On December 19, 2016, the elderly Zhang Xiuhong died of intestinal infarction, and she was one of the survivors of the Nanjing Massacre, and her departure meant that there was one less witness to the Nanjing Massacre, in fact, the surviving elderly people in the Nanjing Massacre may have spent their whole lives just waiting for a sincere apology.
However, the Japanese government blindly evaded and tried to cover up history and erase the existence of the Nanjing Massacre. But facts are facts, and blindly covering up can only make things worse, and it is better to admit and apologize generously.
In 2007, the elderly Zhang Xiuhong participated in the "70 Years of the Nanjing Massacre International Academic Conference", where she stood on the stage of the people's attention and told the story of the past that was extremely cruel to her.
1. The atrocities committed by the Japanese army and stained the city of Nanjing with blood
After the Lugou Bridge Incident on July 7, 1937, the Japanese army began their all-out atrocities of aggression against China, in a vain attempt to encroach on all of China.
They targeted Shanghai and tried to take over the Nationalist government in Nanjing in one fell swoop. In August they launched an attack on Shanghai and began the three-month Battle of Songhu, and although in three months our army also inflicted a certain degree of heavy damage on the Japanese army, but due to a little negligence, the Japanese army was given the opportunity to take advantage of it.
Shanghai fell on November 12, and Nanjing, 300 kilometers away, was in complete danger. At this time, the old Chiang Kai-shek did not hesitate to abandon Nanjing and planned to move the capital to Chongqing.
However, not all the Kuomintang generals were greedy and afraid of death, and Tang Shengzhi believed that Nanjing could not retreat without a fight, and could not surrender to others. So he repeatedly asked, and Chiang Kai-shek had no choice but to agree to his request and let him stay in Nanjing.
On December 1, the Japanese army launched an attack on Nanjing, and on the second day the main Kuomintang troops were completely destroyed, on the 7th Chiang Kai-shek left Nanjing by plane, and on the 12th Nanjing was lost.
At this point, the Japanese army was stationed in Nanjing and began a brutal massacre. Soldiers who laid down their arms, unarmed civilians, and babies waiting to be fed all became the ghosts of the Japanese under the knife.
At that time, in the city of Nanjing, there were many sorrows and piles of bones, that is, at that time, Zhang Xiuhong, who was only 12 years old, was tortured inhumanly, fell ill, and has been living in nightmares.
Second, the family was destroyed and humiliated
Before the Japanese army did not enter Nanjing, Zhang Xiuhong lived with her parents, grandfather, younger brothers and sisters in the area of Shazhou Wei Shuangzha, although not rich, but the three generations were also happy.
They lived the simple and ordinary lives of ordinary people, and never thought that disaster would come so quickly. When they heard that the Japanese army was sweeping the city of Nanjing, they were all terrified and could only find a way to prepare for this impending disaster.
Zhang Xiuhong, who was only 12 years old at the time, did not understand what kind of situation she was about to face, until she saw the anxious and nervous faces of her parents and grandfather, she realized the urgency of the situation.
After hiding all the grain, Zhang Xiuhong's parents left with their young siblings first, while she stayed with her grandfather.
Because grandpa was old and had difficulty with her legs and feet, she could only bring some dry food with her grandfather and hide in the reeds with the villagers. It didn't take long for the devils to enter the village, and they watched from a distance as the villagers who had no time to escape were killed by the Japanese army.
The Japanese also took the rest together, shooting them if they thought they were soldiers, and women became their playthings, suffering round after round of torture.
Listening to the screams outside and watching the behavior of the Japanese army, Zhang Xiuhong, who was hiding, trembled, but fortunately, there was still her grandfather comforting her.
The Japanese swept around the village and felt that they were not happy, so they set fire to the villagers' houses and tried to force the people who were hiding to come out. Looking at the black smoke in the distance, Zhang Xiuhong couldn't bear it any longer and threw herself into her grandfather's arms and cried.
After a dozen days, there were no gunshots or fires in the village, and everyone thought that the Japanese were gone, so they planned to go back to the village to see. Zhang Xiuhong helped grandpa carefully walk out of the reeds and returned to the village.
On the way back to the village, they were greeted by corpses on the ground and houses that had been torched by fire. The other surviving villagers also saw this scene, tears flowing uncontrollably, and resentment against the Japanese reached its peak.
With a sense of grief, they resettled the dead villagers one by one. After returning home, looking at the ruins in front of him, Zhang Xiuhong's grandfather sighed and murmured, "Oh, there is nothing!" ”
Zhang Xiuhong stood next to her grandfather, her small hands tightly held, holding back the tears. She was resentful but helpless, she was a 12-year-old girl who couldn't do anything.
However, before they could take a good rest, the devils went and returned, and this time they specifically picked women to catch, no matter how big or small, there was no difference in their eyes. So the surviving women and girls panicked, smeared mud on their faces, cut their long hair, and hid the children in the reeds and grass before they could disguise.
Zhang Xiuhong was also hidden by her grandfather, after the Japanese army arrested the people outside, a grass pile was checked with bayonets one by one, and some of the girls hiding inside could not bear the pain, ran out crying, and were caught by the Japanese army and thrown on the haystack, a fire was burned, and the girls who hid in the grass pile were burned together.
The girls who hid in the reeds with Zhang Xiuhong were terrified, and tears rippled and bit their lips to prevent themselves from crying.
Zhang Xiuhong has always remembered her grandfather's words, waiting for her grandfather to come back to pick her up, but she did not wait for her grandfather, but waited for the Japanese army, the last hiding place was exposed, the Japanese army used the old way, a fire burned the reeds, and for a time the cries and screams spread all around.
Zhang Xiuhong saw that the situation was not good, turned around and jumped into the water with the other two female dolls, swam to the opposite bank with all her strength, and then dragged her tired body back home.
At the moment of seeing grandpa, Zhang Xiuhong cried with excitement, and grandpa was also very sad for his granddaughter, and he felt that he did not protect his granddaughter. Fortunately, Zhang Xiuhong was very sensible and gently comforted her grandfather.
But at this time, the Japanese once again found the door, and the wooden door, which was already dilapidated, was kicked down by the Japanese army, and Zhang Xiuhong was also exposed to the eyes of the Japanese army.
Zhang Xiuhong can also be regarded as a symbol girl, so the Japanese army showed its true nature at first sight and directly grabbed Zhang Xiuhong. At this moment, Zhang Xiuhong was surrounded by fear, helplessness and despair in her heart, holding her grandfather to death, and her grandfather also knelt on the ground and begged the Japanese army to let the child go over and over again.
However, the Japanese soldiers, who were inferior to the beasts, looked at the two people who were crying and weeping in front of them, not only did not let them go, but also laughed loudly and stabbed Grandpa in the back with a bayonet. In order to save her grandfather's life, Zhang Xiuhong had to compromise, and was pulled by the Japanese army to the room next to no one, forcibly thrown on the bed, and the clothes she had just changed into were torn to pieces.
Just such a 12-year-old girl suffered over and over again, and finally was tortured to death. She even thought about walking away before passing out, but when she woke up and looked at her helpless old grandfather in front of her, she couldn't end it.
This encounter caused Zhang Xiuhong's tail vertebrae and thigh roots to be torn apart, leaving a lifelong disability, every rainy day she would be in pain all night and couldn't sleep, but also let her have nightmares all year round, every time in the dream will shout: "Grandpa save me, Grandpa save me!" ”
And this old man who has been planting all his life is sad in his heart every time he hears these words. Later, at the suggestion of a neighbor, Zhang Xiuhong cut her long hair and dressed up as a boy, so that she could also live a peaceful life.
But not long after, another little devil came into the village to sweep up, they snatched the grain in the village, grabbed the men in the village and forced them to send the grain to the Japanese garrison. And Zhang Xiuhong, who was dressed as a man, was naturally arrested.
After delivering the grain, the devil also forced the people in the village to do hard labor for them, carrying water, carrying soil, lifting stones, these heavy tasks she did, she once recalled: "I will really not be able to lift, but if I can't lift, I have to carry, otherwise I will be beaten, even if I am slower, I will be beaten." ”
Third, face it bravely and welcome the new life
In May 1938, his parents, who had fled with their younger siblings, also returned, and the family resumed their previous life of farming and labor, but unlike before, the bodies of the people who had been brutalized by the Japanese army were often found in the fields.
In 1945, Japan announced its unconditional surrender and withdrew from Nanjing. For Zhang Xiuhong, the previous experience has been following her like a shadow, and she no longer expects to meet her own love, let alone get married.
In her opinion, as long as she can live happily and peacefully with her family, it is already a blessing from heaven. But in 1948, Zhang Xiuhong ushered in her own god of luck, and she met Zhao Guangfu, who was also a survivor.
The two men were both survivors of the Nanjing Massacre, and the same experience allowed them to understand and support each other. After getting acquainted, Zhao Guangfu was very kind to Zhang Xiuhong, loved her very much, and expressed his willingness to start a family and live together.
Zhao Guangfu's meticulous care and attention touched Zhang Xiuhong, and she plucked up the courage to decide to start a new life. So that 22-year-old Zhang Xiuhong and Zhao Guangfu went to the palace of marriage and soon became pregnant. During childbirth, Zhang Xiuhong lay in bed for three days and three nights before giving birth to a child, and even she almost did not save herself.
After giving birth, the doctor who delivered the baby told them that because of the previous events, Zhang Xiuhong's uterus was damaged and crooked, and if she still wanted a child later, she could choose to do corrective surgery.
But after experiencing this pain, even if she liked the child very much, she did not have the courage to have another one, so in the later life, Zhao Guangfu did not mention the matter of having a second child.
In 2007, the elderly Zhang Xiuhong made up her mind to tell the world the truth about the Nanjing Massacre, a decision that could be said to have sprinkled a handful of salt on her scars that never healed, but she didn't care, she wanted everyone to know the truth, and she couldn't annihilate history.
Accompanied by her family, the 82-year-old Zhang Xiuhong traveled from Tokyo to Nagoya to Osaka, she walked through 8 cities in Japan, held 8 press conferences, and every time she spoke, she was in tears and could not cry.
After returning from Japan, the elderly Zhang Xiuhong went to Nanjing to participate in the "International Academic Conference for the 70th Anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre." ”
At the meeting, the elderly woman gave such a monologue: "My name is Zhang Xiuhong, I am 82 years old this year, and my family is in Shazhouwei, Nanjing... I was 12 years old that year, and the Japanese didn't let me go, they forcibly pressed me to the bed... I was scared, but I couldn't cry yet, because they would stab me with bayonets..."
When saying this paragraph, the old man Zhang Xiuhong choked up many times to the point of not being able to speak, and the tears flowed uncontrollably, which made everyone feel sad.
In addition, every year on December 13, Zhang Xiuhong will go to the Nanjing Massacre Victims Monument to lay flowers, rain or shine. Until 2016, according to the daughter-in-law of the elderly Zhang Xiuhong, "This year the old man really can't go, basically even the meal can't eat, so he didn't go to the flowers, watched TV at home for a while, looked at her is not very comfortable and did not dare to let her watch more." ”
On December 19, the elderly Zhang Xiuhong closed her eyes forever, and she made her best efforts to maintain the truth of history.
For our descendants, the Nanjing Massacre is just a cold text recorded in textbooks and historical documents, we have not experienced it, there is no way to empathize, but for the elderly Zhang Xiuhong who has experienced it, they need a lifetime to heal.
Therefore, we are not qualified to forgive our ancestors, all we can do is to remember history and forge ahead!