An old photograph, a childish child, but he seems to be a Red Army soldier. The "Special Issue to Commemorate the Ninetieth Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Liberation Army" published today published this photo that exists in the information room of the "People's Liberation Army Pictorial" and tells about that period of history.
With you, how fortunate china is to suffer
■ Ding Haiming
Who are you? How old are you? In what year, which month and day of the sun, you stood in front of whose door and smiled so brightly?
This black-and-white photograph is invaluable in the images of the Red Army that have been passed down from generation to generation. Most of the albums that publish this photograph are commented on: "The Little Red Army after the Long March. More detailed: "Chu Jinbai, the 'little red devil' who participated in the Long March." ”
How young the Red Army, what a lovely child, what kind of past is hidden behind the photos? When I traced back to the depths of the archives of the "People's Liberation Army Pictorial" data room where this photo was stored, I found that next to the photo numbered "187835", there was a note that read: "11-year-old Chu Jinbai was nicknamed 'Red Little Colonel' in the Red Army, and he completed the Long March with the Red Army." ”
However, this comment was crossed out by an abridgement number and replaced by the following text:
"Wang Yue, the name of Wang Dong Plain, was originally from Beiguanzhuang Village, Hongdong County, Shanxi Province, and people called him Yuewazi. He died at the age of 3 and had no father at the age of 10. In the spring of 1936, the Red Army crossed the Yellow River from northern Shaanxi and hit Hongdong County. A few days later, when she heard that the Red Army was about to move, Yuewa found Wang Company Commander and asked to become a Red Army. Worked as a correspondent in the Avant-Garde Company. He was only 12 years old. After going to northern Shaanxi security, he was transferred to the Red Army University to serve as internal guards for Luo Ruiqing and He Changgong. In June 1936, he was appointed to Snow as a clerk. This photograph was transferred to Wang Dongping by Two Chiefs, Luo Ruiqing and He Changgong, in 1941. (Accompanied Snow for 4 months, photographed in 1936.) Photo by Edgar Snow".
After examination, the original note is indeed incorrect, and the current note shall prevail. The most direct and powerful evidence is that this photograph was included in the 1939 English edition of the "Journey to the West", in which Snow recorded that Shanxi Wa, named "Wang Dongping", in the photo: "Only 12 years old, but already very able to take care of himself... I asked him why he was a Red Army, and he replied: 'The Red Army fights for the poor, the Red Army is anti-Japanese, why not become the Red Army?' ’”
The later story is very clear: Wang Dongping joined the regiment in 1937, joined the party in 1938, graduated from the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University of the Red Army in 1941, and was assigned to the 129th Division as the commander of the guard company, at the age of 17. After that, he participated in hundreds of battles such as Shangdang, Shentouling, Loess Ridge, and Linfen Offensive, and successively served as the commander of the guard battalion of the 129th Division, the secretary of the external dispatch of the intelligence department of the taiyue military region headquarters, and the director of the Xiangfen County Public Security Bureau, and died of illness in 1999.
Truth. This is not "Chu Jinbai", but "Wang Dongping". This 12-year-old "little red devil" did not participate in the Long March.
The work "The Glory Years"
But from this inference, there is no doubt that this orphan of old China joined the Red Army and joined the red torrent from the Long March. Every day he saw the leaders and comrades-in-arms of the army that had just completed the twenty-five thousand miles of the world.
In the face of this photo taken 81 years ago, I pondered bitterly: What did this "little red devil" who had just joined the army see standing among a group of mysterious and kind comrades who had experienced nine deaths?
Is he also wondering what kind of person is this? Everyone is as thin as a stone, everyone's eyes are like a torch, for the sake of the villagers in our village, the people of all China, I would rather sacrifice myself...
Snow, holding the camera, faced with the clear eyes and innocent smile of the little Red Army in front of him, did he also think about it: Chinese outside northern Shaanxi, looking at foreigners in China from afar, look, this is a Chinese child who follows the Communist Party and is bent on being a Red Army!
An old photograph, a frame of historical slices through the vicissitudes of the sea, is he asking me what night it is? Or shall I ask him what year he was?
Presumably, there were also small Red Army soldiers around you who were not a few years older than you, but they were already "old Red Army" who had walked through the Long March, and they told you the story of the Long March every day, and they couldn't finish telling them.
Yes, when they run through the rain of bullets and bullets and walk through the snowy mountains and meadows, they are just children. But it is these great "children" who, following an incredible team, have created political feats and military miracles that have never been seen before or since in human history.
Many years later, Western historians selected a hundred major events that affected the process of mankind, and China was selected for three major events, in addition to the invention of gunpowder that occurred in ancient times and the establishment of the Mongol Empire by Genghis Khan, the "Victory of the Long March of the Red Army" is the only selected event in modern China. Why, one might ask? Because China's later history is the continuation of the miracle created by the Red Army: the victory of the Red Army's Long March laid the foundation for the establishment of the Red regime in the ancient eastern country, which accounted for one-fifth of the world's population at that time, played a prelude to the birth of a socialist new China 13 years later, and laid the groundwork for the miracle of China's take-off in the 20th century...
Looking back, when we admire the legend created by the Long March, no one should forget: the so-called legend is made of blood and cast with life, including those "children". Everyone is "a drop in the ocean", and everyone is also a "drop in the sea". No matter how long and horizontal the army formation is, it is also a soldier and a pawn with the body of the column; no matter how strong and fierce the victory is, it is also written with sacrifice. It is a cluster of throbbing flames of life that illuminate the Xiang River, illuminate the Chishui, illuminate the iron cables of the Luding Bridge, illuminate the cliffs of Lazikou, illuminate the Jiangtai Fort, illuminate the Pagoda Mountain... It eventually ignited the dawn of China.
Thanks to international friend Snow, you have used the "ordinary moment" of a "little red devil" to freeze a great nation, a great political party, and a great army. If you compare this photo with the prosperous picture of China today, the world will sigh: how lucky China was to have such a young and loyal soldier, when it was "at the most dangerous time"!
Jingo iron horse is gone, and the years flow quietly.
On a quiet winter day many years ago, I met Zhang Wen, an old Red Army soldier who came to visit the exhibition commemorating the Long March, at the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution. The youth of the molten gold of the fire, the old man with the wind and candles, so far apart and so close. The old man often stood silently and meditated. I stand like a sentry on the side, hoping that there is no movement to disturb the old man - life is easy to grow old, if there is affection, let the old man walk into the memory and enjoy the memory. The storm of that year had stood still in the time and space of her heart, and the red blood of that year had solidified on the rings of her spirit. The streamers of light and shadow in the old man's mind are immersed in the spiritual history of our nation's suffering and the shining heart of a child - she joined the Red Army at the age of 14 and the Long March at the age of 16, only 5 years older than Wang Dongping in the photo.
The Long March is gradually going away, and the Long March has never gone away.
Every generation has a "long march" of each generation. Every time I think of this, General Jin Yinan's words praising the Chinese Communists in the bloody years are like drums and horns ringing in my ears: "Young people do big things, young people lose their lives!" "Home country, the world, the life of the country, every era needs selfless and fearless people, to relay to the never-ending "Long March" that does not forget the original heart.
Photo courtesy of the information room of the People's Liberation Army Pictorial
(This article was published in the special issue of The People's Liberation Army Daily on July 12, 2017 to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Army)