In 1992, Nie Rongzhen was admitted to the hospital because of illness. After the age of 85, Nie Shuai's body was not as good as before, suffering from "old age diseases" such as hypertension and coronary heart disease, and in his later years, he could only sit in a wheelchair and go out properly.
A group photo of Nie Rongzhen and Mieko
In 1992, Nie Shuai was 93 years old, and he felt that his time was running out, and his greatest wish was that the two sides of the taiwan strait could realize reunification. On May 14, when Nie Shuai was dying, he also talked with his family about the development of the country. During the conversation, Nie Shuai suddenly instructed his daughter Nie Li: "Li Li (Nie Li's nickname), in the future, you must go to Japan to see your sister." Nie Li held his father's hand tightly and nodded tearfully.
Marshal Nie Rongzhen was busy with the revolution in the first half of his life, and in the second half of his life, he worked on state affairs, leaving only One child of Nie Li. Even so, during Nie Li's youth, Nie Rongzhen, who organized the War of Resistance in the Jin-Cha-Ji base area, had no time to take care of her daughter and fostered her in a worker's family in Shanghai until Nie Li was 16 years old. So, who is Nie Shuai's "Nie Li's sister" from Japan?
After explaining his aftermath, on the night of May 14, Marshal Nie Rongzhen passed away at the age of 93. When the news reached Japan, an old Japanese woman wept bitterly, set up a spiritual hall in her home, and knelt down to worship Nie Rongzhen. Soon after, she sent a telegram of condolences to China, which read: I have always admired General Nie and my soul, overheard the death of my father, and my heart was sad, because I was far apart, I could not go to hang, I deeply regret!
Battle of the Hundred Regiments
Hundred Regiments Battle, "picked up" Japanese girls
The fate of Nie Rongzhen and this "Daughter of Japan" dates back to the Period of the Hundred Regiments War during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
The first half of 1940 was the half year when the Eighth Route Army and the anti-Japanese armed forces were facing severe tests. In order to consolidate its rule in North China, the Japanese army carried out large-scale "encirclement and suppression" of the anti-Japanese armed forces led by the Communist Party, and its policy of "cage" and "three lights" set off a bloody storm in north China, and the revolutionary base area was constantly shrinking and being divided into several pieces.
At the same time, after creating the sensational "Anhui Incident in Southern Anhui," the Kuomintang reactionaries also pointed the spearhead at the Eighth Route Army, repeatedly creating friction in North China, propagating the rumor that "the Eighth Route Army is blindly expanding and not fighting the Japanese army, and sabotaging the War of Resistance.
To this end, after analyzing the situation in detail, the Central Military Commission and the Headquarters of the Eighth Route Army decided to launch a major sabotage war in North China, cut off the Zhengtai Railway controlled by the Japanese army, and invigorate the determination of the Chinese people to resist the war, and the "Hundred Regiments War" began.
According to the instructions of the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army and Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng Dehuai, Nie Rongzhen, commander of the Jin-Cha-Ji base area, led his troops to the front line to carry out the task of destroying the section from Shijiazhuang to Pingding on Zhengtai Road, and the Jingxing Coal Mine was the focus of the attack.
Responsible for the attack on the Jingxing coal mine was the Third Regiment of the Central General Corps, which included a 17-year-old young soldier named Yang Zhongshan, who followed the troops to the front.
Attack the Jingxing Coal Mine
At 8:30 p.m., the battle officially began, and under the cover of night, the soldiers of the three regiments quickly broke through the enemy's barbed wire fence, and then launched an attack on a small earthen hill at the enemy's heavily guarded commanding heights. On top of tushan, several pillboxes stood, and the enemy shrank in the bunkers to resist the attack of the Eighth Route Army.
The battle progressed until four o'clock in the morning of the next day, and the three regiments suffered heavy losses, and Yang Zhongshan's company commander and squad leader were killed. With a feeling of grief and indignation, the warriors finally took the small earth mountain and wiped out the enemy inside the bunker.
Just as Yang Zhongshan rushed up tushan and prepared to clean up the battlefield, he looked up and saw a little girl dressed as a Japanese standing in front of the bunker, with several corpses lying horizontally and vertically at her feet, including a Japanese woman.
The little Japanese girl, named Mieko, was only four or five years old, and her mother was lying next to her. Before the battle began, her father, the deputy station manager of the Jingxing Coal Mine Railway Station, felt that the family was not safe, so he fled into the mine with Mieko's sister Mieko, and her mother hid in the Japanese bunker with Mieko. However, the gunfire is merciless, and Mieko's mother is killed in the battle, leaving only the little girl to survive.
Although Yang Zhongshan hated the Japanese, the civilians were innocent, and they were still such a poor little girl. So, braving the hail of bullets, he picked up Mieko and crossed the sorghum field and returned to the camp.
Mihoko sitting in a basket eating pears
With great love, Nie Rongzhen adopted a Japanese girl
After Yang Zhongshan took Mieko back to the camp, he saw that there was already a Japanese girl in the camp, only more than a year old. It turns out that this little girl is Mieko's sister Mieko, whose father also died in the gunfire and was taken back to the camp by the soldiers of the three regiments. A battle saved two Japanese girls, still sisters, which had never been encountered in the regiment, so a phone call went to the front-line command post and asked what to do with it.
Nie Rongzhen, who was in a meeting, answered the phone, and he did not rush to make a decision, asking: "What do you think should be handled?" ”
"The Eighth Route Army practiced revolutionary humanitarianism, and although it was the Japanese who were saved, we do not regret it." The soldiers of the three regiments answered on the other end of the phone.
"Well said! For prisoners who laid down their arms, the Eighth Route Army would treat them with courtesy, not to mention two children! You did something meaningful, took care of them, escorted them to Me. Nie Rongzhen was greatly satisfied with the answers of the soldiers of the three regiments, and immediately issued instructions for the soldiers to escort the two Japanese girls to the command post.
Nie Rongzhen and Mihoko
Soon, Nie Rongzhen saw two girls. At that time, Mieko was sitting in the basket, looking at everyone with innocent eyes, and her eyes were very timid. Her sister was lying in swaddling, slightly injured and still with bandages wrapped around her hands.
Nie Rongzhen picked up Mei Zaizi and looked at Mieko in the basket with kind eyes, and her heart was turbulent. His only child, Nie Li, was in Shanghai at this time and entrusted to the care of a worker's family. Nie Li suffered a lot in Shanghai, as a father, he could not take his daughter to his side, and he missed his children all the time. Seeing these two Japanese girls, Nie Rongzhen's mood of missing her daughter was aroused, and her heart had already made a decision.
Nie Rongzhen handed Mieko to the hygienist next to her, then squatted down and asked Mieko in a gentle tone, "How old is this year?" What is your name? ”
Mieko can't hear Chinese, plus she has just been frightened, but just kept saying in Japanese: "Mom is dead, Mom is dead..." The "mom" in Japanese is pronounced very similar to "Xingzi", and everyone thought that her name was Xingzi, so they began to call her Xingzi.
Nie Rongzhen saw that Mieko recognized the birth, so he asked the warrior to bring a washed pear and whispered to Mieko, "This pear is washed clean, eat it!" Although Mieko couldn't understand it, she only felt that the Chinese general in front of her was amiable, so she took a big bite of pear.
Nie Rongzhen wrote a letter in person
In this world, only the child's response is the simplest and most direct, Nie Rongzhen reciprocates with kindness to Mieko, and Mieko reciprocates with dependence. In just a few days, Mieko became lively, and she would drag Nie Rongzhen's breeches and run forward and backward, just like her daughter could not do without her father. Over time, the people in the base area knew that General Nie had adopted two Japanese girls.
In that war-torn era, it was not safe to take two children with him, and Nie Rongzhen thought about it again and again, thinking that it was inappropriate to give the girl to the local people, so he decided to send the child back to the Japanese army. After making up his mind, Nie Rongzhen wrote a long eight-hundred-word letter to the Japanese army in Shijiazhuang, and finally wrote: I hope that the jun and others will wake up and work together with the military and people of our country to seek liberation, then Japan will be very fortunate, and China will be even lucky!
After writing this letter, Nie Rongzhen did not seal his mouth, hoping that every Japanese who received this letter would have a chance to see it.
Nie Rongzhen sent Mieko back to Japan
The next day, the Mieko sisters were placed on a basket and sent to the Japanese garrison in Shijiazhuang, along with Nie Rongzhen's letters. Before leaving, Nie Rongzhen stroked Mieko's hair and said goodbye to her reluctantly. This scene was just seen by a war correspondent of the Eighth Route Army, who took several precious photos. These photographs, 40 years later, are the best proof of the relationship between Marshal Nie Rongzhen and "Daughter of Japan" Mieko.
After the two girls were sent to Shijiazhuang, they caused a strong shock in the Japanese army, and they stood up en masse and bowed deeply in the direction of Nie Rongzhen's headquarters to show respect for Nie Rongzhen. Unfortunately, Mieko fell seriously ill and died after being taken to the hospital, and Mieko returned to Japan accompanied by her uncle.
Japanese reporters find Mishoko
Father and daughter have a deep affection, and Japanese girls have come to China many times
After returning to Japan, Mieko grew up under the care of her grandmother, and later met her husband and gave birth to three daughters. The family settled in Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan, opened a hardware store, and lived happily ever after.
One day in 1980, a reporter suddenly came to visit Mieko and took an article titled "Little Girl in Japan, Where Are You?" The article pointed out to her the photos of Marshal Nie Rongzhen and the Japanese little girl in the article. Mieko saw this "Chinese father", and the memory of 40 years of dust was suddenly aroused and excited.
It turned out that this was an article published by the People's Daily. In 1980, 8 years after Sino-Japanese relations broke the ice, Yao Yuanfang, vice president of the People's Liberation Army Daily, wanted to write an article promoting the revolutionary spirit of the Eighth Route Army and highlighting Sino-Japanese friendship. After seeing the photo, Nie Shuai, who was over eighty years old, was full of emotions and said excitedly: "This is the little Japanese girl who was saved by our army back then, it seems that her name is Xingzi..."
So, the article titled "Little Girl in Japan, Where Are You?" The article was published in the People's Liberation Army Daily, and the story of Nie Shuai's adoption of Japanese orphans was made public for the first time. Soon, the article caused strong repercussions at home and abroad, and was reprinted by the People's Daily and the Japanese Yomiuri Shimbun. The Japanese newspaper reprinted it in full with the headline: The Chinese general calls for the Xingzi sisters after 40 years.
Nie Rongzhen meets Mihoko
Knowing that Nie Shuai was looking for herself, Mieko was emotional and immediately wrote a letter to Send to Nie Shuai, in which she wrote: I am exactly the "Xingzi" that the general is looking for. If possible, I would like to visit you in China and thank you in particular for your life-saving grace!
Soon, Mieko's identity was confirmed, and Nie Shuai sent an invitation to Mieko to visit China in front of her friends in the press.
On July 14, 1980, in the Great Hall of the People, after a lapse of 40 years, Mieko met Marshal Nie Rongzhen again. Seeing Nie Shuai, Mieko's tears fell to the ground, and she clasped Nie Shuai's hands with both hands and pressed her forehead to the back of Nie Shuai's hand to express her deep gratitude.
Nie Shuai was also very excited, and with his hand, he said, "I am very glad that you can come to China, when you first arrived at the Eighth Route Army, you were still a little girl of a few years old, only so tall." ”
After the group sat down, Mieko took out a Japanese doll that was a foot and a half tall as a gift to Nie Shuai. She said to Nie Shuai: In Japan, this is a precious gift for distinguished guests.
Nie Shuai accepted the gift and smiled heartily. Then, he asked the staff to take out the "Three Friends of the Cold Years" painted by Master Cheng Shifa and give it to Mieko as a gift in return.
Since then, Mieko has come to China five times and visited Nie Shuai many times to express her gratitude to Nie Shuai.
Nie Li (right) presents Mihoko with a banner
On May 14, 1992, Marshal Nie Rongzhen passed away. When the bad news reached Japan, Mieko was devastated and set up a spiritual hall in her home to mourn her Chinese father.
Nie Li also remembered his father's dying instructions and went to Japan to visit his "Japanese sister". In Osaka, the mayor of Osaka met with Nie Li, and he said excitedly: The story of Mieko is simply incredible, the two countries fought like that, and the Eighth Route Army is still so humanitarian, the Japanese will never forget.
After that, as Mieko grew older, his daughter, Machiko, took over his mantle and visited China with the Japanese delegation four times. In 2007, Zhen Zhizi came to Nie's house and spent an unforgettable Dragon Boat Festival with Nie Li's family, during the banquet, Nie Li tightly held Zhen Zhizi's hand and said: "Today I specially prepared Chinese rice dumplings to welcome you home. Your mother will always be my sister, and you are welcome to come home often! ”
Referring to that past, Nie Li sighed: "Your mother and I have experienced similarities, and we have both felt the deep disasters brought about by the war. I sincerely hope that China and Japan will be friendly from generation to generation! ”