[For the sake of national rejuvenation, the book of heroes and martyrs]

Xinhua News Agency, Kunming, November 17 (Reporter Xu Wanhu) In the national war of resistance against Japanese aggression, overseas Chinese fought side by side with the people of the motherland, presenting an unprecedented end of the anti Japanese and national salvation mission, and countless heroic figures and deeds emerged. Nanyang Overseas Chinese Mechanic (referred to as "Nanyang Overseas Chinese Mechanic") Returning Service Corps is a typical example.

On September 8, 2015, the celebration of the Monument to the Anti Japanese War of Nanyang Overseas Chinese Machinists was held in Xishan Forest Park, Kunming. Shen Jizhong

After the outbreak of the comprehensive war of resistance against Japan, important coastal ports were basically occupied, and the Northwest Highway and Yunnan Vietnam Railway were cut off successively. Through the painstaking efforts of the people of all ethnic groups in western Yunnan, China built a Yunnan Myanmar highway from Kunming to Myanmar in August 1938, which became an important international transportation channel for China to connect with the outside world at that time. It not only needed to rush to transport military supplies, but also to transport industrial production materials and living goods of the people in the rear area.

After the completion of the Yunnan Myanmar Highway, skilled drivers and technicians are in short supply. Mr. Chen Jiageng, a famous patriotic overseas Chinese leader, learned that the motherland needed a large number of car drivers and repair personnel, and issued the sixth notice of the South Overseas Chinese Association, calling on young drivers and technicians among overseas Chinese to return to China to serve and save the country from danger. The overseas Chinese from Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, India and other countries responded enthusiastically. More than 3000 overseas Chinese pilots returned to the motherland in 1939 in nine batches to participate in the anti Japanese war, and put into the anti Japanese transportation work on the Yunnan Myanmar highway, known as the "overseas Chinese pilots returning home service group".

At that time, the Yunnan Burma Road was a simple road that was urgently repaired after the outbreak of the War of Resistance against Japan. The road was extremely steep, crossing high mountains and steep mountains such as Gaoligong Mountain and rapids such as Nujiang River, Lancang River and Yangbi River. Luo Kaihu, an old mechanic, once recalled: "The most dangerous road is the South Tianmen Gate, which is narrow and steep. There is a cliff next to it, and you can't see the end. You must have a springboard on the car. When you meet a narrow road, you can lay it at any time to let the wheels fly through."

The miasma is rampant in many sections of the road, and the indiscriminate bombing by Japanese aircraft is even more common. The sacrifice rate of the pilots is high. It was under such dangerous conditions that the South Chinese pilots worked day and night to deliver materials for the War of Resistance. Ni Hongsheng, an overseas Chinese mechanic, once wrote a poem: "When returning from overseas, he has no ambition to pay, and the wind and the dust are all over the mountains. The wheel never stops day and night, and he will never stop until the mountains and rivers are restored!"

According to statistics, from 1939 to 1942, about 500000 tons of military supplies were rushed along the Yunnan Burma Road, most of which were transported by the overseas Chinese pilots who made important contributions to the War of Resistance against Japan, reflecting the lofty patriotism of overseas Chinese who shared the same breath and destiny with their motherland.

In 1985, the Yunnan Provincial Government built a "Monument to the Resistance Against Japan of the Southern Overseas Chinese Machinists". The inscription read: "There were more than 3000 Southern Overseas Chinese Machinists who returned to China to serve in those years. More than 1000 people died for their country because of war, traffic accidents and diseases, and more than 1000 people returned to their countries of residence after the war, while the remaining 1000 people remained..."

In recent years, in order to remember this history, Kunming City, Yunnan Province has set up a special "Historical and Cultural Community of Southern Overseas Chinese Machinists" to vividly reproduce the story of the returning service group of southern overseas Chinese Machinists who gave up their lives and forgot to die by means of graphics, text, sound and photoelectric means. In addition, the local government also speeded up the rescue of the "Southern Overseas Chinese Machinist Files" that truly reflected this history.

Duan Lijuan, deputy director of the Archives Bureau of Yunnan Province, introduced that, after active application, in 2002, "the transport archives of overseas Chinese machinists supporting the Anti Japanese War" was included in the first batch of "Chinese Archives and Documents Heritage List"; In May this year, "Nanqiao Mechanic Files" was successfully listed in the Memory of the World Asia Pacific Directory. "We hope that through rescue, protection and utilization, we can better record this patriotic movement, which is the most centralized, organized and experienced in the history of overseas Chinese."

Xu Hongji, a descendant of the Nanqiao mechanic, said that when the parents gave up their relatively good lives and returned home to devote themselves to the arduous cause of the War of Resistance, their pure hearts were very impressive and awe inspiring. "We will certainly inherit and carry forward the patriotism of our ancestors and strive for national rejuvenation."

Guangming Daily (November 18, 2018, 4th Edition)