Who would have thought that in a small Japanese country in a foreign country, there were 10 Chinese martyrs buried.
Their tombs are overgrown with weeds, and no one has cared about them for a hundred years.
What is even more infuriating is that the word "captive" is engraved on the tombstone, which makes people feel angry when they see it.
Little do you know that behind these tombs is the decline and rise of a great country.
Chinese martyr buried in Japan
One weekend in 2013, Yang Haijia, who was studying in Japan, went to the outskirts of Japan as usual.
Yang Haijia studied history research in Japan, so when he had no classes, he liked to wander around to learn about Japan's customs and local history.
Unexpectedly, during the game, Yang Haijia accidentally made a major discovery.
He walked into a cemetery— "Santayama Army Cemetery" .
This cemetery was built in 1987. The burials are basically the officers and soldiers who died in Japan during World War II .
Yang Haijia didn't want to stay for long after learning about it. After all, these people who Japan regards as heroes are enemies to the Chinese.
It is not advisable to stay here for a long time, but just as Yang Haijia was about to leave, a row of tombstones in the corner attracted his attention.
The weeds in front of these tombs almost covered the tombstones. It was obvious that few people took care of them, which formed a sharp contrast with the neat tombstones in front.
Curiosity tended to Yang Haijia, but the words on the tombstone surprised him.
I saw the words "The Tomb of Liu Hanzhong of the Qing Dynasty" engraved on the tombstone.
Yang Haijia looked around carefully and found that there were more than ten tombs like this in this cemetery.
Obviously, this is the tomb of the Chinese in the Qing Dynasty period.
In addition to Liu Hanzhong, there are also the names of the four people Li Jinfu, Yang Yongkuan, Lv Wenfeng and Liu Qide that can be seen clearly, and the rest are already blurred.
Yang Haijia also found that these tombstones have a common feature, with two words in the middle that have traces of being obviously erased.
What are the words erased? Why is it erased?
Why did these Chinese come to Japan during the Qing Dynasty? Why were he buried here?
One by one, one question lingers in Yang Haijia’s heart.
The tragic Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895
Chinese student Yang Haijia accidentally discovered more than 10 tombs of Chinese martyrs in Japan.
In order to find out the origin of these tombs, Yang Haijia began to check various information online, and visited everywhere, asking local Japanese elderly people, and then gradually understood the whole story.
In the late Qing Dynasty, China's national strength was far behind the world. Western powers used long spears and short cannons to open China's door, and they all wanted to come to China to get a share.
In order to maintain the comrades of the Qing government, under the leadership of Li Hongzhang and others, the Westernization Movement was launched vigorously.
In order to enhance the sea defense power, Li Hongzhang created Beiyang Navy and spent a huge amount of money to purchase more than 10 warships from abroad.
The Qing government at that time had just been beaten and was willing to spend money, and the Beiyang Navy gradually grew stronger.
Before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Japan had suffered losses under the Beiyang Navy, which left a deep psychological shadow on them.
From then on, Japan began to vigorously develop its navy. In order to buy warships, the emperor of Japan took the lead in saving money.
At this time, Cixi embezzled military funds to build Summer Palace in order to celebrate his 60th birthday.
Originally, Britain tailored a warship for the Qing government, but the money for purchasing the warship was used by Cixi to hold a birthday party.
Finally, Japan bought the warship with all its strength, which is Yoshino .
In the later Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Yoshino severely damaged the Beiyang Navy at sea, and several warships were destroyed by it.
In order to solve the Yoshino and win a glimmer of vitality for the Beiyang Navy, Deng Shichang directed the Zhiyuan to crash into the Yoshino and wanted to die with it.
However, Zhiyuan was hit by torpedo , and an explosion occurred, and Deng Shichang died for his country.
In this Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Qing government invested 630,000 troops, but still did not escape the fate of defeat, and the Beiyang Navy was wiped out.
Beijing Navy soldiers were killed, and more than 2,000 Qing troops were captured by Japan.
Later, with the signing of the " Treaty of Shimonoseki ", the Qing government ceded land and paid compensation, and most of the prisoners were also released.
But at this time, Japan kept a hand and secretly left 10 prisoners in order to spy on the intelligence of our army.
The Japanese tortured these 10 prisoners and forced them to reveal the situation of our army.
What they did not expect was that these Qing troops suffered all the torture and did not have a single word of information from our country.
The Japanese were angry and felt that they had no use value, so they brutally killed them and buried them in the "Sanayama Army Cemetery".
In order to vent their anger and humiliate China, they deliberately engraved the words "captive" on the tombstones of these 10 Qing soldiers. These are the two words erased on the tombstones.
After this, the remains of these 10 martyrs have been lying quietly in a foreign country for more than 100 years.
For more than 100 years, no one knew that they were buried here, and no one came to pay tribute to them.
If it weren't for Yang Haijia's discovery, they wouldn't know when they would be known to the world.
But there is another problem that bothers everyone. Since the Japanese deliberately engraved the word "captive" on the tombstone, why did they erase it? Are they trying to cover up something?
"humiliation" erased
Chinese student Yang Haijia accidentally discovered more than 10 tombs of Chinese martyrs in Japan, with the words "captive" engraved on the tombstone.
And behind these two words is also a testimony of China's past years from being bullied to being unneglected.
In August 1945, Japan announced its unconditional surrender.
Afterwards, China specially sent people to Japan to pursue items plundered by the Japanese army in Sino-Japanese War .
This includes the iron anchors on the two warships "Zhenyuan" and "Jingyuan".
Before and after the " Jingyuan " was shot, it was transported back to China by Japan as a spoil. After dismantling, it was placed in Ueno Park for display, and there was also an inscription engraved to demonstrate their victory.
Under the stake of the Chinese government, Japan finally agreed to return it and demolished the insulting Chinese insults.
And while China negotiated with Japan, the staff of the "Sanayama Army Cemetery" were frightened when they saw the Chinese government so tough.
They were afraid that the tomb of the Beiyang Navy soldiers in the park would be discovered, so they reported it to the Japanese government, and then secretly erased the word "captive" on the tombstone and sealed it with cement again.
These Beiyang Navy soldiers have been lying in foreign countries for a hundred years.
Later, after this incident was exposed, it attracted widespread attention at home and abroad, and people in China condemned Japan's shameless behavior.
In the Tengchong National Cemetery, Yunnan, there is a tomb called "Watsuka", where five Japanese officers from the Anti-Japanese War were buried.
They were buried in the posture of their hands being tied and kneeling.
After learning about it, Japan strongly condemned my country, demanding that China dismantle "Yataka" and return the bodies of the unknown Japanese officer.
Of course, our country will not agree, because this is what they must bear and should be responsible for their actions.
Japan was clamoring for joy, why didn’t I expect the remains of my Chinese soldiers first!
At the same time, many Chinese students studying in Japan also learned about this. They came to the "Sanayama Army Cemetery" themselves, cleared the weeds in front of the tomb, wiped the tombstone bit by bit, and placed flowers to commemorate the spirits of these martyrs in heaven.
To this day, many international students go back to visit their graves every year, hoping that they can return to their roots as soon as possible and their souls will return to their hometown.
