Centenarian veterans’ selfless spirit sheds light on meaning of life

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July 17, 2023

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Centenarian veterans’ selfless spirit sheds light on meaning of life

By Wang Yong | 00:48 UTC+8 July 17, 2023 |

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A centenarian veteran passed away last month, but his story of surviving hardship with a sanguine and selfless spirit will inspire many who search for a meaning of life.

Born in 1921, Wang Yuqing had participated in the Long March (1934-36), an arduous trek during which many Red Army soldiers had to eat grass or tree bark to survive.

“When we entered the vast grasslands (in 1936), it was a hard time where there was no shelter or food,” Wang once recalled in an interview, which was released by The Paper on June 27. “We ate everything we could lay our hands on, like grass or bark, but still, some soldiers were so weak that they fell over and passed on.”

How to help his comrades survive became an imminent concern for Wang, who was only a teenager at the time. One day, the troops passed along a water furrow and he saw there were fish in it. But nobody had a fishing hook, and the furrow was too dangerous to dive in.

It suddenly occurred to him that he could possibly make a hook out of a needle. At that time soldiers were given needles for mending their own clothes when necessary.

“I carried two needles in my hat, so I took one and forged it in fire,” Wang recalled. “In no time a hook was made, and luckily, I caught fish with it. What a ‘treasure’ for us!”

He then made fish soup and parceled it out to his comrades, who gradually recovered strength and eventually got out of the barren grasslands. His improvised hook moved the needle in the soldiers’ favor.

Wang was not alone in demonstrating camaraderie in adversity. He recalled how the “rice soup” made by the captain of their cookhouse had saved him and many other young soldiers from starving to death. The captain turned an empty rice bag inside out, soaked it in water, and boiled the water to make “rice soup” — with little rice in it.

Wang died on June 23, aged 102, in Fujian Province. His special needle-hook has been collected by the Military Museum of the Chinese People’s Revolution. His sanguine and selfless spirit in the face of grave existential challenges has been adapted into a textbook story for China’s primary school students.

Each time I watched his interview and read his story, I was moved to tears by the hard life Wang once lived, and his readiness to put others’ interests above his own. He did not “fish” for himself, he “fished” for his comrades.

Chen Xunyang, another veteran, illustrated the selfless character of a Communist Party of China member in his own way.

In a battle in 1949, during the War of Liberation (1946-50), Chen braved enemy gunfire to cross the Yangtze River. While many of his comrades fell in crossing the treacherous currents, he finally made it and destroyed the enemy’s riverside strongholds. For his valor in that battle, he was honored with a first-class merit citation. He won several honors of different levels for his part in other battles.

It was a great feat for anyone who has been a soldier. But no one — not even his family members — knew about his heroic deeds and military honors. Chen Chuanqiu, his grandson, once said: “My grandfather told us a lot about those battles, but we never knew he was the hero.”

According to a recent report from the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, Chen’s heroic deeds and military honors were not known to the public until 2019, when local authorities in Jiangxi Province conducted a survey among retired army personnel. That year, he was 99 years old. He died last year at the age of 102.

In 1950, his left eye was hurt by a bullet shell. In 1993, he suffered a relapse of his eye problem. As a result, his left eyeball was removed in a surgery. Chen refused to ask for reimbursement for his medical treatment, and scolded his son for trying to do so.

He was almost harshly frugal with himself, whether it was about fame or fortune. But he was generous when it came to doing something for the collective good. For example, the veteran donated 2,000 yuan (US$278) to help his village fight COVID-19 in early 2020. According to the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, 2,000 yuan was not a small sum for Chen.

Not everyone can become another Chen or Wang in terms of military achievements or longevity, but everyone can learn from their stories that life has a meaning beyond a single-minded pursuit of personal gain.

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Centenarian veterans’ selfless spirit sheds light on meaning of life

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