Chinanews.com, Fujian, Sanming, September 29 (Lei Chaoliang) On the eve of China's ninth martyr anniversary (September 30), Chen Yixiang and his father brought hoes, sickles, incense candles and offerings. I came to Yangmeiling in Houshan, not far from my home, to sacrifice and sweep the tomb of the unknown Red Army martyr.

　　"Seniors of the Red Army, we are here to see you again. I hope you are all well there." After burning the incense, Chen Yixiang muttered in a low voice.

The story of the Red Army on Yangmeiling

　　In 2021, a song "Singing a Red Song on Yangmeiling" created by teachers and students of Xiyang Central Primary School in Yongan City, Sanming City, Fujian Province, will be sung locally.

"Revolutionary martyrs are so heroic, with deep admiration and reassurance, they will sacrifice loyalty and righteousness from generation to generation. This solidity is glorious..." The song sung is the story of Chen Yixiang's family guarding the tomb of the unknown Red Army martyr.

The site of the temporary headquarters of the Red Army in Lintian Village, Xiyang Town, Yongan City is being repaired.

Photo by Lei Chaoliang

　　Chen Yixiang is a native of Lintian Village, Xiyang Town, Yong'an City.

On the occasion of the Martyrs' Memorial Day, he told reporters the story of his family guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Red Army Martyrs.

　　On August 12, 1934, Chen Yixiang's grandfather Chen Xingshan, who came to Lintian Village from Datian County, Sanming City, to work as a long-term worker, was chopping firewood and burning charcoal in the deep mountains of Yangmeiling. The Ningyang Ancient Road was escorted to Ningyang County (the old county name, bordering Yong'an).

That year, the "Declaration of the Chinese Workers and Peasants' Red Army Going North to Resist Japanese Aggression" was released in Yong'an; on that day, five Red Army soldiers came to Lintian Village to carry out revolutionary activities, and happened to be escorted by the Kuomintang soldiers.

　　"At that time, the Red Army braved the hail of bullets and used bayonets to break the brown ropes one by one, and rescued the grandfather and other tied villagers. All 16 people were rescued." The soldiers were eventually outnumbered and all sacrificed.

　　After learning that the five Red Army soldiers who rescued him were all killed, Grandpa Chen Yixiang wanted to secretly go up the mountain to search for the remains of the Red Army and bury them.

However.

At that time, the entire village was still under the "white terror". After the incident, the mountain and forest were quickly enclosed.

After the lockdown was lifted on the 8th day, Grandpa Chen Yixiang quietly went up the mountain to search by lighting a kerosene lamp at night.

　　"Because of the hot weather at that time, the bodies after seven days smelled of decay, and none of the five Red Army remains were intact after being bitten by the jackal on the mountain. Grandpa and grandma found it from 12 o'clock in the evening until around 8 o'clock in the next morning. Only then did we find the scattered corpses and wipe them with a white cloth." Chen Yixiang recalled the past that was passed down orally from generation to generation in his family.

　　In order to avoid being discovered, Grandpa Chen Yixiang tore down his newly built charcoal kiln in Yangmeiling, wrapped the five remains of the Red Army in white cloth and buried them inside, and built tombstones with stones.

In order to hide from the public, Grandpa Chen Yixiang opened up wasteland in the mountains where the Red Army cemetery is located, and planted pumpkins and sweet potatoes.

　　"Since then, grandpa went up the mountain almost every day and silently guarded the tomb of the Red Army." Chen Yixiang said that after the founding of New China, every Qingming and winter solstice, grandpa would bring his family to worship the tomb of the Red Army.

Chen Yixiang's finger is the place where five Red Army soldiers died in battle - Yangmeiling.

Photo by Lei Chaoliang

A family of five generations to protect the inheritance

　　Grandpa Chen Yixiang was born in 1898 and died at the age of 71. He had five sons and two daughters.

Chen Yixiang said that in order to be grateful to the Red Army, grandpa sent all four sons to join the army, leaving only his father to inherit the cemetery. Protect like a family.

　　Chen Yixiang's father is 88 years old this year.

After the death of his grandfather, Chen Yixiang's father began to practice the entrustment of the previous generation.

Chen Yixiang told reporters that although his father has inconvenient legs and feet, he still pushes a trolley and goes up the mountain almost every day, managing the mountains and forests while guarding the cemetery.

The water bottle left by the Red Army soldiers when they sacrificed has now become a family heirloom of Chen Yixiang's family.

Photo by Chen Lili

　　Chen Yixiang said that in the 1990s, the fir trees that his father planted on the mountain had begun to take shape. A businessman once wanted to use 600,000 yuan plus a piece of land to replace the mountain forest with his father for contiguous planting of orchards, but his father refused.

"Father said that there is our En cemetery here, and one day he is gone, we must guard it."

　　Over the years, the story of Chen Yixiang's family guarding the Red Army's tomb for generations has been widely circulated locally.

In April 2006, the local village committee erected a monument next to the tomb of the Red Army guarded by it, named "The Tomb of the Red Army Martyrs".

Chen Yixiang said that the current happy life is what the ancestors exchanged with blood, and it is necessary to be grateful but also to inherit.

　　In May of this year, the local government moved the tomb of the Red Army Martyrs to the Honggongshan Revolutionary Martyrs Memorial Garden in Xiyang Town for the convenience of management, and preserved the original appearance of the Red Army Martyrs' Tomb.

Chen Yixiang's family expressed their understanding and support for this.

　　In August this year, Chen Yixiang was selected as an honest and trustworthy person in the "China Good People List" in the second quarter of 2022.

He said that in the process of guarding the Red Army Martyrs' Tomb, his grandfather was the initiator, his father was the relay, and he was the inheritor, "We will continue to guard the Red Army Martyrs' Tomb, so that the red blood will continue, and the red stories will be passed down. "

Chen Yixiang's father, who is 88 years old this year, pushes a cart up the mountain almost every day to guard the Tomb of the Unknown Red Army Martyr.

Photo by Lei Chaoliang

　　Chen Yixiang's son, Chen Kaisheng, is currently working in Qingliu County, Sanming City, but during the Qingming Festival and the winter solstice, he would come back to visit the Tomb of the Unknown Red Army Martyr with his family.

Chen Kaisheng told reporters that he has followed his grandfather and father to guard the Tomb of the Unknown Red Army Martyrs since he was a child, which has become a kind of red inheritance in his family; continue.

　　Chen Yixiang's grandson is 5 years old this year. Chen Yixiang said that during the winter solstice festival this year, he will tell his grandson "the story of the Red Army on Yangmeiling", so that he can remember the special love of the family.

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