Text/Zeng Qingliu
Photo: "Traces of History: Old Photos of Guangzhou During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression" (Lingnan Fine Arts Publishing House, 2005)
【Editor's Note】
On October 12, 1938, the Japanese army landed from Daya Bay in Huizhou and officially began to invade Guangdong. Only nine days later, Guangzhou fell. Previously, this southern flower city had been subjected to indiscriminate bombardment by Japanese military aircraft for more than a year.
Exactly 83 years have passed, and today we have specially compiled and published the study work of Zeng Qingliu, an expert in the study of party history, starting from the painful history written by writer Xia Yan, and the mutual verification of literature and history, warning future generations not to forget the national shame.
1 Xia Yan witnessed the tragic fall of Guangzhou
Among the previous generation of cultural celebrities, Xia Yan is one of them who has left footprints in Hong Kong and Guangzhou. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Xia Yan ran the "Salvation Daily" in Guangzhou, and later participated in the "Huashang Bao" in Hong Kong. Many characters and stories in Guangdong often appear in Xia Yan's works. Xia Yan's writings are detailed and straightforward, and many of them can be read as history.
For example, Xia Yan wrote an article about the Japanese air raid on Guangzhou, which was very true. The bombing of Canton by Japanese aircraft began in August 1937 and lasted for more than a year. At that time, Japanese planes frequently attacked, sometimes dozens or even more than a hundred sorties a day, bombs were difficult to count, and the locations where bombs were dropped were streets, commercial buildings, factories, schools, hospitals, parks, houses, temples, etc., destroying countless buildings and killing and injuring countless people. Media reports use phrases like "bombing" or "carpet bombing."
At that time, Xia Yan was the editor-in-chief of the Salvation Daily (Guangzhou edition) and was a witness to the frequent bombing by Japanese aircraft. He once wrote a newsletter titled "Guangzhou in the Bombardment" (originally published in the June 1938 Xinhua Daily), which is an immediate transcript of the tragic bombing and is a first-hand historical material. Therefore, many historical works on the Japanese air raids on Guangzhou have quoted this article. In 1941, when Xia Yan was working for the Huashang Bao in Hong Kong, he also wrote a novel "Spring Cold", which reflected the social and political life in Guangdong before and after the Japanese invasion, which was published in 1947 by the Hong Kong Human Book House as the first work of "Human Literature Series". Although this is a novel, it is not a fiction, but an artistic creation based on real historical events, and some parts of the novel can be read as history. That's what this article focuses on.
2 "Spring Cold" is based on real history
"Spring Cold" is based on the experience of a group of intellectuals in the early days of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression who participated in the Anti-Japanese Salvation Movement in Guangdong. The book is based on the heroine, Wu Peilan, a 21-year-old girl who migrated from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to Guangdong after the fall of Shanghai, and describes her ups and downs in Guangzhou (from the end of 1937 to the fall of Guangzhou in October 1938), western Guangdong (Sanshui and Sihui, from the fall of Guangzhou to the spring of 1939) and northern Guangdong (Shaoguan, Wengyuan, from the summer of 1939 to the spring of 1940).
Although the names of the people in the book are virtual, the geographical environment, natural features, troop numbers, group names (such as the "Cultural Resistance Committee", "Mobilization Committee", "Combat Workers' Team", "Anti-Pioneer", etc.) and many events in the book are real; the tragic scenes written in the book at that time when the country was destroyed and the family was destroyed and the refugees were hidden in the wilderness were real.
After the fall of Shanghai in the second half of 1937, Guangzhou was known as the center of the national anti-Japanese salvation movement, or the cultural center of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and a large number of cultural celebrities, intellectual elites and anti-Japanese youth gathered in Yangcheng, which was the actual landscape of that year. Wu Peilan, the protagonist of "Spring Cold", is one of the "Waijiang Guys" who came from the south after the fall of Shanghai, and his identity is an actor of the "Customs Fandom Drama Group". She is the image created by the author, but there is a shadow of a real person in her.
Look at the characters around Wu Peilan: Xu Pu, 28 years old, a student of the Department of Political Science and Economics who returned from Japan before the war, joined the "National Disaster Education Society" after coming to Guangdong, and later became the secretary of the Political Department of the Theater; Cai Jie, "a new promising writer in Shanghai's literary and art circles", about 25 years old, who came to Guangdong as a major section member of the Political Department; Xiao Chen, around the age of 40, "devoted himself to the study of folklore" before the war, after coming to Guangdong, he served as the executive director of the "Cultural Resistance Association" (the Cultural Circles Anti-Japanese Salvation Association), a cadre of the "Mobilization Committee" (that is, the Theater Mass Mobilization Committee); Huang Ziyu, A famous professor at a national university, who abandoned his teaching post and participated in the Anti-Japanese Salvation Movement, was a cadre of the "Movement Committee"... From the characters in these novels, Jomo can also see the outlines of Shang Zhongyi, Shi Peilan, Zhong Jingwen, Jiang Junchen, Sima Wensen and other real people who were engaged in anti-Japanese rescue work in Guangdong at that time.
Overall, "Spring Cold" has cast the great era, picked up and concentrated the personal experiences, observations, and ideological feelings of many anti-Japanese rescuers in Guangdong, including the author himself, and is a realistic work with a heavy sense of history and a sense of scene.
3 News of the Japanese invasion was considered a "rumor"
The most powerful ink of "Spring Cold" is the narrative about the fall of Guangzhou, a famous city in the southern country. Of course, this was because Xia Yan had personally experienced this catastrophe. From the Japanese landing in Daya Bay (October 12) to the fall of Guangzhou (21st), less than 10 days. These days, Xia Yan spent time in Guangzhou, and he witnessed the whole process of the fall of Guangzhou.
On October 19, just two days before the Japanese army entered the city, Xia Yan wrote in a letter to a friend in Hong Kong: "No organ of the war has kept a tight mouth and does not publish a single news, while all public organs, postal services, telegraphs, and banks, have automatically stopped working, and the whole of Guangzhou is like abandoned babies, and no one has come out to ask any questions." The slogan of 'defending the Greater Canton' has also been quietly swallowed from the mouths of those who are busy moving. ”
On this evening, the Guangzhou "Cultural Resistance Association" also held a meeting to commemorate the second anniversary of Lu Xun's death as usual. The next day (20th), Zengcheng was lost. When Xia Yan asked Zhong Tianxin, then secretary general of the Kuomintang Fourth Theater Mobilization Committee, and Chen Xiaocen, secretary general of the Guangdong Provincial Party Department, to confirm this news, Zhong Tianxin resolutely denied it, saying: "This is something that will not happen." Many people in the market regard the news of the imminent invasion of the Japanese army as a "rumor."
At noon on this day, Xia Yan wrote an editorial to be published in the newspaper on the 21st, saying: "If the authorities believe that Guangzhou needs to be defended and can be defended, then certain methods should be given to those who are willing to stay in Guangzhou and are willing to participate in the work of defending Guangzhou." At the very least, they should be able to work, in other words, the government authorities want to maintain order in Guangzhou, and if Guangzhou can no longer be defended, it is not necessary to keep it, then it should also be clearly stated that hundreds of thousands of citizens can leave early and destroy all the property that can be used by the enemy as soon as possible! ”
However, at 2 p.m. on October 21, the Japanese army entered Guangzhou. Xia Yan said: This is "an unforgettable day."
4 From "at least half a year" to the fall of the Dynasty
Xia Yan later wrote an article entitled "The Last Day of Guangzhou", which described all aspects of the city when the Japanese army approached Guangzhou. Unaware of the inaction of the authorities and the citizens of Guangzhou, he had in-depth and meticulous observation and unforgettable experience. Life is the source of literary creation, and Xia Yan's personal experience has accumulated heavy material for him to write about the fall of the famous city of Guangzhou in "Spring Cold".
In the third and fourth sections of "Spring Cold", the author uses the old and somber literary brush to interpret the shock of society and people's hearts in a peaceful and prosperous southern metropolis when war suddenly comes, and interprets a sad story. In the novel, it is written that the Japanese army landed in Daya Bay, beginning at "3:29" on October 12, and by "5:40", the Lower Chung Ruins were lost. Such a specific and subtle description is difficult to read, even in documentary works.
The absurd thing is that on that day, the streets and alleys of Yangcheng were still prosperous and bustling, and various newspapers in Guangzhou reported on the landing of the Japanese army without a word, and only a few people got this news from Hong Kong, but they also thought that the actions of the Japanese army were just "harassment" and did not have to worry about it. By the 13th, the important town of Huizhou on the East River fell, followed by Boluo and Zengcheng, and the citizens of Guangzhou began to be alarmed, only to realize that the demon of war had come to the bottom of Baiyun Mountain and the shore of Zhushui.
At first, the Kuomintang authorities still declared that "they can fight for at least half a year," and then they shut up, not saying that they should keep it, that they should not keep it, that they would not keep it, that they would not talk about danger, and that they would not talk about safety. The various organs of the provincial and municipal governments quietly and quickly retreated to the point of making people sigh. Xia Yan writes in a cold tone in the novel:
“...... The military authorities do not publish a single line of truthful information about the fighting. Chaos, panic, speculation, on the one hand is the propaganda of loud words, on the other hand, it is Zhang Huang's confused rush. The news famine is a hotbed of gossip, and the spiritual front of "defending Guangdong" has begun to collapse silently in the corner of the news. The timid emperor fled, and the boldness changed his jaw. The sun was as hot as midsummer in late October, and Guangzhou was transformed into a chaotic and boiling crucible. ”
5 "The officers and soldiers do not have a husband and courage, and the guest house is empty of a pure heart"
On the night of the evacuation, the heroine of the novel, Wu Peilan, left a suitcase that she could not move, and the books and clothes stored in the box were her cherished "personal property". Wu Peilan was helpless, his thoughts rushed, and suddenly he had a whimsical idea, picked up a pen and wrote a heartfelt text to the person who might open this suitcase later.
This suitcase of hers is the epitome of the residences, properties and properties of Guangzhou citizens. Wu Peilan was forced to abandon her suitcase, which is equivalent to hundreds of thousands of Guangzhou citizens forced to leave their homes due to the war, and had no choice but to abandon their property and family property. This emotional letter written by Wu Peilan is really an indictment of the scourge of war and a heartfelt hope that the people will win victory. This plot of the novel is really the writer's divine stroke.
Wu Peilan and Yang Manzhen's road of exile took the western route, that is, crossing the Pearl River from Huangsha in Guangzhou, hiking through Sanshui, Lubao, Jiang An, and Maokeng to Reach Sihui. These place names are not made of fiction. At that time, the citizens of Guangzhou "walked to Japan", and many people took the western front, such as some members of the Guangdong Youth Anti-Japanese Pioneer Brigade ("Anti-First"), who went all the way to the west and reached the Sihui Concentration. Sun Yat-sen University moved, some teachers and students also took this road, the history department teacher Dong Jiazun heard about the fall of Guangzhou on the way, sad and wrote a poem: "South China ignored hu diyin, thousands of miles of rivers and mountains sink for several days." Deploring the city's fire, Nakan Travel listened to the piano. The officers and soldiers did not have a husband brave, and the guest house was empty of pure hearts. Saving manuscripts and books is also suffering, and the night is full of candles. Along the way, refugees are like ants, and crowds of people crying for their mothers and mothers and crying hunger and cold are crowded on the way.
Xu Pu, Cai Jie, Xiao Chen, Huang Ziyu and Wu Peilan in the novel are a group of intellectuals, the so-called scholars. In the face of national difficulties, they threw themselves into the torrent of the Anti-Japanese Salvation Movement and were willing to repay the motherland with their own little knowledge or skill. Judging from the actual situation, before the fall of Guangzhou in October 1938, the anti-Japanese salvation movement was carried out relatively normally; for a period of time after the fall of Guangzhou, the authorities adopted an open attitude toward these intellectuals to carry out anti-Japanese political work in the army in order to boost the morale and vigor of the troops.
But after 1939, things changed. The Kuomintang shifted the focus of its policies from the outside to the interior, formulated the principles of dissolving the Communist Party, preventing the Communist Party, restricting the Communist Party, and opposing communism, setting off another anti-communist upsurge. This countercurrent soon spread to Guangdong, where anti-Japanese political work was distorted and workers were persecuted. By the seventh verse of the novel, the atmosphere becomes more and more depressed, revealing another misfortune for intellectuals at a time when the country is in deep trouble: their enthusiasm for serving the country has been suppressed by the diehards, and they can only go into exile once again.
6 The City of Broken Hearts that cannot stand
Subsequently, on the pretext of intensive training, the "Mobilization Committee" and its subordinate teams were transferred to Shaoguan, the wartime provincial capital of Guangdong. However, when the anti-communist diehards stirred up trouble, Shaoguan, the central city of northern Guangdong with beautiful scenery and temporary talents, was not a place where upright anti-Japanese cultural workers made a difference, but a sad city where they could not stand.
"Chun Han" writes: "The Movement Committee," a group with thousands of "young people who have contributed to the country," was finally dissolved; the young writer Cai Jie, because he did not want to follow the wishes of the diehards to write a proclamation "commemorating the April 12 Qing Party," secretly fled; the folklorist Xiao Chen, in the face of all kinds of oppression, "decided to give up the useless struggle" and left Shaoguan to become an editor of an academic magazine in Guilin; the old professor Huang Ziyu, an elder who was loved by young people, simply because the academic group he had participated in had a responsible person run away "Over there" (the New Fourth Army) went and became a "problem figure" himself; Xu Pu, who had originally "hugged and rolled in the mud", was suddenly arrested because his residence found illegal books and mimeographs; and Wu Peilan, the protagonist of the novel, because he did not want to do "what political workers can't do", he confronted the "high chairman" of the provincial party department, was in danger, and his bedroom was raided... In the end, thanks to the vigorous rescue of the anti-Japanese soldier Deputy Brigadier Zhong, she escaped from the tiger's mouth and left Shaoguan.
The above novel plot is also capable. In the summer of 1939, Shang Zhongyi (a university professor), head of the third group of the Political Department of the Fourth Theater of operations of the Kuomintang, was suddenly dismissed from his post because of his "left-leaning" ideology, and the same treatment was suffered by Shi Peilan, Sun Daguang, and others who were also engaged in the propaganda of progressive salvation, which was a precursor to the rupture of the second Kuomintang-Communist cooperation and the fall of autumn.
In addition, the "Anti-Japanese Pioneers", headquartered in Shaoguan, the largest anti-Japanese youth group in Guangdong, were repeatedly suppressed by diehards because they suspected of being "used" by the CCP, and cadres were arrested and team headquarters at all levels were disbanded. At the beginning of 1940, more than 20 members of the Dongjiang Overseas Chinese Homecoming Service Corps were arrested, escorted to Shaoguan, imprisoned in a prison under Furong Mountain, and so on... In the spring of 1940, the invasion of the enemy and the domestic political climate were cold in the spring, and the novel was named "Spring Cold", which was originally derived from this.
Edit: Bao Kuo
Source: Golden Sheep Network