On the eve of the Spring Festival in 2017, in a conversation room, the bell of a march suddenly rang.
"We are an invincible force, we are the children and soldiers of the workers and peasants...", this song has been swirling for a long time, and those present have fallen into endless contemplation, as if they have returned to that era of war.
Suddenly a white-haired old man restored the room to its previous quiet, he is Sahara Hui, also called Zhang Rongqing, he flows with Japanese blood, but there is a Chinese soul in his bones, this Chinese People's Liberation Army march is his mobile phone ringtone, but also his faith.
Since modern times, the mainland has actively developed diplomacy, and many people have visited China, but there are not many envoys like Kei Sahara who have attracted the attention of the Northeast Aviation School Research Association.
During his current visit to China, he was also warmly received by the director of the exhibition hall of the Chinese Minist Anti-Japanese Military and Political University, and on the occasion of leaving, he also presented the "Commemorative Cover for commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Old Northeast Aviation School."
What kind of contribution did this gray-haired Japanese old man really contribute to China, and why did he receive such a high-level reception? This has to be said to be the bumpy and wonderful life experience of Kei Sahara.
The family came to live in "pseudo-Manchukuo"
In 1933, a child fell to the ground in Fukuoka, Japan, he was Kei Sahara, a pure Japanese-blood child, at that time the family could not imagine how tortuous life should be in the future, and how much Sahara loved China.
Kei Sahara's father studied minerals at the South Manchuria Railway Co., Ltd., and the family was relatively wealthy.
Puppet Manchukuo
If the family had not moved to China, Sahara would most likely have visited China as a tourist, would never have had such a deep attachment to China, and would have thought of scattering half of her ashes on Chinese soil after her death.
After the "July 7 Incident", the Sahara hui family came to northeast China at the call of the state, then the "pseudo-Manchukuo".
They traveled from Japan to Dalian, to Shenyang, and finally settled in Fuxin.
Kei Sahara was a five-year-old child at the time, and after following his parents to China, his life did not change much, and he still lived a Japanese life, for them at that time, it was just a change of place to live.
Puppet Manchukuo "Japanese Child."
Most of Sahara's friends are Japanese, and although he entered China, he had few opportunities to learn about the country until one of his father's apprentices appeared.
He often lectures on Chinese culture to Sahara Hui, and also takes him to play with Chinese children, And Sahara Hui deeply feels the local simple folk customs, and his curiosity about Chinese culture has gradually mushroomed.
In China, Keihito Sahara received a pure Japanese education, and the militarist ideas taught by the teacher were contrary to the "anti-war doctrine" advocated by his father, which often confused him, but the seeds of kindness slowly took root in his heart.
At that time, it was a time of war, and there were not many children born like Kei Sahara, and if his father had not died, the family might have been happy forever.
The bumpy fate of a teenager
Man is a product of the social environment, and when the environment changes, so does his destiny.
On August 15, 1945, the ambitious Emperor of Japan finally bowed his head and signed the surrender letter.
The people of the land of China are celebrating, but the Sahara Kei family is deeply contemplated, and they are glad that the Sino-Japanese war can stop here, but the death of Kei Sahara's father has pulled out the only pillar of the family.
Japan surrendered
Kei Sahara's father was a very predictable researcher, and he did not approve of Japan's war against China from the beginning, but he was helplessly just a pawn in the emperor's chessboard, and he could not even come and go.
He could not refuse the order to move his family to China, but he did not sit still, and when Kei Sahara was studying, he began his own plan, a plan to return his family to Japan.
Also in 1945, Kei Sahara was admitted to Fuxin High School, but Japan's position on the battlefield was already low, and it could be defeated at any time.
Sahara's father did not allow his son to attend school in Fuxin, and used a large number of connections to send him to Dalian No. 2 Middle School.
Dalian No.2 Middle School (demolished)
"Parents love their children, but they have far-reaching plans", Sahara's father foresaw Japan's dark future, understanding that the day of Japan's defeat is the time when his family fell apart.
He sent his son to Dalian to study, not hoping that he would learn much more knowledge, but only hoping that he would be able to escape back to Japan at the first time, and did not have to wear the status of a prisoner of war to work as a cow and a horse in other people's land.
Dalian port is accessible, transportation is convenient, once Japan is defeated, Sahara Hui will immediately return to Japan's territory, which was discussed by their father and son, but they could not avoid the fate of the arrangement.
In July 1945, a month before Japan's defeat, Kei Sahara's father, who had worked for the Japanese emperor for half a lifetime, collapsed in Fuxin, mainly because he was too stimulated by radiation.
Dazed and helpless, Sahara rushed to Fuxin's home to see her father for the last time, and it was at this time that the gears of fate began to turn.
Soon it was August, the Japanese Emperor's flag on the land of China was lowered, and Kei Sahara's father also set the Western Mountains.
When his father died, Kei Sohara was only 12 years old, and the carefree teenager lost his protective umbrella and looked blankly at the Scattered Japanese residents in China.
According to Kei Sahara in his later years, "At that time, they all sold valuable things in their homes, and bulk items such as pianos sold a lot of money, and just when people were secretly glad that returning to their homeland was not a dream, they were surprised to find that the currency of puppet Manchukuo had become waste paper."
At this time, the responsibility of the family fell on the thin shoulders of Sahara Kei, he had no time to complain and worry, he only wanted to bring his mother, brothers and sisters back to Japan as soon as possible, did not want to become prisoners of war, fortunately, his father's apprentice promised to help them.
Kei's apprentices made a rough plan for the family to return to Japan, planning to pass through Huludao and then travel by water to Japan.
In those days, they had trouble sleeping and eating, and finally they arrived at the area of Gou Gangzi in Liaoning, but they found that the apprentice who led the way was missing, and everyone was very confused, and they also looked around for this kind-looking Chinese, but in the end it was fruitless, and there was no hope of returning to the original place, they could only settle in a town in Beizhen County, Liaoning.
Japanese Family
In Liaoning, the helpless Shayuan Hui family often ate the last meal without eating, but Sha yuan Hui could only forget the idea of going to school, and started a money-making career, and his mother also began to sew clothes to earn money.
"In fact, there are many people in Sujia Street who know that we are not Chinese, but they did not bully us and gave us a lot of help," said Sahara Hui many years later, indeed as he said, many people in Liaoning at that time were very tolerant of their family, often sending some food and clothing in the past.
However, "it is better to teach people to fish than to teach people to fish", with the help of many good people, Sahara Kei went to work in a landlord's house, rising from a pig to a cow, inseparable from his efforts and cleverness.
When he was herding cattle for the landlord, in order to learn Chinese culture, he often secretly took the melon fruit from the landlord's house and distributed it to his peers, so that they could take care of his cattle on his behalf.
And he would also let the cows lick the salt when they came home, so that they would drink a lot of water and swell their stomachs into a bulging shape, and the landlord would give Sahara good food when he was happy.
Kei Sahara's life in Liaoning was hard and interesting, and although he was tired every day, he also learned a lot of knowledge.
Gradually, he became one with the local Chinese people, and his speaking habits were like Chinese, and most importantly, he also thought that he was an upright Chinese.
Kei Sahara participated in the war
The people's life was not much better because of the victory of the anti-Japanese war, and when the Liberation War broke out in 1946, people fell into the quagmire of war again, this time Kei Sahara joined, under the pseudonym Zhang Rongqing.
Kei Sahara (middle)
Influenced by Chinese culture, Sahara was so fond of Zhang Fei in The Three Kingdoms that he took the Chinese surname of Zhang.
"I have seen the Kwantung Army, the Central Army of the National Name Party, the Eighth Route Army of the Communist Party, and experienced the changes of the old and new eras. After experiencing such a big change of times, seeing that others have not yet been liberated, he wants to liberate others", this is the original intention of Kei Sahara to join the army, and it is also from this time that he really implemented the pace of becoming a Chinese.
In the land of Shenzhou where the old and the new alternate, how many people are wrapped up in the torrent of the times, but Sahara is not, he joined the People's Liberation Army after careful consideration, and he has long thrown his life and death out of the cloud of nine clouds.
However, the mother of Kei Sahara, who had just lost her husband, firmly disagreed with her son's joining the army, believing that becoming a soldier was a dead end.
The 15-year-old Sawara broke through many difficulties and became a member of the Independent Ninth Army of the Northeast Democratic Coalition Army at the age of two, and was later reorganized into the 170th Infantry Division, which was also assigned to Lin Biao's Fourth Field Army of the People's Liberation Army, a fighter who played an irreplaceable role in both the War of Liberation and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
Kei Sahara is a person who has benefited from China's land reform policy, and he sincerely thanks the People's Liberation Army and knows that this is a team that is sincerely doing things for the people.
Kei Sahara, who joined the People's Liberation Army, did not dare to slack off for half a minute, training hard day and night, and he was an indispensable member of the People's Liberation Army.
In the Liaoshen Campaign and the Pingjin Campaign, Sahara fought actively, almost died on the battlefield many times, but he never retreated, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he had the opportunity to return to Japan, but he chose to stay and continue fighting.
It was 1950, the US imperialists extended their claws to the Yalu River, this war was ostensibly aimed at Korea, but in fact it looked at China's land, and the iron-blooded Chinese naturally wanted to drive the invaders out of the border, so the country quickly gathered troops to prepare for the battle across the river, which is the famous "War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea" in history.
Keiyoshi Sahara signed up again without hesitation, as firmly as he had fought the Liberation War. However, international law at that time stipulated that Japanese could not participate in the Korean War.
Korean
According to The Late Sunawara Kei, "At that time, the shiye warriors had crossed Dandong and had already arrived at the Yalu River, but the Japanese soldiers were not allowed to participate in the war, so I changed my nationality and wrote the three big characters of "Chinese", which led to the battle of the Yalu River with the army."
At that time, Sahara could not take care of anything, only wanted to serve China, he was ready to die in battle, the suicide note and the application for joining the party were written, and he went to the battlefield as a scout to prepare for the new airport.
Unfortunately, the paper could not contain the fire after all, and Kei Sahara, who was desperately fighting with the enemy on the battlefield, was finally called to talk by the political commissar.
The commissar asked, "What the hell are you?" Kei Sahara told him in a categorical manner, "I am a young man of China, a soldier of China."
The commissar hesitated for a moment and asked him in an aggravated tone whether the army was disciplined, but Sahara did not dare to tell a lie and told him about lying about his nationality and participating in the war.
The political commissar felt his deep love for China, and at the same time was touched by his firm determination to see death as a homecoming, and did not make more accusations, but only "drove" him from the Korean battlefield to the old aviation school in the northeast.
Emissary Keisei Sahara and the exchange envoys between the two countries continued to serve China
Loyalty knows no time or place, revolutionary soldiers are bricks, where need to be moved.
The old Tohoku Aviation School to which Sahara went was founded by Yaichiro Hayashi, who was a member of the fourth training team of the Second Aviation Regiment of the Japanese Kwantung Army, and at the 1949 founding ceremony, there were 23 pilots who graduated from the old aviation school.
Kei Sahara, who was sent to the old aviation school, was not willing, but he thought about where he was not working for China, and later accepted it calmly.
In March 1955, Kei Sahara and some of his family members were repatriated to China, and some of his younger siblings who were married in China were left behind, which made him very envious, but he could only obey the international arrangement to board a ship to Osaka in Tianjin, and his 17 years of life in China have been everywhere ever since.
But although others have returned to Japan, their hearts have always been in China.
At the end of the same year, As a Japanese translator, Kei Sahara warmly received the scientific delegation of Guo Moruo and others, bringing them a sense of homesickness, which was also his first official job in Japan.
Later, Kei Sahara established the Sino-Japanese Trading Company in Japan, and deliberately chose the opening time on July 1.
However, sino-Japanese relations were still relatively cold at that time, and his heart to serve China was clearly revealed, and he was ruthlessly suppressed by the Japanese rulers at that time, and finally had no choice but to close the door.
Although the business failed, Sahara never changed his heart to China's dedication, and he later devoted most of his time to promoting Sino-Japanese exchanges, and from 1956 to 1958, he was never absent at the commodity fairs held in many places in China and Japan.
The time soon came to the 21st century, and on March 1, 2016, Kei Sahara participated in the cultural relics donation ceremony held by the military museum "Commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Old Aviation School of Northeast China".
After many years, he returned to the place where he was reluctant to go, but later haunted by his dreams, and after the event, he expressed his feelings at the preparatory meeting of the Northeast Old Aviation School Research Association.
On November 8, 2019, Beijing held a grand symposium to commemorate the successful publication of the comic book "Blood and Heart: The Legendary Life of Japanese People's Liberation Army Soldier Kei Sahara".
This book records the legendary story of Kei Sahara and shows people his tenacious belief in serving China, which is worth learning from future generations.
In April 2021, this old Japanese man with Chinese hearts passed away, and his biggest wish was to return to the roots of the fallen leaves and bury them in China after death, not daring to ask for too much luxury, but asking for half of his ashes to return to China.
"I haven't finished my own path yet, I want to continue to go down," Sahara once said, indeed he has always been on the road, has always been working for China.