strong can its people live in security."
Over the years, Fan Lihong, director of the September 18th Historical Museum, has witnessed and been deeply impressed by many touching examples of friendly exchanges between the Chinese and Japanese people.
In 2015, a Japanese choir visited China to perform a concert themed "Singing for Peace." Many of its members were descendants of Japanese war criminals who had once invaded China. Through a variety of artistic forms, including choral singing, recitation and dance, the performance recreated the historical account of how China reeducated and granted clemency to Japanese war criminals in northeast China.
The choir's China tour included a visit to the September 18th Historical Museum. "They offered sincere apologies for Japan's wartime atrocities and expressed, through their songs, profound admiration for the Chinese people's extraordinary magnanimity, as well as their earnest desire for peace and friendship," Fan said.
In early August, after over two months of renovation, the September 18th Historical Museum reopened to the public. According to Fan, despite the scorching heat, the museum attracted more than 40,000 visitors on its first day of trial reopening, demonstrating the Chinese public's enthusiasm for learning about wartime history.
"We must understand this history not to perpetuate hatred, but to ensure that such a shadow never falls over any nation again," said Wang Xiaojun, a local visitor touring the museum with his son. ■
