Six Kuomintang veterans
were honored as martyrs and
respectfully called comrades by the
Shaanxi provincial government.
The
Shaanxi government approved applications from
the Shangluo and Baoji city
governments on March 28 to grant the
six Kuomintang veterans, who were
killed during the War of Resistance
against Japanese Aggression (1937-45), the
title of revolutionary martyrs in
accordance with a document issued by
the Ministry of Civil Affairs in
1983.
Xu Zhibang, Hao Xingsi,
Ren Bingyang, Wu Zongshu and Wang
Jiaqiang, five Kuomintang veterans from
Shangluo, were killed in a battle
against Japanese invaders in Mount
Zhongtiaoshan, Shanxi province, on Jan 23,
1939. Sun Yinzhi, a Kuomintang colonel
and regimental commander, was killed
on Aug 24, 1939, in a battle against
Japanese invaders in Huojia, Henan
province.
In accordance with
the document issued by the Ministry
of Civil Affairs, the families of
the six Kuomintang veterans will be
treated as martyrs'
families.
An official from the
Shaanxi provincial civil affairs department
who did not want to be named
said that the move paid homage
to the history and endorsed the
contributions of Kuomintang soldiers in
the war against Japanese
invaders.
Ge Lumin, a
36-year-old resident in Xi'an, the
capital of Shaanxi province, said the
move represents progress.
"We
should face up to history, and
those who made sacrifices and
contributions to our people and
country should not be forgotten," he
said.
Historical records showed
that Kuomintang troops, including the
five martyrs from Shangluo, were
stationed at Mount Zhongtiaoshan in
July 1938 and fought against Japanese
invaders for nearly three years. More
than 40,000 Kuomintang soldiers were killed,
but they stopped the Japanese invaders
from entering Northwest
China.
Zhang Heng, a scholar
with Northwest University in Xi'an,
said in his book about the
battle that some 3,000 Kuomintang soldiers
from Shaanxi province jumped into the
Yellow River because they did not
want to surrender to Japanese
invaders.
"These soldiers fought
a bloody battle without being afraid
of sacrifice," he
said.
According to Kuomintang
statistics, some 3.8 million Kuomintang
soldiers were killed in more than
39,000 battles in the War of
Resistance against Japanese
Aggression.
The Communist Party
of China speaks highly of the
Kuomintang's role in the war.
Many streets and roads in mainland
cities were named after Kuomintang
generals who fought during the war,
such as Tong Linge Road and
Zhang Zizhong Road in Beijing.
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