This essay is the last article in the first volume of "Reminiscences of Lost Time". Zhu Ziqing describes a historical event he experienced - the March 18th Massacre. In order to understand the ins and outs of this incident, I specifically consulted some historical information.
On March 12, 1926, during the battle between Feng Yuxiang's National Army and Fengjun , two Japanese warships escorted warship into Dagukou of and shelled the National Army , causing more than ten casualties among the defenders. The Nationalist Army fired back in self-defense and drove the Japanese warship out of Dagu Pass. Afterwards, Japan believed that the National Army had violated the " Xinchou Treaty", and together with the ministers of eight countries including Britain, the United States, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Spain, on the 16th, they issued an ultimatum to the Beiyang warlord Duan Qirui's government. , put forward a request to dismantle defense facilities in Dagukou, and ordered a reply within 48 hours, otherwise it would be resolved by force. At the same time, various countries sent warships to gather in Dagukou to threaten the Beiyang government with force.
After the "Dagukou Incident" occurred, under the leadership of the Northern District Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Beijing Executive Committee of the Kuomintang, more than 5,000 students from Beijing, led by Li Dazhao and others, held a rally in Tiananmen on the 18th and passed the Eight-Power Ultimatum , expel the imperialist ministers, immediately withdraw foreign warships stationed in Tianjin, and organize a grand anti-imperialist alliance of Beijing citizens. After the meeting, the masses held a demonstration and petition, but were massacred by Duan Qirui's guards in front of the ruling government, killing 47 people and injuring 199 others. The next day, the ruling government ordered the seizure of the Kuomintang City Party Headquarters and the Sino-Russian University, and 50 people including Li Dazhao, Xu Qian and others were wanted.
Zhu Ziqing also participated in the mass demonstrations at that time and witnessed with his own eyes how the ruling government regarded the lives of the people as nothing. Not only did they shoot wildly at the marchers, they also used machetes and wooden sticks to beat and rob people, and even stripped the dead of both men and women naked. Nine-tenths of the victims this time were students, and some of them may be familiar to us, such as Liu Hezhen in Lu Xun's "In Memory of Mr. Liu Hezhen" and Wei Jie San in Zhu Ziqing's "Mourning for the Three Lords Wei Jie".
Zhu Ziqing escaped from the massacre by the ruling government after several hardships of life and death. When he saw that the records in many newspapers were inconsistent with the facts, he decided to write this article, just to let more people know the truth of the tragedy. When I read the article, I felt as if I was actually there. I seemed to see the tragic death of my compatriots who were being massacred. I heard the gunshots and painful groans, which made me feel the horror of the matter even more. If it weren’t for so many patriotic young students and people of insight who are not afraid of sacrifice and continue to work hard, we would not have our New China.
I believe that history and the people will never forget those warriors who shed blood and sacrificed their lives for the country and the nation. Salute to the warriors!
