Shelling of Japanese army that awakened Cao Yukun from his dream
74 years ago still echoes in the ears of the 86-year-old
man.??
On the night of September 18, 1931, Cao, then a 12 years old
boy, found himself awakened in chaos of neighborhood people
flurried by shots of bombs and guns from the location of the
Chinese military camp at Beidaying of Shenyang, now capital of
northeast China's Liaoning Province.
Local people guessed that the attack by Japanese army eventually
broke out. Days ago, he and other neighbors had found out that
Japanese soldiers were deploying tanks and guns outside the city
under the disguise of drilling "wells."
Cao later known what he saw was a scene of historical
significance. On September 18, 1931, Japanese troops blew up a
section of the Dalian--Harbin Railway near Shenyang, then accused
the Chinese troops of sabotage as a pretext and bombarded the
barracks of the Chinese troops near Shenyang the same evening, thus
starting massive armed invasion against northeast china.
Historians later called the event "September 18 Incident." Japan
from then on launched all-out war against China for the ensuing 14
years.
Almost seven decades have been elapsed. The old man, however,
can still remember the day was the seventh day of the eighth month
in China's lunar calendar, just a week before the traditional Moon
Festival, usually a holiday for family reunion.
But Cao's father, Cao Mengjiu, who was then a secretary at the
province's police department, asked the whole family to evacuate
from Shenyang. Amidst changeable situation and uncertainties, what
was sure in heart of the policeman was the target of the Japanese
army after the seemingly "sudden incident": the occupation over
China's vast northeast territory.
The father was informed that the Japanese army took over not
only the Chinese military camp but also the telegraph office, the
arsenal and the airport.
The family fled from Shenyang to Xifeng County, where the
family's relatives lived and the Japanese forces had not spread
their claw yet. Cao's father had to say goodbye to the family and
depart from Xifeng for Jinzhou, the temporary residence of the
provincial government.
Archive exposed after the World War II showed the "incident" was
well plotted by the Japanese army as prelude of its all-out
invasion. "They even worked out an excuse for their long planned
operation," he said, referring to the Japanese army's blast of a
Japan-controlled local railway near the city at night.
"But all grown-ups could see through the conspiracy at that time
and told us it was nothing but a trick of a thief crying 'Stop,
thief!', as a Chinese saying goes," Cao said.
The attack of Shenyang unveiled the 14-year invasion of China.
In less than six months after seizing Shenyang, the Japanese army
occupied China's whole northeastern territory, nowadays Liaoning,
Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces.
The incident was also the beginning of hard years for Chinese
nationals living in the northeast. On September 20, the Japanese
army put up notifications in Shenyang, warning Chinese residents
"to keep order".
But even children, who could pose no threat to the Japanese army
at all, still fell victim to the invaders.
A child was stabbed to death when he ran to a Japanese soldier
who was on patrol in the street to have a touch of his uniform just
out of curiosity, said Sun Shizhen, who was a year younger than
Cao.
"I saw the Japanese soldier sneer when he raised the wretched
child up with his bayonet," said Sun.
The old man said that he is still haunted by the bloody scene
even today.
When a couple of newly weds passed the city gates, the Japanese
soldiers asked the bride to fully undress for "security check".
"The Japanese guards first bayoneted the disobedient groom, then
the raged bride," Sun recalled another atrocity committed by the
Japanese soldiers.
Li Shu, former deputy director of the cultural bureau of
Shenyang, lived near Beishichang, or the north market, when the
Japanese army occupied the city. The 77-year-old man said that the
once hustling and bustling market turned out to become an open
mortuary, where many bodies of Chinese people killed by the
Japanese army were laid.
The Japanese cruelties could be deleted from the Japanese
history book, but it will live in the memory of all people who saw
the crime, said these three old witnesses.
"History cannot be erased," Li said.
(Xinhua News Agency June 13, 2005)