4." Larks " in a Men's World

Long ago I saw a picture, a picture of a servicewoman before enlistment.

She had two big and extremely beautiful eyes.But you couldn't see these touching eyes in this picture.With her eyelids lowered, she looked rather dejected. " Something the matter with the picture? " I asked.No, she answered. Girls at that time shouldn't look up at the opposite sex. The photographer of the photo studio was a male, hence the picture. The girl in that picture was not yet 15.

This was the position fixed for women by the feudal society and the family. In China the old teaching of " no physical contact between a man and a woman except between man and wide " was of long standing. Among a vast accumulation of disorderly and unsystematic data I looked for the traces of the Red Armywomen and collected pictures and original handwriting left by them, wondering who it was that first turned on the mysterious transceiver; who it was that took part in the running of the first hospital; and who it was that set up the first stage in the Red Army⋯These technical arms of composite formation were the first ones in the Chinese army. How did the servicewomen who had grown up under the nurture of the old feudal teachings start to associate with the males and how was the cooperation between them?

In the ranks of the Red Army could be seen the heroic bearings of servicewomen in almost all organizations and arms.

The First Front Red Army and the people in the Soviet areas of Jiangxi spent the New Year's Even of 1930 in the gaiety of the great victory of the first campaign against " encirclement and suppression." This fighting not only saw the complete destruction of more than 9,000 men of the two brigades of the 18th Division and one division headquarters of the Kuomintang, the capturing alive of division commander Zhang Huizan, but also the seizing of an enemy transceiver.Compared with the big victory of the battle, the seizing of the transceiver seemed rather insignificant.But in the history of the development of our armed forces, it marked a historic beginning: the Red Army started to have its own wireless communications.Wang Zheng and Liu Yin, two captured enemy telegraph operators, were incited to the General Headquarters of the Red Army like distinguished guests. They were warmly received by Mao Zedong and Zhu De, who instructed them to set up the Red Army's own radio station. This was Jan.3, 1931.The seized transceiver was no longer intact.In the fighting to wipe out the enemies, the Red Armymen, not knowing the use of transceivers, smashed the transmitter the way they destroyed the enemies.It became, therefore, a dumb that could only listen. Even so, three days later, in the compound of the staff section of the General Headquarters of

the Red Army there occurred the timely toots of the charger and the first radio station of the Red Army was set up: a receiver with three lights was placed on a square table for 8 people offered by the folks, and outside the window was the high erection of receiving aerials.There were also pencils, writing paper made from bamboo, rape oil lamps, and a pocket watch contributed by a certain leading comrade.

The Red Army needed its own technical staff of wireless communications as well as transceivers.Hence the first class of wireless communications emerged as the times required.The 12 students were all young people selected from various troops and possessing certain levels of education.Among them 3 were servicewomen, who were both students and staff members. Their study was carried on in the intervals of fighting.Sometimes the time for rest in the course of marching was also made full use of.Their classrooms were in the folks' central rooms, in the courtyards and under the big trees along the roads.Door planks, bed planks, bricks, and stones became their desks.A code exerciser and a fingerboard were their chief teaching aids.The left thumb of each person also became self-provided fingerboard and was used to practice transmitting messages by radio⋯These data I found in the recollections written by the editorial department of the history of posts and telecommunication of the three servicewomen.They even didn't mention their names.Natural and silent--this was perhaps the initial state of the servicewomen in the predominantly male troops. The years dragged on.Today the Red Army has become precious historical wealth.We are no longer able to talk with the three

communications servicewomen of those years.

With the help of Aunt Lin Yueqin's contact, I found her, Wang Xinlan, the youngest servicewoman in the Red Army in those days and the only communications servicewoman who served as head of a radio station in the years of war.In 1933, Wang Xinlan, together with two elder brothers and one elder sister, joined the Red Army.That year she was only 9.After the Long March, the 14-year-old Xinlan was sent to the Red Army's telecommunications school to learn the techniques of receiving and dispatching messages.At the age of 16 she became head of the radio station of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, and her military prowess struck terror among the enemies.If experience can be said to be the greatest sum of wealth in a person's life, then God handed over to Wang Xinlan experience together with tribulations.

She was from a revolutionary family.Her father was an enlightened gentleman and her uncle, Wang Weizhou, was the founder of the Guerrilla Forces in Shandong.It was her uncle that she followed when she joined the Red Army at the age of 9.He was then commander of the 33rd Corps.Her uniform was tailored with that of a grown-up.Soon afterwards, she left her uncle's troops for the propaganda team of the Fourth Front

Army.After the Long March, she met her uncle again in Yan'an.He said: " I let your father down .He entrusted the four of you brothers and sisters to me, but now you're the only one left.All your elder brothers and sister laid down their lives during the Long March." Holding onto her uncle, she cried in great grief. She felt herself growing up and becoming mature all of a sudden.Thanks to her indomitable willpower, this little soldier, though not well educated, graduated with honours from the Red Army's telecommunications school.She left the then relatively stable Yan'an and passed through many places for a year, enduring countless hardships and difficulties.She was even pursued by the Japanese devils along the way.But nothing could weaken this servicewoman's determination to go to the front.Wang Xinlan literally walked to the 115th Division, the Eighth Route Army's front in Shandong. Before long she was appointed head of the news station of the Political Department of the 115th Division.By that time, radio stations had become the Eighth Route Army's shief means of communications and were available from the detachments to the regiments.But the technical staff appeared rather deficient as compared with the intensely fierce hostilities.

The 16-year-old head of the radio station was in charge of 4 telegraph operators and a squad of station guards.All were male except for her. The radio station was a place where skills were very important.A poorly skilled person wouldn't get along well there.The dozen or so servicemen both worshipped and esteemed this superior of theirs.Having the greatest technical competence, she would operate the transceiver herself whenever there were major operations or the weather was awful.Radio stations of both higher and lower levels preferred to cooperate with her.As time passed, on hearing her voice, the other side would solute her with codes of the transceiver.Moreover, her male comrades of the same occupation sent her a graceful title: Lark.On hearing the voice of their " lark, " they would be delighted and excited.For a week, she didn't operate the transceiver and almost the whole army worried about her: Why had the " lark " stopped singing? Then one day, a station head pushed open the door of the commander's room without shouting report first: " The lark has sung, has sung again! " Hearing the news was like winning a big victory to the troops.

In the harsh circumstances of war, the radio station had to transfer constantly with the headquarters of the division.It often so happened that the enemy had entered the village before they had time to get back their aerials." Don't panic.We'll make it." The composure of the woman station head who was like a goddess was both reliable and calming.

In addition to marching and fighting, the station was responsible for receiving and copying news.Apart from news broadcasted from Yan'an,

they also received news by the United Press International of the U.S., Reuters of England, and the biggest News Agency of Japan.Working both day and night, they often couldn't go to bed when they were sleepy, and when they could go to bed they had already passed their sleepiness.Though she could be relieved by others, Wang Xinlan couldn't set her heart at rest, because this was the life line of thousands of people.Even her dreams smelled of the smoke of gunpowder.She would often wake up with a start after a short while's sleep, rise up immediately and go and have a look in the room of transceivers.She began to suffer from neurasthenia when she was a teenager.After the success of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Xinlan was asked about her intentions.The woman head of the radio station answered in earnest: " My greatest wish is to sleep a whole night's sleep."

The red Army in the cols had to start from scratch in everything.The simplicity and crudity of conditions were as astonishing as the hardships, so much so that in the Red Army's initial stage, it often occurred that medical equipment in the rear such as gauze, disinfectants and other battle had started.The newly enlisted women medical orderlies were confronted with such embarrassing situations, and more.

Recalling the situation of rescuing the wounded in the Jinggangshan base in 1928, armywoman Zhou Shunu said: " The battle was being fought in both old and new Qixilings.Due to lack of guns in the Red Army, the peasant self-defense corps mostly fought with spears and broadswords.Moreover, there were no strong defense works on the ridges.As a result, in the initial stage of the fighting, the Red Army suffered great casualties.With the wounded carried one after another into the ancestral temple, intense rescue work began."

Touching a man's body for the first time was embarrassing.Some were too scared to do anything and their eyes were filled with horror.Men, blood, these were all taboos to traditional females.The revolutionary servicewomen were by no means perfect.They showed both the brand of the feudal system and the innate weakness of females.But war shortened the distance that usually had to be covered over a long period of time.Without disinfectants, they used salt solution instead; without gauze, the girls tore their scarfs to dress the wounds; without hemostatics, they immediately organized men to gather medical herbs in the nearby fields.

To serve people on one's own side, one could forget everything out of sympathy and compassion.But among the wounded there were also soldiers of the White Army, who were really disgusting to the servicewomen.Unwilling to bind up wounds for these " bad eggs " and pouting their lips, they began to reason with Zhou Shunu.The latter

tried patiently to talk them round, reminding them of the song they often sang: " Listen to me, White Army brothers.Why do you shoulder guns and fight? The officers live in ease and comfort while you die.Who will pity you when you are wounded, disabled, sick or dead? " Zhou said these soldierswere also from poor families and had been forced to fight for Chiang Kaishek.Once they were rescued by the Red Armywomen they would know who were good to them.Zhou Shunu and the rescue corps didn't stop working until noon, when the reports of gun gradually became rare.Then they found their uniforms drenched with sweat.But upon being told by people from the front that their troops had won a big victory and that two commanding officers--Yang Chisheng of the 9th Division of the Gan Army and Yang Ruxuan of the 27th Division of the Xiang Army of the Kuomintang had been gotten rid of, the silent and exhausted Red Armywomen became excited again.This successful battle had been directed by Zhu De, commander in chief of the Red Army.He specially praised this force of servicewomen who hadn't been to the front.

The first thing Zhou Shunu and the rescue corps did after getting out of the blood-covered temple which had been used as a medical aid station was to propagate the news of the victory.They composed a series of jingles which, when performed by the servicewomen, attracted enthusiastic applause from the soldiers and villagers.Who can say that they didn't contribute to the success of the battle? Since then, the role of servicewomen in medical treatment and propaganda has been carried on.Today, 80% of the servicewomen are playing an active role in hospitals, communications stations and art troupes.