By Yuan Shuai, Xue Min, Lin Lin, Huang Xujun
Geng Xiangbai will usher in her 102nd birthday next month.
On the eve of August 1st this year, the reporter interviewed Geng at the First Sanatorium for Retired Cadres of the Shandong Provincial Military Command. More than 80 years ago, 19-year-old Geng joined the Eighth Route Army in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei base area. During the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, there was not enough supply of military uniforms for the Eighth Route Army soldiers in the frontline, she led female workers of the clothing factory to work around the clock sewing by hand new military uniforms. After returning to China from the battlefield of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, she was entrusted with the task of setting up nurseries and taking care of the children of the soldiers of the Chinese People’s Volunteers.
In her family, frugality is a visible heirloom
It was the first time I met Geng when she was sitting on the sofa reading newspaper. Although retired for a long time, the centenarian is still concerned about state affairs.
In the middle of the living room, there is a thick plaque with the words “House of the General of the Republic”. Geng’s husband Kuang Kaitian, an old Red Army man who participated in the Long March from 1934 to 1936, was conferred the rank of Major General in 1955. He had ever been working and holding leading posts in the logistics departments of the Red Army, the Eighth Route Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) before passing away in 1983.
She and Kuang raised four sons and a daughter, and all of them joined the army when they grew up.
Yang Wen, her second daughter-in-law, recalled: “When my father-in-law was still alive, he lived a very simple life. The sweatshirt he had worn for years was torn, I wanted to buy a new one for him but he didn’t agree, instead, asked me to patch it . A bed-sheet had worn through and , my mother-in-law cut it in the middle, then pieced the two intact sides together and sewed them up. A new bed-sheet was made in this way.”
Geng’s grandson Kuang Laige remembered that when he was a child, he ate in the canteen with his grandmother, who stipulated that there could not be a grain of rice left in the lunch box. Later, Kuang served as a soldier for more than ten years, and now he has become a special police officer. “We must not forget the style of hard work and plain living. Grandma’s teachings have always been in my heart.” He said.
Geng’s great-granddaughter Yuanyuan once asked her father Kuang Laige, “My great-grandpa and great-grandma are both old revolutionaries. Are there any heirlooms in our family?” Kuang answered with a smile, “In our family, frugality is the visible heirloom.”
No matter how difficult it is, we must follow the Communist Party of China (CPC)
In 1920, Geng was born in a poor peasant family in the depths of the Taihang Mountains. During the years of fighting against Japanese invaders, all villages and towns in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei anti-Japanese base area set up a women’s association for national salvation responsible for preparing logistics supplies such as military shoes, food and other materials for the Eighth Route Army troops and taking care of the sick and wounded. Because of her capable and experienced working style, Geng soon became the captain of the youth team in the association in her village.
In the autumn of 1939, Geng received a letter written by her sister-in-law, who was a CPC member and served in the Eighth Route Army, inviting her to join the Eighth Route Army.
The 19-year-old girl, who had never been far away from home, decided to leave home to join the army. Starting from her hometown in Fuping County, Hebei, she walked ahead and asked for directions according to the address written in the letter. Five days later, she finally arrived at the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army garrisoning the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei anti-Japanese base area.
Soon, Geng put on the military uniform and became the monitor of the female workers’ team of the clothing factory of the Eighth Route Army. At that time, the working conditions in the base areas were very difficult, there wasn’t any sewing machine in the factory and the production of military uniforms for soldiers depended entirely on manual work. “I can sew three pairs of trousers a day,” said Geng with the sewing gesture.
Because of the excellent work, just one year later, Geng was promoted to be the person in charge of the clothing factory and joined the CPC. She was determined to follow the CPC no matter how difficult the future might be.
At that time, every year in spring and autumn, the Japanese invaders would intrude into the base areas to loot food. Geng led the women workers, who disguised as common peasants in ordinary clothes, retreated from the factory and concealed to the villages.
In fact, Geng seldom mentioned to her children and grandchildren about her past glory in the army. “ I just did my duty and was far from being great, because I did not participate in combats and risk my life in the front line after all.” She felt comrades-in-arms who laid down their lives in the front of combating invaders were more worthy of being remembered.
It is the happiest thing to make more contributions to the Party and the people
“You young people should work hard and join the Party and serve the people as early as possible,” Geng told her 14-year-old great-granddaughter Yuanyuan.
On the eve of July 1st this year, Geng solemnly paid special Party membership dues of 50,000 yuan.
Zhang Weiqiang, the director of the First Sanatorium for Retired Cadres of Shandong Provincial Military Command, told the reporter that Geng expressed her support and wishes to the Party and the people by paying special Party membership dues on the occasions of the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, the 95th anniversary of the founding of the CPC in 2016, the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 2019, and the outbreak of COVID-19 epidemic in 2020.
Geng often says, “I am too old to work for the Party. If I can make a bit more contributions to the Party and the people, that will be the happiest thing for me. ”
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC, Geng, who has been a member of the CPC for 81 years, received the commemorative medal of “Glorious 50-year Party membership”, as did her three sons and two daughters-in-law.
These six medals not only record the growth track of our army but also contain the happiness and glory of a revolutionary family.
