December 8, 2021 marks the 80th anniversary of the rescue of Chinese cultural celebrities. The rescue operation of cultural celebrities, launched from the end of 1941 to the beginning of 1942, was urgently instructed by the Party Central Committee and Comrade Zhou Enlai, who presided over the work of the Southern Bureau, and carried out by the Hong Kong Office of the Eighth Route Army and the Dongjiang Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Corps, which lasted more than half a year, rescuing more than 800 cultural celebrities and patriots such as He Xiangning, Liu Yazi, and Zou Taofen. This rescue was an important anti-Japanese united front action in the history of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, fully demonstrating the mainstay role played by the Communist Party of China in the great cause of national resistance and national rejuvenation, and showing the cohesion of the red power and progressive forces in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao.
There are now 8 cultural relics protection units related to the rescue in Guangdong Province: 2 national key cultural relics protection units, namely the former site of the Dongjiang Column Headquarters in Tuyang Village in Shenzhen and the former site of the Hong Kong Cultural Celebrity Rescue Headquarters in Heyuan; 5 city- and county-level cultural relics protection units, including the former site of rescuing cultural celebrities in Shenzhen, the former site of the Nan’an Village Traffic Station of the Southern Working Committee of the Communist Party of China in Shaoguan, the former residence of Liao Anxiang in Meizhou, the East Lake Hotel in Huizhou, and the Duzhao Building in Huizhou; Generally, there is 1 immovable cultural relic that is Yang Shengchang’s house in Shanwei (revolutionary site name: Liu Yazi sheltered old site).
On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the victory of the rescue of Chinese cultural celebrities, the Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong Province launched the “Silent Appeal of the Wind and Clouds – Document Exhibition on the 80th Anniversary of the Rescue and Victory of Chinese Cultural Celebrities” at the Zhongshan Library of Guangdong Province on December 8, and “The Sound of Endless Reading – The History Exhibition of the Anti-Japanese War of Education in North and South Guangdong” at the National Archives of Guangzhou. The two exhibitions reflect each other, comprehensively displaying the history of rescuing a large number of cultural celebrities and democrats from Hong Kong to return to the mainland at the end of 1941, the history of the Guangdong North Education Base and the mutual assistance between Guangdong and Hong Kong after the fall of Hong Kong, and vividly displaying the glorious history of the heroic struggle of the Party and the people. At the same time, Shenzhen, Shaoguan, Heyuan, Meizhou, Huizhou, Shanwei, Dongguan, and Jiangmen have joined forces to systematically review the great revolutionary course and touching deeds of the great rescue in 1941 by holding special exhibitions, revisiting the old site of the Great Rescue Revolution, carrying out lectures by red docents, organizing cooperation between museums and schools, and screening documentaries, so as to guide the broad masses of cadres and people to keep in mind the great achievements of the party’s centennial struggle and the great significance of historical experience, arouse patriotic enthusiasm, and boost the national spirit.
So the paper silently complains about the storm
On the morning of December 8th, under the guidance of the Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong Province and hosted by the Zhongshan Library of Guangdong Province, the “Ancient Paper Silently Tells the Wind and Clouds – The 80th Anniversary of the Rescue and Victory of Chinese Cultural Celebrities” was opened. Relying on the collection of the literature resources of the provincial Zhongshan Library, the exhibition takes “people writing current affairs” as the starting point, and passes a large number of precious parts according to the three major parts of “saving the country with the pen, loud trumpet”, “cohesion, rescue thousands of miles” and “preserving the context and opening up the future”.Historical pictures and documentary materials, combined with scene construction, text and video and other elements, strive to faithfully restore the whole process of this thrilling rescue. The exhibits include cultural celebrities such as Xia Yan, Mao Dun, Liang Shuming, as well as the first prints of memoirs written by workers who participated in the rescue, such as Lian and Huang Qiuyun, as well as precious historical materials such as documents from the thirties and forties in Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao and other places. A number of rare photographic materials, such as old photographs of the “Hong Kong Greater China Hotel”, the center of rescue operations, are also displayed in the exhibition.
The smoke is endless, and the sound of books is constantly being read
On the afternoon of December 8th, under the guidance of the Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong Province and the Department of Natural Resources of Guangdong Province, and co-sponsored by the National Archives of Guangzhou Municipality, the Guangdong Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Shaoguan Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports, the “Endless Reading Sound – History of the Anti-Japanese War of Education in North Guangdong and South China” opened at the National Archives of Guangzhou. The exhibition is divided into five parts: “The Outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War”, “The Road to Migration and Running a School”, “Perseverance in a Difficult Situation”, “Victorious Demobilization”, and “Construction of South China Education History Research Base”, from the vigorous development of Guangdong culture and education, preaching that teachers and students actively participated in the anti-Japanese rescue movement and adhered to the cultural and educational mission, and counted the experiences of dozens of Guangdong colleges and universities at all levels, represented by National Sun Yat-sen University, private Lingnan University, Provincial College of Arts and Sciences, private Peizheng, Peidao Middle School and other schools. and the singing and weeping stories of a large number of intellectuals and young students braving the flames of war in the turbulent displacement, overcoming the difficulties of serious lack of materials, persisting in teaching and research, and supporting the motherland’s anti-war rescue and construction with academic actions to save the country and read books to serve the country.
The Guangzhou University Town, where the exhibition is located, is surrounded by many well-known institutions of higher learning. Among them, the history of many colleges and universities is inscribed with the glorious years of running schools during the Anti-Japanese War. At that time, National Sun Yat-sen University, private Lingnan University, private Guangzhou University, Provincial College of Arts and Sciences, Provincial Art College… Today’s Sun Yat-sen University, South China University of Technology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts… Decades of communication have a long history, and the knowledge and culture passed down by the teachers who walked through the war have also shaped the spirit and temperament of today’s universities in South China.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China and the beginning of a new era and journey. The Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong Province has thoroughly implemented the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s series of important speeches and important instructions and the spirit of the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, under the leadership of the provincial party committee and the provincial government, focused on promoting the protection, management and application of revolutionary cultural relics resources, promoted the issuance of the Regulations on the Protection of Revolutionary Sites in Guangdong Province, planned and launched a series of fine exhibitions with the theme of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC, and orderly promoted the Long March National Cultural Park (Guangdong section), the Opium War Haiphong Site Park, the South China Education History Research Base, The construction of key projects such as the central red traffic line has carried out in-depth Party history.Xi education lays a solid work foundation for serving the study and education of party history, guides cadres and the masses to draw forging strength from the party’s mass line, and continues to strive for the realization of the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. (Yue Xuan)