"Letter" through time and space
■Our reporter Sun Weishuai
On the eve of the Qingming Festival, a post circulated on the Internet: "The Qingming Festival is approaching, Shanghai Longhua Martyrs Cemetery (Longhua Martyrs Memorial Hall) plans to provide the public with online sacrifice sweeping, sweeping services and 'Cloud View Exhibition' during the Qingming Festival... …”
After seeing the news, netizens who had been "squatting" on a certain online social platform for a few days, removed their help post asking for help from netizens in Shanghai to deliver letters and flowers, and immediately switched to the website of Longhua Martyrs Cemetery's sacrificial sweep and "send" it out. I wrote letters to Chen Yannian and Chen Qiaonian.
Many people have never thought that writing a letter to the fallen heroes—such a traditional and ancient form has become one of the popular ways for young people today to pay tribute to the heroes on Qingming Festival.
In the letter, they poured out the admiration and longing in their hearts into the pen, and took the deep consolation as the most affectionate confession.
A netizen replied under the popular topic "Always Remember You" on Weibo: "Some people can see it by train, and some people need to take a time machine to see it. These letters are 'time machines'."
From the "letters" that span time and space, we have seen touching stories and felt the power of forging ahead.
"Looking at each other silently across time and space, I believe that at this moment we are connected with each other"
Shanghai Longhua Martyrs Cemetery, Anhui Hefei Yanqiao Road, these two landmarks 500 kilometers apart, have a very similar scene on the Qingming Festival in 2021-
In the Longhua Martyrs Cemetery, the monuments of revolutionary martyrs Chen Yannian and Chen Qonian are full of flowers and handwritten cards; under the street signs on Yanqiao Road in Hefei, there are so many flowers that they need to be tied to the surrounding road signs.
On those cards, the most written sentence is: "This prosperous world is as you wish."
The person in charge of the Shanghai Longhua Martyrs Cemetery told him that it was the first time he had seen such a scene after working here for a long time.
Long Pingping, the screenwriter of the TV series "The Age of Awakening", did not expect that a TV series with a red theme would have such a great influence on contemporary young people. Chen Yannian and Chen Qiaonian could cross a hundred years and become idols of young people in the new era.
The memory starts from the Qingming Festival in 2021 and reaches its peak in July.
Among the commemorative flowers, a letter signed "One Student" attracted the attention of the staff of Shanghai Longhua Martyrs Cemetery.
"Brother, I'm really ashamed. I didn't know about you until 2021, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, in a TV series called "Age of Awakening". On your way to the execution ground, your eyes were as firm as iron, and you told them with a smile. Later people: Don't feel sorry for us, our blood and sacrifice will surely wake up more people, and finally create a bright future..."
This short letter touched the staff of the cemetery.
After the Qingming Festival, they began to look for "a student" on the Internet.
For a long time, it is still a mystery who the owner of this letter is, but the content of the letter has resonated with many post-90s and post-00s on the Internet.
In particular, the letter "brother" made a hundred years of time and space overlap on the letter paper and in front of the tombstone: "Across the time and space, we look at each other silently, I believe that at this moment we are connected with each other."
At the same time, letters paying tribute to "peers of the same age" a hundred years ago were sent from all over the country to the Longhua Martyrs Cemetery in Shanghai.
Bunch of sunflowers in full bloom with different addresses were sent to Yanqiao Road by a delivery boy in Hefei.
"New Youth from New China", "New Youth in the 21st Century"... These anonymous signatures are full of reverence for the revolutionary martyrs of the new generation of young people.
Over a hundred years, the "new" and "beautiful" in the letter are the best sequel to the "Awakening Era" in which Chen Yannian and Chen Qiaonian lived.
Coincidentally.
Letters from different places arrived at the same destination: in front of the tomb of the six martyrs "General Wen" at the Yinhe Martyrs Cemetery in Guangzhou.
In April 1933, the Guangzhou Branch of the Chinese Cultural Federation was established.
Guangzhou "General Manager Wen" led by Wen Shenggang, Tan Guobiao, Ling Boji, Lai Yinfang, Zheng Tingxiu, and He Rentang actively spread Marxism-Leninism and the Communist Party's national salvation proposition.
At the end of January 1934, they were arrested by the ruling authorities of the Kuomintang. On August 1 of the same year, they were arrested and killed next to the tomb of the 72 martyrs in Huanghuagang. They were called "General Wen" and the six martyrs.
The staff of the Guangzhou Galaxy Martyrs Cemetery Management Office have become "messengers" one after another.
Every day, they took the letters from the postal staff, bowed respectfully to the tombstones of the martyrs three times, and placed the plastic-sealed letters, one by one, gently in front of the tomb.
On that day, a staff member emotionally read a letter to the martyrs: "Among you, the oldest is 27 years old and the youngest is only 19 years old. I am about the same age as you, and I often think, if I were in that Age, will I be as brave as you, will I make the same choice as you..."
On the Qingming Festival in 2021, Lu Weicong, a student from South China University of Technology, took the initiative to apply to be a volunteer at the Galaxy Martyrs Cemetery in Guangzhou.
"For me, it's not just about remembering the martyrs," he said. "I took the oath of joining the party here. Standing in the same place now, in a sense, is like revisiting the oath of joining the party."
In Shanghai, 1,500 kilometers away, a female student who came from Guangzhou on a special trip was reading her letter to Chen Yannian and Chen Qiaonian in a soft voice: "When I walked out of the subway station, I looked up and saw your photo in the most prosperous street. On the big screen, you smiled and watched all this, but I couldn't help shedding tears."
"I have to let their families know that they are all heroes on the battlefield"
In the setting sun, a pen was writing forcefully on the letter paper.
"He was wounded, and blood was pouring out." Writing here, the hand holding the pen seemed to hesitate. The owner of the hand, Zhang Mingzhong, an 85-year-old veteran of the Korean War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, took off his reading glasses, rubbed his temples, and looked out the window.
After a while, he still decided to write the tragic battle of that battle to the descendants of his comrades-in-arms.
Before the Qingming Festival this year, Zhang Mingzhong solemnly handed the seven letters to Long Yulin, the head of the service station for veterans in Changle Town, Gaoping District, Nanchong City, Sichuan Province.
These seven letters were written by him to the relatives and descendants of his comrades-in-arms who died on the battlefield to resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea. Each letter records in detail everything about his comrades-in-arms in his memory.
"Be sure to send these letters to the relatives of the sacrificed comrades." Zhang Mingzhong told Long Yulin.
This is the eighth time the veteran has sent such a letter before the Qingming Festival.
In 2015, it was the 65th anniversary of the Chinese People's Volunteers' War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea. Watching the documentary film broadcast on TV, Zhang Mingzhong came up with the idea of "organizing memories".
"His stomach was broken by the enemy, he forcibly tied his trousers belt, and continued to fight. At that time, there were countless volunteers like him on the battlefield." This is what Zhang Mingzhong wrote to a relative of a comrade-in-arms in Neijiang, Sichuan.
Writing at the most intense moment of the battle, Zhang Mingzhong's hands trembled uncontrollably.
For this veteran who has experienced nine deaths on the battlefield, recalling the cruelty of the battle in those years is undoubtedly once again opening the wound that can never be healed.
"How can it not hurt? But I have to let their families know that they are all heroes on the battlefield!" Zhang Mingzhong said excitedly, "Actually, I want to write to my comrades in arms, now Our country is strong, and everyone is living a good life..."
With the help of these letters, veteran Zhang Mingzhong once again "returned" to the battlefield to resist US aggression and aid Korea with his old comrades.
Letters to the relatives of sacrificed comrades in arms are like biographies of martyrs carrying blood and fire, and they are always sent through the service station for veterans a few days before the Qingming Festival every year.
Shandong, Guangdong, Anhui, Hebei... The relatives of the sacrificed comrades-in-arms scattered all over the country, because Zhang Mingzhong's letter knows the youth and blood of their relatives, those names that cannot be known by the world one by one, because Zhang Mingzhong's letter shines again The brilliance of heroes.
One, two, three... In eight years, Zhang Mingzhong has sent 15 such letters.
This Qingming Festival, when young Long Yulin took over these seven heavy letters, he felt that he "supported the vigorous lives of the volunteer martyrs" in his hands.
In Kangxiwa Martyrs Cemetery, female military doctor Wu Jia, like Long Yulin, delivered a letter for a veteran.
The veteran who wrote the letter was Wu Jia's father, Wu Yongqiang.
More than 60 years ago, Wu Yongqiang lost his hands and legs in a fierce battle at the border in the snowy area.
With the entrustment of sacrificing comrades-in-arms, Wu Yongqiang tenaciously survived.
In the impression of his daughter Wu Jia, the father is very strong, insists on rehabilitation training, insists on dressing and eating by himself, and has developed a good "first-hand" character.
This year, with a letter written by his father, Wu Jia went to the Kangxiwa Martyrs Cemetery at an altitude of 4,280 meters to visit the comrades who were buried here on behalf of his father.
"I was your platoon leader Wu, and today our daughter has the opportunity to visit her comrades..." In front of the tombstone, Wu Jia read her father's letter to the sacrificed comrades and burst into tears.
After reading the letter, Wu Jia connected to his father's video.
In the camera, the spirited Wu Yongqiang salutes his comrades with a "standard" military salute; outside the camera, Wu Jia, whose face is full of tears, also solemnly raised his right hand.
"I want to tell you that the sky you fly over is so beautiful"
"Boom—" A heart-pounding roar came from the tarmac.
Immediately afterwards, a J-15 fighter jet shot straight into the sky like a silver arrow.
In the cockpit, Yang Zhen, a pilot student of a training regiment of Naval Aviation University, and Wang Yong, a pilot instructor, felt the surging power of the "Flying Shark" fighter plane together, overlooking the magnificent scene of the sea and the sky.
Back in the dormitory, Yang Zhen wiped his face, sat at the desk, and opened the diary.
"The Qingming Festival is coming soon. I have always wanted to go to Hangzhou to see you. But our training task is very heavy, so I wrote a letter to you. Your feat has made me understand that only those who understand responsibility and mission can face danger without fear. You see, now that we have entered the deep blue, I want to tell you that the sky you fly over is so beautiful."
This letter from Yang Zhen was written to Wang Wei, the "Guardian of the Sea and Air".
On April 1, 2001, a U.S. EP-3 reconnaissance plane collided with a fighter jet driven by Wang Wei over the exclusive economic zone about 70 nautical miles southeast of Hainan Island, China...
Since that day, Wang Wei, the hero's name, has become another monument engraved in people's hearts.
Every Qingming Festival, under the monument of Martyr Wang Wei in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, there are always flowers sent from all over the country.
In the past two years, in front of his tombstone, there have also been photos of the J-15 fighter jet, the model of the aircraft carrier Liaoning, and various advanced Chinese fighter jets.
On the eve of the Qingming Festival in 2021, before the 20th anniversary of the sacrifice of Martyr Wang Wei, a long letter lay quietly among the flowers.
"The Chinese nation has never lacked a backbone, it has never lacked in the past, it is not lacking now, and it will never be lacking in the future." Soon, the words in the letter appeared on the hot search.
People wondered where this letter, written on the letterhead of "Shanghai Jiaotong University", came from.
A back photo of a solemn salute to the monument to the martyr Wang Wei in white spray quickly answered people's doubts.
He was the person who wrote the letter, Zhang Yuan, a college student who had served in a certain navy.
The year Wang Wei died, Zhang Yuan was just 2 years old.
Growing up in Korla, Xinjiang, he never imagined how a martyr in his childhood would relate to him.
A few years later, Zhang Yuan, who was admitted to Shanghai Jiaotong University, joined the army and became a navy.
Zhang Yuan still remembered that he and the squad leader stood guard together that night.
Looking at the sky full of stars, the squad leader told him: There was once a fighter plane numbered "81192" that took off from the runway in front of him to intercept U.S. military planes.
Once gone, never came back.
From that day on, Zhang Yuan couldn't help but take a second glance every time he passed that runway.
In the dream, he even saw "81192" return safely...
After his military service expired, Zhang Yuan returned to the university to continue his studies.
Every time he opened the closet and looked at the neatly folded white military uniform, Zhang Yuan always felt that "there is one more thing to do, but it should be done".
Finally, on the last weekend before the Ching Ming Festival in 2021, Zhang Yuan rushed from Shanghai to Hangzhou, put on "Splash White" again, and stood upright in the Anxian Cemetery in the northeastern suburbs of Hangzhou.
Beside him, a full-body bronze statue of Martyr Wang Wei, "Guardian of the Sea and Air" stands proudly.
20 years later, the two generations of soldiers met across the air.
When he was 20 years old, Wang Wei wrote in the party's volunteer book: "I hope to join the party organization, not to make some political capital, nor to get promoted and rich, I just want to ask myself as a party member, for the party and the party. The interests of the people contribute everything, even their lives."
Today, Zhang Yuan, who is about the same age as Wang Wei at that time, called him at the beginning of the letter - "Dear Comrade Wang Wei".
This is the most affectionate term among communists.
In the letter, Zhang Yuan told Wang Wei about his growth and changes.
At the end of the letter, Zhang Yuan stubbornly wrote: "Never retreat, never surrender, never compromise!"
Zhang Yuan placed the handwritten three-page long letter gently in front of the bronze statue of Wang Wei, stood at attention, and saluted.
Yang Zhen, a student pilot, saw this story online.
He also thought that one day, like Zhang Yuan, he would stand in front of the bronze statue of Martyr Wang Wei, salute the senior in the air and sea, and tell him and his comrades how to fly on the aircraft carrier and how to soar between the sea and the sky... …
Outside the window, the night was as black as ink, and two J-15 fighter jets rose into the sky with dazzling tail flames.