by Xinhua writer Ma Yunfei

BEIJING, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- When the Germans invaded Poland in 1939, guerrillas in northeast China had already fought eight winters in frigid blizzards, as Asia's anti-fascist struggle began with China's resistance following Japanese provocations 94 years ago on Sept. 18, 1931.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army (NAJUA) under CPC leadership waged a struggle against Japanese aggression in northeast China for 14 years. In his report on a brief history of the struggle, Mu Qing, China's prominent journalist and the late former president of Xinhua News Agency, called it "unprecedented in Chinese history in terms of brutality and hardship."

"It was a history written with blood and sacrifice, yet it also stands as a testament to the glory and pride of the Chinese nation in the face of a brutal enemy invasion," Mu wrote.

This summer, I embarked on a reporting and research trip to the three provinces of northeast China alongside several colleagues from different departments of Xinhua. As a native of northeast China, I was delighted to return to my hometown, Changchun in Jilin Province, even if we only stayed there briefly for one night.

During the week-long journey, we visited numerous memorial sites, including the Northeast China Revolutionary Martyr's Memorial Hall, built on the former site of the Harbin Police Department of puppet state of "Manchukuo" during World War II, and the Exhibition Hall of Evidences of Crime Committed by Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army, which silently testifies to and serves as a stark indictment of the anti-human atrocities of war.

We also visited former guerrilla base areas and battlefields where the NAJUA had fought. Most importantly, throughout the journey, we learned about their heroic stories. We were filled with profound reverence and a renewed appreciation for the priceless peace we enjoy today.

THE FROZEN FRONT

It seemed that no other army in the world shared the fate of the NAJUA, whose principal founders and leaders mostly died in battle. Nor has any other army endured such relentless threats -- starvation, freezing and combat -- for over a decade, from its commander-in-chief down to ordinary soldiers.

Yet it was this very force, under CPC's leadership, that fought for 14 years, annihilating more than 170,000 Japanese troops and over 50,000 puppet soldiers, while pinning down as many as some 760,000 well-equipped Japanese troops, making an indelible contribution to the World Anti-Fascist War.

After the victory in the War of Resistance in 1945, Peng Zhen, late Chinese proletarian revolutionary and one of the leaders of the CPC, once put the NAJUA's 14-year struggle as one of the three most arduous chapters throughout the over two decades of history of the CPC-led revolution, standing alongside the Long March of the Red Army and the three-year guerrilla warfare waged by the Red Army in southern China.

The hardships endured during NAJUA's resistance surpassed anything I could have imagined. In winter, the region became a frozen world of ice and snow, with howling winds so bitter that water would freeze instantly. Lighting a fire was extremely dangerous, as even a thin wisp of smoke rising above the treetops could attract enemy troops.

In such conditions, not to mention grain, even wild grass was buried under thick snow. The NAJUA soldiers were forced to subsist on tree bark, cotton wadding, and even their own boiled wula shoes, a kind of shoe made from cattle hide and stuffed with carex meyeriana, worn in the winter in northeast China. Even when they could take shelter in underground hideouts, frostbite and even amputations were commonplace among the guerrilla fighters.

Even in summer, the mountain forests were filled with deadly threats, from swarms of mosquitoes and flies to venomous snakes and sudden, unexplained outbreaks of disease. Meanwhile, Japanese and collaborationist forces severed all ties between the resistance fighters and local villagers, making the supply of food and medicine extremely difficult.

In the ancient forests of Hongshilazi in Panshi City of Jilin Province, CPC's first anti-Japanese base in northeast China and a nationally protected site linked to the NAJUA, the conditions were exceedingly harsh. Meng Qingxu from the Jilin provincial institute of cultural relics and archaeology, who led the Hongshilazi Site excavation team, pointed to a large stone with a relatively smooth surface and told us that it served as an operating table where gunshot wounds and bone fractures were treated for the soldiers.

UNCONQUERABLE SOULS

The Hongshilazi anti-Japanese base was built by CPC member Ma Shangde, who had united disparate local anti-Japanese militias into a cohesive resistance force with a clear, powerful rallying cry: "Chinese don't fight Chinese; save the bullets for the enemies." As one of the founders and key leaders of NAJUA, Ma would later be immortalized in history under his heroic name, General Yang Jingyu.

Yang Jingyu is a household name in China, and his heroic deeds are included in school textbooks in China. During the War of Resistance, under extremely harsh conditions, Yang led anti-Japanese armed forces, braving the severe cold of minus 40 degrees Celsius, fighting bloody battles against enemies several times their number. Wartime archive documented that in the over 100 days leading up to his martyrdom at 35, Yang engaged in approximately 47 battles against enemy forces.

When Yang sacrificed himself, not a single grain of food was found in his stomach, but only withered grass, tree bark and cotton wool. A few years later, Ryuichiro Kishitani, the Japanese commander who had witnessed the death of General Yang Jingyu, committed suicide. "With iron-blooded soldiers like Yang Jingyu, China will certainly not perish," he wrote in his will.

Another legendary hero of the resistance and revered NAJUA commander who struck fear into the hearts of the Japanese forces was General Zhao Shangzhi, who fought against the invaders in Heilongjiang Province in the north. Operating under extremely arduous and perilous conditions, Zhao led his forces in over a hundred battles against the Japanese and puppet troops, repelling numerous large-scale "encirclement and suppression" campaigns.

The Battle of Bingtangzi was a successful ambush orchestrated by Zhao. In this engagement, the NAJUA suffered minimal casualties while annihilating over 300 Japanese soldiers and seizing large quantities of weapons and ammunition. "A small 'Manchukuo,' but a giant of a man, Zhao Shangzhi" was the frustrated lament of the Japanese invaders. Zhao was 34 years old at the time of his sacrifice.

The heroism of the NAJUA heroines was no less monumental. As one of the most lionized female revolutionary martyrs, Zhao Yiman was a pivotal figure in northeast China's anti-Japanese resistance. Captured in 1935, she endured brutal torture but divulged nothing to the enemy. Executed at the age of 31 in 1936, she urged her young son in her final words to take pride in her sacrifice for the nation.

"It's my regret that I haven't fulfilled a mother's duty to raise and guide you. There will be no chance for us to meet again in this life. My most beloved child, I have no need for a thousand words to teach you. I teach you by how I have lived. When you are grown, I hope you will never forget that your mother gave her life for the country," Zhao wrote in a letter.

In October 1938, eight female NAJUA soldiers, led by 23-year-old Leng Yun, drew enemy fire to protect the main force's retreat, ultimately leaping into the icy Wusihun River in Linkou County of Heilongjiang when surrounded, sacrificing their lives, with the youngest barely 13. This has become one of the most tragic and heroic episodes of the war.

THOSE WHO REMEMBER

Throughout the journey, I was deeply moved and profoundly inspired by the spirit of the NAJUA, a legacy built upon unwavering loyalty to the Party, the courage to brave national calamity and the valor to fight until the very end. It has also made me cherish all the more the peace we enjoy today, which was won through such sacrifice.

What moved me even more was witnessing so many people who still remember these heroes and are dedicated to sharing their heroic stories with generations to come.

At a memorial park in Heilongjiang's Shangzhi City, formerly known as Zhuhe County, which was renamed after General Zhao Shangzhi to honor his sacrifices, I met 72-year-old Yang Yan, who is a former director of the Shangzhi Martyrs Memorial and has continued to serve as a volunteer guide since her retirement.

She led the way and guided me to the very end of a stone trail -- the site where Zhao Yiman was wounded in battle and later captured 90 years ago. "I wipe the dust from her statue every time I visit," Yang said, plucking a leaf from a nearby branch and gently brushing the base of Zhao Yiman's likeness. "She was the same age as my grandmother."

In Jingyu County of Jilin Province, which is likewise named after the hero, docents like Li Yan at the General Yang Jingyu Memorial Hall at the site of his martyrdom are keeping his story alive. Every time she recounts the general's final moments, her eyes well up with tears. "From the moment I started this job, I was deeply moved by General Yang Jingyu's story. I want to use whatever strength I have to pass on this revolutionary spirit and heritage," she said.

The memorial draws groups of young visitors every year who come to pay their respects. Liu Xuanwei, a local young CPC member, said that since childhood, his grandparents taught him to learn from General Yang's example and contribute his own part to the Party, the country and the people.

In Harbin, a stark black cube now stands on the site where the notorious Unit 731 of the Imperial Japanese Army conducted gruesome germ warfare tests and human experimentation during World War II. The museum records and preserves the evidence of these inhuman wartime atrocities.

A 76-meter tunnel leads into daylight at the exit of the exhibition hall, its walls inscribed with victims' testimonies and confessions from former Unit 731 members. "Don't look back. Walk forward. Ahead lies the light, the warmth of life, and a nation thriving in peace," a guide's voice echoed through the tunnel. Step by step, visitors followed the path forward.

At the Northeast China Revolutionary Martyr's Memorial Hall, among the countless heartfelt messages left by visitors, one note on a slip of paper deeply moved me.

"History books are too small to hold your immense greatness. Every page I turn speaks of a whole life dedicated and sacrificed," read a message written by Li Xinuo, a fifth-grader from Harbin Jihong Primary School. In her earnest, childlike handwriting, she expressed a truth more moving than many adult words.

Other visitors had left messages too: "We never met, yet I live by your grace," and "Please come see our happy lives in the New China you made possible."

How I wish they could see the peaceful new China they gave their lives to build.