A Frenchman who saved more than 300,000 lives during the War Chinese of Resistance Against Japan, lived in China for 27 years, speaking Chinese, learning Chinese characters, and vividly demonstrating the traditional Chinese virtue of "benevolence" in this land.
Born in 1878 in Sant' In France, Rao joined the Jesuits at an early age as a priest. In 1913, he came to Shanghai as a missionary. Initially, he studied Chinese in Xuhui District and also served as a superintendent of Xuhui Public School, teaching French and chemistry. During a class, he assisted students in making fireworks, and gunpowder exploded accidentally, in which he unfortunately lost his right hand.
After his injury, he did not leave Shanghai, nor did he complain about his injuries, but turned to more social and charitable causes. In 1917, he was appointed president of the Shanghai Gongji Hospital, and for the next ten years he visited patients almost every day, caring for their physical and psychological condition.
His benevolence is not only in this small campus, but is about to be projected throughout Shanghai, becoming the "savior" of tens of millions of Shanghai refugees. In 1920, the Shanghai Huayang Charity Charity Association was established, he participated in the preparation of the Charity Charity Society, and six years later, he became the president of the Charity Charity Society and became a famous philanthropist in Shanghai Beach.
In the face of natural disasters such as the flooding of the Yangtze River and the flooding of the Yellow River, he inspected the disaster situation everywhere, published enlightenment in newspapers, and organized fundraising for disaster relief; in the face of the Northern Expedition War, the Songhu War of Resistance, and other disasters, he did his best to protect the evacuation of women and children from the war zone. In more than a decade of keen observation and personal experience of disaster relief, he realized that "the lowly ones themselves have nothing to do with war" and began to have the original idea of establishing refugee areas.
In 1937, after the "Lugou Bridge" incident, Japan began to invade China in an all-round way, and the tide of refugees caused by burning and looting surged up. Under the smoke of war, a large number of war refugees from other places also poured into Shanghai, including refugees from cities around Shanghai such as Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but also Jewish refugees from Germany or other parts of Europe. There are many concessions in Various countries in Shanghai, and the forces of all sides are circling and balancing, and the Japanese army does not dare to rush to attack, which is detrimental to the interests of other countries. The concession, where the Japanese invaded, was a rare safe place in the eyes of many refugees, so they flocked to it.
But millions of refugees are already a serious social problem for Shanghai. From August 13, 1937, dozens of iron gates between the concession and the Chinese border were strictly guarded by patrolling military police, and the number and frequency of opening were strictly controlled. In September, a pass is already needed to enter the rental world. At its peak, the influx of refugees from all over the concession reached about 700,000 people, which was far beyond the concession's tolerance. Not only was the interior of the concession overcrowded, but the intersection between the concession and the Chinese border was also crowded, crowded with refugees who had not been able to enter the concession, who were isolated outside the iron gate, with no material supplies, no wall tiles to shield the wind and rain, and fell into a situation of hunger and cold, like a purgatory.
Rao Jiaju, who witnessed the ignition of the war, the inevitable fighting between the two sides and the relocation of refugees, believed that a kind of "refugee safety zone" should be established to save refugees, and this idea was endorsed and supported by many charities. He noticed that after the attack on Shanghai, many people in Nanshi, Hua District, where Chinese lived, moved out and moved to the concession for refuge, many empty houses were vacated, and there were many public resources that could be used to become shelters and shelters for refugees.
On October 26, after the Chinese army withdrew from Zhabei, Rao Jiaju suggested that the Chinese and Japanese military and political authorities establish a safe zone in Nanshi that would allow refugees to live and be protected from attack. After the preparations began, he first suggested to The Mayor of Shanghai, Yu Hongjun, that an agreement be drafted and negotiated with him. On November 4, the Shanghai municipal government agreed to establish an area in Nanshi that was free from any military activities or military facilities and was also protected from Japanese military attacks.
He has a high talent for languages, not only in French, English, Latin and Greek, but also in beautiful Mandarin, even the Shanghai dialect, and is fluent in Japanese, which makes it possible for him to travel between different countries. He exchanged letters with Japanese Consul General Okamoto Twice, asking to avoid attacks on the refugee area, and finally the Japanese side agreed that the refugee area would only be inhabited by citizens and would not be used by force. The reason for the Japanese side's acceptance lies not only in Rao Jiaju's personal wisdom, skill and hard work, but also in the fact that he was then a member of the International Relief Fund Committee and vice chairman of the Executive Committee of the Shanghai International Red Cross Society, representing the power of international humanitarianism and public opinion.
As the intermediary between the two sides, Rao Jiaju, as an intermediary between the two sides, has repeatedly gone to consultations to make the refugee safety zone begin to change from a vision to a reality. However, the two sides were at loggerheads over issues such as the nature and sovereignty of the region, and it was difficult to reach an agreement, and with his superb mediation skills and unremitting efforts, the two sides agreed to choose a vague concept and use his name to demarcate a special zone, known as the "Rao Jiaju Safety Zone". On November 9, the first wartime civilian safety zone in the world's modern history was born, with Rao Jiaju as chairman in charge of presiding over and managing the affairs of the zone.
Red Cross flags were soon erected at the intersections around the Refugee Zone in Nanshi, and fortifications began, with 200 Police officers sent by China to maintain order. On the first day of the establishment of the Nanshi Refugee Zone, Rao Jiaju, accompanied by officials from the Social Bureau of the Shanghai Municipal Government, opened the City God Temple, Yu Garden, and various primary schools and churches as shelters, even if more than 20,000 refugees were taken in. At its peak, 130 shelters were opened in the refugee zone, and the number of refugees in the area exceeded 100,000, and they finally escaped from the quagmire of panic and nowhere to live, and had a real "safe haven".
But the establishment of the refugee zone is only the beginning, and Rao Jiaju is about to face the problem of the operation of the refugee zone: tens of thousands of people living together in the same area, how to ensure food supply, how to improve sanitary conditions, and how to maintain law and order? The refugee areas need only need to raise funds, and he has spoken around, appealing to many social groups in China and other countries to donate enthusiastically. Not only did it raise 700,000 yuan from the Chinese government for disaster relief, but it also flew to the United States, Canada and other countries to raise funds. Under his tireless negotiations, all walks of life in Shanghai have generously donated money and grain, rushed to make winter clothes, organized charity performances to raise funds, and aid from all over the world flew to the newly opened refugee home, and the humanitarian light of the brutal war shone brightly.
In addition to basic living security, Rao Jiaju also focused on improving medical facilities to provide treatment to refugees affected by war. Factories and workshops such as straw rope, plate brushes and embroidery were established, refugees were recruited to participate in the work, and a group of technicians and professionals were trained. At the same time, he also set up a school for refugee children, enrolling more than 2,000 students, and the children of refugees were enrolled free of charge, focusing on cultivating their spirit of self-help, character, responsibility, thrift, mutual help, bravery, public welfare and honesty. Within a few years, about 30,000 refugee children were educated. He hoped that the refugees would not only be given a mouthful of food, but that they would have the same dignity and hope for life as other people.
In order to calm the hearts of refugees, Rao Jiaju appeared in the safety zone every day to check their living conditions, often holding the hands of refugee children, touching their heads kindly, and conjuring candy from his pockets for them to eat. The refugee area is not an absolutely safe "paradise", and the Japanese army is still looking at the tigers, and the potential dangers are countless. He experienced these dangers with everyone else, once being torn apart by flying shrapnel, and threatened by Japanese soldiers with guns, but he still came almost every day to pacify the masses, maintain order, and build a steel fortress as much as possible with his flesh and blood.
However, since 1939, due to the economic blockade imposed by the Japanese army in Shanghai, the strict control of rice, coal, cotton and other materials, coupled with the soaring prices, rice pearls and salaries, the funds in the refugee areas have dried up day by day, and they have entered an extremely difficult period. Japan's aggression spread to more areas of China, wars became more frequent, many people were worried about themselves, and it was difficult for refugee areas that basically relied on foreign relief to continue to operate. Rao Jiaju had to lower the supply standards in the refugee areas, while also mobilizing refugees to find their own way out or return to their hometowns to settle down.
These living forces he protected injected blood into the ranks of the anti-Japanese contingent. In cooperation with the Chinese Communist Party, he secretly sent some young Shanghai refugees to the New Fourth Army and embarked on the road of defending the country.
On June 16, 1940, Rao returned to Europe on the orders of the French Catholic Church to paris to engage in wartime relief work. He bid farewell to China and the Chinese people he had sheltered, and after he left, the Refugee District of Nanshi soon ceased to exist. But the "Shanghai Model" of civilian aid, which he founded, was considered a successful model and continued to spread to Nanjing, Hankou, Guangzhou, and even France and Germany, and promoted the conclusion of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which promoted the progress of human civilization.
He regarded China as his second hometown, full of enthusiasm, he said when he left: "China is my hometown, I love China deeply, although I temporarily returned to Europe, I will come back soon." In his last days in China, he renamed himself "Rao Jiahua." But he did not get his wish, after World War II, he went to Berlin, Germany to do aftermath work, unfortunately fell ill with leukemia and died in Berlin.
On December 14, 2017, in the Nanshi area where the former "Rao Jiaju Safety Zone" is located, a "Monument to the Refugee Area of Shanghai Nanshi" was completed. It reads in four chinese, German, French and English scripts: "Here is an immortal humanitarian, Father Rao Jiaju of France." The words "benevolent and loving" on the tombstone reveal his life, and also record the unquenchable human warmth under the cruel gunfire of that era.