A hundred years ago, the Chinese soldiers who died elsewhere for the motherland were forgotten in the corner of the cemetery, few people knew of their existence, and fewer people came to worship; after being discovered by Japanese students, the two words on the tombstone made people feel even more sad, as martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the country, they only got the title of "prisoner" in a foreign land.
Crisis and change
In the 19th century, the Qing Dynasty government rule was facing a huge crisis, and various uprisings and movements arose among the people at home, which were suffering from taxes, and the Qing court, which was strong in the foreign powers and countries, was looking at the Tiger.
However, the rulers also considered themselves to be "sitting back and relaxing", closing off the country and at the same time complacent about their own heavenly dynasty.
At the same time, China's neighbor Japan is developing rapidly. Like the Qing government, Japan's internal and external troubles were not easy, the shogunate rule threatened the authority of the emperor, and the Western powers waited for the opportunity to tear Japan down.
Japan did not sit still, and in 1868 launched the Meiji Restoration, which not only got rid of the crisis but also greatly enhanced its national strength. And China has also vigorously launched a foreign affairs campaign to solve the national crisis.
In order to strengthen the country's military strength to deal with foreign invasions, the Qing government sent many students to study foreign countries in order to learn advanced Western artifacts and technologies.
In addition, with the experience of the British army invading the mainland from the coast, the Beiyang government established the Beiyang Marine Division to resist the invasion of the mainland by the great powers.
In this way, the Beiyang Fleet grew stronger day by day, and later even reached the first place in Asia and the ninth place in the world. The western affairs movement was also in full swing during this period, but gradually stopped in the later period.
Smash it completely
Japan's national power reached its peak at the end of the 19th century, and although its territory was small, it was one of the best in Asia. Along with the expansion of national power is its desires and ambitions.
In order to keep up with the development of the West and expand its own capital and territory, Japan secretly formulated a "mainland policy", planning to use North Korea and China as a breakthrough point and then occupy all of Asia.
The Qing government once again ushered in a challenge, and at the same time, it was also a test of the foreign affairs movement, whether the Beiyang Fleet could really afford the title of the first in Asia.
On July 25, 1894, the Japanese attacked the Beiyang Fleet in the Toshima Sea. On August 1 of the same year, China and Japan officially declared war, and the Sino-Japanese War broke out.
What is shocking is that the Japanese Navy does not know when it has far surpassed the Beiyang Fleet, the Qing government's navy is vulnerable to foreign enemies, and the beautiful illusion of the foreign affairs movement has been completely shattered.
Even though the Beiyang Marine Division stubbornly resisted, it was eventually completely defeated in the Battle of the Yellow Sea, and the Japanese army took the opportunity to occupy Lushun and Weihai on the mainland in one fell swoop. The Qing government's rule was precarious, and it was eventually managed to maintain its rule by signing the humiliating and unequal Treaty of Maguan.
POW
Most of our impressions of the Sino-Japanese War come from the history books, and no one will delve into how many soldiers were captured in the war that lasted about nine months, and the history books may mention it, but it is also an understatement, but behind those simple Arabic numerals, there are once vivid lives.
According to relevant statistics, the death toll of the Qing army in this war exceeded 20,000, and 1789 soldiers were captured.
Under international law, prisoners of war are also human beings and deserve to be treated humanitarianly, and the Japanese side has ostensibly complied with the relevant regulations.
Of course, this was mainly due to the international environment at that time, and in order to gain the recognition of European and American countries at that time, Japan attached great importance to its own "civilized" image, and for this reason, it also packaged the Sino-Japanese War as a war between "civilization and barbarism".
But in fact, the officers and men of the Qing Army did not receive much good treatment, and the Japanese side did enough superficial work, but psychologically they suffered a lot of humiliation.
Before being imprisoned, the Qing soldiers were "walked" around the street by the Japanese side, which aroused the "enthusiastic" attention of the crowd who loved to join in the crowd.
In addition, the captives were also mistreated in terms of diet and shelter, and the living conditions were no different from those of livestock, and there are relevant historical records that say, "Give rice balls a hand ... Thirsty and frequent, only give a drop to the stinky spring. If so, more than twenty days. ”
Captured Qing soldiers were also subjected to humiliation and abuse on their way to Japan. They were dressed in tattered clothes, and even their shoes were worn and broken.
It was hard to survive the land, but it was even more unbearable to get to the waterway, the prisoners of war were kept on the ship, the space for movement was very small, the meals and sleeping and the toilet were all solved in one cabin, and the clothes were naturally worn for many months without changing. To make matters worse, the waterways are not smooth, and there are countless seasick people.
In general, the Japanese provided prisoners of war with three meals and shelter, medical services when necessary, and did not allow prisoners to serve as hard laborers, but prisoners of war were still subject to personal attacks.
In addition, the prisoners of war who did not understand the international conventions even felt that they had been treated preferentially, perhaps they thought that they would be tortured to death by the Japanese side, so compared with the bad situation originally expected, it was the greatest luck to be alive.
The tomb of the Chinese martyrs that no one cares about
After the signing of the Treaty of Maguan, most of the Qing prisoners were sent back to the Qing Dynasty, and the remaining 251 prisoners of war were said to have "naturalized" Japan, while the remaining few were missing. They may have returned to the Qing Dynasty themselves, or they may have stayed in Japan, or they died unexpectedly in the middle of the way.
The Japanese left 10 Qing prisoners, most of them high-ranking soldiers, intending to dig out some Qing court secrets from their mouths.
One of the soldiers, Named Liu Hanzhong, and the rest of the soldiers vowed to die and did not want to betray the country, and were eventually killed by the Japanese side.
Although they were enemies, the Japanese also admired the indomitable spirit of the soldiers and buried them in the tombs of the martyrs who died in the Battle of Jiawu.
But the vast majority of people are unaware of the existence of the "Chinese Martyrs' Tomb" built by Japan, which is just a lonely corner that no one knows, and has been unnoticed for many years.
Until one day, Japanese student Yang Haijia and his friends went to play near the group of japanese soldiers who died in modern Times, and found these distinctive mausoleums.
These soldiers died for the country, but in the end they carried the title of "prisoner" and were silent in the corners of other countries for many years.
epilogue
Later, through this experience of Yang Haijia, these tombstones were known to more international students and tourists, who had the psychology of reverence for the martyrs to worship the heroic spirits who died in battle many years ago.
The martyrs of the Qing Dynasty, who have long been forgotten by the world, are remembered by the public again. We owe it to these martyrs and to those histories, and we will never forget them.