"The motherland and people will never forget you"
——Xu Xinghu and Zhu Ying Martyrs at the site of the former Chinese Embassy in Belgrade
At a time when the New Coronary Pneumonia epidemic raged worldwide, China sent a team of medical experts to Serbia to provide them with the most valuable support. Seeing the Chinese medical expert team arriving in Belgrade on TV, I can't help but recall that shortly before the outbreak, I visited Serbia to pay homage to the two martyrs Xu Xinghu and Zhu Ying who died on the land 21 years ago.
When I mention Serbia, I think of Xu Xinghu and Zhu Ying. I am their old colleague. I worked with a newspaper and worked hard to add luster to this newspaper. I have a special relationship with them and I shed tears more than once for their sacrifice.
The past scenes have been firmly imprinted in my mind. How can we forget that on May 8, 1999, NATO bombarded our embassy in Yugoslavia 21 years ago, causing Xinhua News Agency reporter Shao Yunhuan and Guangming Daily reporters Xu Xinghu and Zhu Ying to die, dozens of people were injured, and the embassy The house was destroyed. When the news came, the whole country was indignant. At the reporter's station in Yinchuan, I was interviewed by the local media, and I begged the NATO's atrocities with full of grief and indignation. At the symposium, I spoke as colleagues of Xu Xinghu and Zhu Ying. During that time, I watched related news every day, and I was always covered with sadness and anger. I saw from the news that many familiar colleagues of the newspaper office have signed up and asked to go ahead and continue to write "The Battlefield Diary" that Xu Xinghu and Zhu Ying did not finish. So I wrote "Take the Pen from the Martyrs" "Chinese reporters can't be scared!" "Two articles, and later wrote an article" Sorrow Before Xu Xinghu's Former Residence ", praising this spirit of perseverance and dedication, expressing the sorrow for Xu Xinghu and Zhu Ying. But my thoughts are still hard to release.
For those who sacrificed for their country like them, the motherland and people will not forget. On June 17, 2016, President Xi Jinping, who was invited to visit Serbia, had just arrived in Belgrade. The first event he participated in was accompanied by the head of state and government of Serbia, to the former site of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia. Shao Yunhuan, Xu Xinghu , Zhu Ying three martyrs. In the news, I saw the words "Remembrance of the Martyrs Cherish Peace" engraved on the black monument in front of the ruins, and the leadership leaders of Xi Jinping, who stood up, mourned, and offered flowers in full affectionately. I couldn't help but shed tears. Colleagues who sacrificed in foreign countries said: Party and state leaders commemorate you with such a grand ceremony.
It was from then on that I had a thought in my mind: If there is a chance, I will also go to the scene to hang the martyrs. Finally, last year, I was fortunate to set foot on this long-cherished, familiar and unfamiliar land as an ordinary tourist.
On May 7, 2009, the Belgrade municipal government decided to retain the remaining buildings of the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia, and erected a monument in front of the embassy site to commemorate the Chinese martyrs who died in the NATO bombing. Valuable support during the period. In 2016, the Belgrade City Government decided to name the street where the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia was located as Confucius Street, and the square near the street as "Sino-Serbian Friendship Square". In China, the Chinese Cultural Center was built on the old site of the embassy. The address of the center is "No. 1 Confucius Street".
After arriving in Belgrade, although I wanted to go to many places, I insisted on going to the former site of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia first. Asking along the way, I found the Chinese Cultural Center under construction smoothly, because the locals know this place, and they are no strangers to the recently named "Confucius Street".
The main frame of the Chinese Cultural Center has been completed, and the statue of Confucius in front of the building of the Cultural Center has been completed. There is a black stele on the left side of the statue, with a few lines of golden text in Serbian and Chinese, "Thank you to the People's Republic of China for the support and friendship at the most difficult time for the people of the Republic of Serbia, and to remember the martyrs who died" . Behind the stone monument is the old site of the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia. Now that the old site has been demolished, the Chinese Cultural Center has been built instead.
Where the blood of the martyr has been sprinkled, the building of the Chinese Cultural Center rises from the ground, which is highly symbolic and also indicates that the spirit of the martyr has sublimated. Chinese culture will take root here and there will be more exchanges between the cultures of the two countries.
On the stone platform in front of the stele are flower baskets and bouquets, which makes me feel relieved. As I watched it carefully, there were a few more Chinese tourists looking for it all the way, expressing their affection for the three martyrs. During conversations with each other, they knew all about that period of history and were full of admiration, admiration, and nostalgia for the three martyrs. When I learned that I was the colleague of two of the martyrs, they said that the motherland and the people would never forget them. It is more special for you to come here as a colleague.
The three Chinese martyrs who sacrificed on that land deepened the friendship between the two countries with their own blood and life. The Serbian people also regard the three Chinese martyrs as their heroes. In Serbia, I felt the friendship of the Serbian people to the Chinese people, and also saw the profound foundation and bright prospects of exchanges and cooperation between the two countries. Now, a large number of Chinese tourists go to Serbia, and only 70,000 Chinese tourists visited in the first seven months of 2019. Many streets in Belgrade have signs in Chinese. Chinese has become the fourth sign besides English, Russian and local languages. Many Serbs can greet Chinese tourists in simple Chinese. Who can say that the various courtesies received by Chinese tourists in Serbia and the close relations and friendly cooperation between the two countries have nothing to do with the three sacrificed Chinese martyrs?
The motherland and people have not forgotten every martyr who died for the country. Since the sacrifice of three martyrs in 1999, mourning activities are held at the former site of the Chinese Embassy every year on May 7. Colleagues of Guangming Daily will also mourn in front of the tombs of Xu Xinghu and Zhu Ying at Babao Mountain in Beijing, and more of them cannot be present Those who mourned silently mourned in their hearts. Shortly after arriving in Belgrade in March this year, the Chinese medical expert team made a special trip to the embassy site to hang three martyrs.
I believe that more and more Chinese people will come to the site to pay tribute to the three martyrs, remember that history, and be inspired by the spirit of the martyrs to work hard for the prosperity of the motherland.
(Author: Zhuang electric one, the Department of Ningxia newspaper reporter station's original owners)