Xi'an before and after the victory of the War of Resistance

Huo Feng

On August 15, 1945, the eight-year War of Resistance ended with the unconditional surrender of the Japanese invaders. Before and after this, my experience and feelings in Xi'an boiled down to one sentence, that is: I was extremely excited!

Bombing targets become attack bases

After the outbreak of the Pacific War in late 1941, the Japanese army struggled to cope with Uncle Sam, who was stronger than himself, and the bombing of our rear was significantly reduced. I remember that when the war first began, the citizens of Xi'an had already received propaganda and education on air defense knowledge, and they also concentrated on watching the large-scale air defense exhibition held by the authorities at the Shuyuanmen Normal School. At the same time, all units dug anti-aircraft trenches and simple bunkers in the courtyard, and prepared first-aid items such as sandbags, water tanks, and medicine boxes. Near the mouth of Wangjia Lane on North Avenue, on the downtown streets such as the South Courtyard Gate, there have also been a number of public air defense basements that are quite strong deep underground, and both ends can be accessed. The citizens with sharp legs and feet prefer to drill holes in the city walls. Because it was winding and winding, it was accessible in all directions, and it had the magical and authentic taste of the guerrillas in the Jizhong Plains who used to attack the Japanese Kou. Moreover, outside the city wall, there are dense woods and soft grass, as long as the enemy plane is not overhead, although the alarm has not been lifted, you can go there to sit down and rest, and by the way, you can also visit relatives and friends, and find fun in pain!

The bombing of Japanese aircraft began with the airfield outside Xiguan and the large camp (the large camp where the army was originally stationed was later changed to the Northwest Youth Labor Camp for the internment of Communists and progressive youth). After the airport oil depot was bombed, dark smoke covered the sky of the city. Later, enemy planes began to bomb innocents indiscriminately, killing and injuring countless civilians. Not far from the east gate of Lianhu Park, I once saw the blood and flesh and blood of the compatriots killed flying on top of the branches of the trees that had been blown off, and their appearance was unbearable!

The Longhai Railway, which had recently reached Xi'an, had not yet been built into Gansu, and was torn apart by the double blows of Japanese and Kou air raids and ground artillery fire. The enemy planes that took off from Yuncheng, Shanxi, crossed the Yellow River to find a railway target first. The enemy troops occupying Fenglingdu also often fired artillery shells at Shaanxi. Therefore, in order to get out of Tongguan, the people of Xi'an had to get off the train from the Small Station of Dongquandian east of Huayin (at that time, the railway line was a few miles to the north, and the station was different from today), and the train immediately turned back to Xi'an. From there, passengers, with their luggage, walked or hired livestock to quietly cross the trenches dug for mechanized forces. After passing tongguan, walk a little further until the town of Fudi in Henan, you can board the train that only runs between Yu Province and continue to walk through the eastern section of the journey.

It was not until the outbreak of the Pacific War that the US 14th Air Force entered Xi'an, fought side by side with the 11th Brigade of the Chinese Air Force, and regained air supremacy, that all this fundamentally changed. The history of the Xi'an people living in fear under the threat of air raids has never returned. Later, Allied aircraft frequently took off from Xi'an, first destroying the old lair of the enemy in southern Jin and harassing Shaanxi, and then attacking the important enemy facilities in north and east China. Moreover, in the course of attacking the enemy in the heart-to-heart war, leaflets were distributed many times in the enemy-occupied areas, which broke the enemy's fighting spirit and inspired the faith of the compatriots. Whenever the people of Xi'an read such news, they are overjoyed. Looking overhead, Chinese and American "Mustang" fighters, B-25 "Air Fortress" bombers (the B-29 known as "Super Air Fortress" does not stay in Xi'an, only occasionally flies by), and the two-body "Black Widow" reconnaissance aircraft from time to time to skim the city sky, which makes people even more happy!

Victories are close to being reported

In the autumn of 1944, I came to the Shaanxi New Life Movement Promotion Association, which is adjacent to the Tongji Building on North Avenue, and worked as a member of the Propaganda Unit. While propagating the new code of life with the goal of "cultivating the demeanor of the great nation," we also focused on the current political propaganda of the global anti-fascist war. At that time, the American Information Office in Chengdu regularly sent pictures of news exhibitions, and my specific task was to display these pictures in the window to the public; or to gather a batch of pictures mounted with thick cardboard from time to time to hold small exhibitions in the "Social Hall". There are also slides in addition to the pictures, and we hold a slide show in the big yard every month, and the public is welcome to participate. Unlike the common glass plate lamps, the slides provided by The New Branch are small; the small rolls made of 35 mm film film are almost the same as the film used by a Laika camera. These pictures and slides are sometimes published under the name "United Nations Photography and Publicity Service", but are actually still distributed by the United States New Branch. (Around 1944-1945, the U.S. Information Service was also established in Xi'an in the north courtyard of Guangren Hospital on Shangren Road.) Before the working surface was fully opened, the war was over, so that most Xi'an people at that time did not know of its existence. Today's readers will not know that at that time, the transmission of pictures by electronic means was still in the initial stage, and its name was "radio fax"; there were always many horizontal horizontal white lines on the received pictures, varying in thickness and thickness, which was really different from today's high-definition images.

When I did this work, it was precisely during the crucial period when the anti-aggression forces in the two major battlefields in Europe and Asia turned defeat into victory and directly smashed the enemy's nest, and every day there were many good news. For example, the fascist leader Mussolini was hanged alive by his compatriots in Milan, the Soviet Red Army rushed into the Reichstag in Berlin, Hitler and his mistress "evaporated" from the human world, and the island war between the United States and Japan in the Pacific gradually approached the Japanese mainland... Until the last two atomic bombs exploded, the Soviet army marched into the northeast of our country to fight, the Japanese army sent representatives to The Zhijiang River in Hunan to ask me to surrender, etc., countless vivid and vivid photos were exhibited and screened by my hands, and I was really excited, hoping that the citizens would share with me the infinite joy of greeting the final victory after watching!

In the last year or two of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, some scholars and people held a heated discussion on the selection of the post-war capital. Many important newspapers and periodicals have articles on it. It is worth mentioning that the idea that the Nationalist government abandoning Nanjing and Chongqing after victory and replacing Xi'an with Xi'an as the permanent capital has become the core of this wave. The reason for this is that, from a vertical point of view, Xi'an is the ancient capital of the past and has a deep accumulation of traditional culture; from a horizontal point of view, Xi'an lives in the middle of Shenzhou, far from the border, is not easy to attack in wartime, and is convenient for administration in peacetime. As soon as the opinions were put forward, not only were the press and the academic circles arguing endlessly, but they were also talking about them in the streets, and they also relished this. The authorities failed to adopt this suggestion, and in 1946 the Nationalist government remained in Nanjing.

U.S. goods flood the market

With the establishment of the China-India-Burma Theater during World War II, especially through the US Air Force's visit to China to assist in the war, the influence of the United States on us in many aspects was gradually revealed. At the end of the war, in the name of the United Nations Refugee Relief Agency, through the church, the Red Cross and other channels, some milk powder, cod liver oil, vitamins, canned goods and other items were sent; and some cloths for clothing and clothing were actually marked with the name of the President of the United States, called "Roosevelt Cloth". These things have no practical effect on China's devastated and impoverished society after the war, but only expand the influence of the United States. I have seen that in the streets and alleys, there are countless vendors selling American goods; glass belts, glass stockings, glass raincoats, cosmetics, bubble gum, chocolate, camel brand cigarettes, lighters, razors, atomic pens (the correct name "ballpoint pens" after liberation), etc., all kinds of things, it is said that most of them are smuggled goods obtained by the US military and their families. In the store, large quantities of American goods are also continuously transported to the market, and there are many categories. When it comes to medicine alone, the United States has almost become the only source of Western medicine; penicillin (penicillin), which has never been heard of, has become an expensive sought-after commodity for a while. American clothing also led the fashion of that era: a set of beige mercerized carboa American military civilian clothes, with a pair of gold skull sunglasses, a grass green American army canvas belt, plus a pair of anti-leather short-waisted thick-soled boots, became the coolest dress for young people to emulate. Then, Hollywood's colorful blockbusters poured in, "Izumi Hibiscus", "Cover Girl", "Rainbow Island", "Ali Baba's 40 Thieves", "Moon Palace Treasure Box" (later known as "Baghdad Thieves"), "South America's Beautiful Tour"... The big ads are overwhelming and dizzying. Later, they sent groups of young men and women to China with electrochemical equipment such as movie machines, slide projectors, and loudspeakers, and carried out large-scale square missionary activities under the banner of "China's return to the Lord." On the scene, only a noise was heard; from beginning to end, I didn't feel the slightest religious atmosphere!

Mass lantern parade

On September 2, 1945, Japan signed the Instrument of Unconditional Surrender, ending World War II and the world rejoicing. Xi'an held a large-scale lantern parade that night, and firecrackers were set off to celebrate.

That afternoon, I ran early to South Avenue, ate something at a small restaurant not far from the Bell Tower, and then rushed out to watch the procession pass by on the east side of the Bell Tower. Not far away, I suddenly found a couplet in front of a shop, with six characters on the top and bottom: "China, Czech Republic, Japan", "Nanjing, Chongqing, Chengdu". Although it is not perfect, the structure is very strict; it is obviously six similar nouns, but it allows the human body to taste the different sentence components of the lord, the verb, and the object, which is clearly intended and is especially appropriate for use on victory day. After appreciating it, he walked towards East Avenue again. According to Xi'an custom, mass parades are first assembled in The Revolution Park, then come out to the east, go through Shangren Road, Dachashikou to East Avenue, go to the Bell Tower and turn right, and finally disband at the North Avenue Stadium. That was still the case that day, with the marching band playing majestic music as a precursor, and the follow-up team had signs written on them, whether they were carrying headlights on their shoulders or small paper lamps in their hands. There are also torches in the team, banners or flags, and statues of the heads of state of China, the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union, and France; singing and dancing, it is not lively! The shops on the street were also lit up that night, with flags hoisted and some playing music on loudspeakers; in the open windows upstairs, people waved small bunting flags outside, and laughter and joy could be heard everywhere. Moreover, on many occasions we still cross two fingers to celebrate, and this V-shaped gesture, which symbolizes victory, is widely accepted throughout the world, and it is from that day that I remember.