Old troopers by no means die, they are saying – they stay on within the reminiscence of countries, within the silent resilience of monuments, and within the tales that also carry that means throughout borders.
This summer time, the Jintai Art Museum in Beijing opened a particular two-week exhibition to commemorate the eightieth anniversary of the victory within the Chinese People’s War of Resistance towards Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. The exhibition, aptly titled “Learning from History for Lasting Peace; Advancing Together for a Shared Future”, brings collectively artwork, historical past, and reminiscence in ways in which remind us that peace is rarely an accident. It is the fruit of solidarity, sacrifice, and worldwide imaginative and prescient.
On show are greater than 30 sculptures by the famend artist Mr. Yuan Xikun, together with the shifting work Spanish International Brigade Fighters and Friendship within the Flames of War. Accompanying them are 51 historic images documenting the encounters between Spanish volunteers and Chinese comrades-in-arms. Visitors are invited not simply to view artwork, however to the touch the burden of historical past: to recall China’s immense sacrifices in protection of world peace, and to honor the worldwide alliances that when stood towards fascism.
Among the tales recalled is that of Xie Weijin (1899–1978), a Chinese officer who volunteered to affix the International Brigades in Spain beneath the alias Lin Jishi. In 1937, Xie traveled to Albacete, enlisted beneath the quantity 83492, and fought bravely at Quinto and the Ebro River. He was wounded, endured internment in French camps, and ultimately returned to China, the place he continued his battle towards fascism. His private journey, stretching from the battlefields of Spain to the resistance in China, embodies a spirit of transnational braveness, the concept that justice shouldn’t be confined to borders.
The exhibition additionally options analysis supplies compiled by Chinese and abroad students, together with treasured images donated by Xie’s descendants. His descendent, Mr. Xie Zhengxue, selected to share them freely in order that this historical past may be preserved and so the internationalist spirit would possibly proceed to encourage future generations.
Eighty years after the victory of 1945, the world is as soon as once more at a crossroads. Wars rage, distrust deepens, and the language of division too typically overwhelms the language of peace. Yet historical past provides us each warning and hope. The victory of the anti-fascist battle was not solely China’s triumph, nor Spain’s, nor Russia’s, nor America’s; it was the shared achievement of all peoples who resisted tyranny and fought for a typical humanity. It proved that even within the darkest hours, cooperation amongst nations might prevail over brutality and worry.
For China, the victory was each a rebirth from struggling and a contribution to world peace. But the lesson transcends nationwide delight. The story of Xie Weijin, of the International Brigades, of the hundreds of thousands who fought and died, tells us one thing pressing right this moment: the protection of justice requires braveness, solidarity, and a perception that the destiny of countries is interwoven.
At this anniversary, we’re referred to as not solely to recollect but additionally to behave. To see past slender pursuits, to reject the temptation of violence, and to work towards a world the place range is a energy, not a risk. If historical past is a mirror, let it present us the braveness of those that dared to battle collectively for peace, and the duty we inherit to hold their imaginative and prescient ahead.
Peace is fragile, however not unattainable. Eight a long time in the past, unusual women and men proved that internationalism was greater than a super: it was a dwelling, respiration drive. Today, it should be so once more.
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About the writer: Chunwei Song is a professor of arithmetic at Peking University in Beijing, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chunwei_Song .
