War Memory

Author: Zhang Zhenglong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Men all have dreams of being heroes. Nowadays, many young people admire Bill Gates and entrepreneurs who made it onto the Forbes rich list. For General Zhao Xingyuan, both then and in the long years that followed, heroes were always associated with war. The voice of the survivors was to tell later generations the truth about war and its metaphysical essence. As we happily enjoy peace, strolling on the bustling streets of cities or through fields of wildflowers in the countryside, I seem to hear from the depths of history. That sound carries a sense of fear, a sense of savagery, and a sense of bloodshed. I seem to see the agile figure of my grandfather, whom I never met, running across the land of Jixian during those chaotic years of war. His grey military uniform was somewhat tattered, and the dark red poppy on the handle of his 20-round Mauser pistol swayed in the wind.