introduction
"Think of danger in times of peace, think of being prepared, and be prepared for trouble." Although this era seems to have moved away from war, the struggle between countries has never stopped, and "backwardness will be beaten" is an indisputable truth. Therefore, it is very necessary to cultivate the awareness of thinking of danger in times of peace.
01
Liu Cixin wrote in "The Three-Body Problem": "Weakness and ignorance are not obstacles to survival, arrogance is." "Counting the root causes of bullying in modern times in our country is nothing more than arrogance. At that time, the Chinese people always thought that they were at the center of the world and had the most superior systems and technologies in the world, so they were dismissive of the novelties of the West. The Qianlong Emperor refused the British emissaries' request for trade, thus closing the last crack in the national fortunes of the Manchu Qing. "China's threshold is very old," the British ambassador said after returning home.
▲Stills of the Battle of Jia-Wu
As a result, the Manchu Qing, who was working among the foreign powers, showed their fangs, blasted open the country's doors with strong ships and cannons, forced the Qing government to sign unequal treaties one after another, and cut countless flesh and blood from the Chinese people. China's old neighbor, Japan, was the first to awaken, and they carried out the epoch-making Meiji Restoration, rapidly transitioning to a civilized world, and their ambitions swelled up. Although Japan is small, its ambitions are not small, and there are also pearls of the British Empire in front, and Japan also wants to build another "empire that never sets" by developing colonies. At this time, the growth of Tsarist Russia made the Western powers feel uneasy, and Japan, which just woke up, was easy to control, so it intended to support Japan to become the hegemon of East Asia, and Japan, which was instructed, began to prepare for the Sino-Japanese War with all its national strength.
▲Old photos of the Russo-Japanese War
This war was indeed a battle of national fortunes, and whichever side won would become the hegemon of East Asia supported by the great powers, but the large and cumbersome Qing government did not realize this at all, and was instead preparing to celebrate Cixi's birthday. The final outcome of the war was learned in everyone's textbooks, Japan was victorious, and the Qing government did not care about the interests of ceding the country, they just wanted to maintain their own rule. It was also in this battle that the Japanese army marched into Lushun with lightning and launched a massacre, using this means to deter the Qing government. Subsequently, Lushun and Dalian were occupied by Tsarist Russia.
▲White Jade Mountain Pagoda (formerly Biaozhong Pagoda)
In 1904, the Russo-Japanese War broke out in order to dominate northeast China and Korea. The war ended in Japan's victory, which granted the lease of Lushun Dalian. After the war, the Japanese built a tall tower in Lushun and named it "Table Loyalty Tower". The Reason why the Japanese built this tower is that they say that they summoned the souls of tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers killed in the Russo-Japanese War to commemorate their sacrifices for the emperor. Of course, this is just a rhetoric, and the three words "Table Loyalty Tower" reveal the true purpose of the Japanese people - to show off, they want to swear their sovereignty through this means. In the following decades, Lushun and Dalian fell under Japanese occupation and control.
02
Located on the top of Baiyu Mountain, the Pagoda was built in 1905 and took two years to complete. The building materials built by the Tower were all transported from Japan to China, and the entire tower is 66.8 meters high, a cylindrical structure, hollow inside, and an iron spiral staircase inside. The top of the tower has an observation deck, from here you can enjoy a panoramic view of Lushun.
▲White Jade Mountain Pagoda Overlook (formerly Biaozhong Pagoda)
It should be pointed out that although the building materials were provided by Japan, the workers who built the tower were Chinese workers, and the Japanese army forcibly recruited more than 20,000 Chinese workers to participate in the construction of the Biaozhong Pagoda, during which countless workers naturally died under the abuse of the Japanese. Even more infuriating is that when the Japanese held a sacrifice at the Tower of Omjong, they also asked local Chinese students to come and participate. It doesn't matter, all these things, good and evil have been rewarded, not unrequited, the time has not yet come.
The Japanese invasion of China really did not run rampant for too long. As the United States dropped two nuclear bombs over Japan, Japan finally collapsed and surrendered, and all the Japanese invaders were completely driven out of China. After the founding of New China, this pagoda was also renamed the White Jade Mountain Pagoda. During his visit to China, Soviet leader Khrushchev demanded that China be able to demolish the tower, because it was a disgrace to the Defeat of the Russian Army to Japan, and a taller tower would be built to commemorate the Russian soldiers who died at that time. Japan was even more so, and they offered to build a Japanese-style hotel in Lushun in exchange for materials from the demolition of the White Jade Mountain Pagoda and shipped back to Japan. However, in response to the demands of the Soviet Union and Japan for the demolition of this Hight of our country, the Chinese side said that if I want to be beautiful, I will not demolish it, for the same reason as the ruins of the Yuanmingyuan, to warn every Son and Daughter of China not to forget the national shame.
epilogue
The White Jade Mountain Pagoda still stands in Lushun today, witnessing that humiliating history, always warning us to "not forget the national shame", warning us that all around us are malicious eyes, only when we are strong, can we not be afraid of the provocations of others. In order to make the motherland strong and no longer be bullied, it is necessary for each of our Chinese sons and daughters to work hard.
Resources:
"The Left Handbook"