A bronze statue of Satin about 2 meters high
Satin Cemetery
In the New Year of 2021, the reporter walked into the Shating Cemetery in Yongchang Town, Beichuan (formerly Anchang Town, An county). On the banks of the Anchang River, at the foot of the Huopan Mountains, the warm spring sun falls through the shaded branches, and the cemetery is quiet and solemn. The bronze statue of Satin, which is about 2 meters high, stands quietly and vividly, and is a symbol of his noble character and literary qualities. Underneath the bronze statue, a row of large red characters stands out: "Without self-confidence and courage, there can be no art." This is the "epitaph" stele erected for him by the China Writers Association, which highly summarizes Sha Ting's life of hard work and outstanding contributions to the literary cause of the party and the people. The cemetery has become a patriotic education base for young people.
"He was first the first Communist Party member in An County (present-day Anzhou), established the first party organization in An County, and then became a writer." Wang Shichun, head of the Propaganda Section of the Party History Research Office of the Municipal Party Committee, introduced that Sha Ting was an early revolutionary ancestor who spread Marxism in An County.
□ Mianyang Daily Rong Media Reporter Liu Yi Xu Jiang Text/Photo
Go out and study
Accepting the impact of new ideas on revolutionary ideas gradually sprouted
"Satin was born into a family of landowners." Wang Lezheng, director of the Party History Research Office of the Anzhou District CPC Committee, provided a book entitled "The First Communist Party Member in Anzhou District - Sha Ting", which records that on December 19, 1904, a baby boy fell to the ground at the yang family's old mansion in the west street of Anchang Town, Guanguan County (now Yong'an Town, Beichuan), and this boy was Yang Chaoxi (i.e., Sha Ting), the second son of the Yang family.
In his childhood, Sha Ting was intelligent and studious, and skillfully recited ancient books such as the Four Books, the Five Classics, the University, and the Zhongyong; in his youth, Sha Ting accompanied his uncle Zheng Muzhou (an enlightened gentleman, who was the deputy governor of An County after liberation) to various townships in An County, and came into extensive contact with various figures in the rural society of old China and Xiaochang Town. Satin's teenage years were spent in the stormy years.
In the autumn of 1921, at the age of 17, Sha Ting was admitted to the Sichuan Provincial First Normal School (now Yandao Street Middle School). Half a year after entering the school, under the guidance of several classmates, Satin wholeheartedly accepted the impact of the new trend of thought and began to transform, from an outdated gentleman's son to a young man of the times.
Among his classmates, Tang Daogeng (Ai Wu) was the best partner who influenced Sha Ting to accept the new literature of May Fourth. Here, Sha Ting was influenced by the new ideas and new culture of May Fourth, he read the poems in Guo Moruo's "Goddess" that represented the spirit of the May Fourth rush, read Lu Xun's works and a large number of progressive books and periodicals such as "Enlightenment" and "New Youth", and his thoughts withstood the turmoil of the times and gradually germinated revolutionary ideas.
Where the school calls for activities, Satin will participate in them, including boycotts of Japanese goods, civilian education movements... At the same time, he also taught several classes on the street, and among the people who attended the lectures were peddlers, coolies, and housewives. The proximity to the civilian population made Satin realize the spiritual meaning of the May Fourth human rights equality and the sanctity of labor. At that time, Sha Ting named Yang Only (Zi) Qing in the school, which means that only young people have a future.
In 1924, Satin met Zhou Shangming, a classmate of the eleventh class, and others. In 1925, Zhou Shangming joined the Communist Youth League and soon became the secretary of the Chengdu Municipal Committee of the Communist Youth League, playing an important role in Sha Ting's political life.
Throw yourself into the revolution
Spread new ideas and sow the seeds of revolution
In the spring of 1927, through the introduction of Zhou Shangming, Sha Ting joined the Communist Youth League and began revolutionary work.
At the beginning of 1927, the National Government of AnXian County opened the Regiment Cadre School and invited Sha Ting to be a political instructor. Sha Ting was keenly aware that this was a good opportunity to develop revolutionary organizations and master revolutionary armed forces, and he immediately wrote to Zhou Shangming asking him to send competent cadres to participate. Soon, the Chengdu branch of the CCP sent Gao Ling (also known as Gao Wenyu) to An County. During the lecture, they told the trainees about the situation in Sichuan, about the division of China by the imperialist powers, and about the revolutionary principle that the Chinese people should stand up against imperialism and feudalism; they propagated the three major policies advocated by Dr. Sun Yat-sen of "uniting with Russia, uniting with the Communist Party, and supporting peasants and workers," and disseminated Marxist ideas and inspired the students' patriotic enthusiasm.
Because Sha Ting and Gao Ling's work in An County was relatively smooth, the higher-level party organizations regarded An County as one of the key areas for carrying out activities.
The information provided by Wang Lezheng clearly describes The process of Sha Ting's joining the Chinese Communist Party. In the summer of 1927, at the home of Fellow Villager Xiao Weibin, Sha Ting and Zhou Shangming met. Zhou Shangming suddenly asked him, "If you are willing to join the Communist Party of China, I can introduce you." Satin had already vaguely guessed his identity from this close friend, and Satin seemed to be prepared for such an inquiry. At that time, he had already embraced the belief that only the Communist Party was the most revolutionary, so he immediately expressed his willingness to join. In the summer of 1927, Liu Yuan'an, secretary of the Chengdu Special Branch of the Communist Party of China, and Sha Ting talked in the editorial office of the "Xinchuan Bao" in the northern section of Chunxi Road in Chengdu, and after approval by the Chengdu Special Branch of the Communist Party of China, Sha Ting was converted from a member of the Communist Youth League to a member of the Communist Party of China. "Sha Ting thus became the first Communist Party member in An County." Wang Lezheng said that since then, Satin's work has been directly contacted by Zhou Shangming.
Soon, Sha Ting went to Chengdu to report to Liu Yuan'an on the political, economic, and social situation and work progress of An County. In the name of the Kuomintang's leftist Chuanxi Commissioner, Liu Yuan'an arranged for Sha Ting to return to An County to prepare for the establishment of the Kuomintang AnXian County Party Department to further develop the revolutionary forces.
After Sha Ting returned to An County in the name of preparing for the Kuomintang leftist anxian county party department, he was welcomed by the leftist kuomintang party members. With the joint efforts of everyone and the active support of county magistrate Xia Zhengyin and others, the Preparatory Office of the Left Wing of the Kuomintang AnXian County Party Department was established, and Sha Ting was in charge. The personnel of Sha Ting's Leadership Preparatory Department put up anti-Chiang Kai-shek and anti-great powers slogans in the county town; they took advantage of the opportunity to set up a stage to give speeches to publicize Dr. Sun Yat-sen's three major policies, expose the crimes of Liu Xiang and Wang Lingji, the executioners of the "March 31" massacre, and struggle against those reactionaries who secretly interacted with foreign missionaries and secretly did bad things.
Multi-party efforts
Establish the first party organization in An County to continuously develop revolutionary forces
In 1927, some mass organizations in An County and Xia Zhengyin elected Sha Ting as the director of the Education Bureau of An County. At that time, the educational situation in An County was very bad. After Sha Ting became the director of the Education Bureau, he often consulted with Gao Ling to formulate employment measures, replaced a number of pedantic and conservative principals, and used some progressive intellectuals who graduated from Longmian Normal School to take up the work of school, inspector and principal. He also invited a group of students from the provincial first division from Chengdu to come to An County to teach. It has united a group of progressive intellectuals and cultivated the targets of party building.
On September 30, 1927, the Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the "Notice on The Development of Party Members and Expanding the Organization", assigning An County the task of developing 8 Party members in one month. After accepting the task, Sha Ting quickly recruited party members in the AnXian Kuomintang Preparatory Office, the Education Bureau, and the Wenjiang Primary School. In October 1927, the Special Branch of the Communist Party of China was established in An County, and Sha Ting was fully responsible for the work of the Special Branch. "Since then, during the period of the Great Revolution, An County has established the first party organization, the An County Special Branch." According to Wang Shichun's introduction of party history materials, the CPC Anxian Special Branch was first led by the CPC Sichuan Provisional Provincial Committee and soon assigned to the CPC Sichuan Special Committee for leadership. In this year, the local warlord Dong Chang'an prepared to establish a political department in Jiangyou Zhongba. The Anxian Special Branch of the CPC also sent progressive intellectual Zhao Huaixuan to work in Zhongba and served as the chief of the propaganda section of the Political Department of the First Mixed Combat Brigade of the Twenty-ninth Army of the Kuomintang in order to develop revolutionary forces.
On the afternoon of February 16, 1928, Sha Ting arrived in Chengdu again, and wanted to meet Zhou Shangming or Gao Ling to talk about the joining of several people in An County. At dusk, Sha Ting received news: Yuan Shiying, director of the Propaganda Department of the Sichuan Special Committee of the CPC, Zhou Shangming, secretary of the Chengdu Youth League Committee, and 14 other comrades were shot and killed by the enemy (known in history as the "February 16" massacre). Satin was unable to get in touch with the organization and had to return to An County overnight to continue his work.
Sha Ting returned to An County as a director of "Wenjiang Primary School", presided over the work of the school, hired a group of progressive teachers, made the school a center of progressive intellectual activities, and cultivated a large number of talents. At the same time, with the help of his uncle, Satin founded the An County Library. Sha Ting entrusted Zhang Xiushu and others to purchase back more than 2,300 kinds of ancient books and progressive books and periodicals from other places, more than 7,000 volumes, which promoted the development of cultural and educational undertakings in An County.
In early 1930, Satin entered the literary world, and then joined the Left League, becoming one of the new literary newcomers of the left, which attracted people's attention.
Satin wrote a lot in his lifetime, publishing more than 50 works and anthologies, and only seven volumes of "Satin's Collected Works" has 275 articles (parts), amounting to more than 2.5 million words. His entire writings amount to more than 5 million words. On December 14, 1992, Satin died in Chengdu at the age of 88 due to ineffective medical treatment.
"In his creative and revolutionary career of more than 60 years, Sha Ting has unswervingly struggled for the literary cause of the party and the people and the cause of communism, and has been praised as an outstanding party member of the Communist Party of China and an outstanding people's cultural fighter." The "Series of Local Party History Figures in Anzhou District, Mianyang City, China" edited by the Party History Research Office of the Anzhou District CPC Committee commented on Sha Ting in this way.
Editor: Li Zhi