In the history of China, joint burials are also a very common thing.
However, this kind of funeral ceremony is generally used for couples who are closely related, and if archaeologists find a tomb with a man and a woman in it, it basically means that two people are a family, and this tradition has been passed down.
However, there is a joint burial tomb in Guangxi, which is ordinary but of great significance, because it is a martyr's joint burial tomb, but it is very strange, because the two people in the cemetery are not husband and wife at all, but are buried together.
Deeply rooted in this, it is a very touching story.
Touching catacomb history
Located in Shuangjingla Village, Guangxi, this tomb is an ancient village with a long history, and it is also more than 30 kilometers away from the nearest county seat, which is also remote.
On the hillside next to the woods and rice paddies on the edge of the village, there is a martyr's tomb, and a solemn and towering martyrs' memorial tower has been built, and the two are built together to look very solemn.
There is a sentence written on it: In memory of Wang Xinguo (male) and Lu Wenyu (female).
With such a label, many people feel that the two are husband and wife, at least they must be brothers and sisters in the family, otherwise it should be unlikely to be buried together, according to the traditional folklore considerations, the two are most likely to be husband and wife.
The memorial tower itself has left a lot of information to the world, according to the "Record of Building the Tower" on the back of the memorial tower, this memorial tower was built in March 1991, in accordance with the initiative of the local village committee.
It turned out that in that year, the vast number of people in the village and foreign workers jointly donated generously, contributed money and efforts, donated a total of 1376 yuan, plus the local government's funding, and the memorial tower was finally successfully completed.
On the front of the memorial tower is the inscription of Deng Chongji, a comrade-in-arms of the martyr Wang Xinguo: Wang Xinguo and Lu Wenyu are immortal.
Deng Chongji is also well-known in the local area, having served as a guerrilla leader in northern Guizhou for a long time, and later promoted to secretary of the Guante branch, and is also a retired cadre at the deputy department level.
There are not too many records of other reasons, and it is reasonable to say that if you come here to take a look, you can almost conclude that it is a "husband and wife burial", so few people investigate it again.
Probably because the original tombstone was built for a long time, the words on it have been weathered very badly, and only a few introductions can be seen clearly, which also adds a lot of difficulty to clarify the secrets of the tomb.
In order to find out the situation, the reporter of Guilin Daily went to the memorial tower on May 25, 2019 to find out, and in a nearby village, the reporter found the cousin of the martyr Wang Xinguo, who is now 85 years old.
The old man's name was Wang Xinren, and although he was older, his thinking was still relatively clear, and he revealed some useful information to the reporter.
The reporter learned from the elderly Wang Xinren that his cousin was a "capable person" who could write brush characters on both hands.
At that time, the Wang family was an underground liaison station during the war years, and for a time, Xiao Youlin, the core figure of the northern Guizhou region, came here to live in the Wang family, and at most, seven or eight cadres were gathered here at the same time.
His cousin did not have a resting place until there was a memorial tower, and the construction of this memorial tower was ultimately the meaning of the local civil affairs bureau, but the funds at that time were not sufficient.
In fact, after the sacrifice of Wang Xinguo, the body has not been found, so there is no grave, and after the memorial tower is completed, the family also has a place to commemorate.
The tomb of the martyr Wang Xinguo is equivalent to a crown tomb, and Wang Xinren also made it clear that the other martyr in the memorial tower is not his sister-in-law, but his sister-in-law has someone else.
In the 31st year of the Republic of China, Wang Xinguo was married, his wife was from Xitou Village, and the family situation was quite good at that time.
Wang Xinren still remembered that when his sister-in-law married over, the dowry was brought according to the standard, and it was also a scenery in the village, but the ideals pursued by the two were really different, so they divorced shortly after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, and have not been looked for since.
Due to the limited conditions, there was no way to identify the bones of the martyrs when they were first buried, so it was usually possible to bury the male and female martyrs who died in one battle in one place, and then build a monument.
Such a situation has also occurred in other places, such as the "Datangfu Martyrs Memorial Tower" in Shitang Town, whose historical background is more than a dozen martyrs who died on November 8, 1948.
However, during the period when martyrs Wang Xinguo and Lu Wenyu were martyred, the local people could not afford to build a memorial tower after burying the remains, and this matter also passed.
It was not until the 1990s that the tower was rebuilt.
On the back of the memorial tower, there are also seven poems written by Wang Xinguo's old comrades-in-arms Yunfeng and Ye Nong to commemorate Wang Xinguo:
The righteous division fought against Qin Jialing and ran out of ammunition to make Chu prisoners. Arrogance runs through the vast universe, and the hero does not hesitate to be a teenager. The iron window is difficult to lock the zhenzhi, and the court sternly rebukes the false chief. The loyal soul of the lotus leaf pond is there, and a piece of Danxin has remained for eternity.
On the memorial tower of the martyrs Wang Xinguo and Lu Wenyu, there is a couplet written to Lu Wenyu:
He sacrificed his life for the country and accompanied Qingshan through the ages, and Xiu Miaoling dedicated himself to the revolution and left Shuangjing Wannian Fang.
Unfortunately, the first few words of the front joint can no longer be seen because of time reasons, and it is not easy to speculate at will.
In order to find out the family lineage of the martyr Lu Wenyu, the reporter of Guilin Daily contacted the elderly Yang Jusheng, who had settled in the United States with his son through the Internet.
The old man was the cousin of the martyr Lu Wenyu, and he also clearly told reporters that his cousin was "a member of the Linyang Wing of the former Guizhou Northeast People's Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Column from Yangshuo."
Moreover, he recalled, his sister's family was very wealthy, and it could be said that she was one of the best in the local area, and her father, named Lu Bishou, was a well-known figure in guilin's political and legal circles at that time, and also rescued many underground party members.
When the reporter heard this, he was actually very curious, how did such a "big miss" eventually become a martyr?
According to her family background, her father was able to keep her.
In addition to these, the reporter also found a lot of local history, and some mysteries that shrouded the two martyrs were roughly uncovered.
When the reporter interviewed the villagers near the memorial tower, the sky also suddenly rained lightly, and there were cattle eating grass leisurely, which is probably the quiet appearance of the years.
As a descendant, figuring out the story of the martyrs is also respecting the efforts of the martyrs.
The secret behind the two martyrs
Wang Xinguo, a native of Shuangjingla Village, was admitted to the Guangxi Provincial Guilin Normal School with excellent results in 1940, and under the image of the school, he was stimulated by a strong sense of sentiment and responsibility.
In the autumn four years later, the Japanese invaded southwards and entered the northern Gui region.
The vast number of teachers and students of The Guilin Normal School took action, and it was at this time that Wang Xinguo and fellow alumnus Jiang Guangmi and others formed the Shitang Anti-Japanese Squadron, and he himself assumed the post of staff officer.
On December 17, 1944, Wang Xinguo participated in the ambush of the Japanese army in Shitang Yangzi Bridge and other places, and also killed a Japanese commander and captured a batch of equipment.
After the end of the War of Resistance Against Japan, he joined the local Guibei guerrillas, experienced many battles, and made great achievements.
Unfortunately, on August 5, 1947, the guibei guerrillas finally ran out of ammunition in the battle of Chengjialing because the enemy was outnumbered, and Wang Xinguo was also arrested in this area.
After his arrest, he was imprisoned in the Yushan Temple Temporary Prison in Guilin, where the painful days began.
The authorities sent the director of the Department of Education to interrogate him, and all kinds of methods were used.
They knew that Wang Xinguo had a strong appeal among the local youth, so they asked him to write a letter to the youth of northern Guizhou, asking them not to resist anymore, so that he could restore his freedom at the same time as other captured comrades.
In addition, Huang Puxin, the director of the Department of Education, promised him that if he wrote this letter, he would be able to become the head of the middle school and become the head of the education section a few years later.
In the face of such coercion and inducement, Wang Xinguo was not moved, he said: "I can't write a word!" ”
After nearly 3 months of torture, Wang Xinguo finally did not choose to compromise, and was shot and killed in Guilin Lotus Pond on November 4, 1947, when he was only 27 years old.
According to the recollection of his cousin Wang Xinren, after his brother was arrested, his sister and other relatives went to Guilin.
Wang Xinguo's right leg had sores on the inside and scars, but after his brother was killed, his family received news that several had been executed and they were going to collect the bodies.
After everyone came, they identified the remains through the characteristics of the scars on their legs, but did not find the remains of Wang Xinguo.
Later, there were also some local villagers who said that Wang Xinguo was killed in Xing'an because of Shentang.
This statement cannot be specifically verified, but in any case, Wang Xinguo has become a martyr.
Because their family once became a "liaison station", Lu Wenyu was also hidden in the Wang family, which can also explain why the two were eventually buried together.
Lu Wenyu, a native of Langshi Village, Yangti Township, Yangshuo County, was born in 1922, and when she was born, her family was particularly well-off.
Talented and intelligent, she has also been exposed to various educations since she was a child, has a very strong will, and also loves labor and sympathizes with the lives of suffering families, which is not at all the same as the big ladies of other families.
So after graduating from high school, she received a party education and secretly made a vow to make a big career in the future.
When the Japanese invaded Guangxi, Lu Wenyu could no longer sit still, and she felt that the time when the country needed herself had finally arrived, so she led her sister Lu Wenxiu to join the LINYANG United Regiment of the Communist Party of China, publicizing the call for resistance against Japan and saving the country.
Because she was a woman, she also took advantage of her own advantages to mobilize the majority of women to devote themselves to the great cause of resisting Japan, established close ties with many local people, and showed great enthusiasm for resistance.
It is worth mentioning that Lu Wenxiu's mother, Yi Yuanqing, is also an underground party member, which has a great influence on the thinking of Lu Wenxiu's sisters.
The 94-year-old Yang Jusheng has also followed the Lu sisters in a bloody war with the Japanese Kou, and now the elderly in a foreign country can still receive allowances from the motherland every month.
In 2019, the old man also received a commemorative medal for the 70th anniversary of the National Day and a condolence payment of 2,000 yuan.
The old man recalled: That time, because Lu Wenyu's father, Lu Bishou, was a well-known figure in Guilin's political and legal circles, but he was also very supportive of the work of his wife and children, so he would also use legal means to bail out many imprisoned underground party members.
Such a statement also coincides with many contents in the Guangxi Tongzhi Judicial Administration Chronicle and the Yizhou Chronicle.
According to the records of Shi Zhi, when the Guangxi Provincial Lawyers' Union was established in 1946, Lu Bishou was also appointed as a supervisor, was one of the four main responsible persons at that time, and was a well-known pioneer of legal affairs.
Even if half of the family is devoted to the great cause, but Lu Bishou's reputation is too high, in order not to drag him down, but also for him to continue to help everyone in secret, Yi Yuanqing once published a newspaper saying that he has broken off relations with Lu Bishou.
After the surrender of the Japanese Kou, Lu Wenyu's Linyang Wing was reduced to pieces, and in order to face the severe and complicated situation, they were transferred from above ground to underground.
Due to their active work, she and her sister were exposed to the enemy's pursuit crisis several times, but fortunately, under the instructions of the organization, they successfully turned the danger into a disaster again and again.
In Wang Xinren's recollection, Lu Wenyu did come to his home.
About the 35th year of the Republic of China, Lu Wenyu came to Shuangjingla Village, her height is about 1 meter 6, people are very beautiful, and very polite, a look is very cultured kind, in addition to work seriously, she can also sing.
At that time, the Wang family also opened a small inn in the village for practical needs, and Lu Wenyu took the initiative to help do some chores such as washing pots.
After coming to the village, Lu Wenyu lived in the Wang family for more than half a month, living in the same bed with Wang Xinguo's mother every day, and not going to bed until after 12 o'clock at night.
She called Wang Xinguo's parents "Uncle and Uncle Niang" and Wang Xinguo "Comrade".
At that time, Wang Xinren knew that Lu Wenyu was already ill.
During the serious illness, Lu Wenyu's throat was swollen to the size of an egg, according to folk legends, the disease is said to be "fire chaos", and finally died on January 31, 1946, when she was only 24 years old.
After Lu Wenyu was martyred, he was buried in a depression on the hill on the edge of the village, and later when the memorial tower was built, Wang Xinren and other villagers went to help relocate and found that the coffin was quite well preserved.
At the beginning, because Wang Xinguo's body had not been found, in this joint tomb, there was actually only the remains of Lu Wenyu.
Although the two are not a family, because of the relationship between comrades-in-arms, Lu Wenyu came to the Wang family in order to avoid being pursued, and walked into a family, from the perspective of combat friendship, the two are a family on this road.
Wang Xinguo did not care about fame and fortune for his own faith, while Lu Wenyu himself was born as a big lady, but devoted himself to the cause of the War of Resistance Revolution, and finally died in a small village at a young age, and also sacrificed on the eve of Chinese New Year's Eve.
After figuring out this matter, the reporter also sorted out the "words" used by Lu Wenyu's grandfather in the name.
The four brothers of the Lu family have names of "Shi, Dao, He, and Ping", and their mother and daughter's war of resistance is also for the peace of the world.
According to the influence of the Lu family, even if the sisters' behavior is discovered, the family still has a way to come forward to settle it, but Lu Wenyu has always been reluctant to let her father do this, even if she is sick like that, she is still unwilling to involve others.
Now, the memorial tower is thirty years old, and local villagers always come to see these martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the country.
reference
1 Male and female martyrs who are not a family but walk into a door Guilin Daily, May 5, 2020