Author: Tian Shanyue Editor: Li Jin
Source: Marriage & Family Magazine
"When a ship sinks to the bottom of the sea, when a man becomes a mystery......"
Unexpectedly, at the beginning of a song, with a few brushstrokes, it shows a shipwreck on Dongji Island in Zhoudong.
Not long ago, the documentary "The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru", which is "entirely based on historical facts", was released.
With the release of the movie, this 82-year-old history finally surfaced, and a love story hidden in the dust was also shown to the world.
A poignant transnational relationship, an 82-year search for a United Kingdom family, a relay of love, finally harvested a true sense of fulfillment on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
01
Poignant transnational love
On September 6, the documentary "The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru" was released nationwide.
This is a painful memory of a brutal war.
On Christmas Day 1941, British troops in Hong Kong were defeated by the Japanese in battle. In September of the following year, the Japanese army escorted prisoners of war to Japan on the cargo ship "Lisbon Maru".
While passing near the waters of Dongji Island, the "Lisbon Maru" was misjudged by the US submarine "Perch" to be a Japanese warship and fired torpedoes at it.
After the "Lisbon Maru" was hit, it gradually sank.
The crowded and gloomy cabins, the Japanese soldiers who threatened with guns, and the comrades who suffocated to death......
In the film, the real accounts of survivors, families of prisoners of war, and rescuers overlap with simulated scenes, recreating the suffocating 25 hours from the time the "Lisbon Maru" was hit by a torpedo to the final sinking.
Among them, the scene of the fishermen of Zhoushan East Pole standing up at the moment of the sinking of the ship and risking their lives to rescue the British prisoners of war became the climax of the film.
Despite the sacrifice of Chinese fishermen, 828 British prisoners of war were killed in the disaster.
United Kingdom soldier John · Weaver was one of the victims in this incident.
The film tells the unforgettable love story of him and his wife Leung Sou Kam (Liang Suqin), and countless viewers were moved by it.
In August 2019, Fang Li, the director of "The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru", saw a black-haired Chinese girl in old photos when he was looking for historical materials of the "sinking of the Lisbon Maru" in United Kingdom.
Liang Suqin
This girl is Liang Suqin from Xiamen, Fujian Province.
At that time, Liang Suqin's name was just a string of English on the Hong Kong marriage registration information - Leung Sou Kam. Fang Li asked a few Hong Kong friends to help translate, and the result was "Liang Suqin".
Subsequently, Fang Li obtained valuable first-hand information from John's family in United Kingdom. John's niece provided a letter from John that John sent back to United Kingdom that year.
In the letter, he told his parents that he was in love with a Chinese girl and had registered his marriage, and that he could not live up to her.
"Her family broke off relations with her when they found out about it, and I caused all of this," he said. She had nowhere to go, and I gave her a new home. Now what will she do if I'm gone? I can only be with her, she is so sweet and wonderful. ”
人生易尽朝露曦,世事无常坏陂复。
John was still immersed in the sweetness of love, but was tragically captured and killed during the fall of Hong Kong soon after. As his widow, Liang Suqin resolutely chose to leave a huge grant to John's mother and sister in United Kingdom.
John's sister is very grateful to Liang Suqin and hopes to find this kind Chinese sister-in-law in her lifetime.
In 1990, she specially rushed to Hong Kong to inquire about Liang Suqin's news, but did not find valuable clues.
Several attempts failed. A few years ago, John's sister passed away with regret. The responsibility of finding the aunt naturally falls on the shoulders of the two nieces.
Fang Li and John's family
Fang Li was moved by this story and decided to put it on the big screen.
All kinds of fragmented clues are connected in series, so that this poignant transnational love can be reproduced 82 years after the sinking of the "Lisbon Maru".
02
Behind the scenes of the movie
The clock goes back 102 years. Liang Suqin was born in Xiamen, Fujian Province in 1922, and her family was well-off and received a good education since childhood.
After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, 16-year-old Liang Suqin fled to Hong Kong with her family.
Unexpectedly, this escape actually changed her life.
In Hong Kong, Liang Suqin met John · Weaver, a United Kingdom soldier stationed there. The two young people fall in love at first sight and quickly fall in love.
John · Weaver
Regarding their daughter's exotic love, Liang Suqin's parents did not support it. In order to be with John, the infatuated Liang Suqin did not hesitate to cut off relations with her parents.
On December 27, 1940, John and Liang Suqin registered their marriage in Hong Kong, and planned to hold the wedding on Christmas Day the following year.
After getting married, the young couple rented a house at 540 Nathan Street in Kowloon. It is not far from the Sham Shui Po British Army camp where John served, and it is very convenient to return home.
The newlywed Yan'er couple spent a sweet time like glue.
However, a happy life is always short-lived. On December 8, 1941, the Pacific War broke out.
Because when the two got married, Liang Suqin had not yet completed her studies. John sent her back to Xiamen to study a few months before the war broke out.
And this move also allowed Liang Suqin to escape.
After the outbreak of war, Hong Kong fell shortly after. Thousands of United Kingdom soldiers were forced to surrender and become prisoners of war after the war with the Japanese army.
In 1942, the Japan cargo ship "Lisbon Maru" was sunk by the U.S. military while escorting prisoners of war through the waters of China's Dongji Island.
Subsequently, Liang Suqin received a death notice from John.
It can be imagined how broken and painful she was at that time.
As a widow, Liang Suqin can receive a large pension from the United Kingdom government.
In troubled times, her husband died, and her life was extremely scarce, money should be the best thing for a weak woman.
However, Liang Suqin made a decision that everyone didn't expect.
On November 14, 1947, John's mother received a letter from the United Kingdom Consulate.
The letter mentioned that John's wife, Liang Suqin, did not want the pension and offered to leave it to John's family in United Kingdom.
This love and affection touched and shocked John's mother and sister. Since then, Liang Suqin, who is unfamiliar with China and has never met, has been deeply engraved in the hearts of John's family.
It's a pity that the mountains and seas are blocked, and the vicissitudes of personnel make it difficult to contact a Chinese girl in the war era when information is not smooth.
But John's mother did not give up and found Liang Suqin, which became the family's obsession for 82 years.
The release of the movie "The Sinking of Lisbon Maru" has caused huge repercussions in China and Britain, and has also brought this dusty history back into people's attention.
"The Sinking of the Lisbon Pill" was released in the United Kingdom
John's family has once again sent out a search request, hoping to use the power of the Chinese audience to find their relative Liang Suqin.
On September 12, with the support of Fang Li, the official Weibo of "The Sinking of the Movie Lisbon Maru" released an announcement to find relatives.
In fact, after in-depth understanding of this love story, there is a question that has been bothering Fang Li.
That is, behind Liang Suqin's photo, there is John's pen handwriting "Goldy", and John's nieces also call Liang Suqin "Godie" aunt.
What exactly does "goldy" stand for? This has become an unsolvable mystery in Fang Li's heart.
03
Looking for Xiamen grandma Liang Suqin
As soon as the announcement of the search for relatives was issued, it was immediately pushed to the hot search.
If Liang Suqin was still alive back then, she would be a 102-year-old grandmother now. The whereabouts of this old man touched everyone's hearts.
A number of media forwarded this announcement, and major social platforms were even swiped. The whole network launched a huge relay activity of "looking for Xiamen grandma Liang Suqin".
The announcement of the search for relatives published on the official Weibo of "The Sinking of Lisbon Pills".
Xiamen Evening News has continuously published reports and received continuous help from Xiamen citizens.
Just 3 days after the announcement was issued, good news came from Gulangyu, Xiamen - "Liang Suqin" was found!
Ms. Huang, from Xiamen, confirmed that the photo posted on the official Weibo of the movie "The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru" was her mother.
Source: Xiamen Evening News
However, her mother's name is not "Liang Suqin", but "Liang Xiujin". Leung Sou Kam is a Cantonese pronunciation that is somewhat different from Mandarin.
Sadly, Liang Xiujin passed away in 2017.
Ms. Huang said that her mother studied at Yude Girls' High School in Gulangyu, Xiamen, and was a very good woman.
Source: Xiamen Evening News
Not only does she speak Cantonese, English, Hokkien, etc., but she is also good at swimming and has joined the volleyball team.
After John's death, she and John's United Kingdom family gradually lost contact.
"My mother didn't ask for a huge compensation pension, but left it to John's family in United Kingdom. Some of my relatives know about these things. Liang Xiujin's daughter said, "But the past of her early years in Hong Kong, as a lifelong secret, has never been told to me." ”
Years after John's death, Liang Xiujin remarried and gave birth to her only daughter.
Media coverage
Later, the old photo collector "Ziri" provided a photograph taken on October 25, 1941 in Shuzhuang Garden, Gulangyu Island, which was a group photo of the students of Yude Girls' High School at that time.
The girl in the first row, third from left, was none other than Liang Xiujin, who was 19 years old at the time.
Courtesy of "Purple Sun", a collector of old photos in Xiamen
When Fang Li saw the "Liang Xiujin" in the report, he suddenly realized.
"goldy" means "golden" in English. John used this warm and affectionate nickname to call his beloved girl, which is enough to see the true affection for her.
John has two nieces, the eldest niece is in her 80s, and the second niece Lindsey is already a grandmother and has a grandson who is more than a year old.
In their lifetimes, they were very relieved to get the news from their aunt, and they exclaimed again and again: it was like a dream!
They also said that they wanted to come to Xiamen to follow in the footsteps of their aunt and realize their mother's wish.
September 17 is the traditional Chinese festival of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
On this day of family reunion, Fang Li and John's niece, Liang Xiujin's descendants, conducted a cross-border three-way connection.
Connect with John's niece
Liang Xiujin's grandson greeted relatives in United Kingdom by voice online.
He was raised by Liang Xiujin since he was a child, and he has a deep relationship with his grandmother.
Liang Xiujin's grandson seriously and sincerely invited his United Kingdom relatives to come to Xiamen as a guest: "I will take you to walk in the footsteps of your grandmother and see her life." ”
The official Weibo of the movie "The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru" also expressed its expectation for the reunion of the family: we hope that there will be an opportunity to facilitate this family reunion that transcends time and space, borders, and blood. ”
04
True feelings should never be forgotten
A search for relatives across time and space, reproducing a poignant love in troubled times, and interpreting a good story of Mid-Autumn Festival reunion.
True feelings should never be forgotten. The same is true of those thoughts and expectations.
The final image of the Lisbon Maru
"They never grow old, but we grow old in vain; They will never be troubled by old age, and they will never be burdened by old age; At every sunset and sunrise moment, we will always remember them. As the ending song sounded, the audience stood up and applauded. Someone shouted excitedly, "Thank you!" Fang Li and the main creative team hugged their heads and cried.
When we remember the "Lisbon Maru" buried deep in the seabed, please also remember the vivid waiting and expectation of the victims, remember the brave and fearless Zhoushan fishermen who lent a helping hand, and cherish the hard-won years of peace.
Resources:
1. Zhejiang propaganda: how can a shipwreck be remembered
2. Xiamen Daily: The latest confirmation! That's her! They had a new pact