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text | yaoyao

in september 2021, a group sculpture created by li xiangqun, president of the lu xun academy of fine arts, is undergoing final installation at the shenyang september 18th history museum. the group sculpture consists of nine people, some wearing gowns and some wearing suits.

▲group sculpture "nine gentlemen"

at first glance, it can be seen that almost all of them are upper-class people. among them are bankers, financiers, medical scientists, and educators. in the republic of china society where the illiteracy rate was over 80% at the time, they understood knowledge, technology, and foreigners. as long as they were a little more "worldly-wise" when facing the current situation, they would definitely be a group of people with great potential and a bright future.

however, it was these people who risked their lives and made the world face the fact of japanese invasion of china for the first time.

please note that it was not the "sino-japanese war", nor the bullshit "japanese self-defense", nor the "bringing democracy to the northeast", but invasion, and this obvious characterization was brought about by these nine people fighting to their deaths.

on the evening of september 18, 1931, the japanese kwantung army stationed in the northeast ordered the railway "garrison" to blow up the section of the south manchuria railway near liutiaohu in shenyang, and began to bombard the beidaying of the northeast army of china on the pretext of "the chinese destroying the railway." under this obvious provocation, chiang kai-shek demonstrated his amazing leadership qualities as a leader and consistently adhered to the heroic and tenacious strategy of never resisting.the beidaying defenders, with all their weapons stored in the warehouse, were defeated by the japanese army, which numbered less than one-tenth of theirs.

unlike the september 18th incident every year, when we hear the sirens,"no resistance, no movement, put the guns in the warehouse, stand up and die, everyone will die for the country", which were all the orders representing chiang's will received by the northeast army on the day of september 18th.

more than 300 northeast army soldiers died in humiliation in beidaying.is there anything more frustrating in this world than having to fight back against foreign invasion illegally?

beidaying is just the beginning.

"no matter how the japanese army provokes trouble in the northeast, we should not resist and avoid conflict."

"the japanese army is about to attack in the northeast. we are not strong enough to fight. i think the only way is to ask the league of nations to uphold justice and resolve the issue peacefully. the main reason i met with you (zhang) this time is to ask you to strictly order the entire northeast army not to resist when encountering japanese attacks."

"the japanese military's actions are just ordinary and novelty-seeking. in order to prevent the incident from escalating, we will absolutely adopt a non-resistance policy."

"now that the japanese side is becoming increasingly active in our diplomacy, we should be extremely cautious in dealing with everything. no matter how the japanese try to cause trouble, we must be extremely tolerant and must not resist them, which would lead to trouble. i hope you will send a secret telegram to all your subordinates immediately, asking them to pay close attention to this matter."

if "when the enemy advances, we retreat; when the enemy camps, we harass; when the enemy tires, we attack; when the enemy retreats, we pursue" is the guiding principle of guerrilla warfare formed by the chinese workers' and peasants' red army during the agrarian revolutionary war,then "when the enemy advances, we retreat; when the enemy stays, we retreat; when the enemy is tired, we retreat; when the enemy retreats, we retreat" is also the valuable combat experience that chiang and zhang gained in the practice of fighting against foreign enemies in the northeast.

under the endless transfer, strategic retreat, secret withdrawal of the large forces, and the "unremitting pursuit of peace", shenyang fell in the early morning of september 19, 1931, followed by siping, yingkou, and 17 other cities. on september 20, changchun fell, and on september 21, jilin fell. during this period, there were many patriotic generals in various parts of the northeast who rose up to fight against japan, but under the large force's policy of non-resistance and the "illegality of resisting japan", the results were very limited for a while.

in february 1932, the entire northeast fell. japan then planned to establish the puppet manchukuo regime. until liberation, 30 million compatriots in northeast china were slaves for 14 years.

so, did the kuomintang authorities headed by chiang's constant showing of weakness, avoidance of conflict and pursuit of peace succeed in making the japanese have a change of heart?

probably not.

on october 8, 1931, when the japanese kwantung army dispatched 12 bombers to attack jinzhou, army minister minami jiro told the japanese prime minister that"we were forced to take self-defense action due to anti-aircraft artillery attacks from the chinese military."

in public statements, the japanese gave the reason for expanding their occupation of northeast china as follows:"zhang xueliang has assembled a large number of troops in jinzhou. if left unchecked, it may cause damage to japan's interests. the kwantung army needs to expel the jinzhou regime."

if you want to be a perfect victim at the expense of the northeastern people, the perpetrator will not give you this opportunity.

▲under the "peace policy", the public was not allowed to use anti-japanese words in propaganda, and they were all replaced with "x"

of course, the nationalist government was not completely without other preparations. in chiang's vision,the league of nations will uphold justice for itself, and the kellogg-war pact revised by the great powers will give justice to the northeast.he only needed to measure the material resources of the nanjing government, win the favor of the country, and focus on annihilating the "communist bandits". the rest would naturally be offered by the great powers.

therefore, on the second day after the september 18th incident, china's plenipotentiary representative to the league of nations, shi zhaoji, reported the incident to the league of nations and lodged a complaint. at the same time, he sent a note to the governments of the united states, britain and other countries, requesting them to stop japan's aggressive actions in northeast china. however, there was a problem here.why does the whole world believe that it was japan that invaded northeast china, rather than "the chinese bullied the japanese on the northeast territory, and the japanese rose up in resistance", or even "the northeast people begged the japanese to preside over justice"?？

don't laugh. this undoubtedly seems extremely absurd today. nowadays, as long as there is internet and equipment, people can know the sufferings happening in various countries in the world with just a few clicks. the excellent road network also allows investigative journalists to go to the scene relatively conveniently. except for a few individual areas, it is unlikely that soldiers from country b are bullied by the people of country a on the recognized land of country a and have no choice but to fight back. such shameless things.

but the great powers of the league of nations did not even want to look at this obvious truth, and allowed the press of various countries to distort the truth and listen to the japanese"all possible measures have been taken to avoid the escalation of this local incident", "the imperial japanese government has no territorial desires in manchuria", and "the responsibility for the sino-japanese conflict in northeast china lies entirely with china"(note: at that time, there was already a rift between the japanese military and the japanese government).

the reason is very simple. the great powers regarded japan as an asian policeman who was friendly with them. they not only regarded japan's aggression as "the spread of democratic forces", but also thought that it would be better if japan could take the opportunity to attack the soviet union.in that era, no matter who you were, as long as you were anti-communist, you could really do whatever you wanted.

therefore, all countries are desperately pursuing their own calculations. rather than saying that the league of nations is a representative of a series of international organizations and frameworks established after the first world war under the advocacy of idealistic international relations scholars with the goal of promoting peace, it is better to say that under the ulterior motives of the great powers,it has become an intermediary that, under the guise of promoting peace, forces small countries to assist big countries and complete aggression without the smoke of gunpowder.

according to the idealist school of thought, in the truly ideal international relations, countries should abandon their national interests, only safeguard international interests, and replace war with negotiations. however, according to the realist school of thought and the chain of suspicion, this fantasy has never been possible in the past, present, or even in the future. its difficulty and test of human nature are undoubtedly the same as persuading capitalists to commit suicide or politicians to step down.in reality, the great powers will certainly appease every last piece of land in east asia.

something that no one believed in, in the end only jiang believed it.

internally, he repeatedly stressed that asking the international community to uphold justice was china's only chance. externally, he began to request mediation from the league of nations.

but here's a funny thing. this was in 1931, and the five permanent members of the league of nations were:english, french, german, italian, japanese, three of them later became fascists and started the second world war (the transport team leader was very accurate in judging people), and the international status between china and japan is completely different from today,under japan's repeated obstruction, the league of nations had no motivation to offend japan for china.

on september 19, the second day of the september 18th incident, china's representative to the league of nations, shi zhaoji, reported the incident. on the same day, chinese foreign minister wang zhengting lodged a serious protest with the japanese side. on the 21st, shi zhaoji formally submitted a statement to the league of nations, exposing the process of the japanese army launching the liutiaohu incident and demanding that the league of nations immediately take effective measures to prevent the situation that endangers international peace from expanding.

at the repeated request of the national government's representative to the league of nations council, on january 21 of the following year,on the eve of the complete fall of northeast chinaafter three months of cold treatment of the northeast affairs and a month-long establishment of an investigation team, the league of nations finally formed the league of nations investigation team (also known as the lytton commission) headed by the british marquis of lytton, with members from britain, the united states, france, germany and italy.

it was in this context that the japanese invasion and massacre in northeast china was exposed to the world, and the great powers were forced to admit the facts of what happened in northeast china, so that northeast china would not become an "independent country" with endless troubles.the nine people mentioned at the beginning of the article finally appeared.

they are the famous banker gong tianmin, financier shao xinpu, medical professors liu zhongming and bi tianmin, zhang charlie, li baoshi, yu guangyuan, liu zhongyi, and educator zhang yunling. when the future looked bright, they risked their entire fortunes and secretly formed the "league of nations diplomatic patriotic group" and began collecting evidence under the noses of the japanese.

hiding, taking photos, collecting, recording, deceiving, no one from an intellectual background had ever done these things. it was all done out of passion. moreover, cameras at that time were not very convenient and the shutter noise was very loud. in order to take a picture of the announcement of the japanese pseudo-financial bureau, gong tianmin climbed onto the roof of the opposite building and waited for a whole day until he pressed the shutter with the cover of the sound of a car engine.

in order to collect the notices posted by the japanese army, they took a bottle of water in the middle of the night to wet the paper and then peeled it off. in order to get access to first-hand top-secret information, they used their elite status to persuade a lot of people within the puppet manchukuo government.

before going out every day, gong tianmin would tell his wife,"if i don't come back, don't look for me."

the attic of a local church was where they organized the evidence. whenever the spies entered the room, the ladies would play the organ in the church to alert those who were busy upstairs.

▲the organ used by the ladies is now in the shenyang september 18th museum

at the same time, the japanese were also not idle. knowing that the investigation team was coming, they were busy whitewashing the ruins caused by the september 18th incident, unifying the statements of officials and civilians, disposing of stolen goods and evidence, and even compiling a set of "hypothetical questions and answers". all the questions that might be asked had "standard answers" on them. during this period, if you reported to the japanese the "patriots" who secretly submitted materials to the investigation team, you would receive a high reward.

in this way, after more than 40 days of hard work, the nine gentlemen and their families, friends, and informants collected hundreds of precious materials and used their knowledge to organize them into a 400-page bilingual document in english and chinese.there is all sorts of evidence, from the japanese army massacring civilians everywhere to wantonly violating china's sovereignty and even establishing the puppet state of manchukuo against the will of the people of northeast china.

no matter how long it takes, the japanese will eventually be judged for this document. however, in addition to the japanese, the nine gentlemen of shenyang are also destined to pay an endless price for this document.

because according to the legal principles of the international court of justice at the time, the person providing the materials must sign his or her name on the document, otherwise the document will have no legal effect. the nine gentlemen knew this from the beginning and did not hesitate at all in implementing it.

this is a book of life and death.

finally, gong lingbo, wife of medical professor zhang charlie, hurriedly made a blue satin cover for this notebook full of hope and embroidered the word "truth" with red silk thread.

we will do our best to tell the world the truth.

i exchange my future for the future of the chinese nation.

▲a replica of "the truth", now in the collection of the september 18th museum in shenyang

in order to submit this valuable evidence, frederick o'neill, an irish missionary who had lived in the northeast for more than 30 years, decided to act as an intermediary and risk his life to provide evidence to the investigation team. when he received the document, he said,"if i die, i die for a great cause."

everything is ready, but when will the investigation team arrive?

the nine gentlemen's enthusiasm for saving the country and the internationalists in the northeast were in direct conflict withit was a trip that the league of nations investigation team took along the way.

as mentioned above, on january 21, the lytton commission responsible for investigating the september 18th incident was formally established. however, the first destination of the group was not the northeast, but to britain, france and other countries to inquire about the attitudes of the powers, or in other words,"i traveled around the world under the pretext of inquiring about the attitudes of the great powers."

the group, including the chinese and japanese representatives gu weijun and yoshida isaburo, secretary-general haas and a group of translators, first set out from the french port of le havre to london, and then went all the way west to washington, the united states. it took more than ten days to reach japan, and then played in tokyo for ten days, meeting the emperor and the prime minister.even visited the yasukuni shrine, it did not arrive in shanghai, china until march 14th.

the day lilies have all turned into oil.

the trip did not end when they arrived in china. the group traveled to shanghai, nanjing, wuhu, jiujiang, hankou, chongqing, yichang, jinan, tianjin and other places before finally arriving in shenyang, liaoning on april 21.

chiang kai-shek's government appealed to the league of nations on september 19, 1931. on april 21, 1932, nearly three months after the three northeastern provinces had been occupied, the league of nations finally arrived.

if you don’t come soon, the cloth bag will fade.

along the way, even under the japanese strict defense and even clearing of the area, patriotic generals, social figures from the three northeastern provinces, 24 northeast mass groups and academic groups, the northeast anti-japanese volunteer army, students and citizens from all over the country visited, wrote letters, and called the investigation team.

after many twists and turns, the nine gentlemen finally delivered "truth". their efforts at risking their lives were not in vain, but became the key evidence in the later "report of the league of nations investigation team".

on september 4, 1932, a 140,000-word investigation report was completed and published on october 2. the report did not recognize japan's so-called puppet manchukuo, affirmed that the northeast was part of china, and condemned japan's aggressive behavior.

on february 24, 1933, the league of nations assembly passed a report resolution with 42 votes in favor and 1 vote against from japan, announcing that it would not recognize the puppet state of manchukuo. the japanese representatives walked out on the spot.

in october 1935, after two years of secret investigation, the japanese authorities arrested the nine gentlemen. because one of them had a high social reputation, the japanese tortured the remaining eight for dozens of days, but no one bowed to the invaders.

do the above paragraphs look familiar to you? well, the above ending is the ending of the official media article "this day, i will never forget!" on september 18 last year.

if you pay more attention to the official media push, then you will most likely see this article. in the article,the condemnation of the league of nations was effective, the efforts of the nine gentlemen of shenyang were not in vain, the japanese were humiliated, and everything was worth it.

but there is another ending.

in reality, japan did withdraw from the league of nations assembly on the spot, but the reason was that it refused to recognize the contents of the report. on march 28, japan directly announced its withdrawal from the league of nations on the grounds of protest, and brazenly sent troops into the country, starting the road of full-scale invasion of china.

the report issued by the league of nations delegation headed by lytton did indeed state that northeast china was part of china, but it also stated that"the important reasons for the sino-japanese conflict in northeast china were china's boycott of japanese goods and the spread of communism in the soviet union."

the league of nations did condemn japan's aggression against northeast china and believed that the so-called manchukuo in northeast china should no longer exist. however, the league of nations did not believe that northeast china should return to its pre-aggression state, but should urge "both chinese and japanese troops to withdraw from northeast china.", northeast china was jointly managed by western powers,in other words, the japanese cannot monopolize the northeast, and all the powers should have a share.

unlike the official media, there is no fairness and justice in this version of the ending, not even belated justice. except for the chinese, almost no one cares about the outcome of the verdict or what the truth is. there is only the consistent interests and division among the great powers.

the economic sanctions against japan that the chiang government expected were not implemented because of the huge wealth the west earned from trade with japan. the league of nations troops' mediation of regional conflicts was also a costly fantasy that remained on paper.

the truth is out there, but no one cares.

even whether chiang himself cared or not is questionable. after all, he announced in nanchang on april 10: to resist japan, we must first eliminate the bandits. before the bandits are completely eliminated, there is absolutely no talk of resisting japan. violators will be subject to the most severe punishment.

so did the efforts of the nine gentlemen really have no effect?

of course not.

if it were not for the utmost efforts of patriotic people from all walks of life in china, and if it were not for the failure of chiang kai-shek's policy of begging for mercy, it might have been difficult for china to embark on the path of all-out resistance and independence that has lasted for more than 70 years.

different from the records in the september 18th museum and media articles, the greatest contribution of the nine gentlemen may not be to let the world recognize the "truth" that happened in northeast china, but to let the chinese people recognize the "truth" that they were unwilling to admit before but have to admit now through a series of twists and turns that happened to them.blindly relying on external forces for fairness and mediation cannot bring hope for the chinese people's rejuvenation. the future of the chinese people can only rely on the chinese people themselves.

every photo they took, every page of material they recorded, and even every whip they received from the japanese fascists, are telling us across time and space why we must be independent, why we must have our own army, and why we must always put protecting our sovereignty first.

don't pin your hopes on others.

this is what they left behind, something far more valuable than the attitude of the league of nations.

china has experienced so many things over the years, and japanese war criminals who committed crimes are still being shielded, and the act of falsifying history is still going on in japan. from the establishment of the paris coordinating committee by the west to regulate trade with china in 1949 to the cross-border arrest of meng wanzhou in 2018, the new powers have closed their doors to new china time and time again. however, there are still so many people around us who believe that china is going against the "whole world", that china "wants" to fight a trade war with the united states, that our biggest problem is "unfriendliness", and that we should believe in the power of "international organizations", and so on.

but when it comes to friendship, who can be friendlier than chiang kai-shek?

the chinese used to be the people who believed in idealism the most, until they discovered that the world rejected them and countless people like them, and were forced to embark on a lonely and difficult path. they even got used to the feeling of being rejected, gained calmness from the experiences of their ancestors, and regained confidence in the abundance of material things.

chiang, who was good for nothing, left only one sentence as his greatest legacy to new china: "hope can only be given to oneself."

realism without the guidance of idealism is useless, but idealism without the assistance of realism is nothing.

ninety-one years ago, the former governor of bombay and acting governor-general of india, the marquis of lytton, the former governor-general of the philippines, the american general mccoy, the former commander of the french west african army, the french general henry, the former governor-general of german east africa, the german dr. enrique, the former minister to south america, the italian count macedi, and the former consul general in shenyang, yoshida isaburo, went to the scene of the september 18th incident. they represented the interests of their respective colonies and told a story called justice, but it was full of cannibalism.

ninety-one years later, the september 18th memorial hall is there, next to the liutiaohu bridge in shenyang, four kilometers away from my home, telling a story about a china that was rejected, divided, ignored and erased.

the little notebook entitled "the truth" is still there.

▲the replica is still in the geneva library

but this isn't just about 1932.

in 2021, the b station up master bankruptcy brothers came to the yasukuni shrine in japan and took the risk to take pictures of the history of the september 18th incident in northeast china as told by the japanese in the yushukan.

inside the museum, the japanese wrote in both english and japanese that the cause of the "sino-japanese conflict" in the september 18th incident was "the insult of the chinese to the japanese" and that those who endured hardships and humiliation were not the chinese rebels who were tortured and massacred, but the japanese soldiers who burned, killed and looted in china.

there is a very powerful video on tiktok, which has received 3.51 million likes. in the video, a white american asked his black friend, "did you know that the japanese abused, raped, and massacred millions of chinese people during world war ii?"

the black man said he didn't know. in their education, japan was the victim of world war ii. then, they visited the museum of japanese aggression against china.

denial and lies are not a thing of the past, but a thing of the present.

the reason why, even though it has been so long, we still sound the alarm again and again on september 18th, and still organize primary and secondary school students from all over the country to visit world war ii theme museums, and the relevant historical materials from all over the country are still being updated and maintained non-stop,it is because some people still dare not face history, and some people still pin their fate on the mercy of others.

▲interview on the streets of japan about the japanese invasion of china

china once tried its best to show the truth to the world, but now it has the ability to protect its own truth.

this time we ask for nothing, becausethis time the hope lies in ourselves.