In the military museum of the Chinese Revolution, west of Tiananmen Square in Beijing, a rusty fish hook is on display.
This is not an ordinary fishing hook, it and the Red Army soldiers have gone through the arduous years of the Long March, giving the soldiers hope for life.
So, how can there be fish hooks on the Long March? Who is the person who made the fish hook? What is the legend between him and this fish hook?
Fig. 1 Fish hooks displayed in the museum
Today, let's take a look at the owner of the fish hook, Wang Yuqing, and his legendary story on the Long March Road.
He had no choice but to flee the wilderness and join the Red Army
Wang Yuqing was born in 1921 in Weining, Guizhou.
During that war years, most peasant families were poor, and Wang Yuqing's family was no exception.
In order to reduce the burden on his parents, Wang Yuqing began to help the family do some housework from a young age, which cultivated his hard-working character.
However, under the background of the special era, the life of the farmers in Weining County became more and more difficult, and Wang Yuqing's family fled to Qianxi in order to live better.
Figure 2 Wang Yuqing and his wife in 1955
And this also paved the way for him to join the Red Army.
At the beginning of November 1935, in order to open up the revolutionary base area of Xiang'echuan and Qianbian.
He Long, then commander of the Red Second Army and commander-in-chief of the Red Second Front, led the Red Second and Red Sixth Armies to liberate the county seat of Guizhou's Qianxi County.
Hearing that the Red Army was stationed in western Guizhou, the young Wang Yuqing could not contain his curiosity and wanted to see what kind of people the Red Army really were, so he followed his father and observed the Red Army team from a distance.
After observation, Wang Yuqing found that the Red Army was different from the Kuomintang troops who bullied the people.
They are all very good to the people, not only do not take the people's needle and thread, but also take the initiative to help the people work.
Figure 3 Red Army ranks
The fine style of the Red Army made the 14-year-old Wang Yuqing yearn for the Red Army team, so with the consent of his father, Wang Yuqing signed up for the Red Army.
After joining the Red Army, Wang Yuqing became a radio station soldier of the Red Second Front, responsible for the communication work of the Red Army.
The young Wang Yuqing was smart and studious, and soon learned the skills of using the radio, for which he was praised by He Long, and many important communication work, He Long would trust him to complete.
However, the red army's contingent must continue to advance, and it is impossible to stay in qianxi all the time, which means that Wang Yuqing must leave home and leave qianxi, where he has lived for a long time.
Figure 4 He Long
Although Wang Yuqing was young, he was very determined, and without the slightest hesitation, he decided to follow the Red Army team.
So a few days after joining the army, Wang Yuqing set out with the Red Army troops and embarked on the road of the Long March. And what he is about to face is also the many tribulations on the long march.
A life-saving fish hook on the Long March Road
After the failure of the fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign, the Communist Party and the Red Army fell into a serious existential crisis.
In order to get rid of the encirclement and pursuit of the Kuomintang army, the main central Red Army implemented a strategic transfer in October 1934 and began the Long March from Ruijin in Jiangxi to Yan'an in Shaanxi.
The road of the Long March was full of difficulties and obstacles, and many Red Army soldiers fell on the way of the Long March.
Figure 5 The Long March
By July 1936, the Red Army troops had finally marched to the Ganzi region, and they had to prepare for the next Long March.
However, in that era of inconvenient transportation, the conditions in the remote Ganzi region were very difficult, and even if the Red Army had money, it was difficult to buy the necessary materials.
After bartering, mobilizing the masses, and borrowing grain from the people, the Red Army contingent of the Long March finally went to great lengths to raise a small amount of materials.
However, the red army has a huge number of people, and such a little material is undoubtedly a drop in the bucket for the Red Army.
In the end, each soldier was given only a few pounds of fried noodles, and Wang Yuqing was no exception.
Figure 6 Wooden IOUs left by the Red Army at that time
Relying on these few pounds of fried noodles, they crossed the majestic and cold snowy mountains and came to the most bitter and difficult grassland on the Long March Road.
The road conditions in the meadows were complex, and some Red Army soldiers never came out after they fell into the ditches in the meadows. A few days after entering the meadows, the Red Army soldiers encountered another great existential crisis, that is, food shortages.
Although the Red Army soldiers were very frugal in grain, most of the Red Army soldiers had already run out of food, and Wang Yuqing had been out of food for several days.
In order to survive, the warriors endure hunger, hold on, and challenge their limits.
Figure 7 The old squad leader cooks fish soup
When they were hungry, they nibbled on the bark of the grass roots, and when the cold night came, they rested on the spot and snuggled together to keep warm.
But even as the Red Army fighters tried their best to survive and march with the large troops, chronic hunger and malnutrition, as well as a lack of vitamins, caused more and more people to fall. The Red Army, which was still advancing as a whole at the beginning, had become sparse, and the soldiers were all separated from each other.
When the cooking squad leader of the radio station saw Wang Yuqing, who was out of grain, he gave him the only two fried noodles he had, so that the young Wang Yuqing could live well.
Looking at the Red Army soldiers who were constantly falling, and the weak cooking squad leader, Wang Yuqing, who had not eaten for four or five days, was extremely sad.
Figure 8 Belt of the Red Army during the Long March
He thought to himself, if he didn't want to get some food, everyone would definitely not be able to hold up to the meeting place - Huining, Gansu.
And he himself did not have the confidence to get out of the meadow alive.
Just when he was desperate, Wang Yuqing, who was sitting on the edge of the ditch, touched the two sewing needles on his hat, and he looked at the fish in the water and suddenly thought of a good way.
He took a needle, roasted it red over the fire, bent it, and then tied it to the top of the line to make a simple fish hook.
He caught earthworms and put them on the hook, and then put the hook into the water, and actually caught a fish. Unexpectedly, the sewing needles that were originally used by the soldiers to sew and repair worn-out clothes became a life-saving hope on the Long March.
Figure 9 The Red Army crosses the meadow
Wang Yuqing was overjoyed, so he boiled this fish into fish soup and divided it into warriors to eat. The warriors ate the fish, regained some of their strength, and regained the confidence to survive and the motivation to move forward.
Wang Yuqing and his fish hook became a life-saving straw on the Long March Road, and his method of making fish hooks with needles was imitated by many Red Army soldiers.
Since then, the fish hook has become his treasure, and he has always been with him. And Wang Yuqing's story is not over.
Centenarians with a heart for the country and the people
Wang Yuqing followed the Red Army troops, crossed the majestic and cold snowy mountains, crossed the uninhabited grassland, and finally completed the long march of all difficulties and dangers, and ushered in the birth of new China.
Figure 10 General Wang Yuqing
After liberation, he served as deputy chief of staff of the Fuzhou Military Region and commander of the artillery of the Fuzhou Military Region, witnessing the growth of the Red Army and the continuous strengthening of the motherland.
Today, Wang Yuqing, a centenarian, is still alive, he is currently the only living old Red Army in Fuzhou, and he just finished his centenarian birthday banquet in February this year.
His fish hooks are displayed in the museum next to Tiananmen Square, silently telling the story of the Long March Road to the world.
Whenever he recalled the events on the Long March, the elderly Wang Yuqing would also feel a thousand emotions, in his eyes, that fishing hook was not only a fishing tackle, but also a beacon that ignited the survival hope of countless Red Army soldiers.
Figure 11 Medals displayed in Wang Yuqing's home
Now, the elderly Wang Yuqing can finally enjoy his old age in peace.
But he also has one of his greatest wishes, that is, he hopes that today's young people can cherish the current happy life, continue to work hard, and make the country stronger and more prosperous!
The old man Wang Yuqing is not only strong and brave, but also very wise, and with a needle on his hat, the soldiers of the Long March have the motivation to move forward.
I hope that we can also live up to the hopes of the elderly, work hard in the happy new era, continue to move forward, and make our motherland more prosperous and strong! Let the suffering of the Long March cease to exist.