Eternal Echoes of the Dead and Buried

The Chinese servicewomen always took the lead in the process of the social development in China. Their strong and independent character originated from their unremitting self-exploration and constant pursuit. However,many young people today know so little about their life that they ask doubtfully: "Could this be true?" Now let's read together the yellowish letters and notes left by the servicewomen before their death,have a spiritual exchange with them and listen to the eternal echoes of the spirits of the martyrs dead and buried.

Mao LiYing, who took part in "The Long March Organization for National Salvation" in 1937,was killed secretly by special agents of the Japanese puppet army when she was only 29.Before the Organization went out to battle, she made a well-known speech: "I love my mother,but I love my motherland, too.Now our motherland is in danger and disaster.She needs us young people more. My mother is aging and I am her only daughter. She loves me and I love her. We depend on each other for survival in peacetime. But now it's different. If I want to devote myself to the motherland, I have to depart from her. Otherwise, I won't be able to throw myself into the defense of the motherland. I felt sad and at a loss what to do at first. But finally I made up my mind and chose the motherland. When I explained my choice to her in tears. You can see that my eyes are red with crying. Hearing my mother cry almost shook my determination. But when I thought of the disaster and slaughter the invaders had imposed upon our country and our people, I became resolute again."

Sun Xiaomei, a girl from a respectable family who, unwilling to be bound to the feudal morality, was divorced from her husband working in an institution of the Kuomintang, wrote a letter after she joined the New Fourth Army to her mother who had tried to dissuade her from the act ,elaborating her own opinions on life, family, ideals and the future. She said: "I am a young person with sense and courage. I won't be fooled and made use of by others. I will struggle hard for my ideal and my future. I will never blindly fall into the abyss of darkness. Endowed by nature with a tenacious will, I'm not afraid of any pressure, any threat or any reproach. I can resolutely break through the shackles of the feudal morality. The 'fame' and 'gain' I am seeking for is what the masses are seeking for. I take no interest in getting any personal 'fame' or 'gain' I .... We strive for the welfare of the masses. Any

personal interest we always put at a secondary place. 'Total loyalty defies total filial piety.' This is a well-known saying by all loyal officials and righteous men. Please forgive me, my dear mother. I can't do what you want me to do and fall a victim to the feudal society." These servicewomen, who should have been kept far away from war, resolutely joined the army for the dignity of the motherland and for their own emancipation. Nevertheless, deep in their hearts, they were filled with contempt for the war, resolutely joined the army for the dignity of the motherland and for their own emancipation. Nevertheless, deep in their hearts, they were filled with contempt for the war of aggression and the aggressors. Sun Xiaomei wrote a letter to her aunt to the effect that all human beings had feelings; that they loved their parents, husbands, wives, brothers and sisters; that even animals had the feeling of paying a debt of gratitude, let alone we human beings; that our fellow countrymen were being murdered by invaders and therefore we should rise in self-defense; that for the past three or four years, lots of people had separated from their family members, lots of families had been ruined and lots of people had died on

battlefields; that though we were all mortal beings, we should die a worthy death and never turn into persons condemned by our nation. In 1943, she was captured by a Japanese military police corps and Ben Mu, head of the military police corps, at once gave a banquet" in her honour," trying to win her over and make her surrender. Seeing through his trick, Sun Xiaomei pounded the table and stood up. She cursed the Japanese devils and then turned over the table angrily. Ben Mu flew into a rage out of humiliation. He escorted her to the level ground in the Old Tiger Mountains in Longtan, brutally cut off her breasts first and then killed her. She died at the young age of 29.

Although the captured servicewomen were harshly insulted and victimized by the enemy, often receiving cruel torture after being humiliated again and again, their revolutionary faith was never shaken. Their pursuit of beliefs and goals of life was constantly tempered in their ceaseless exploration. When Feng Helan, a servicewoman of the New Fourth Army, was put into prison, she wrote a letter to her sister to her sister to the effect that her feeble life in prison was being sustained by the bright lamp of hope;that maybe she would die soon and be put to hell, but she was not afraid, because what she had done was to save thousands of millions of masses in miserable conditions; and that she thought she was fortunate to be thrown into hell for the sake of the great masses.

Such epiphany toward life could never have been attained by old-type women..While admiring their heroic revolutionary acts of upholding justice, one couldn't help paying respects to the literary talent they displayed.

A most noble image of life has always been that of the mother. But war left the servicewomen little time to take care of their children. And yet, at the end of their lives, they often revealed the heartbreaking maternal love innate in them.

In the summer of 1936, speeding along on the Japanese-style narrow-model rail in the Northeast was a train wherein was escorted a condemned prisoner. She was Zhao Yiman, one of the woman cadets of the Huangpu Military Academy and later the political commissar of the Second Regiment in the Third Army of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Forces. She was unfortunately wounded in a battle and was captured. In the inquesting room, the head of the Japanese special agents personally interrogated her and then inflicted upon her such tortures as belt beating, fire burning and the nailing of fingers with bamboo picks. She kept silent all the way on the hot and suffocating train. Suddenly she spoke: "Give me a pen."

The enemy, thinking that the strong woman had wavered in face of death, hurriedly got ready a pen and a piece of paper. Propping up her weak body, she finished a piece of paper. Propping up her weak body, she finished a piece of writing at one go with her battered hand.

This was a letter to her son.

Aug.2,1936

Ning, my dear son,

It is a great pity that mom didn't discharge her responsibility with regard to your education.

Mom firmly took part in the struggle against the Japanese aggression. Now I am going to die.

Mom will never have a chance to see you again before death. I hope that you, my dear Ning, will grow up as soon as possible so as to console your dead mother. My dearest child, since mom cannot teach you with thousands upon thousands of words, mom will teach you with actual deeds.

I hope that, after you have grown up, you won't forget that your mother died for the country.

Your mother Zhao Yiman in the train

She was gone, leaving her maternal love.

The Yunzhouxi Village of Shanxi Province, a small village which can not be found on the map, is famous throughout the country for having brought up a 16-year-old girl called Liu Hulan, an anti-Japanese

servicewoman.On the execution ground, she didn't say any brave words or perform any earthshaking deeds. She just calmly asked: "How shall I die?"Then she went toward the hand hay cutter with composure. Her head was cut off for public exposure. Many people, including her elders, were deeply moved by the integrity displayed in face of death by the simple girl in the Chinese countryside. People commented upon her with these maximum words; "A great life and a glorious death!"

In 1948, Chiang's imperial court was shaken by the rumble of gunfire of the PLA. It was on the eve of the daybreak. In the concentration camp in Chongqing, the fingers of Jiang Zhujun, a servicewoman, were nailed full with bamboo picks. Then the enemy time and again forced her to drink chili water, sit on the rack and undergo other cruel tortures. And yet, despite the dripping of blood from her hands and the sounding of the heavy shackles on her feet, she broke free of the uncommissioned enemy officers who were holding her on both sides by the arms and stood firmly all by herself. Her fellow sufferers all felt proud of her. They extended their respect for her in various ways. Among them was a poem wherein she was thus praised:

You are the embodiment of Dan Niang, You are the spirit of Sophia,

No,you show your own characters,

You are the revolutionary model of the sons and daughters of the Chinese people.