The Republic of China was an era of rich production of strange women, and in that era when old and new ideas were intertwined, countless women broke free from the feudal shackles and stepped onto a new historical stage.
Of course, more people's understanding of women in the Republic of China still stays on the body of literary women such as Lin Huiyin and Lu Xiaoman, but in fact, there are not only talented women in the Republic of China, but also female pilots with bold behavior.
In the Republic of China, the people are surprised by cars, and a woman can fly a plane into the blue sky, which is simply earth-shattering.
But there are such women, who have used their superior wisdom and amazing courage to become female pilots and compose their wonderful lives in the way of "flying".
Who are they? What was your experience? Today we travel back to the Republic of China together to explore their footprints.
Li Xiaqing, a female pilot who transformed from a movie star
In the history of Chinese aviation, Li Xiaqing created many firsts.
For example, the first to get a flight license, the first to perform an air show, the first to have a long-distance flight record, and so on, almost all the things that a modern female pilot does, she is the first to do.
Seeing so many experiences, everyone may think that she must have aspired to become a female pilot since she was a child, applied for aviation school when she went to school, and then naturally became a pilot.
In fact, this is not the case, Li Xiaqing in her teenage years is actually a big star, and this experience begins with her father.
Li Xiaqing's father was a senior translator in the French Concession in Shanghai, and he was very fond of his daughter, which also made Li Xiaqing develop a very assertive personality.
In 1926, Li Xiaqing's father and friends founded a film company, and when selecting the first film heroine, everyone unanimously looked at the 14-year-old Li Xiaqing, so she successfully entered the film industry.
Two years later, 16-year-old Li Xiaqing is already a post-film figure in Shanghai Beach, if it continues to develop, it may be on par with butterflies, but at this time, she resolutely left everything behind and ran to the UK alone to study.
During her study abroad, she occasionally went to Paris to play and watched an air show, and her heart was suddenly turbulent. So she made a bold move and applied for the Coentine Flight Academy in Geneva, Switzerland, and her flying career began.
The invigilator of the school saw that she was so beautiful, and she was a Chinese girl, and she was particularly surprised, in their minds, Chinese women are women with small feet, and they can't walk fast, how can they fly into the sky?
Li Xiaqing firmly told them that I just want to tell you that what men can do, Chinese women are just as capable, and I will use my actions to let you see that Chinese women can also soar in the sky.
However, in the male-dominated flight school, Li Xiaqing's learning resistance is not generally large, and the biggest obstacle is that it is difficult for her to get the opportunity to test fly.
In order to fight for more learning opportunities, she is always the first to arrive in class, the last to leave, and follow the coach when listening to the class. The instructor was finally impressed by her perseverance and spirit and silently increased her test flight time.
A year later, Li Xiaqing graduated with full honors, becoming the only Oriental girl in Switzerland to get a flying license, and her classmates called her "beautiful Oriental Red Dragonfly".
After graduation, Li Xiaqing went to the Boeing Aviation School in Oakland, USA for further study, during which she suffered the first crash in her life.
During a flight training, Li Xiaqing was unfortunately thrown out of the cockpit and fell into the sea with a parachute.
Since the flight suit would become more and more bulky after entering the water, she had no way to take it off, so she had to paddle desperately on her own perseverance, lying on her back on the surface of the sea as much as possible, until the rescue team found her.
When the rescuers pulled her onto the boat, everyone was stunned, they did not expect that the crash was actually an oriental mermaid.
When the reporter reported the incident, many Americans also knew Li Xiaqing.
In 1935, Li Xiaqing returned to China, quickly obtained a domestic flight license, and became the first official female pilot in China. She was bent on developing China's aviation industry, so she decided to hold an aerobatic show in Shanghai.
At the age of 24, Li Xiaqing's first air show was successfully held, which caused a sensation on the beach.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Li Xiaqing repeatedly applied to participate in the battle as a pilot, but was not approved. So she set up refugee camps to help the wounded and host refugee children.
Because of Li Xiaqing's fame and national salvation actions, Japan began to hunt her down and constantly send people to assassinate her, and in desperation, Li Xiaqing was forced to flee to Canada.
When she arrived in Canada, Li Xiaqing began her own flight speech, constantly telling everyone the fact that China was invaded, calling on the people of the world to help China, and foreign journalists called her a "flying messenger".
Later, in order to raise funds for the War of Resistance, she performed a trans-American air show in the United States, and was once called China's first goodwill envoy by foreign journalists.
According to statistics, from 1937 to 1945, Li Xiaqing flew more than 45,000 meters, which was a major miracle of China's anti-war propaganda.
After the liberation of China, Li Xiaqing settled in Hong Kong and flew airplanes in her spare time, but the motherland did not need her to continue to travel.
On January 24, 1998, Li Xiaqing died of acute pneumonia in the United States at the age of 86.
In the history of China's aerospace industry, Li Xiaqing is most worthy of praise for her flight speech that has driven a large number of people, Yan Yaqing is one of them, and finally she also gave a tour of the United States flight speech with her.
Miss Qianjin Yan Yaqing, who dedicated her life to flying
Yan Yaqing was born into a famous family, his ancestors were descendants of Confucius's disciple Yan Hui, his grandfather and uncle had studied in the United States, his father Yan Fuqing was a doctor of medicine who graduated from Yale University, and he was the director of the Health Administration of the Republic of China...
Yan Yaqing was born in such a celebrity family, she grew up reading poetry and books, and at the age of 17, she was admitted to the Tsinghua School to study in the United States.
At that time, her father wanted to study at Harvard, so he brought her to the United States and arranged to study at Walnut Hill High School in New York, who knew that she was not satisfied with what she had learned, and changed to Smith College to major in history.
In 1922, Yan Fuqing returned to China and taught at Yale-in-China University in Changsha, where Yan Yaqing also graduated from school with his father. During college, she was a notorious school flower, and American faculty members had pursued her.
After graduating from university, Yan Yaqing went to Shanghai with her parents and became an English teacher.
In 1927, she married Chen Bingzhang, Song Ziwen's secretary, and four years later they had a son and a daughter. Unfortunately, she and Chen Bingzhang ended their marriage after 8 years due to their personality incompatibility.
In 1933, Yan Yaqing's uncle Yan Huiqing sent an envoy to the Soviet Union, and two years later, Yan Yaqing accompanied his uncle in Moscow, thus becoming an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China.
In 1935, as a member of the Chinese delegation, Yan Yaqing went to Switzerland to attend the 16th Executive Conference of the League of Nations and gave his first speech at the Committee of the League of Nations, talking about the current situation of Chinese women.
Subsequently, on the stage of the international community, Yan Yaqing became the real "half of the sky" in China, she participated in the International Anti-Drug Conference in Bandung, also participated in the king's coronation ceremony, and also received the Danish princess.
In 1935, when Yan Yaqing returned to China, he watched Li Xiaqing's flying fancy show in Shanghai for the first time, and he met Li Xiaqing in the afternoon of the same day, and decided to dedicate himself to the cause of aviation.
In 1936, Yan Yaqing went to Italy to learn flying and piloting skills, and in 1938, he was admitted to the Shaffir Flight Academy in the United States, and half a year later he got a graduation certificate and also got a flight license.
In 1939, just after the New Year, Li Xiaqing went to New York to meet with Yan Yaqing, and the two discussed a fundraising plan: fundraising for the Circumampo American Air Show.
Beginning in March 1939, Yan Yaqing and Li Xiaqing began traveling around the United States from New York's Florida Airport, and finally due to an accident during the flight, Yan Yaqing's flight path was interrupted.
At the end of 1939, Yan Yaqing planned to return from Hong Kong, but the Hong Kong people fell, and she was imprisoned by the Japanese army in a concentration camp, spent 8 months in prison, and then fled to Chongqing.
He wanted to return to the United States to continue flying to collect donations, but for health reasons, the flight license was not approved. In 1942, Yan Yaqing returned to the United States, again giving speeches and collecting donations for the anti-Japanese resistance, and then entered the United Nations.
Yan yaqing left the United Nations in 1956, and at the age of 52 she became a public library administrator until her death at her home in New York in 1970 at the age of 66.
Two female social flowers donated by Circumamus Flight
The most memorable moment of these two female pilots was the fundraising speech of the Circum-U.S. flight in 1939, and many foreigners still remember these two Famous Chinese Ladies flying in the air. Their fundraising for their flight speech began in March of that year.
Initially, they had only one plane, arriving in Philadelphia on the first day and Washington the next. Because the two were already very famous in the United States at that time, they were warmly received when they walked out of the cabin door, and a large number of reporters took pictures.
In April, they got a plane again, piloted by Yan Yaqing, and the two began flying separately. Because the two have lived abroad for a long time, are fluent in foreign languages, and have a high appearance, they are warmly welcomed by the locals everywhere they go.
American patriots, in particular, were more supportive of their actions, with Friends of China bearing all their fuel costs and bosses doing business in the United States taking on their accommodation and board.
During that time, they not only became the heroes of the United States, but also became world celebrities, some people called them "citizens of the world", and some people printed their photos as cartoon pictures to spread.
After three months of hard work, the two flew a total of 10,000 miles, raised 10,000 US dollars, 20,000 yuan of French currency, and they contributed their strength to the War of Resistance in a special way.
In fact, these two celebrities, if they do not choose to fly into the sky, their lives are equally wonderful, Li Xiaqing may become an excellent movie star, yan Yaqing may shine on the diplomatic stage.
But they abandoned their stable lives and chose to break through themselves and fly into the sky, creating a precedent for female pilots in China's aerospace industry, and also allowing the world to witness the strength and beauty of Chinese women.
At the same time, when the country was in trouble, they embarked on the road of fundraising without hesitation and contributed their share to the War of Resistance, which showed their deep love for the motherland!
The | is wonderful
Editor-in-charge | Muyang
【References】:
The first female pilot in Chinese history, creating countless female records, a lifetime of infinite excitement
Li Xiaqing: From actresses to female pilots, from performances to hot-blooded anti-Japanese resistance, the years depend on their own stunning
She is the most glorious celebrity of the Republic of China, and once flew an airplane in the United States to collect donations for the Chinese War of Resistance!
I want the world to know that Chinese women can not only walk on the ground, but also fly in the sky!