JINAN, April 4 (Xinhua) — While the Tomb-Sweeping Day is drawing near and people clean gravesites on this traditional occasion for paying respect to the deceased, Wang Zhongxiang plans to continue his own way of commemoration.
\”I have promised some children to talk about the Huaihai Campaign in the community square on the Tomb-Sweeping Day, and I have to keep my word,\” said the 74-year-old man who is dearly called the \”story grandpa\” by local children. The Huaihai Campaign was a decisive battle ahead of the founding of the People\’s Republic of China.
Wang\’s father was a war hero who died in battle in 1949, his mother was also a soldier. He was raised in Liaocheng City in east China\’s Shandong Province and grew up listening to stories about the war.
An important base of the revolution led by the Communist Party of China, Liaocheng is rich in wartime stories. In June 2015, Wang, retired from a local company, embarked on a campaign of spreading such stories, because \”war heroes should not be forgotten.\”
He spent his own money to make more than 100 display panels about that history. Local people can often see a gray-haired grandpa, who stops at various locations to tell his stories, riding a tricycle loaded with these panels. \”I am telling this history to our next generation,\” he always explains.
Wang showed Xinhua an old map close to falling apart, which he carries with him everywhere he visits. Pointing at a town named Houying, Wang said that in 2016 he learned from documents that there were soldiers from Houying who died in the Battle of Kaifeng before China\’s liberation. But he didn\’t find a record of the names of these soldiers.
\”I then decided to collect their information,\” the man recalled. \”These war heroes deserved to be known.\”
It was by no means an easy task, considering the passing of time and changes in local jurisdictions. He didn\’t drive and did not use navigation APP to guide the way. Relying solely on the map, he rode on the tricycle and visited 122 villages, circling each of them on the map afterwards as a reminder.
\”I knocked on each and every one of the doors to ask for information about the deceased heroes,\” Wang said. \”Some of their relatives had absolutely no idea that they were war heroes, and some others could not enjoy the beneifits as heroes\’ relatives because their identities were not ascertained.\”
Wang knew that his work was meaningful.
In four years the man traveled about 5,000 kilometers in total, and found evidence for 154 heroes from Liaocheng who died in the Battle of Kaifeng but remained unknown throughout the years.
He reported his findings to local authorities of veteran affairs in October 2019. The next year 154 names were added to the memorial wall in the Kaifeng Martyrs\’ Cemetery.
\”I have always remembered that day, when the daughter of a war hero hugged me and cried,\” Wang said. \”She told me that finally she knew where to go when she wanted to mourn for her father.\”
The information he collected also became stories for the children.
\”He is called the \’story grandpa\’ by children here,\” said Tian Dongwen, a teacher from the Central Primary School of Houying Town. \”Each time the \’story grandpa\’ arrives, children flock to the school gate to greet him.\”
Wang often has a big smile when he talks to the children, but at the emotional parts of the stories, both the narrator and the listeners shed tears.
To date, Wang has spent more than 200,000 yuan (about 29,060 U.S. dollars) on his mission, visited 125 primary and middle schools and more than 100,000 people have listened to his stories. About 300 volunteers have been attracted to join him.
He has been suffering from uremia, and needs dialysis every week. But the disease doesn\’t prevent him from continuing his dream.
Talking about his own story, the old man was passionate. \”After those children grow up, they will tell the stories to their children, so that the history will be forever remembered.\”