Since ancient times, we have had people who have buried their heads in hard work, people who have worked hard, people who have asked for the people's lives, and people who have sacrificed their lives to seek the law... This is the backbone of China. This kind of people, even now, why not less? They have conviction, not to deceive themselves; they fight successively in front of them...
This is a passage written by Mr. Lu Xun at a time of national crisis, praising the backbone figure and calling on the sons and daughters of China to enhance their self-confidence. We know that Mr. Lu Xun himself is such a backbone figure. He "crossed his eyebrows coldly to the thousands of fingers, bowed his head to the cattle", he "shouldered the dark floodgates and let them go to the place of light", and his words were like "daggers and shotguns stabbing at the enemy"...
Lu Xun
But many people may not know that Mr. Lu Xun's wife Xu Guangping is also a backbone figure, and also has very hard bones. After the death of Mr. Lu Xun, Xu Guangping inherited his legacy and devoted himself to the great cause of carrying forward the spirit of Lu Xun and resisting Japan and saving the dead. After being captured in the Japanese gendarmerie, Xu Guangping suffered humiliation, but remained unyielding. The following tells you the story of Xu Guangping, The wife of Lu Xun.
On October 19, 1936, Lu Xun died unexpectedly. Before his death, Lu Xun once said to his wife Xu Guangping: Forget me and live your own life. But how could Xu Guangping forget Lu Xun? Especially after seeing the huge "people's sacrifice" triggered by Lu Xun's funeral, Xu Guangping more deeply understood the value of Lu Xun, the "national soul". Since then, Xu Guangping has made such a decision: for the rest of his life, he will only do two things, one is to raise Zhou Haiying to grow up, and the other is to protect Lu Xun's cultural heritage and carry forward the spirit of Lu Xun.
Lu Xun, Xu Guangping, Zhou Hainian
As soon as Lu Xun's funeral was completed, Xu Guangping forcibly endured grief to sort out Lu Xun's works and preliminarily drew up the sketches of the Complete Works of Lu Xun. Now we can see the 16-volume, 7 million-word "Complete Works of Lu Xun", Xu Guangping has a great credit. Because in that era, if it was not sorted out and published in time, many unpublished works were very easy to lose. In fact, a few years later, Xu Guangping suffered, and his home was searched over and over again, and many original manuscripts were lost.
Xu Guangping painstakingly sorted out the works, but immediately encountered unexpected trouble - he could not pass the review. The auditing department said: "The Collection of The South Cavity and the North", "The Collection of Two Hearts", and "Destruction" were banned at the time of publication, and naturally cannot be published now. A few months later, Xu Guangping received news that the contents of the Pseudo-Free Book were mostly inappropriate, and should be banned and not suitable for publication. After Xu Guangping was busy for more than half a year, the War of Resistance broke out in an all-round way, and the publication affairs were put aside.
Xu Guangping
It was not until March 1938 that Xu Guangping saw the "Journey to the West" ("Red Star Shines in China") published by the progressive cultural group "Fushe", and quickly approached Hu Yuzhi to discuss the publication of the Complete Works of Lu Xun. With the joint efforts of Xu Guangping, Hu Yuzhi, Zhang Zonglin, Mao Dun, Song Qingling, Cai Yuanpei and others, the Complete Works of Lu Xun was finally successfully published. In order to celebrate this event, Tao Xingzhi wrote a poem praising: Light a torch of six million, and create it until dawn.
Tao Xingzhi
In the process of publishing the Complete Works of Lu Xun, Xu Guangping received help from many progressive literati and progressive groups, and while establishing a fighting friendship with them, he also strengthened his determination to inherit Lu Xun's legacy and engage in the work of resisting Japan and saving the dead. Xu Guangping joined the "Restoration Society" and "National Salvation Congress" and other organizations, dedicating his strength to the anti-Japanese salvation, and at the same time took up a pen to write anti-Japanese texts and published articles in progressive journals.
After the Battle of Songhu, many friends advised Xu Guangping to leave Shanghai. However, Xu Guangping was reluctant to leave for two main reasons: first, because Zhou Hai was weak and sick and could not withstand the bumps; second, because if he left Shanghai, Lu Xun's relics would inevitably be lost in large quantities. Xu Guangping knew in his heart that Lu Xun's relics were not only her personal souvenirs, but also the cultural heritage of the entire nation. Fortunately, in the early years of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the concession was a relatively peaceful place. At that time, most of the progressive organizations in Shanghai were hidden in the concessions, and Xu Guangping was also the same.
Lu Xun's family
On December 7, 1941, the Pacific War broke out, and the Japanese army occupied the Shanghai Concession the next day. At that time, the Japanese army released the news that "this time it is to fight against Britain and the United States, and preferential treatment Chinese." However, Xu Guangping did not believe it, and immediately transferred and destroyed information related to the personnel of the progressive organization, including addresses, names, correspondence, etc., so as not to implicate others when he had misfortune.
Old photo of the Japanese gendarmerie
It was five o'clock in the morning on December 15, 1941, and it was still dark outside, and Xu Guangping and Zhou Hainian were still asleep. Suddenly, the door of the apartment was slammed hard. Xu Guangping hurriedly got dressed and went to open the door, only to see more than a dozen people dressed in civilian clothes standing in the doorway, threatening. After those people asked Xu Guangping's name, they searched the room and found many books and publications, a "Collection of Thirty Years of Lu Xun" and a large package of lu Xun's own handwritten diaries.
Xu Guangping saw that the bag of diaries had been taken away, and pleaded with tears: That bag is Mr. Lu Xun's diary, please leave it for the child to commemorate his father. However, the Japanese gendarmes were unmoved. After searching for more than an hour, the Japanese gendarmes stopped and told Xu Guangping to put on his coat and follow them. Xu Guangping knew what he was about to face, and thought that Mr. Lu Xun had been dead for 5 years, and his big deal was a death.
At this time, Xu Guangping, the only one who could not let go was Zhou Haiying. Zhou Hainian was born in 1929, when he was only 12 years old, and he was still ill. Before being taken away by the Japanese gendarmes, Xu Guangping took a bottle of medicine and breathlessly walked to the bed of the sea baby, telling him to remember to eat when he was uncomfortable, and to go to a friend's house as soon as he left, and never go home. Although the enemy did not mean to take Zhou Haiying away at this time, Xu Guangping was worried that the enemy would not be able to ask anything from his mouth, and would attack the child in anger and shame.
Xu Guangping and Zhou Haiying
Xu Guangping looked at Zhou Haiying with tears, wondering if this would be the last time the mother and son would see each other in this life. However, the enemy did not care about the nature of mother and child, and soon cruelly pulled Xu Guangping away. Subsequently, Xu Guangping was escorted to an empty truck parked next to Xiafei Road and taken to the frightening "Japanese Gendarmerie Corps". In the next period of time, Xu Guangping will endure hardships and humiliations that ordinary people cannot bear.
After the initial interrogation, Xu Guangping was held in Cell 5. Later, Xu Guangping himself recalled the scene at that time: as soon as the door was opened, there was a foul and embarrassing smell, just take the pig nest, I am afraid that the smell is less than one-tenth. What was even more uncomfortable was that more than forty people had to be squeezed into a small cell. The imprisoned people are lined up like sardines on a wooden board, and every time someone makes a slight turn, they will touch the people around them.
Japanese prison
In Cell 5, Xu Guangping met an experienced and determined friend. He was an enthusiastic young man of about 20 years old, who had died six times and turned back to life, and had suffered everything. He told Xu Guangping: The most important thing is to be consistent in the confession before and after, and when you really can't cope with it, it doesn't matter if you cry or exaggerate some pain, like you women are best to deal with. Soon after, when Xu Guangping was inhumanly tortured, she always remembered the words of the unsung hero.
During the first four days of imprisonment, the enemy mainly used four methods against Xu Guangping, namely deception, intimidation, coaxing, and seduction. The so-called deception is to deceive that others have already confessed, so that the prisoners do not carry it. The so-called fright is to let the prisoner see others suffering, so that the prisoner has a fear mentality. The so-called cajoling is to cajole and so on as long as the confession is made. The so-called seduction is to use means to lure the prisoner's needs. The enemy wanted Xu Guangping to hand over the list of progressives, but Xu Guangping remained unmoved and did not say a word.
On the fifth day, the angry enemy revealed his true face, first punching and kicking Xu Guangping, taking turns to beat her face, and then kicking Xu Guangping's lower body with hard riding boots. After that, the enemy picked up the whip again and slammed it on Xu Guangping's body.
Prison execution room
This was the first time in Xu Guangping's life that she had suffered such abuse, but she did not give in. She thought of the warriors who had been tortured to death but did not say a word, and she tried to motivate herself in four sentences: sacrifice herself to save others; sacrifice the individual, save the community.
When the enemy saw that Xu Guangping never said anything, he thought of a more vicious way to take off Xu Guangping's clothes. When only her shirt and pants were left, she was asked to put her clothes back on. After Xu Guangping endured such humiliation, he still did not say a word. The enemy undressed again, and threw the whip at Xu Guangping's body. At this time, Xu Guangping did not feel humiliated in his heart, but only felt hatred. She cursed: "If you humiliate me, you humiliate all women, including your mothers and sisters!"
After being tortured like this for more than half a day, the enemy really couldn't ask anything, so he escorted Xu Guangping back to Cell 5. After that, Xu Guangping was able to rest for a few days to recover his strength and heal his wounds. At that time, Xu Guangping knew very well in his heart that there was probably more terrible torture waiting for him next.
Sure enough, on the eighth day, the enemy inflicted a brutal electrocution on Xu Guangping. In this regard, Xu Guangping herself described it in great detail in her memoir "Before and After the Disaster", but she really could not describe the pain, and finally had to write: It is really indescribable uncomfortable.
Xu Guangping endured inhuman torture with superhuman will, and without a word, the enemy only needed to escort her back to the cell again. This torture made Xu Guangping miserable, his face was swollen, his eyes were bruised, his thighs were covered with hard bruises and blood, and his body was full of whip marks. What is even more unbearable is the reaction after the electric shock, dizziness and pain, and the stomach is turned upside down. And this torture made Xu Guangping's body even more destroyed, leaving many root causes of illness.
After the enemy used all kinds of torture, he saw that Xu Guangping never said a word, so he first temporarily threw Xu Guangping aside. However, Xu Guangping's will did not relax. After being transferred to a new place, she used the time of the wind to stretch her muscles and exercise every day, ready to meet new challenges. Xu Guangping thought so at the time:
As long as there is a breath, never be afraid, and never relax the fighting spirit. We must overcome all difficulties and survive, and strive to see the day when the enemy is at the end of the road!
When Xu Guangping was in prison and dealing with the enemy, the underground workers of our party received the news and launched a rescue work for Xu Guangping. Yuan Shu used the relevant provisions of the "Japan-China Agreement on the Work of Clearing the Countryside in Suzhou Area" to advise Li Shiqun, the head of the Shanghai Secret Service Headquarters: Lu Xun had studied in Dongying and was quite famous in Bibang. Lu Xun himself had been dead for several years, torturing his wife and taoist family, which had a bad influence and damaged diplomatic relations.
Li Shiqun waited for a while, and seeing that the Japanese gendarmes interrogated him for so long without any results, he extradited Xu Guangping from the gendarmerie to No. 76. There is little way to bail people in the gendarmerie, but it is much easier on the 76th. Yuan Shu quickly revealed the information to Lu Xun's former friend Uchiyama Guanzao and asked him to come forward to bail Xu Guangping and return home. After Uchiyama received the news, he immediately went to bail Xu Guangping.
On the right is the completion of the Inner Mountain
On the afternoon of February 28, 1942, Xu Guangping, who had been in prison for 75 days, met for the first time with an acquaintance outside, Uchiyama, who had come to bail her. Xu Guangping, who had been humiliated to the end, could no longer hold back the tears that had been suppressed for a long time, and the tears suddenly fell like rain. Uchiyama was deeply affected and burst into tears on the spot. The bail formalities were completed quickly, but Xu Guangping was not released on the spot, and it was said that he would wait for the people above to return to make a final decision.
The next afternoon, Xu Guangping finally left the dark prison and was able to see the light of day again. That day happened to be the Lantern Festival. I haven't seen her for more than two months, and at this time, Zhou Hainian has obviously grown taller. As soon as he saw his mother, he laughed happily. Until days later, the corners of his mouth were still smiling. He said to Xu Guangping: Mom, I don't know why I always want to laugh. At that time, Zhou Haiying did not know that he almost never saw his mother again.
For this experience of Xu Guangping, the famous literary scholar Zheng Zhenduo once praised her: She defended countless friends with her superhuman strength, great sacrifice spirit, and fighting for her own life. This is the most holy spiritual form of the sons and daughters of China... The members of these organizations, in large numbers, were saved by her courage and sacrifice.
After his release from prison, Xu Guangping continued to move forward. While working hard for the prosperity of China's cultural undertakings, she raised Zhou Hainian and cultivated her talents. Zhou Haiying was admitted to the physics department of Peking University and became a radio expert. On March 3, 1968, Xu Guangping passed away. Her body was cremated according to the will, and her ashes were scattered on the land of the motherland. On her tombstone is written: Comrade Xu Guangping will never die.