Pan Deming (1908-1976) was a native of Huzhou, Zhejiang. Hero Traveler. The first person in human history to circumnavigate the globe on foot. Pan Deming, with the belief that "the sick man of snow and East Asia" and "seeking glory in the world", left the country in the summer of 1930 and returned to Shanghai in July 1937.
Pan Deming has loved sports since he was a child, and since he was seven or eight years old, he has often run around Huzhou City, climb mountains and climb high, and read books about world geography and various travels.
In 1927, 19-year-old Pan Deming took a fancy to a store in Nanjing's fourth archway. He had some savings and planned to open a Western restaurant with friends. As for why he opened a Western restaurant, because Pan Deming himself has dreamed of traveling the world since he was a child. He believes that before traveling the world, one must be proficient in language, and the other is physically great.
In this way, I met foreigners in the western restaurant and practiced speaking. Three years have passed.
In the summer of 1930, several young people in Shanghai organized a "Chinese Youth Asia Walking Group", determined to walk to Asia. They issued a declaration in the "Declaration": "The Chinese nation, which has carried more than 5,000 years of civilization and creation in history, has unfortunately become a general psychopathy among young people in recent times, languishing and decadence. We feel that the genie of the times is already cheering us, and we are unceremoniously shouldering this great burden. We decided to set out from Shanghai with perseverance and courage and gradually implement our purpose. In each step, we must show the glory of the history of the Chinese nation, and in each step, give a deep impression to the society, until the final point of our scheduled journey. ”
After reading this report, Pan Deming disappeared that day. Only a letter was left for my sister that he was going to join the walking group.
Will the walking tour accept Pan Deming? As a result, the regiment commander did not look at it, so he made Pan Deming an official member. It turned out that the weather was too hot, 7 people set off, just walked to Hangzhou, 2 people chose to quit... But I didn't expect that a few days after leaving Hangzhou, another team member withdrew. At this time, before the walking group left Zhejiang Province, there were only five people left.
A month and a half later, the walking group arrived in Xiamen.
Clashes broke out in Xiamen. This conflict was recorded by Pan Deming in his letter to his sister, saying that his sister, the walking group set out from Hangzhou to leave Xiamen, and received a total of more than 900 yuan in donations, of which more than 800 yuan were used, of which more than 300 yuan could not be used. In the end, two people left the team because they were too good at spending money and couldn't do things, leaving only three people in the walking group.
Four months later, the walking group arrived in Guangzhou. Pan Deming reissued a passport in Guangzhou. Then, travel to Vietnam via Haikou. But as soon as it reached Thanh Hoa, Vietnam, the walking group encountered a crisis of extinction.
Was it targeted by a foreigner after leaving the country? On the contrary, overseas Chinese in Vietnam heard about the deeds of the walking group and donated money, and the amount of donations was staggering.
Pan Deming recorded in his letter to his sister as follows: Sister, the head of the group, they don't want to leave Vietnam, and even said that if you go around Southeast Asia, then the donations you get will not be used up for a lifetime, and you are very uncomfortable, at first you thought that money corrupted your faith, but later, at the meeting, I strongly recommended to go west and go to Africa, isn't that the place where the walking group has been boasting about it? But the smile they showed seemed to have been premeditated for a long time, it turned out that they did not think about going to those places where there were no overseas Chinese at all ...
In the end, he chose to leave the walking group and go alone.
On New Year's Day 1931, Phan Duc Minh bought an imperial "Lan Ling" bicycle in Saigon (present-day Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam, and began his tour. He also made a 4-kilogram "Celebrity Ink Collection" for inscriptions by celebrities and groups from all walks of life along the way, as a precious souvenir of his trip around the world. On the title page of this "Celebrity Ink Collection", Pan Deming wrote down "Self-Description of the Travel World", which included: "Take the world as my big school, take nature and personnel as my textbook, hear and see direct contact as my reading method, and take wind, snow, rain and frost, hot sun, morning stars, night and moon as my reward money." Deming resolutely forges ahead, expresses our Chinese national nature to the world, and makes it clear that China is moving forward in order to seek glory in the world. ”
On 13 March 1931, crossing the Straits of Johor by boat, Poon set foot on Singapore soil. As is customary, if Pan wants to pass through Singapore, he must first visit the local Chinese consul general. Only if the consul general issues a visa, Pan Deming can go to the next stop, otherwise, the visa expires and he can only return home. On this day, Poon Deming came to the Consulate General of Singapore, handed over business cards, asked for a passport, and explained the purpose of his trekking.
Unexpectedly, the consul general directly returned the passport and told Pan Deming that you liars have seen a lot. Under the banner of a high place, he began to deceive the hard-earned money of overseas Chinese all over the world, have you heard of the Asia Walking Group? Oh, almost forgot, you are the Asia Walking Group. Coming out of the consulate, Pan Deming cried, he is by no means the kind of liar, but how to prove himself?
China in 1931 had also changed, Japan's Kwantung Army was encroaching on Chinese territory, and the southern provinces were either fighting or flooding. His parents in China also sent letters asking him to return home as soon as possible, and in his parents' opinion, he was not doing his job after all. Inside and out, everyone's small family, Pan Deming himself began to waver.
But at this time, a Singaporean overseas Chinese organization called the Shanghai Club approached Pan Deming, and they believed that Pan Deming was not a liar, he was a new youth, a new youth who could prove to the whole world that Chinese was not the sick man of East Asia. So, they took Pan Deming to meet the leader of Nanyang at that time, Hu Wenhu, the richest man in Nanyang and a media tycoon.
And Hu Wenhu and Pan Deming saw each other as before, at the same time, Pan Deming also made several big books, called "Celebrity Ink Collection", Hu Wenhu became the first celebrity to stay ink on the book, writing a strong sentence - I hope that the world's roads are printed with the wheels of your bicycle.
On April 3, 1931, with the financial support of Singaporean compatriots, Pan Deming and his people boarded a steamer bound for India. In India, he visited the famous poet Tagore. Tagore said to Pandemin: "I believe that you have a great future; I believe that when your nations stand up and express their spirit, Asia will also have a great future – and we will all share in the joy that this future brings us.
Then I looked at the "Celebrity Ink Collection", and suddenly, on the next page, a magical name appeared - Mahatma Gandhi. (Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi: Father of the Indian Nation, founder of Gandhiism, leader of the Indian National Liberation Movement, leader of the Indian National Congress Party) Mahatma Gandhi gave Pan Deming an Indian flag woven from burlap and a signed photo, and he also said to Pan Deming with tears in his eyes: "China and India are close to each other, and they are both countries with large populations and bullied by foreign powers, partly due to the corruption of modern politics, on the other hand due to economic backwardness, and I hope that our two countries will quickly strengthen themselves." ”
In this way, Pan Deming went all the way north, through the forests of India, and into the great desert of Arabia. Pan Deming transferred Iran, Iraq, and Syria to Jerusalem, the Sinai Peninsula, then crossed the Suez Canal and set foot on the African continent, to Cairo, the capital of Egypt on the African continent. Several young Chinese who were studying here volunteered to serve as his guides. Accompanied by international students, Pan Deming admired the pyramids, saw the sphinx "Sphinx", and toured the magnificent Temple of Amun.
At the end of June, Pan Deming began his European journey by boat across the Mediterranean from Alexandria. Greek Prime Minister Vinigaros said this when receiving Pan Deming: "I see in you the awakening of the ancient kingdoms of the East. ”
In 1932, Pandemin made a special visit to Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympic Games. When he arrived at Olympia, he read in the newspaper that China had officially announced that it would not send athletes to the 10th Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1932 because of "lack of money." He was so indignant that he wrote two lines of large characters on a piece of paper in Chinese and English on a stone pillar next to the ruins of the ancient sports field in the fourth century BC: "Chinese Pan Deming walked here." ”
In July 1933, Pan Deming came to Paris. French President Leberon, Prime Minister Daladier and Foreign Minister received Pan Deming. Parisian newspapers competed to report Pan's arrival in Paris. Leberand said: "For your feat, Mr. Pandemin, I would like to use a quote from Napoleon, the hero of France: China is a sick, sleeping giant, but when he wakes up, the whole world shakes." ”
It was also at this time that the news of the Japanese invasion of Shanghai also reached Europe. European overseas Chinese are preparing to return to China, and Pan Deming suddenly receives a mysterious phone call. The other end of the phone called himself Gu Weijun and hoped to meet Pan Deming in Paris. Gu Weijun, the same diplomat who brazenly rejected the great powers at the Paris Peace Conference, refused to sign and would never agree to cede Qingdao to Japan. When news of Gu Weijun's refusal to sign reached China, it ignited the May Fourth Movement.
Pan Deming never expected that Gu Weijun would take the initiative to meet him. It turned out that Gu Weijun was just an intermediary, and he was going to take Pan Deming to meet another big man - Zhang Xueliang. At that time, Zhang Xueliang was recovering in Paris and refused all visitors, but when he heard that Pan Deming was coming, he took the initiative to meet Pan Deming through Gu Weijun. Zhang Xueliang was only 7 years older than Pan Deming, and the two chatted until the early hours of the morning. Zhang Xueliang also wrote down the two big characters of Zhuangyou on the "Liuink Collection".
On January 4, 1934, Pan Deming arrived in New York. Saw the Statue of Liberty and climbed the Empire State Building. When Pan arrived in Washington, President Roosevelt asked him to meet. Roosevelt was very interested in Pan's travels and even came up with the idea of keeping Pandemin in the United States.
In 1937, Japanese militarism was so arrogant that he decided not to visit Japanese territory in protest. Pan Deming changed routes, crossed the sea through Singapore to Malaysia, passed through the middle of the mountainous and inaccessible area, reached Thailand, from Thailand into Burma to Yunnan, and returned to Shanghai on July 6, 1937.
So far, Pan Deming has traveled tens of thousands of miles and traveled to more than 40 countries and regions after 7 winters and springs. On July 7, the "Lugou Bridge Incident" occurred, and soon after, Japanese enemy planes flew into Shanghai's airspace. When the country was in trouble, the original plan to survey the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau could not be realized, so Pan Deming donated all the $100,000 donated by overseas Chinese from all over the world to the anti-Japanese cause.
On July 6, 1937, Pan Deming returned to Shanghai. After getting married, she worked briefly at the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Agency. After 1949, Pan Deming was unemployed for a long time, and later worked in Kunming Yixing Auto Materials Company. Since his father used to be a famous tailor, Pan Deming inherited his father's business and lived by ironing clothes. In addition, Pan Deming also has a painting craft, so he also paints palace lamps to support his family. On October 18, 1976, Pan Deming heard the news of the fall of the "Gang of Four" and was overjoyed, and died of a sudden myocardial infarction after drinking a few more glasses of wine at the age of 68.
For the first time in human history, a circumnavigation of the Earth was completed, when pushing a fleet led by the Portuguese Magellan in the 16th century. But the world's first person to accomplish this feat on both feet and a bicycle is China's Pan Deming. He pioneered the world's pioneering globetrotting and adventure on foot. In honor of this hero, the highest award of the China Bicycle Tourists Association is called the "Pan Deming Cycling Award". In recent years, inspired by the spirit of Pan Deming, many brave people have walked on foot and challenged themselves on the mainland.