"I'm going to Yan'an and going north to the'pilgrimage' Pagoda Mountain"
During the Anti-Japanese War, why did tens of thousands of intellectuals go to Yan'an?
□Western China Metropolis Daily-cover news reporter He Xiyu
Time goes back to 1938, 82 years ago, the most difficult years of the War of Resistance.
This year, "Westward Journey Comics" set off a boom, which reached its peak in spring and summer.
According to statistics, from May to August of this year, as many as 2,200 young intellectuals arrived in Yan'an from Sichuan to Shaanxi.
Who are they?
After the outbreak of the all-out war of resistance, in the Kuomintang-ruled areas, the occupied areas, other anti-Japanese base areas and even overseas, a large number of patriotic youths started a "pilgrimage" journey with the guidance of Pagoda Mountain and flooded into Yan'an like a tide.
They went to Yan'an mainly through the introduction of party organizations and individuals, or participated in the admission examinations of various schools in Yan'an, which formed a climax around 1938.
According to statistics, there were about 40,000 intellectuals in Yan'an at this stage. Most of them have a higher education level, with a junior high school or above accounting for about 70%. There are also overseas PhDs like Chen Xuezhao and He Mu.
The common goal of anti-Japanese and national salvation has created a road of faith and ideals for a generation of passionate and patriotic youths to go to Yan'an.
After cultivating talents through the revolutionary melting pot, these intellectual youths thrived, penetrated into all fronts, and made outstanding contributions to national independence and the liberation of the people.
As Mao Zedong said at the Yan'an Exemplary Youth Conference in May 1939: “China’s youth movement has a very good revolutionary tradition, and this tradition is “permanent struggle”. Our Communist Party inherits this tradition, which is passed down now and in the future. We must continue to pass it on."
Her anger
I saw the cage and the bird in the rear
I hate it
After the Anti-Japanese War broke out in 1937, Chen Xuezhao withdrew to the rear of Chongqing with her husband He Mu.
Chen Xuezhao is an authentic Jiangnan scholarly family. She was born in an old-school scholarly family in Yanguan Town, Haining, Zhejiang.
Chen Xuezhao is a heir to poetry and etiquette of the Chen family. Chen Xuezhao has received a good basic education since he was a child and has excellent academic performance in liberal arts.
In 1922, 17-year-old Chen Xuezhao transferred to the Shanghai Patriotic Women's School of Arts, and became a close friend with Zhang Qinqiu, who later became a female general of the Red Army.
At that time, Shanghai was surging with all kinds of new thoughts and the publishing industry was booming, which provided a new stage for Chen Xuezhao's literary talents, and also gave a woman born in this old-style family a new way to rely on her father and brother and marry her husband.
In 1924, Chen Xuezhao emerged in an essay contest on the theme of women's liberation in Shanghai Times.
Since then, she has published a large number of elegant and lingering essays, and she has been influenced by Ge Gongzhen, a pioneer in the newspaper industry, and has met literary seniors such as Mao Dun, Zhou Jianren, and Lu Xun.
In 1927, Chen Xuezhao advanced the manuscript fees for his two essays and went to France to study in France. At the end of 1934, he obtained a doctorate in literature from the University of Clermont in France.
A local language college invited her to stay as an assistant to the dean. She was unmoved and quickly bought a ticket to return home.
After arriving in Chongqing with her husband in 1937, Chen Xuezhao felt very different. She described what she saw at the time like this: "Many men, women, and children in gorgeous clothes are walking in groups on the streets and in front of the theater... There are many cars parked with "air defense" signs...On Saturday night in the restaurant, unless you go before 5 o'clock, you will not be able to find a seat. Everyone used the money freely, and everyone made enough money... (this) It's not a healthy and normal life. Everything is hot and cold." In Chengdu, another important town behind the rear, Chen Xuezhao's life became more anxious for a more peaceful and comfortable life.
This was supposed to be a base for the anti-Japanese revival, but there was no wartime scene.
Chen Xuezhao saw the rich and wealthy idlers carrying cages and walking birds in Wangjianglou Park, and he hated them, "Those who have fled here have settled down, drinking tea, chatting, and walking, as if nothing happened..."
Their awakening
Founding of "Work" magazine
Promote Anti-Japanese in Chengdu
In the autumn of 1935, 23-year-old He Qifang graduated from the Department of Philosophy of Peking University and went to Tianjin Nankai High School to teach.
This young gentleman was born in an old-fashioned family in Wanxian, Sichuan (now Wanzhou, Chongqing). He is sensitive, honest, and meticulous, and is fascinated by poetry.
If the voice of changing times is not so strong, he might also be silent in that kind of life.
On December 9, 1935, the "December Nine" Movement broke out in Beiping.
This was a large-scale student patriotic movement led by the Communist Party of China, and it quickly spread to major cities across the country.
At that time, the entire North China could not fit a quiet desk. He Qifang was still facing a group of broad young masters who were more enthusiastic about movies than knowledge.
"I feel like I am an accessory to help deceit," he said.
When the students went on strike, he followed the bell to the classroom and talked against the wall; the students engaged in sports and the military police surrounded the dormitory, and he had the same crime with the students.
In the summer of 1936, He Qifang resigned his teaching position and left the crumbling Vanity Fair in Tianjin to a rural teacher in Laiyang, Shandong.
The following year, he returned to his hometown in Sichuan and met with friends he knew in Beiping.
In the spring of 1938, He Qifang, Bian Zhilin and others founded the "Work" magazine in Chengdu to promote the anti-Japanese war.
Bian Zhilin, a gentleman in a robe, roared: Chengdu, let me shake you up/Chengdu is asleep/It’s not a place for people to sleep/And this is not the age for people to sleep/This age makes me want to be loud Laughing / shouting again.
However, Bian Zhilin herself admitted: "But we are not a revolutionary organization, and we have not directly received the party's education. We finally feel that we are not strong in this aspect, and we ourselves need to'awaken'."
new Hope
"Westward Journey" published
Illuminate the hearts of countless Chinese youths
At this moment, He Qifang saw "Westward Journey".
"Westward Journey" is about what American journalist Edgar Snow had visited in the Soviet area in northern Shaanxi in the summer of 1936.
In northern Shaanxi, Snow saw a real "Red China".
More importantly, he met a group of Communists who have struggled for freedom and ideals all their lives.
The stubborn "red little ghost", the harmonious military-civilian relationship, the leader with firm goals...every face impressed him deeply, and every back figure witnessed the clamor of the Chinese.
In 1937, Snow combined his observations and interviews in "Red China" into "Red Stars Illuminate China".
Once this book came out, it caused a sensation.
In the book, Snow described in detail the new atmosphere of the wartime "new city" in Yan'an:
"Large tracts of land can be collectively cultivated and harvested quickly, and the phenomenon of individual farmers' slackness will no longer appear."
"In the twenty-odd Sovietized counties in northern Shaanxi, some of the obvious drawbacks common in most parts of China must have been eliminated."
"In fact, I haven't seen any shadow of poppies since I entered the Soviet area. Corrupt officials have almost never heard of it. Beggars and unemployment have indeed been'eliminated' as the Communist Party said. I am in the red area. I haven't seen a beggar during the trip."
Hu Yuzhi, then head of the International Propaganda Committee of the Shanghai Cultural Circle Salvation Association, organized the translation of the Chinese translation of "Red Stars Shining on China".
At the beginning of 1938, the Chinese translation was published in Shanghai under the title "Westward Journey".
Limited to the circumstances at the time, although the words "red star shining" were hidden, it illuminated the hearts of countless Chinese youths, leading them to the road of revolution and to Yan'an.
Yan'an gave thousands of aspiring young people who had nowhere to serve the country a new choice.
Rush to Yan'an
Seek the way to resist Japan and save the country
More than 2,000 people entered Shaanxi from Sichuan in 4 months
Under the influence of this book, batches of patriotic youth and foreign friends rushed to Yan'an, and Bethune was one of them.
He once told a friend in a letter: "If you want to ask me why I went to China, please read Edgar Snow's "Westward Journey" and Smedley's "The Chinese Red Army is Marching". Same feeling."
Yan'an has attracted tens of thousands of young intellectuals who are interested in resisting the Japanese.
They came one after another like a tide, including Chen Xuezhao's family and He Qifang.
At the end of 1937, Chen Xuezhao's family of three moved to Fuling for refuge.
Husband He Mu works in a local rear hospital.
The management of this rear hospital is chaotic. "The so-called wounded soldiers are hanging around all day; the so-called doctors are the same." Chen Xuezhao accidentally borrowed a copy of "Western Traveling Notes" at this time.
The husband and wife were attracted by the Yan'an introduced inside, so they left Fuling and went to Chongqing to contact the office of the Eighteenth Army in Chongqing.
The journey to Yan'an is long and hard, and the living conditions in Yan'an are also very difficult.
Chen Xuezhao's son was only 3 years old at this time, and almost no one agreed with her idea of taking his son to Yan'an. Even Zhang Qinqiu, who she wanted to defect to in Yan'an, was not supported.
But Chen Xuezhao "resolutely wants to go to Yan'an."
In Chengdu, the "revolutionary essay" tried by He Qifang and others was criticized a lot.
"Those people I approached, including friends, hardly agreed with me, either I was mean or too angry." In this case, He Qifang said, I am not a tough fighter after all. .
I also need partners, and I need encouragement and comfort.
"I should go to the front line. Even if I can't take up weapons and stand with the soldiers and shoot the enemy, I should live with them and write their stories. This will reduce my own shame... ".
On the morning of July 21, 1938, Chen Xuezhao, despite the opposition of many relatives and friends, took his family and hoped to board the car north of Yan'an in Chengdu.
Half a month later, on August 14, 26-year-old He Qifang also ran to Yan'an with his friends Bian Zhilin and Sha Ting.
Going to Yan'an was the most important decision they made in their lives, for which they abandoned their reputation, status, family, and everything.
At the peak of his creation, He Qifang changed his mind and went to Yan'an to cry out for anti-Japanese and salvation; Chen Xuezhao took his family to Yan'an to live a "sorrowful life", to observe the most vibrant place in China from close range, and finally chose to live here.
According to statistics, there were as many as 2,200 young intellectuals who arrived in Yan'an from Sichuan to Shaanxi from May to August 1938.
In order to train young cadres, the Party Central Committee has successively established more than 30 cadre schools in Yan'an, including Kangda, Shaanxi, and Luyi. In the melting pot of Yan'an, young people have gradually grown into proletarian fighters with firm ideals and revolutionary will.