介绍:
It was common for young volunteers to send messages for the troops of the Eighth Route Army and other military and paramilitary forces led by the CPC during the War Against Japanese Aggression. They had some pretty creative ways to hide notes from being discovered by Japanese troops, like hiding it beneath the feather of poultries.
88-year-old Zhao Jinying was one of the volunteers.
"After I escorted the massage to the place, the troops of the Eighth Route Army always shook my hand and I just went back home."
Zhao Jinying looks energetic. Talking about her past as a volunteer messenger, she smiles proudly.
"I encountered all kinds of stuff back them. Sometimes there was heavy rain, heavy snow and the danger of being caught by traitors existed all the time. But I feared nothing. Sometimes I hid it under coat and sometimes in shoes. The notes with a feather are more urgent while the ones without are just normal. I always got my job done."
The small village Zhao lives in is located in the county of Chengnanzhuang, 140 kilometers from the strategic city of Baoding in north China's Hebei Province.
Zhao joined the resistance force when she was ten as a member of the Children's Corps. She was tasked with scouting and sending messages at first and laying land mines after she became the leader of the local Children's Corps.
Zhao Jinying says she still remembers clearly the atrocities brought about by Japanese invaders.
"I was young at that time, about 14 or 15 years old. I did my shift everyday. I became a CPC member when I was 14. At that time, the Japanese came and mopped up my hometown every year. They burned down houses, toppled cottages and ruined crops. We had no choice but to hide in mountain caves."
Working as a underground volunteer, Zhao kept her membership of the CPC party as a secret until the end of the war.
She says the most dangerous and exciting thing is planting land mines.
"You knew they were coming when you heard cannon sound. Sometimes they were very close to the village while I was still planting mines. They never got me. I misled them by messing the trace with a horseshoe. They couldn't tell. And after they were gone, I dug the mines out to avoid hurting the villagers."
For the young girl living a difficult life in a occupied region, the happiest thing also came from this part.
"Sometimes they and their horses were all blown away by the mines. And we had horse meat which was very delicious."
Zhao says she feared nothing.
"I was part of the resistance force so I had nothing to fear. I did my duty without any hesitations. Of course, the Japanese troops were scary but there was no time for me to be scared since everything I did was for kicking them out."
The brilliant and brave girl soon became the leader of the county's Women's Salvation Community. She was the youngest but everyone followed her.
"Young men were in the army and only children and women were left back home. It was easy to be their commander, because what we did is fighting against those invaders so they did whatever you said."
Zhao Jinying says apart from volunteering to support the resistance force in military operations, the women also did farm work and made clothes and shoes for soldiers. Zhao says they got their job done perfectly.
The resistance in the occupied north is widely deeded as an all-round people's war since the resistance troops worked closely with locals.
Zhao says local people treated those troops like families.
"We hid them in a safe place at home when the Japanese came. We told them to keep silent if they encountered the enemy since they could tell the different dialects. The resistance troops did farm work with us. They were very nice, just like families."
Her sister Jin'ai says one time Zhao saved her life in a very dangerous situation.
"She was carrying me on her shoulder, running in the village. The Japanese troops were right after us. My mother asked my sister to leave me alone and run faster, otherwise we may get caught by the Japanese and no one would survive. She just insisted carrying me. I was so scared that I even could not cry. Finally we reached the entrance of a cave. We all survived."
While Zhao was a heroine in her hometown, her husband was a battalion leader in the county during the war.
Their daughter Gao Xiuping says the two set a great example for her.
"Their education has a profound influence on me. They are nice, warmhearted and square all the time and they always teach me to do the same."
Today, the Zhao family has some 30 members and all of them live together in her hometown. Zhao has been invited to the military parade to commemorate the victory of the war in early September.
Looking back at that time, She is rather calm and satisfied.
"Of course I am happy. But you cannot win the fight against aging. I can't remember every detail."
It is reasonable to say that the war was also won by the endurance, contributions and sacrifices of heroes like Zhao Jingying. That is why they are called the great generation.
