For decades, Japan has tried everything to dismantle four Japanese statues that are forever kneeling in China. The mainland only mentioned three conditions, and the Japanese were momentarily dumbfounded.
So how did these four statues come about? Why are they kneeling? What are the three conditions that the mainland has proposed?
Four Japanese statues kneeling in the Tengchong National Cemetery
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in order to ensure the smooth flow of communication and supply lines between China and the outside world, the Nationalist government decided to build a highway in Yunnan that could lead to the Indian Ocean, the Yunnan Xiang Highway.
Since the Nationalist government did not have the extra financial and manpower to build the railway, the Yunnan government spontaneously prepared and mobilized residents along the highway to participate in the construction, and with the efforts of all, the highway was completed in nine months.
At that time, in order to open up the situation, Japan sent a large number of troops to attack Vietnam.
In 1942, the Chinese Expeditionary Force entered Burma to fight and was attacked by the Japanese army. Because of the arrogance of the British army that entered Burma, the Continental Expeditionary Force collapsed.
In order to maintain its strength, the expeditionary force withdrew partly to India and partly to the east bank of the Nu River.
The rout of the expeditionary force gave the Japanese army a taste of victory, and they chased after it and pursued it.
After the expeditionary force withdrew to Yunnan, it was forced to abandon Tengchong, which was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and blew up the huitong bridge, the only bridge on the Nu River, before finally escaping the pursuit of the Japanese army and stopping it on the west bank of the Nu River.
After occupying Tengchong, the Japanese army turned it into the second Nanjing in order to vent their anger and carried out inhumane killings of civilians.
However, the people of Tengchong did not want to become slaves under the Japanese invaders and spontaneously organized themselves to form a temporary county government.
"The world rises and falls, and the pirate is responsible." Zhang Wente, a patriotic gentleman in his 60s, stepped forward in times of danger and served as the county magistrate, leading the people in a difficult guerrilla war with the Japanese army.
In 1943, The supreme commander of the Japanese army, Tajima, wrote an invitation to Zhang Wente. Content is nothing more than coercion and provocation.
Mr. Zhang Wende directly published this letter to the public, and said to a kind of rhetoric: "To keep the people of Tengchong away from suffering, you Japanese can put down your guns and return to Japan."
In 1944, the Chinese Expeditionary Force began to enter the counter-offensive phase. The 20th Group of the Expeditionary Force, assembled at the Nu River, began to sound the clarion call for a counter-offensive.
However, in more than two years of Tengchong, the fortifications built by the Japanese army were very strong, coupled with the advanced weapons and equipment of the Japanese army, the expeditionary force's repeated attacks ended in failure.
At the same time, the tengchong rainy season came, and many soldiers of the expeditionary force were not native to Yunnan, unable to adapt to the weather conditions, and their combat capabilities began to deteriorate.
Heavy rain also made the roads muddy and the logistics could not keep up, resulting in many soldiers who could not be rescued in time after being injured, and died heroically.
In August 1944, in the middle of the Yuan Dynasty, the expeditionary force, with the cooperation of the people in the city and the air force, successfully opened a hole in Tengchong and entered the county seat of Tengchong to engage in a fierce street battle with the Japanese army.
After 42 days of hard fighting, the Chinese Expeditionary Force finally won the war, the first county recaptured by the Nationalist government to be guarded by the Japanese army.
The battle lasted 127 days, with more than 6,000 Japanese casualties, 1,234 officers and more than 17,000 soldiers.
The war and its brutality have made it impossible for the soldiers to identify themselves and the remains to return home.
Faced with this situation, Li Gengen, the yunnan inspector, proposed to build a martyrs' cemetery to bury the remains.
The construction of this martyrs' cemetery is also very difficult, and its money is mostly donated by locals and fundraising from other places.
In the process of construction, many local residents also volunteered to help, and after half a year, the cemetery was completed and named "National Martyrdom Park".
The remains of 9,158 martyrs were buried in the cemetery. In addition to these martyrs, more than 6,000 Japanese Kou were also buried in the corner of the cemetery.
People followed the example of "Qin Juniper Kneeling Yue Fei", with their hands tied behind their backs, facing these buried martyrs, and buried these Japanese koo, in front of all the Japanese kooks erected a stele with the word "塚" written on it, and carved 4 kneeling Japanese soldier statues in the woza, who represented the Japanese officers in the Tengchong Campaign at that time, headed by the highest officer, Yasumi Kurashige.
China proposes three conditions
In the 1990s, during the reform and opening up, the relatively poor Tengchong County in Yunnan Province received news that Japan, the world's top 500 companies, wanted to spend 1 billion yuan in Tengchong to establish an automobile production line.
The Japanese demanded the removal of the four statues in the National Cemetery and the handing over of the remains of the Japanese in the cemetery.
After hearing the conditions put forward by the Japanese, the poor Tengchong government and people did not hesitate to refuse.
Since then, Japan has also repeatedly protested against the Chinese government, demanding the destruction of the statue.
In this regard, the Chinese government said that in order for China to agree, the Japanese government must complete three conditions:
1. Japan must first dismantle the Yasukuni Shrine dedicated to war criminals.
2. Revise Japanese history books, write down the true historical truth, and do not hide the facts of your aggression.
3. Solemnly apologize in the name of the authorities to the 9,158 martyrs buried in the Tengchong Martyrs' Cemetery.
These three conditions are not excessive at all, but after the Japanese government heard about this condition, it has been dragging its feet and not daring to agree.
The National Martyrs Cemetery represents the great contributions made by Chinese soldiers to defend the motherland, and we must not forget these heroes.
If you have the opportunity to go to Tengchong, become these warriors to pay the highest respect.
Since Japan did not agree to these three conditions, did not apologize to China in any way, and distorted the facts in Japanese textbooks, let these Japanese statues kneel forever and repent to our martyrs who sacrificed.