As KMT veterans receive newfound respect, others gauge political winds(2)

Lu Guangcai Photo: Cui Meng

Sun still recalls returning home in 2008 to ask his rich friends to donate money to veterans. He was laughed at and his friends said the veterans had nothing to do with them.

Now, the improvement is obvious, thanks to the government's changing attitude towards the KMT soldiers.

Since 2009, several popular TV series about the Chinese Expeditionary Force have been broadcast on mainstream media.

Eventually, the KMT's contribution was recognized by the authorities. This month, a series of high-profile government commemoration events were held. Individuals, enterprises and social organizations were given motivation to help find these former KMT soldiers.

"People began to learn about the history and more people came to participate and help us find the veterans," Sun said.

Despite the improvements, Sun remains worried. "Now we know people are concerned about the veterans, but it is indisputable that people are motivated because of the government's change in attitude," Sun said.

"We still hope it can become a sustainable trend, and that even if the high fever of patriotism and anti-Japanese sentiment ebbs, our concern for the veterans can remain."

An anonymous source who works at the Yuezhong Museum of Historical Images, a co-host of the National Memories exhibition, echoed Sun. "The war went beyond parties or ideologies. We hope by extending our concern about the veterans, the public can remember the war as a whole instead of who fought under the names of different political parties."

Despite the high-profile exhibition, the organizers of the exhibition remain shy about revealing the identities of the different parties. The term KMT did not appear written on any labels or captions at the exhibition despite KMT elements, such as flags, uniforms, and badges appearing in the photos.

Tough times

You was grateful. He said he had never imagined he would have the opportunity to meet and shake hands with China's top leaders.

On September 3, he did so. "Seven members of the standing committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee all shook hands with me," You said, the wrinkles of a smile appearing on his face.

In 1940, a young You was enrolled in the army when he was a student at the Southwest United University. He fought Japanese soldiers in Myitkyina, Myanmar. The meter-long scars on his belly left by the Japanese enemies remain apparent today, reminding people of his sacrifice for his nation.

Instead of being honored by his country, participation in the war as a KMT soldier caused trauma to him, as well as his family.

You was criticized, condemned and humiliated as a "counter-revolutionary" during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76). His wife was forced to divorce him and remarried. His daughter had to take the surname of her stepfather to avoid any possible problems caused by his biological father.

Du Heng, his daughter, recalled that when her father came to school to visit her, the father introduced himself to the teacher as "Du's uncle" to avoid troubles that might pass on to her during that time of political unrest.

"If my daughter did not use the surname of her stepfather, she could not become a Communist Party member back then," You said.

Many KMT veterans were bullied and treated badly during the Cultural Revolution. Their names were not rehabilitated until China's "reform and opening-up," said Jia Yuanliang, head of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression Culture Foundation.

Jia added that many veterans dared not talk with their families about their service, making it harder for veteran's-rights campaigners to locate and aid them.

Pu Han, a Sichuan volunteer who has helped find veterans since 2010, echoed Huang. She recalled that when she approached some veterans for the first time, they tried hard to avoid discussing this history, or said "I have confessed already, and I have nothing more to say."

"The psychological trauma, the inconvenience and the alienation imposed upon the veterans and their relatives are things we have to make amends for," said Pu, who shed tears several times during the interview with the Global Times.

"They are running out of time," Pu added.

"A lot of vets are dying, considering most of them are over 90. I felt so sad when I eventually found one veteran, reached his home and found he had died."

There are 20,000 veterans still alive nationwide, but far more have already passed away.

In Sichuan, for instance, there are around 1,000 living veterans, however, due to the difficulties of tracing them, a majority are out of reach. With an average age of 90 years old, most do not have long to live.

A total of 56 veterans died in Sichuan between August 2013 to August this year, Pu noted.

Plus, most of them live in extreme poverty.

Pu said that a large number of the veterans live in the mountainous areas and they have to live on a meager pension. Veterans in the urban areas can get a nationwide old-age pension of 700 to 2,000 yuan per year, while those in rural areas can only receive 55 to 60 yuan per pension per year.

"By finding and helping the veterans, we hope to pass on the spirit that people can learn to respect life and each individual by helping the vets," Sun said.

Helping them is a form of salvation, Sun said.

In the long run, Sun said, the biggest wish for the veterans is that the government would one day issue badges of honor to KMT veterans.

At present, the Chinese authorities only award Communist Party members badges of honor.