Railway Guerrillas -- A Contemporary Chinese Novel Collection

Author: Zhi Xia
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-02-01
Features: From the founding of the People's Republic of China to 1966, it was a peak period for the creation and publication of long novels in China. Over a decade, a large number of works were produced, among which dozens had a far-reaching impact and reached the height of their time. These works adhered to the principles of socialist realism, expressing their enthusiasm and simple style to praise the arduous struggles and vibrant spirit of the Chinese people during different historical periods such as the War of Liberation, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the War of Liberation, and the construction of socialism. They represented the highest achievements of long novel creation during that period and held an extremely important position in the history of contemporary Chinese literature. With their unique charm, they influenced generations of readers and, after being tested by time, have been passed down to this day. To present a more complete picture of the development of contemporary long novels and the state of long novel creation during that period, we have specially compiled and published the "Collected Works of Contemporary Chinese Long Novels" series.
1. The series is based on the "Selected Long Novels" published by our press in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as the "Red Classics" series published in the 1990s, and strives to include as many outstanding works as possible.
2. The publication dates of the works in the series are mostly between 1949 and 1965, though some multi-volume works have longer publication periods that extend beyond this timeframe.
3. Due to various reasons, some works have had multiple revised editions. For this publication, we have selected the superior versions and conducted proofreading by referring to other editions.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, in the Zaizhuang mining area of southern Shandong, a group of coal miners and railway workers, unable to endure the massacre and oppression of the Japanese invaders, secretly organized and armed themselves under the leadership of the Communist Party. They fought against the Japanese, seized enemy weapons, and developed into a highly effective guerrilla unit, supporting the main force in operations along the Lin-Zao railway line. Later, they moved westward near Lincheng, relying on Weishan Lake to continue their resistance against the enemy along the Jinpu railway line. In the struggle, they demonstrated the noble qualities of the working class and an indomitable will to fight. Over the years, they sabotaged railways, derailed trains, seized supplies, and fought decisive battles on trains, creating many astonishing heroic deeds. The enemy also launched frenzied "purges" and "sweeps" against them, organizing countless special task forces to combat them, but all were crushed by the guerrillas. The Railway Guerrilla Unit faced the harshest tests, persisted until the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and ultimately forced nearly a thousand Japanese armored train troops to surrender.
After the Japanese invaders surrendered, the KMT and puppet forces merged to attack the liberated areas, and they once again fought stubbornly in counter-offensive battles. The novel ends here. They later joined the main force, engaging in large-scale mobile warfare to eliminate the KMT forces and liberate all of China—events that occurred later.