Liaoning Dandong, formerly known as Andong, faces North Korea’s Sinuiju City across the river. The Chinese People’s Volunteers joined the Korean battlefield and returned to China through this place.
“A big river has wide waves, and the wind blows the fragrance of rice and flowers on both banks…” The loud and clear song “My Motherland” expressing the soldiers’ love for their hometown echoed outside the only memorial hall in the country to resist US aggression and aid Korea. It was the July 1st Party Day, and a large number of visitors, most of whom wore party emblems, were members of the party branches of various units. In addition, there are many elderly people who come to visit, as well as parents with children.
Students agree that children who fought in the war were ‘disgusted by Americans’
A classmate Che, who just graduated from junior high school, said about his experience of the visit: “(Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea) has improved China’s international status, shattered the intention of the imperialists headed by the US to dominate the world, and prevented them from engaging in other things in Asia. Whether it is from inside China or abroad, whether it is military or civilian, national self-confidence and international status have been positively improved.”
Student Che’s views on China’s participation in the war are the official mainstream propaganda content. In October 2020, President Xi Jinping made a speech at the meeting commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Chinese People’s Volunteers’ mission to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea. He set the tone that “the great war to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea resisted imperialist aggression and expansion, safeguarded the security of New China, safeguarded the peaceful life of the Chinese people, stabilized the situation on the Korean Peninsula, and maintained peace in Asia and the world.”
Compared with those in the mainland, Northeast people have a deeper understanding of the Korean War that took place “at their doorstep”. Che’s family of three are from Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province. This is the third time they have come to the memorial hall in Dandong. The previous two times, they were unable to visit the memorial hall due to the expansion of the memorial hall. This time they came here specially to “receive patriotic education.”
Although he agreed with “the motherland’s participation in the war”, student Che also said: “War is very cruel. The army can only follow the command of the upper leadership to fight. Even if they don’t want to (participate in the war), they must follow the order. Although the war will bring progress, its impact is relatively bad, and it will have a negative impact on the economy and construction.”
The memorial hall is divided into six parts: preface hall, war hall, sports hall, friendship hall, hero hall, and memorial hall. According to the data in the museum, 197,653 martyrs who resisted U.S. aggression and aided Korea gave their lives. Many martyrs chose to “sacrifice themselves to block the holes of the guns” or “explode the bunkers with their bodies” when they ran out of ammunition and food.
In the war hall, a mother took her children to visit the exhibition hall of the Changjin Lake Battle. Facing the historical materials and sculptures of the Volunteer Army on the wall, the child blurted out: “Americans are so annoying.” The young mother said softly, “Wars are cruel, but not everyone in the United States fights voluntarily, they just obey orders.”
Party member memorial hall swears that having watched the movie “better substituting”
The memorial hall also reproduces a triumphal arch, which was originally the gate built by Dandong on the Yalu River Bridge when the volunteers withdrew from the battlefield and returned home. Walk out of the War Hall through the “Arch of Triumph”. In the Hall of Heroes, there is a statue of the martyr Mao Anying, the son of Mao Zedong, who was killed in the air strike in Dayudong, and the portraits, deeds and some relics of the volunteers’ dead military cadres are displayed. The party members who came to visit here took an oath: “Loyalty to the party and loyalty to the people.”
This is the second time for Mr. Xu to visit the memorial hall. As party members of government agencies, about 20 of them came here organized by their units. Mr. Xu said: “Every time I visit, I have different feelings, especially after seeing the historical materials of the Shangganling and Changjin Lake battles. I have seen movies before, so I can be more substituting. I feel that every soldier is very worthy of admiration, and I cherish the hard-won peaceful life now.”
At the end of the visit, you can read the epilogue of the memorial hall: “The war finally tells us that justice must defeat power, and bullying the weak, perverting, and aggression and expansion will inevitably lead to bloodshed.”
The Memorial Hall of Resisting U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea is located on Yinghua Mountain by the Yalu River. The original exhibits were collected from the volunteers who returned to China via Dandong in 1958. In 1993, a new museum was completed on the 40th anniversary of the armistice. In order to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Volunteers going abroad to fight, it took 6 years to renovate and expand the entire park since 2014. In addition to the memorial hall (exhibition hall), there are also panorama painting halls, national defense education parks, and memorial towers. After the end of strict epidemic prevention measures, there is a boom in visiting.
Among them, the National Defense Education Park displays 31 pieces of cultural relics and weapons from the period of resisting U.S. aggression and aiding Korea, including the single-tube 37mm anti-aircraft gun supplied by the Soviet Union to China, the Soviet-style T34 tank, the Figure 2 light bomber, the 122mm howitzer, and the Katyusha rocket launcher. The front of the memorial tower facing the memorial hall is inlaid with seven gold-plated characters inscribed by Deng Xiaoping, the veteran of the Communist Party of China, “Memorial Tower to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea”.
Events spring up in China to commemorate the “70th anniversary of Victory”
The Chinese War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea was part of the Korean War (which broke out in June 1950). Chinese volunteers went abroad to participate in the war in October 1950. On July 27, 1953, representatives of North Korea, China, and the United Nations signed the “Korean Armistice Agreement.” In 1958, all volunteers withdrew from North Korea in batches.
After the Korean War, China and the United States went from being hostile to breaking the ice and establishing diplomatic relations, to working together for development, and then to the confrontation stage of trade wars and technological wars. Entering July this year, activities to commemorate the “70th Anniversary of the Great Victory of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea” have sprung up in China. The People’s Liberation Army Air Force announced the day before yesterday that the Changchun Air Show (held from July 26 to 30) will invite some representatives of the Air Force’s heroic and model units who participated in the air battle to resist US aggression and aid Korea to review the history of the battle and tell the story of the air battle, expressing the Air Force’s commemoration of this great victory.
The official media also published commemorative articles and broadcast historical pictures and videos. CCTV also rebroadcasted “Crossing the Yalu River” and other TV dramas to resist US aggression and aid Korea. Art and cultural institutions held various themed exhibitions and performances. Government agencies and schools at all levels intensively carried out patriotic education. As for before and after the “Victory Day”, whether the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China will increase the commemorative standards as it did three years ago to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Volunteer Army’s participation in the war, and whether the national leaders will deliver speeches and the tone of the speech content are the focus of attention of all parties.
Ming Pao China Team
(Chinese Story)
■Mingpao reporting hotline: [email protected] / 9181 4676
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2023-07-22 20:26:15
