◆ Wang Xian'en
In recent years, I have always hoped to meet Mr. Guo Pingping in Tokyo one day, but unfortunately, this wish has failed. Surprised to learn that mr. Lao passed away at 7:02 in Beijing Xian on February 5, 2022, at the age of 89, knowing that he belonged to Bai Xi, he still felt sorry and missed the former chairman of the Chinese Students Association in Japan, an outstanding predecessor who stayed in Japan.
On September 14, 2014, Wang Xian'en met with Mr. Guo Pingping in Beijing
On September 13, 2014, I met Guo Pingping for the first time in Beijing, and I was deeply impressed by his temperament. On September 3, 2015, I attended a military parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Anti-Japanese And Anti-Fascist Resistance. On September 5th after the event, Elder Guo held a luncheon for me, attended by several outstanding Japanese returnees, such as Wang Yinglan of the National Sports Commission, Professor Sun Bingri, an expert in Japanese language education, and Wang Jue, vice president of the Beijing Association of Returned Overseas Students.
On September 5, 2019, Mr. Guo Pingping, together with Sun Bingri, Wang Yinglan, Wang Jue, and Guo Qiang, had dinner with Wang Xian'en.
After several meals, I can better appreciate the feelings and style of these predecessors who stayed in Japan, especially the extraordinary life trajectory of Teacher Guo Pingping.
In April 1954, Guo Pingping attended the congress of the General Association of Chinese Students Studying in Japan
Born on January 21, 1933 in Tainan City, Taiwan Province, at the age of 8, Mr. Guo Pingtan lived in Kobe, Japan with his parents who ran the textile industry, attended Ashiya Junior High School in junior high school and high school, was admitted to the Faculty of Law of Waseda University in 1951, graduated in 1955, and became the backbone of the General Association of Chinese Students Studying in Japan during his studies, and later served as the president.
Kuo flat Waseda University graduate photo in 1955
In 1956, he received a handwritten letter from Liao Chengzhi, director of the Overseas Chinese Committee of the State Council, calling on students studying in Japan to return to China to participate in the construction of new China, and the General Association's "China Students Studying in Japan Daily" published three special issues of "The Motherland Needs Us" in a row. In August of the same year, 23-year-old Guo Pingping, together with his wife's costume designer Chen Fumei and his young son, returned to the mainland of the motherland by boat. Guo Ping was assigned to the central government to investigate and study Japan and worked as an interpreter for Premier Zhou Enlai. In 1972, Guo Pingping was seconded to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to participate in the normalization of Sino-Japanese diplomatic relations, and in 1973, he participated in the negotiation of the Sino-Japanese Fisheries Agreement of the Ministry of Agriculture of china. In December 1978, he returned to Toei as consul of the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in Osaka, where he remained until the end of 1983. In December 1984, he went to work for the All-China Federation of Taiwan Compatriots, successively serving as the second and third full-time vice presidents of the All-China Federation of Taiwan Compatriots, the president of Taisheng Magazine, a deputy to the Sixth National People's Congress, a member of the Seventh National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a law professor at Chinese University, and a director of the China-Japan Friendship Association. He has devoted his life to the great cause of Sino-Japanese friendship and the reunification of the motherland.
In September 1963, when Premier Zhou Enlai met with the head of the Japanese Fern National Song and Dance Troupe and his wife, Guo Pingtan served as an interpreter.
In the 1950s, about half of the nearly 4,000 returnees were Taiwanese students studying in Japan. Why the number of Taiwanese nationals is large, in the discussion with the old man, I learned that after the Lugou Bridge incident, mainland students returned to China to participate in the War of Resistance, and from 1938 to 1945, the government at that time naturally did not send students to study abroad, so when Japan was defeated, there were more Taiwanese students in Japan. What is lamentable is that after the end of World War II, students in mainland Japan and Students in Taiwan have united as never before, and the association of Chinese students studying in Japan has been restored. What is touching is that the new China is in ruins, and in the case of foreign exchange shortages, the government has sent a total of 400,000 US dollars to the Chinese Students Association in Japan, which will be paid openly and transparently by the Federation to international students to complete their studies.
In 2021, Guo Pingping and his son Guo Qiang are at home, and on the wall hangs Liao Chengzhi's Zhou Enlai poem "Lanshan in the Rain".
After enduring hardships, China has long since ceased to be the same as before, but the road forward of the Chinese nation will never be smooth, as long as it perseveres, it will eventually make the people happy and the country strong, and the long river of history will run endlessly, and we will not forget Guo Pingping from generation to generation. (The author is the president of the Chinese Association of Students Studying in Japan and a professor at Shuntian University)