Source: China News Network
(Sichuan United Front Workers Talk about United Front Workers) Li Wanzheng, former chairman of the Yibin Municipal Committee of the Democratic League: Excavate the history of Lizhuang Anti-Japanese War and carry forward the feelings of family and country of ancestors
China News Network Chengdu, April 12 (Shan Peng) Lizhuang Ancient Town located in Yibin City, Sichuan Province is located on the Yangtze River. It has a history of more than 1,400 years. It has preserved the layout and style of the Ming and Qing ancient towns and many ancient buildings with southern Sichuan characteristics. This town with many cultural relics and historical sites and a collection of cultural landscapes has written an admirable chapter in the history of my country's War of Resistance Against Japan. Li Wanzheng, former vice chairman of the Yibin Municipal CPPCC and former chairman of the Yibin Municipal Committee of the China Democratic League, was born in 1955. He is the excavator and disseminator of this history.
In the past 20 years, as an expert in studying the history of the Lizhuang Anti-Japanese War, Li Wanzheng has often been responsible for explaining the Lizhuang Anti-Japanese War culture in major events. He hopes that contemporary young people will not forget history and remember the efforts and sacrifices made by intellectuals to inherit the historical and cultural heritage of the Chinese nation under difficult conditions.
When talking about Li Zhuang’s history of the War of Resistance Against Japan, an unavoidable topic is the “love” between Tongji University and Li Zhuang Ancient Town. "Before the epidemic, Tongji University arranged teachers and students to come to Lizhuang Ancient Town for traditional education every year. They often invited me to give explanations and tell teachers and students about the history of Tongji University in Lizhuang. Tongji University's development to its current level is inseparable from this history in Lizhuang," said Li Wanzheng.
According to Li Wanzheng, after the outbreak of the Battle of Shanghai in 1937, teachers and students of Tongji University were forced to move westward and flee. They first ran a short period of school in Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Guangxi, and finally arrived in Kunming around the Spring Festival in 1939. However, due to frequent bombing of Japanese aircraft, Tongji University has many difficulties in carrying out teaching work, and even teachers and students were injured and killed in the bombing. In July 1940, Zhou Junshi, then president of Tongji University, turned his attention to Sichuan, hoping to find a place in Sichuan where students can not be bombed by Japanese aircraft and allow students to study safely. At that time, Li Zhuang sent a 16-word telegram to Tongji University - "Tongda moved to Sichuan, Li Zhuang welcomes it, everything is needed, local supply." After Tongji University sent someone to Lizhuang for inspection, it decided to move the school to Lizhuang.
Li Wanzheng said, "During the War of Resistance Against Japan, the conditions in Lizhuang were also very difficult, and the people could not eat enough or wear warm clothes. When Tongji University came here, there were more than 3,000 teachers and students, and Lizhuang had only more than 3,000 people in total. In order to support Tongji University to continue running schools, many ordinary people gave their housing to teachers and students, and even used temples as teaching venues."
Those who moved to Lizhuang from thousands of miles to Tongji University were also the former Preparatory Office of the National Central Museum, the former Historical Language Institute of the Central Academy of Research, and the former China Construction Society. "In Lizhuang, our country's cultural relics and historical classics were well preserved. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, Lizhuang became a place for the protection and inheritance of the history and culture of the Chinese nation." When talking about that period of history, Li Wanzheng was extremely moved.
Li Wanzheng (right) attended the event of the Yibin Municipal Committee of the China Democratic League. Respondent provided by
In 2005, Li Wanzheng received a group of experts from the Sichuan Provincial Museum of Culture and History who went to Lizhuang Ancient Town to investigate. "These experts are more straightforward and usually point out historical and cultural issues mercilessly. At that time, Lizhuang Ancient Town was not fully protected and developed. I was still quite nervous when facing them." Li Wanzheng recalled that the first stop he took the experts was the former site of the Institute of History and Languages of the Central Academy of Research. "There is a stone tablet with 'high mountains and long waters', engraved on it with the 'The Inscription of Li Zhuang Lifeng', which records the deep friendship between dozens of experts and scholars from the former Institute of History and Language of the Central Academy of Sciences, the former National Central Museum Preparatory Office and the former China Construction Society and the people of Li Zhuang."
In 2014, Li Wanzheng, who served as the vice chairman of the Yibin Municipal CPPCC, suggested to relevant units to expand the exhibition area of Li Zhuang Ancient Town. "At that time, there was only one exhibition hall in Li Zhuang Ancient Town. The former Institute of History and Language of the Central Academy of Sciences and the former China Construction Society were all concentrated on the former site of the preparatory office of the National Central Museum. The exhibition hall capacity was too small to show the full picture of Li Zhuang's historical and cultural protection of the Chinese nation during the War of Resistance Against Japan. If each unit could be displayed independently, it would be better to show the achievements they made in Li Zhuang." The suggestion was quickly adopted, and the corresponding exhibition area was also expanded.
For a long time, Lizhuang Ancient Town has played a unique role in cross-strait exchanges. Li Wanzheng introduced that since 1988, the Yibin Municipal Committee of the China Democratic League and Taiwan have jointly held a cross-strait calligraphy and painting art exchange meeting or exhibition of works sent to each other every year, and it has not been interrupted. Today, Lizhuang Ancient Town has also been approved to establish the "Cross-Strait Exchange Base" and "China Overseas Chinese International Cultural Exchange Base".
Li Wanzheng, former vice chairman of the Yibin Municipal CPPCC and former chairman of the Yibin Municipal Committee of the China Democratic League. Photo by Wang Lei
In October 2016, Liu Zhaoxuan, former president of the Taiwan Chinese Culture Association, and his party came to Yibin to visit. During this period, Li Wanzheng accompanied Liu Zhaoxuan and his party to inspect the ancient town of Lizhuang and introduced the history of the former Institute of History and Language of the Central Academy of Research and the former National Central Museum, as well as the former China Construction Society and Tongji University in Lizhuang. Among the experts who came to Lizhuang during the Anti-Japanese War were Liu Zhaoxuan’s former teacher Chen Pan. Li Wanzheng said that Liu Zhaoxuan highly praised Li Zhuang for the intact preservation of the Anti-Japanese War culture, and admired the national spirit of the Li Zhuang people to sacrifice personal and clan interests to protect Chinese culture when the national crisis occurred. Finally, Liu Zhaoxuan wrote "The beacon welcomes you, there is no white man here" to evaluate the family and country feelings of the people of Lizhuang.
"Digging and sorting out this history is to let our descendants always remember those ancestors who have contributed to the protection and continuation of Chinese civilization, and let their feelings of family and country be passed on forever." Li Wanzheng said so. (End)
