Some time ago, Suzhou A girl wearing a kimono was taken away by the local police for "picking quarrels and provoking trouble", which caused an uproar on the Internet. Therefore, Shi Jun took a general look and found that there were many people who supported the girl. Of course, Yes, every Everyone has the freedom to express their own opinions, and as long as it does not violate the law, there seems to be nothing wrong with Suzhou girls wearing kimonos. Those who support Suzhou girls’ reasons are simply that Japanese kimonos are Japanese culture. This is how we must separate ourselves from Japanese militarism.
However, what I want to say is, can the kimono really be divorced from Japanese militarism? If so, why are the public so sensitive to kimonos but not so strongly opposed to other Japanese products? I think there is still a lot that can be said about this, and it is worth thinking about.
Here Gu Shijun can briefly describe his point of view. Since ancient times, "clothes" have been a part of our Chinese culture. The ancients used "clothes to travel south" to describe the decline of the country. For " shave your hair and change your clothes " To express their patriotic feelings by resolutely opposing policies, therefore, "clothes" are sometimes not just objects used to cover oneself and shame, they are also a symbol and a representative of national culture, and they are also a symbol of the public's respect for the country. A sense of identity and belonging. Of course, kimono also has this function, but it represents Japanese culture. After all, cars and other electronic products are products of modern technology, and they do not have the function of "representing culture." Therefore, it is understandable that Chinese people do not have such strong resistance to Japanese products.
Of course, if it were not for a special time or special occasion, perhaps we should not have such a big reaction to the behavior of wearing kimono. As for this incident, Shi Jun only talked about it here. After all, the police had already come forward to return the kimono. It’s a girl, this can be regarded as an official explanation to the public.
So, what I want to talk to you about today is the private release of high-level Japanese war criminals Yan Xishan who was known as the "Emperor of Shanxi Province" more than 70 years ago, because compared with the "Suzhou Kimono" incident, what Yan Xishan did It is even more shameless and more hated by the people. It is also more important for everyone to remember history and not forget the lessons.
This incident happened after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945. The highest military commander of the Japanese army stationed in Shanxi at that time was Lieutenant General Sumita Rashiro, the commander of the First Army of the Japanese North China Expeditionary Force.
On August 15, 1945, Japanese Emperor Hirohito issued a broadcast, officially announcing that Japan accepted the "Potsdam Declaration" unconditional surrender. At the same time, he also ordered the Japanese troops stationed on the Chinese battlefield to surrender to the nearby Chinese troops.
After Hirohito's broadcast, Japanese troops from various places on the Chinese battlefield began to surrender to the local Kuomintang troops. At that time, there were still more than 60,000 Japanese First Army stationed in Shanxi. It turned out that Chiang Kai-shek was ordered by Yan Xishan to command Disarm these 60,000 people as soon as possible, designate Sumita Urashiro as a war criminal, and ask Yan Xishan to send him to Nanjing for trial as soon as possible.
However, Yan Xishan did not want to do this, because he wanted to take this army as his own, and then help him encircle and suppress the Eighth Route Army in Shanxi. As for Chengtian Raishiro, Yan Xishan also wanted to I hope that I can keep him by my side to serve as my senior military adviser. Firstly, I can better control this Japanese army, and secondly, I can also make suggestions for dealing with the Eighth Route Army. After all, Sumita Raishiro and this Japanese army have a lot of experience in fighting the Eighth Route Army. experience.
Yan Xishan’s little calculation naturally could not escape Chiang Kai-shek’s eyes, because “dealing with the Eighth Route Army” was also the military plan that Chiang Kai-shek would implement after the end of the Anti-Japanese War. So on second thought, Chiang Kai-shek had acquiesced in Yan Xishan’s leaving the Japanese military headquarters. However, Chiang Kai-shek did not dare to agree to keep Sumita Urashiro at first. After all, this man and his troops had done too many evil things in Shanxi. If he was not tried, he would probably arouse the dissatisfaction of the people. The War of Resistance Against Japan had just ended, and it was necessary to stabilize and win over the people. Chiang Kai-shek did not dare to take this risk.
Therefore, he repeatedly ordered Yan Xishan to send Sumita Raishiro to Nanjing for trial. However, it was Yan Xishan who had the final say in Shanxi, and Yan Xishan had been at odds with Chiang Kai-shek since the Central Plains War . As a local emperor, it was normal for Yan Xishan not to listen to Chiang Kai-shek, and Chiang Kai-shek had nothing to do about it.
Therefore, the issue of "Rashiro Sumita's fate" reached a deadlock for a while.
However, reaching a deadlock is not a bad thing for Chiang Kai-shek. If Sumita Urashiro is still unable to be tried by the Chinese people, Chiang Kai-shek can completely shift the responsibility to Yan Xishan. As for whether this person can finally get the punishment he deserves, Chiang Kai-shek He didn't care, what he cared about most now was how to deal with the Eighth Route Army.
For Yan Xishan, Chiang Kai-shek's ambiguous attitude is also a good thing. In this way, he can have enough time to figure out how to keep Sumita Rashiro without attracting the attention of the Chinese people.
In fact, Chiang Kai-shek and Yan Xishan cooperated very tacitly on the matter of retaining the Japanese army and Sumita Raishiro. Chiang Kai-shek was responsible for negotiating with the Eighth Route Army, and Yan Xishan was responsible for creating friction with the Eighth Route Army in Shanxi, and then used the method of "talking and fighting" The approach attracted national attention.
"I want to fight, but not a big fight, and I want to talk, but I can't have a good negotiation." Such rambling negotiations naturally aroused the dissatisfaction of the Chinese people. Large-scale peaceful demonstrations took place in major cities. This situation is also Yan Xishan's worst. Want to see.
The dark clouds that broke out at any time in the civil war successfully diverted the attention of the people, and Yan Xishan could safely invite the war criminal Sumita Rashiro to his headquarters to become his right-hand man to deal with the Eighth Route Army.
It is really ridiculous and ironic to say that a Japanese war criminal whose hands were stained with Chinese blood turned into Yan Xishan’s guest, a war criminal who should have been imprisoned and tried by the Chinese people. Now he lives in a big house with great ostentation, and its level of luxury is no less than that during the Anti-Japanese War. If Sumita Erashiro is a heinous criminal, then Yan Xishan is the culprit for tolerating war criminals, and his behavior is also a crime!
Of course, in addition to Sumita Urashiro, other major generals of the Japanese First Army were also accepted by Yan Xishan, such as Yamaoka Michio, Chief of Staff of the Japanese First Army, and Seiichi Iwata, Chief of Staff. These people later came to advise Yan Xishan on how to deal with the Eighth Route Army, and the Japanese troops they led also transformed into part of the Jin army and appeared on the battlefield of liberation soon after. This has to be said to be an irony.
The Japanese troops who used to do evil on Chinese soil actually joined the Kuomintang troops after their defeat and continued to do all kinds of evil. Therefore, Mr. Shi thought about it again and again. Except for the Kuomintang authorities at that time who could be so "magnanimous" in tolerating this incident, I'm afraid no other political party or regime dares to brag the world's disapproval like this!
Picture丨Raishiro Sumita
So, after Japan's defeat, why did the Japanese remaining on Chinese soil want to stay here instead of returning to Japan to reunite with their families?
Speaking of which, he was still too deeply poisoned by Japanese militarism. When Hirohito announced his surrender, the Chief of Staff of the First Army, Michio Yamaoka, immediately found Yan Xishan to discuss the surrender. Of course, Michio Yamaoka was just He came to Yan Xishan to cooperate under the guise of "surrender".
At that time, the senior Japanese military generals in China, led by Okamura Neiji and Sumita Raishiro, etc., were ambitious. They attempted to keep a large number of well-equipped Japanese troops in China in the name of assisting the Kuomintang troops to deal with the Eighth Route Army, so as to prepare for the future revival of the Japanese Empire. Prepare, this is the "residual" plan of the Japanese army.
To put it bluntly, their ambition to invade China was not shattered with Japan's surrender, or even more so.And Yan Xishan also hoped to keep this army to help him deal with the Communist Party, so after meeting with Yamaoka Daowu, Yan Xishan couldn't wait to say to Yamaoka Daowu:
Although the Japanese army was defeated, they were of excellent quality and hoped to stay. Some Japanese troops were responsible for security work.
I have to say that the Japanese had a very deep understanding of Yan Xishan, the Kuomintang, and China’s political environment at that time. Yan Xishan’s words played into Yamaoka Michio’s wishes. This is why Sumita Erashiro asked Yamaoka Michio to come and talk to Yan. The purpose of Xishan.
Yan Xishan expressed his demands so eagerly, which is equivalent to giving Japanese war criminals such as Sumita Rashiro and Yamaoka Michio a reason to stay in China and avoid trial.
Therefore, the two parties hit it off immediately, and the "cooperation" was considered a success.
refused to make complete statistics. After Sumita Urashiro stayed, he helped Yan Xishan recall more than 10,000 Japanese troops, and this Japanese army did indeed fight for Yan Xishan later. Of course, in the face of the powerful People's Liberation Army, this Japanese army could only act like a chariot and could not escape the fate of destruction. Regarding how this army was formed and how it was destroyed, I will discuss it specifically in the future. Write an article and don’t mention it here.
All in all, Sumita Urushiro and others stayed as they wished. In order to conceal the identities of these war criminals and silence the Chinese people, Yan Xishan also established a special department called the "First Army Service Department" to externally , Yan Xishan claimed that this was a department used to contact, negotiate and receive war criminals with the First Army, but in fact it was an agency that laundered the names of Narushiro Sumita and others. Later, this department was renamed "Taiyuan Japan" according to the instructions of Nanjing. Liaison class", administratively only accepts the command of the Nanjing headquarters. After the
organization was renamed, it also means that this organization has become a formal department under the Nanjing authorities, and this also means that the criminal organization that Yan Xishan whitewashed Sumita Rashiro has successfully put on the legal cloak of the National Government.
According to the memories of a Japanese named Hiroshi Takada who was in charge of related work in the agency at the time, Yan Xishan and the Kuomintang authorities used this liaison team to release many important war criminals.
After being cleared by the liaison team, Yan Xishan did two other things to quell public dissatisfaction. The first was to arrest a Japanese named Kakimoto Zenji who was a policeman and paraded him through the streets of Taiyuan City before being taken to the execution ground. execution.
Is this Kakimoto good at treating injustice? In fact, his death was not unjust. After all, he had also committed evil crimes on Chinese soil. But in a sense, he was not punished for the crimes he had committed, but died for others, for those who were imprisoned. Chengtian Ershiro and others who were saved by Yan Xishan were killed. From this aspect, his death was somewhat unfair.
After Kakimoto Zenji was executed, for the sake of safety, Yan Xishan did the second thing, that is, he also executed Shiraiwa Sadao, who served as the army squadron leader in Dai County, Shanxi. During his time in China, Shiraiwa Sadao committed many crimes, and the local people were all He hated him so much that he even nicknamed him "White Ghost", which shows how cruel and bloody this man was back then.
After Bai Yandingfu was executed, the people of Shanxi began to have a good impression of Yan Xishan. Of course, this was all Yan Xishan's show for the innocent and simple people.
After doing these two things, Sumita Rashiro and others can sit back and relax by Yan Xishan's side, because no one will be suspicious of Yan Xishan, and no one will target Sumita Rashiro again.
Although at the beginning, Nanjing had asked Sumita to go to Nanjing for trial, but with the help of Yan Xishan, Sumita refused to go to Nanjing on the grounds of illness, and Nanjing also sent interrogators to Shanxi for show. Review Sumita Erashiro.
According to the memories of people around Sumita Raishiro, when the news of Nanjing’s dispatch reached Taiyuan, Taiyuan made preparations quickly. They moved Sumita Raishiro to a dilapidated house, causing him to be placed under “house arrest” Because the place where Sumita Rashiro usually lives is too luxurious, with all kinds of imported carpets, sofas, and decorations. How does this look like a place where a war criminal should live?
Of course, the interrogators who came from Nanjing were just looking around and taking a "tour at public expense", and the so-called interrogation of Sumita Rashiro was just a show.
In short, after the defeat of Japan, Sumita Rashiro lived a good life for nearly three years under the protection of Yan Xishan. Until the end of 1948, with Yan Xishan's complete defeat in Shanxi, Yamaoka was responsible for clearing Sumita Rashiro's charges. Michio fled back to Japan ahead of schedule, but before leaving, he handed over the task of helping Sumita Urushiro escape to his deputy Iwata Seiichi and the aforementioned Hiroshi Takada.
Originally, Sumita Rashiro could have fled back to Japan with Yamaoka Michio at this time, but in the face of the complete defeat of the Kuomintang troops, Sumita Rashiro did not give up the "residual" plan. He still fantasized about being able to defeat the People's Liberation Army and then restore the country. Imperial Japanese rule in China.
Therefore, after Yan Xishan's defeat Jinzhong he readily accepted Yan Xishan's request to serve as the supreme commander of the Japanese troops in Jin. This actually allowed Sumita Raishiro to regain control of the former army after three years. subordinates.
After accepting Yan Xishan's appointment, Sumita Raishiro openly set up a headquarters in Taiyuan. In order to defeat the People's Liberation Army, he hung up in his office all the information and materials about the People's Liberation Army collected by the Japanese and Jin armies over the years. Sumita Raishiro was also a staff officer. They stayed up all night studying ways to deal with the People's Liberation Army.
However, in front of the People's Liberation Army, all this was just a flash in the pan. In November, the Tenth Corps, the main force of the Japanese army in Shanxi, was violently attacked by the People's Liberation Army at the Dongshan position and was almost wiped out.
The disastrous defeat of the 10th Corps also announced the complete destruction of the Japanese army in China, and also heralded the complete failure of the "residual" plan of senior Japanese generals such as Narushiro Sumita.
This time, Sumita Erashiro also gave up completely, and he began to plan to escape from China and return to Japan.
I have to say that it was a very appropriate time for Sumita Rashiro to choose this period to escape, because at this time Taiyuan City was almost surrounded by the People's Liberation Army. Taiyuan was already in the pocket of the People's Liberation Army, so not only Sumita Rashi Shiro, even Yan Xishan, the local emperor of Shanxi, had to make early plans to escape from Shanxi.
Therefore, there would not be much resistance for Sumita Urashiro to choose to escape at this time. After all, the Kuomintang officials were preparing for escape at this time. Who would care about a Japanese?
So, on the eve of the liberation of Taiyuan, Sumita Raishiro and others first fled to Shanghai by plane, and then met in Shanghai with Yan Xishan, who subsequently escaped from Taiyuan. With the help of Yan Xishan, they flew on a special plane of the United States Rehabilitation and Relief Administration. Return to Japan.
In this way, Sumita Urashiro, the chief culprit of the invasion of Shanxi, successfully escaped the trial of the Chinese people, and his escape was facilitated by Yan Xishan.
Perhaps Yan Xishan was also worried that if Sumita Urashiro was tried by the Chinese people, the peace between them would be revealed, so he would help Sumita Urashiro escape back to Japan at all costs!
In any case, as a Chinese, Yan Xishan is so unscrupulous in shielding Japanese war criminals that he is destined to be nailed to the pillar of shame in history.
It’s a pity that Sumita Urashiro committed so many heinous crimes, but he finally had a good death and died in 1979. Hateful, hateful!
