Tian Wuxiong
Under the recommendation of a friend, the author met Mr. Zhong Yi (Wei Jin), a former veteran of the 67th Division of the 23rd Army of the Volunteer Army to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, and was able to see the original manuscript of his diary during the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea. . These diaries, which have never been published publicly, record his experiences from April 1952 to August 1955 almost day by day.
For a long time, studies on the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea or the Chinese People’s Volunteers have mostly focused on “big figures”, well-known figures or collective activities. The former includes the political, military and diplomatic decisions of senior leaders or military commanders at all levels, heroic role models, important roles in diplomatic negotiations, etc. The latter includes previous battles during the war and the military history of the units under the Chinese Volunteer Army. and war history, etc. Although these research objects and contents are important, they are often the aspects that most readers are more interested in, so the relevant research results are relatively rich, in-depth and detailed. However, the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea was, after all, a history that was jointly participated and experienced by about 2.9 million volunteer officers and soldiers. It was a life experience of countless people with different backgrounds, personalities, emotions and understandings, not just a few "big figures" and famous figures. experiences and activities, and it is not just military and political activities carried out in the name or image of the collective. Simply limiting our vision to these aspects will obviously limit our understanding and understanding of the complexity, diversity and rich aspects of the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea and the history of the Chinese People’s Volunteers, and is insufficient to reflect and reveal the tortuous and cruel war process and collective activities. The real and detailed special experiences, emotions and feelings of different individuals in the book. However, due to the low level of education of ordinary volunteer officers and soldiers, coupled with the difficult battlefield conditions and harsh environment, the vast majority of soldiers failed to leave any historical materials that directly recorded and reflected their experiences and emotions during the war. Oral memories and recollections for many years afterwards were inevitably due to It may be distorted due to interference from many factors, so the surviving wartime diaries of front-line soldiers of the Volunteer Army or grassroots personnel of the government are extremely precious.
As far as the author has seen, although there are very few such wartime diaries, some have been publicly published or published. However, they are basically excerpts and excerpts that conform to a certain theme or mainstream value orientation. They have even undergone subsequent literary processing or interpretation, and the value of their historical data and the richness and integrity of their content are greatly compromised. Fortunately, on the recommendation of a friend, the author got to know Mr. Zhong Yi (Wei Jin), a former veteran of the 67th Division of the 23rd Army of the Volunteer Army, and was able to take a look at his treasured original diary during the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea. These diaries recorded almost day by day from April 1952 to August 1955, Mr. Zhong's experience in looking forward to entering North Korea to fight in North Korea with the troops on September 7, 1952, and his long-term stay in North Korea after the armistice. These more than a thousand diaries, ranging from a thousand words to a few numbers, truly and completely record and reflect what the author saw, heard, and thought. From the lines of the words, from the yellowed and brittle paper of the diary, from the scrawled or neat handwriting, the author seems to be able to feel the difficult years when the March 8th Line was raging with war and life was in danger at any time, and to feel the relative safety after the armistice. In such an environment, the author is still in a tense and busy working state, and one can feel the emotional changes of the author who is anxious about not being able to join the party, excited about finally joining the party, and anxious about not being able to successfully become a full-time official.
Original manuscript of Zhong Yi's diary, pictures provided by the author
Zhong Weijin, formerly known as Zhong Yi, was born in Deqing County, Zhejiang Province in 1931. In May 1949, he joined the People's Liberation Army immediately after the liberation of Deqing and participated in the battle to liberate Shanghai. Later, the troops marched to Zhoushan in eastern Zhejiang for "training in front of the enemy" and stationed in Taicang, Jiangsu in early 1951. In July 1952, he was transferred from the Cadre Department of the 67th Division of the 23rd Army to the Secretary of the Office (Technical) of the Chief of the Division Logistics Division and devoted himself to the intense work in the preparation stage to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea. In late August, the troops were dispatched to leave Taicang, Jiangsu Province, boarded a train from Kunshan and went straight to Anton, arriving on August 31. On September 7, the troops crossed the Yalu River and entered North Korea to join the war. On New Year's Day in 1953, the troops moved to the 38th Parallel to confront and fight with the United Nations forces. In May, he was ordered to be promoted to secretary in the Secretarial Section of the Political Department of the 67th Division. In November, he was transferred to the first-level clerk in the Division Combat Training Section. In June 1954, he received a telegram from the Cadre Department of the Volunteer Army Headquarters to increase the rank and reward department of the department. In August 1955, he was tried for so-called "historical issues" during the anti-revolutionary and cadre review movement. The issue of joining the party and becoming a regular member of the party was still unresolved. In August 1957, he voluntarily demobilized and returned to his hometown, and returned to China from North Korea on the 23rd. The author said that because he was a "young man, with a small position and a small horizon, and mostly based on his personal work experience in government agencies, daily hearings and feelings", his "Diary of Resisting U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea" "is not of much value." The author disagrees with this. On the contrary, precisely because he is in a division-level department of the army, his position is not high, and he is similar in age to the vast majority of volunteer officers and soldiers who entered the Korean War, so what he sees, hears and thinks is more typical. The more representative the diary is, the more valuable it will be.
At present, the author has seen *** five original diary manuscripts, with about 200,000 words. Except for a few days where no words were recorded due to the harsh wartime environment (especially the March 8th Line) and intense work, leaving blanks, the rest of the time was recorded almost every day. In addition, due to confidentiality considerations, there are also cases where records were not left in some diary chapters or where it was obvious that they were hesitant to speak.
Despite this, the details reflected in these more than 200,000 words of diary manuscripts are quite real and rich, including daily work conditions, social interactions, ideological conditions, reflections after reading various books and newspapers, poetry exercises, ideological reports, etc. Various previous research results on the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea failed to reflect or could not be studied. The experiences, knowledge and feelings from the individual perspective of ordinary volunteer officers and soldiers or grassroots personnel of the military agencies can be found in the diaries. Rich examples can be found in the diaries to help us deepen and refine our existing understanding. . For example, how do volunteer officers and soldiers understand this war in their hearts, and how does it differ from official propaganda or mainstream discourse? What did they experience on the battlefield? What changes have occurred in your thinking? Do individuals express emotions differently than the collective? How do individuals view the brutal deaths and injuries in war? How to resolve individual fears, anxiety, dissatisfaction and other emotions? etc.
Due to limited knowledge and space, the author cannot discuss the above issues one by one. Here I will only introduce the records of the sacrifices and deaths of different groups that the author personally experienced or heard about in the diary. Among more than a thousand diaries, about 85 records various sacrifices or deaths. Among them, the sacrifices of 14 comrades were recorded in the diaries. These comrades-in-arms were either sacrificed in bloody battles with the enemy, or sacrificed under the air strikes and artillery fire of the United Nations forces, or died of illness due to overwork and poor medical conditions, or were buried due to the collapse of air-raid shelters or natural collapse. sacrificial. For example, on January 26, 1953, the diary recorded how political commissar Chen Laohen described the unfortunate sacrifice of a new soldier in a heroic struggle:
In the battle the day before yesterday, there was a new soldier who went to seize the enemy's card. He had a fight with an American soldier with a gun, but unfortunately he was killed by a grenade thrown by another soldier; but his brave fighting spirit was very good.
On March 13, 1953, the author heard "a sad and infuriating news: enemy planes attacked the second detachment, causing casualties. And learned that Political Commissar Lu had died; I thought of the first time he and I The meeting took place near Westgate Town after the Battle of Shanghai. At that time, he served as an instructor in the battalion. I remember that he also gave instructions to our subordinate company (Fang Yuzhou and I). His kindness and sincerity impressed me, a new member of the army, I had a deep impression. Later, during the rectification of the 1950th Division Party Committee and during regular meetings, I got to know more about his loyalty to the people's cause, and his young and handsome face emerged in front of me. Oh! You evil American bandits! You executioners will be punished by us one day!
We who are alive feel sad when we think of them. We should turn our grief and anger into strength and do a better job."
The next day, the author learned that two other comrades (Zhu Hanquan and Hu Bin) also died in yesterday's bombing.
Less than a month later, on April 8, the diary recorded the death of three sincere and friendly comrades (Ban Shi, Liu Defa, and Chen Zhimin) who had been together for half a year. The author couldn't believe it and was deeply saddened. He wrote in his diary:
Ban Shi, Liu Defa...and Chen Zhimin died! In the fight for peace! Can I believe it? Such a good comrade!
They are no longer here! Left us...short and sturdy class! Liu Defa, who has a chubby face and a humorous face and loves to write, and the kind and sincere silent ‘squad leader’ who has been in the same class with me like a brother for half a year!
Is it them? ah! It is these kind comrades! Three, four, five...ah! I know their resumes, they are all Youth League members! They all have their own ideals, how great it would be to become a musician! People sang the songs he composed! How wonderful it would be to be a novelist! Let people read his touching story!
Becoming a poet is even more exciting!
A collection of poems praising the truth, passed down from generation to generation...
Become a hero, be a role model, wear glorious medals, all kinds of simple wishes!
They are all young men!
I originally wanted to go to a distant place to seek the truth of life!
But they fell!
Their blood is shed on the land of North Korea!
They say goodbye to us forever!
They wrote the glory of youth with their blood!
...I feel sad in my heart...
What should we living people do?
We must take up arms:
Fight! We want revenge!
In the diary a few days later, another comrade who unfortunately died in a field under enemy fire was recorded. When the author passed by the shell crater, he saw "purple blood stains still left in the field." .
On June 26, the author heard "unexpected and bad news." "Comrade Chen Hongfan, who had a close friendship with him and worked together in the logistics department for more than half a year, died of illness."
The author was extremely sad and found it difficult to accept. He even believed that "Although it was illness that took away his life, it was also the sin of US imperialism. His illness was formed under the hard work and difficult material conditions of North Korea." We don’t get the same good medical care as our motherland... So this is the fault of evil imperialism! Hey! You bloody reactionaries! How many outstanding comrades you have murdered invisibly and invisibly! Criticize the beast”!
In addition to the comrades who died in the war or died of illness on the battlefield, three other comrades were crushed to death when the air raid shelter collapsed. Two of them died a week before the armistice agreement was signed, and the other died nearly a year after the armistice due to an accidental collapse of the air raid shelter. He wrote in his diary on June 23, 1954:
Comrade Sun Lipo wrote to me. He told me the unexpected and unfortunate news that Comrade Ye Cong was imprisoned in the air-raid shelter on June 7. It collapsed and was crushed to death. ah! A female warrior gave her youth and life for peace. She had worked day and night for victory, and a cannonball fell into the stream below the house where she was typing, knocking out the lights, and she returned to the tunnel. Secretary Dai and I urged them several times; once, after a battle (last summer), the water surged in the Ping'an River, and she and Comrade Pan Hong waded through the water to visit the wounded; when many lesbians returned to their motherland to study last year, She was not passive in her thinking. She said that I would return victoriously with our troops...and now this person was actually still a child when she joined the army. Secretary Dai often talked about the situation at the beginning, and then the female warriors who grew up in the party’s army left us! Her contribution to the revolution will never be forgotten by those in our division. I have worked with her for more than half a year. I believe that her heart is pure and she is indeed a glorious daughter of the motherland! rest in peace! The female warrior who gave her life for peace!
The author basically heard about the sacrifices of these 14 comrades, but did not see them with his own eyes. Therefore, the diary lacks details of the death scene, does not describe the painful process of death, and does not reveal the fear of death. . What is more, it is a feeling of regret and grief, a memory for the comrades in arms, and the resulting accusation and hatred of the crimes of US imperialism and the United Nations forces.
There are also descriptions of enemy deaths in the diary, but most of them are just a few words, only recording the number of enemies annihilated. For example, "Five to six hundred enemies have been annihilated" (April 17, 1953), "We have annihilated a large number of enemies" (April 19, 1953), "The good news has come, one thousand and four enemies have been annihilated" "More than 100 enemies" (July 7, 1953), "Good news: Our unit has annihilated more than 4,000 enemies in this battle" (July 14, 1953), "Annihilated more than 20,000 enemies" (1953 July 20).
The author also recorded the death of the Korean people. For example, the author wrote in his diary on September 18, 1952, not long after arriving in North Korea:
Our landlady pointed at two children playing, then pointed at the mountain and then pointed Chest. Later we learned that the father of these two children was shot dead behind the mountain by American soldiers.
The next day he wrote in his diary:
There are more than a thousand Korean orphans here, all raised by the public. Their parents were killed by US imperialism. dead.
Based on these heard and imagined deaths of the Korean people, the author further strengthened his hatred for U.S. imperialism, his compassion and sympathy for the Korean people and the people of the motherland, and strengthened his determination to resist U.S. aggression, aid Korea, and defend the homeland. Determination:
The sins of War Demon are as high as the sky! We thought: This is not only the fate of these two children! This is the fate of thousands of children! If we do not resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea, the fate that befell the children of North Korea today will also befall the children of the motherland tomorrow! We will not tolerate such a fate for the children of North Korea, nor will we tolerate the same fate for the children of the motherland and the children of the whole world! We hope that thousands of lovely children will grow up in a peaceful environment and use their wisdom and labor to create a happy world in the future.
Compared with the sacrifices of comrades-in-arms, the deaths of enemies, and the killing of the Korean people, the death of the revolutionary leader should have had the greatest impact on the author, and the related records in the diary are the largest. For example, after Stalin's death on March 5, 1953, the author wrote a detailed and poignant account in his diary on March 6, 7, and 9 and March 5 of the following year, totaling about 2,000 words. own mood and feelings. After hearing the bad news, the author "immediately took off his cotton hat, lowered his head, and remained silent. The deep condolences from the depths of my heart were exciting me" and "the bad news was eating my heart." “When I was writing my diary that day, my body was cold, my mouth was dull, and I felt very uncomfortable. I was frowning and sighing.
Sometimes constantly, my heart! In colic: Comrade Stalin! Are you really gone? Have you really left this world? Comrade Stalin, come back! Come and lead our world in revolution! Comrade Stalin! Comrade Stalin! Comrade Stalin, thousands of kind hearts! They are all calling you! Comrade Stalin! " (March 6, 1953)
The next day, I also wrote in my diary:
The concept of Comrade Stalin's death often floats in my mind. And every time I think about it, I always feel like I have lost my support. I always think that this is too sudden. I always think that Comrade Stalin will live to be more than a hundred years old! Such a good person, such a great person, cannot live until one day! This is a shame for human science.
A year later, the author recalled that he felt "deep sadness" and "everything was overwhelming." We became uneasy, and we seemed to feel that a green mountain had collapsed behind us." (March 5, 1954)
The extreme grief over Stalin's death that the author recorded in his diary is difficult to find today. It was imaginary. It was a normal and natural expression of emotion at the time. Both publicly and privately, the author's superiors and comrades expressed "extreme sadness" at Stalin's death (1953 3). September 9)
Generally speaking, the sacrifices and deaths of different groups and their feelings about them recorded in the diary show the author’s long-term influence on death from red culture such as the Soviet Union and Chinese revolutionary history. The view is that the death or destruction of the enemy is destined, shameful, and should be condemned, and it is worthy of joy and excitement. The death of the people is innocent and worthy of sympathy, and the sacrifice of comrades or comrades is painful. It is worth remembering. The death of a leader is sad and worth remembering. Basically, different deaths are analyzed and judged from the perspective of class analysis and the distinction between friend and foe, and therefore, different meanings and values ??are given to them. The hateful enemy laid down his arms and became a prisoner of war, and the author's attitude immediately changed to tolerance and sympathy.
A few days ago and yesterday, I saw some black and white prisoners. Nylon bulletproof vest. Although I don’t understand English, I saw a phenomenon. Some black people seemed to be relaxed and often smiled, while the white people were more thoughtful and lowered their heads. Not today! Conquistadors, today are prisoners. Who knows whether they are leafless farmers in California or bankrupt farmers on the banks of the Mississippi River? You came to Korea to participate in the "dirty war". It is unfortunate, but it is a great blessing that you have become prisoners of the Volunteer Army today. When you come to us, you can truly see humanity. Black people may be descendants of Hanniba, but they have suffered enough from racial discrimination when they grew up in the United States. Maybe it's Jim Crow. But here we are the equals. We are the most humane. If the war continues, you will have more. Many people become our prisoners, because justice belongs to us (July 12, 1953)
The author believes that “these American soldiers do not want to make unnecessary bloodshed. What is needed is peace. They were forced to fight. " (July 29, 1953)
70 years ago, the concept of death influenced by red culture was an important source of the combat effectiveness of the Chinese People's Volunteers under the huge disparity in strength between the enemy and ourselves, and an important spirit that enabled the final victory in the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea. Motivation. Today, the war has long been extinguished, and most of the people on both sides who participated in the battle have also passed away. In a new era of building a community with a shared future for mankind, we should realize that war is essentially cruel killing, which will bring harm to both the enemy and us. Bringing the most tragic consequences: the death of the most precious life. War is only a means, and the yearning for a peaceful and happy life is the common goal of all generations. We should have a common future for mankind. More wisdom and patience to eliminate war
(This article is part of the National Social Science Foundation’s Western Project “Research on the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army’s Garrison in North Korea (1953-1958)” and the “Veterans of the Volunteer Army” of the College Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program. The project results of "Zhongyi Narrative Interview and Diary Compilation" were authorized by the project team to be published by The Paper. Project instructor Tian Wuxiong, team participants: Shi Xinyu, Yang Runxue, Shi Yaqi, and Wang Yanlong.
)
Proofreading: Zhang Liangliang