Chinanews.com, Changsha, January 16th, title: Wu Jianhong, Guardian of Anti-Japanese War Cultural Relics: Persist in 36 years to preserve history
Author Tang Xiaoqing Zhang Xueying
"Hello! Is it director Wu? The letters, materials and communication cards you wrote to our family in the past ten years have all been transferred from the address in Taipei to the current home. After reading it, my family and I were very moved and decided to come to Zhijiang. In the spring of 2003, Wu Jianhong, curator of the Memorial Hall for the Victory and Surrender of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, received a call from the United States.
Zhijiang, Hunan is the place where the victory of the Anti-Japanese War was surrendered.
Soon after the call, the Xiao family brothers and sisters flew to Zhijiang several times and donated more than 400 cultural relics left behind by Xiao Yisu to the Memorial Hall of the Victory and Surrender of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
Among them, there is a watercolor painting drawn by General Chennault of the Flying Tigers of the United States and presented to Xiao Yisu, which has been identified as a national first-class cultural relic.
The picture shows the scene of the Chinese army and the American army fighting side by side, with the words "Advance side by side" inscribed by Chennault himself.
Wu Jianhong, a newly elected member of the CPPCC Hunan Provincial Committee, told this story to a reporter from China News Agency, recalling his 36-year relationship with the Memorial Hall of the Victory and Surrender of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
Wu Jianhong introduced the collection of cultural relics collected as evidence of the crimes committed by the Japanese army invading China.
Photo provided by the interviewee
"A memorial hall related to the Anti-Japanese War does not have a rich collection of cultural relics, there is no vitality, persuasiveness, lack of iron evidence, and it is impossible to promote the spirit of the Anti-Japanese War and the culture of peace." Wu Jianhong said that he entered the memorial hall in 1987. At that time, the cultural relics in the museum There are only a handful of them; after he became the curator in 1999, he searched around for the cultural relics in the collection.
Once, in a waste shop in Zhijiang, Wu Jianhong bought a steel helmet for 500 yuan.
"After research, it was brought over by Japan when it invaded China, and it was left in China after the defeat, which became the criminal evidence and ironclad evidence of Japan's invasion of China." memorial.
What makes him most proud is to retrieve the "treasure of the town hall" that has been sealed for nearly 70 years-the original video of Japan's unconditional surrender to the Chinese people in Zhijiang.
In order to find this precious 20-minute-long video, Wu Jianhong spent more than 20 years and searched all over the country's film production factories and archives but found nothing. Finally, he commissioned Qian De, an oil painter from Zhijiang who lives in the United States. Xiang and his wife Tan Mingli were found in the National Archives of the United States.
"Recovering it will restore the dignity of the Chinese nation."
Wu Jianhong's persistence touched many family members and descendants of the heroes of the Anti-Japanese War, and they contacted the memorial hall to donate cultural relics free of charge.
Wu Jianhong has 10 contact books, which are densely recorded with relevant information on donated cultural relics.
"At present, the memorial hall has 31 national first-class cultural relics, 36 second-class cultural relics, and 135 third-class cultural relics, as well as a high-quality, young and professional explanation team."
Wu Jianhong training instructor.
Photo provided by the interviewee
"What strength has supported you for 36 years?" Facing the reporter's question, Wu Jianhong's eyes were moist: "The patriotic spirit of the revolutionary martyrs for national liberation has influenced, infected and encouraged me. The memorial hall is like my child. Seeing it I am very gratified to develop and grow day by day, and I am willing to dedicate my life to it. This is also my responsibility as a Chinese.”
Zhijiang has held international peace culture festivals and activities to commemorate the victory of the Anti-Japanese War for many years, and will become the 307th international peaceful city in 2021.
During this meeting, Wu Jianhong suggested that Hunan build a peaceful cultural brand in Zhijiang.
"Promoting Zhijiang's peaceful culture is to communicate with the world and communicate civilizations through peaceful culture, which can become a business card of Hunan's foreign exchanges."
Wu Jianhong, who will retire in four years, said that he will continue to collect and excavate more anti-Japanese cultural relics and materials to promote the development of a peaceful culture.
"We must not only tell the stories behind the cultural relics, but also tell the pain and disasters caused by the invaders to the Chinese nation. Tell generations of people that the lessons of blood must not be forgotten." (End)