Peng Dehuai and the War of Resistance Against Japan

Author: Shang Wei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-07-01
Features: Struggle Through Hard Childhood, Unyielding Will. From Military Service to Saving the Nation.
In the middle-eastern lower reaches of the Xiang River in Hunan Province, there is a beautiful city called Xiangtan City. The Xiangtan County under its jurisdiction is known for its lush mountains and clear waters, a place of outstanding talent and fame. It is the hometown of the great leader Mao Zedong, the hometown of the older generation of proletarian revolutionaries such as Chen Geng and Tan Zheng, and also the hometown of famous figures like Qi Baishi, Yang Du, and Zhang Tianyi. About 40 li southwest of Mao Zedong’s birthplace, Shaoshan Chong, lies a tranquil small village named Wushi Village. Surrounded by green mountains, its peaks are layered and lush, with one peak, Wushi Peak, standing tall and piercing the clouds, the highest among them. The mountain is covered with lush trees and fragrant flowers, and an ancient poem once described it: "Rising from the south, no peak can match you; Touching the red bird’s shadow, hanging the river’s flow."
General Peng Dehuai was born in this picturesque village and gradually walked the path of revolution from there. His remarkable achievements also made Wushi Village renowned both at home and abroad.
Peng Dehuai’s ancestors, Peng Zhong sui, originally lived in Gushui Jiuxi in Xiangxiang County, making a living by trading tea. During the reign of Emperor Yongzheng in the Qing Dynasty, he passed by the foot of Wushi Peak while trading tea and was impressed by its serene beauty. He bought a piece of land on the gentle slope of Wushi Peak, cleared the land, built a thatched hut, and settled there, where his descendants thrived through generations.
On October 24, 1898, Peng Zhong sui’s sixth-generation descendant was born. According to the "Continued Genealogy of the Peng Family in Gushui, Xiangxiang County," the newborn belonged to the Qing generation, and his father named him Qingzong, with the courtesy name Huaiui and the title Dehua. His childhood name was Zhong Yaizi, who would later become Peng Dehuai. Before 1928, he was known as Peng Dehua.
Since the Peng family had only one son in Peng Dehuai’s generation, his birth brought immense joy to Peng Family Enclosure. According to the lunar calendar, the year of Peng Dehuai’s birth was the 24th year of the Guangxu reign, also the year of the Hundred Days’ Reform in modern Chinese history. At that time, the Qing Dynasty was corrupt and decadent, and imperialist powers sought to carve up China. Facing the broken land and suffering people, reformers like Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao advocated for bourgeois reforms in China’s traditional politics, economy, and ideology, aiming to lead China down the path of capitalism to save the nation and make the country prosperous. However, due to the firm economic foundation of feudalism in China for two thousand years, and the overwhelming political power and deep-rooted influence of feudalism, the young Chinese bourgeoisie on the historical stage could not resist it. The Hundred Days’ Reform ultimately ended in tragic failure.
The failure of the Hundred Days’ Reform proved that in semi-colonial and semi-feudal China, top-down reforms were unrealistic fantasies of the weak national bourgeoisie. To save China, another path must be sought. The path Peng Dehuai eventually took was the correct one to save China.
Peng Dehuai’s father, Peng Minyan, was honest and deeply valued loyalty. When he was young, he went out to sell tea with villagers and encountered a companion who fell ill and died on the way. With no money for burial, Peng Minyan carried the companion’s body, braving mountains and rivers, traveling day and night through hardships, and finally buried him in his hometown. From then on, "carrying the body for a hundred li" became a celebrated story in the village, but Peng Minyan contracted asthma as a result.