A woman without a tombstone

Author: Cao Baoming
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: "People Without Tombstones" should also have 'tombstones' in a sense. Because human history is not solely created by emperors and heroes; a history without their stories is incomplete. We are doing things that predecessors never did, and its value and mistakes may emerge simultaneously. Nevertheless, I still categorized this cultural aspect, allowing history to slowly recognize and appreciate it. I decided to head north, straight north, to Mohe. If China's map resembles a rooster, the comb would be Mohe, deep in the Heilongjiang River. Mohe has been the largest official gold mine since the Ming and Qing dynasties. The Qing court once sent General Li Jin Yong from Heilongjiang to oversee it, driving away Russians who crossed the Heilongjiang River to steal gold and occupy Chinese territory. To pacify the gold diggers, the Qing government once opened brothels here, recruiting women from the interior to earn a living. About 20 miles away from the "Golden Gully" of the Mohe gold mine, in a place called "Eight Forts," there are over 200 graves of these women. Due to their status, no tombstones stand there. I decided to seek out these graves.