China Heroic Spirit 10 Overseas Chinese Heroine

  Li Lin (1915-1940), originally named Li Xiuyao, was a native of Longxi, Fujian. Born into an overseas Chinese merchant family, he returned to China from Indonesia in 1930. In December 1936, he joined the Communist Party of China. In July 1937, he went to Yanbei to participate in the resistance war against Japan and held various positions including propaganda commissioner of the Datong Central District of the Sacrifice League, committee member and head of the Propaganda Department of Pinglu County, political commissar of the Eighth Guerrilla Detachment Against Japan, instructor of the Sixth Cavalry Regiment of the 120th Division, secretary-general of the Shanxi Northwest Eleventh Special Commissioner's Office, and commissioner of the Shanxi Northwest Administrative Office. He died on April 26, 1940, in Hongtao Mountain, Shanxi.

  With passion and energy bursting out of one's chest like geese flying out of their gate

  Li Lin was born in 1916 into a poor peasant family in Minhou County, Fujian Province. At the age of two or three, due to poverty, her parents sold her to a Chinese immigrant surnamed Li. From then on, she lived with her adoptive parents in Surabaya, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), until she was in her teens. At 14, after her adoptive father remarried, her adoptive mother took her back to China and enrolled her in Jimei School in Xiamen. In school, she studied diligently and aspired to become a writer. The September 18 Incident in 1931 awakened the patriotic passion of the Chinese nation, and she abandoned her literary dreams to join the national salvation movement. In winter 1934, Li Lin went to Shanghai Patriotic Girls' School, where the Japanese invaders' barracks were nearby, and the school's normal classes were often disrupted by the sound of artillery fire from the Japanese camp. One day, while classmates were quietly studying in the classroom, the loud cannon fire started again, making it impossible for them to study. Li Lin slammed her fist on the desk and said, "What kind of country is this?" "One day we must drive these robbers out of China!" With a heart full of patriotic passion, she wrote an article titled "Reading with Feeling", expressing her patriotic sentiments. This patriotic essay was given 105 points by the teacher, who broke the rules to publish it on the school's wall newspaper, causing a sensation among teachers and students. From then on, she began to widely read progressive publications such as "Reading Life", "World Knowledge", and "Mass Life".

  In the summer of 1935, Li Lin went to Beiping to join the National Liberation Vanguard and was admitted to the Department of Political Economy at Minguo University, where he changed his name to Li Lin. At this time, the situation in North China continued to deteriorate, with pro-Japanese forces in five provinces preparing to declare "independence" under Japanese pressure. The Japanese imperialists took advantage of the situation to deploy more troops to North China and even carried out military exercises targeting Beiping, bringing heavy artillery and tanks through the city. Li Lin was extremely angry about this and actively participated in the December 9th Movement, becoming an active member and backbone of the student movement. With the help of underground Party member Lü Guang at Minguo University, Li Lin gradually came to realize that relying solely on the student movement to save the country and seek liberation was not enough, and that it was necessary to take a road that combined with workers and peasants, uniting the entire nation to achieve victory against Japan.

  In December 1936, students in Beiping held a large-scale demonstration to rescue the "Seven Gentlemen" of the National Salvation Association who were arrested and detained by the Kuomintang authorities. Li Lin once again showed her fearless spirit. She served as the flag bearer of the Minguo University procession and was beaten by reactionary police until she was bleeding from the head, but still endured the severe pain, holding the flag and leading the procession forward.

  Li Lin quickly grew up in the anti-Japanese national salvation struggle and joined the Chinese Communist Party in December 1936. After the Xi'an Incident, the North China underground party mobilized young people to go to Taiyuan, and Li Lin decided to put down her pen and take up arms to go to the front line of the anti-Japanese struggle. She then went to Taiyuan with a group of young students from Beijing and Tianjin and established contact with the Shanxi Provincial Committee. She participated in the military and political training class organized by the Shaanxi Sacrifice League, where she was one of the responsible persons of the women's branch. During this period, the Shaanxi Sacrifice League decided to send special agents to various counties in Datong and Yanbei due to their important strategic location, to carry out anti-Japanese national salvation work. Li Lin had proposed to the Shaanxi Sacrifice League that she wanted to go to Datong with the special agents to fulfill her wish of going to the anti-Japanese front line to fight alongside the army, but was not approved.

  After the July 7th Incident, Li Lin followed the Sacrifice Alliance to Datong Central District. At that time, the Japanese army was attacking Zhangjiakou, eyeing Chigoubao, Tianzhen and Yanggao, and enemy planes were constantly bombing Yuhu Bridge and Datong. Despite the enemy's bombing, Li Lin personally wrote and printed leaflets with his comrades to promote national mobilization. Li Lin suggested to the Yanbei Workers' Committee that they organize a peasant self-defense team, go deep into the mountains for training, and launch guerrilla warfare when the enemy attacks. The Sacrifice Alliance Datong Central District Committee agreed with these opinions and coordinated with nearby villages to mobilize young people to join the anti-Japanese self-defense team. By late August, the self-defense team had grown to over 120 people. At this time, the Nationalist Party's 61st Army was defeated in Tianzhen, and the Japanese army was approaching Yanggao, putting Datong under pressure. The Sacrifice Alliance Datong Central District decided that Li Lin would be responsible for gathering the anti-Japanese self-defense team and transferring them to the mountainous area near Huaiyin. To avoid enemy bombing, the central district and the self-defense team marched on the night of the 11th and arrived at a large temple square in front of Huaiyin County City at dawn to rest. Due to fatigue, many people sat down and fell asleep. Suddenly, an enemy plane bombed, and the self-defense team members who had not undergone rigorous military training scattered. Li Lin could only retreat with his comrades from the central district to Yanmenguan and then to Taiyuan.

  When Yan Xishan's army was defeated at the Yumen Pass, the Eighth Route Army led by China was crossing the Yellow River to advance to the front line. At this time, Zhao Zhongchi, secretary of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Border Region Working Committee, led 30 cadres and carried a radio station from Taiyuan City to push forward to the north of Yumen, preparing to carry out anti-Japanese struggles in the northern Yumen area and create an anti-Japanese guerrilla base. In Dai County, Yangmingbao, Li Lin happened to meet them, and she strongly requested to follow this team to rush to the front line. At first, Zhao Zhongchi thought she was a female comrade and it would be inconvenient for her to go to the front line, so he advised her to return to Taiyuan. Under her repeated requests, Zhao Zhongchi finally agreed and assigned her a 65-style rifle. In this way, Li Lin followed the special delegation team out of Yumen Pass and rushed to the anti-Japanese front line. Li Lin and Zhao Zhongchi of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Border Region Working Committee left Yumen Pass and soon moved to Panguan County. At that time, due to the tense situation, the old government personnel had all escaped, and only a few party members were organizing the masses. As soon as Li Lin and the border special delegation team arrived, they carried out mass propaganda work. When the masses gathered in the county government's courtyard, Li Lin stood on a stool and delivered an impassioned speech: "Fathers, elders, brothers, sisters! The Japanese have bullied our hometown! The escapists have abandoned us! What should we do? Be slaves to a lost country? No! We must organize under the leadership of the party, establish anti-Japanese guerrilla teams, wage war, and defeat Japanese imperialism!" The masses were inspired by this female Eighth Route Army member's speech.

  Under the instructions of the Work Committee, the anti-Japanese guerrilla team was established here. Li Lin quickly threw herself into the work, giving full play to her excellent organizational skills, selecting cadres, finding barracks, managing food supplies, and compiling political and military textbooks. Together with comrades from local anti-Japanese organizations such as the Women's National Salvation Association and the Workers' National Salvation Association, she went to rural areas and factories to mobilize young people to join the anti-Japanese army. After selection, a guerrilla team of over a dozen people was gradually organized. Under the care of the party organization, higher authorities sent military cadres to the guerrilla team, with Li Lin being appointed as political director and Wang Lingyu as chief of staff. Li Lin worked in close coordination with the chief of staff, making great progress in her work, and by December, the team had expanded to over 200 people.

  In February 1938, the Shanxi-Suiyuan Border Special Committee (formerly known as the Shanxi-Suiyuan Border Work Committee) advanced to Pinglu and Youyu Xishan under the cover of the Eighth Detachment. On the first night of the march, more than 20 kilometers east of Panguan, they encountered a group of puppet troops, and Wang Lingyu and Li Lin led the Eighth Detachment to defeat the enemy, covering the safe arrival of the Special Committee in Pinglu County.

  The Eighth Detachment of the PLA marched to the west of Pinglu after a period of intensive training, and then went to the north of Youyu and Zuoyun, fighting inside and outside the Great Wall. One afternoon, the detachment personnel arrived near Tiancheng Village in Liangcheng County and learned that a part of Li Shouxin's pseudo-army was stationed in Maihutu, with a small number of pseudo-soldiers taking horses to drink water by the river every day. Wang Lingyu, who had long wanted to build the Eighth Detachment into a cavalry force, thought an opportunity had come. He and Li Lin decided to seize it immediately and cleverly steal the pseudo-army's horses. They immediately selected 30 or so crack troops to form a strike team, changed into plain clothes, and lay in ambush among the grass and woods by the river. When the enemy horse group arrived at the river, the strike team members launched a sudden attack on the enemy, catching them off guard, capturing more than 50 horses and over 10 guns. Then, they converted one battalion into a cavalry battalion, making the Eighth Detachment a mixed detachment of infantry and cavalry.

  Given that the Yanbei region developed several guerrilla detachments in the struggle, the leaders of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army instructed to reorganize these guerrilla detachments into the Independent Sixth Detachment of the 120th Division. The Eighth Detachment and the Fifth Detachment formed by Youyu County and the Sixth Detachment formed by Pinglu County were merged into the Sixth Detachment Cavalry Regiment. At this time, leaders such as He Long and Guan Xiangying were very concerned about Li Lin, thinking that it was not very convenient for a female comrade to march and fight in the army, considering transferring her to work locally. Li Lin was very grateful for the leaders' concern, sincerely expressing again and again that she was willing to stay in the army to directly fight against Japanese invaders. After research by the Border Region Special Committee, they praised her ambition and agreed to her request, assigning her as the instructor of the Cavalry Regiment, with Wang Lingyu serving as the regiment commander.

  Li Lin and Wang Lingyu led the team to fight in various parts of Yanbei, achieving many victories. In July of the same year, due to the needs of He and Guan, the leaders of the 120th Division, Li Lin was transferred to the newly established Sacrifice Alliance Shanxi-Hebei Border Work Committee as a propaganda commissioner, also in charge of local armed forces. During his work, Li Lin found that the people's movement work in the locality was very complicated, with heavy tasks and extremely few cadres. He proposed, after being approved by his superiors, to immediately hold a cadre training class to solve the problem of lack of cadres on the spot. Li Lin was appointed as the person in charge of the training class. From 1938 to early 1940, six sessions of the cadre training class were held, training more than 260 cadres, who were assigned to various counties and districts, becoming the backbone and leaders of the Sacrifice Alliance, playing an excellent role in the anti-Japanese guerrilla war. He did mass work, recognizing many "dry mothers", uniting many "dry sisters", spreading revolutionary ideas to them, helping them learn culture, and was deeply loved by the masses.

  On October 25, 1939, facing the Japanese puppet army's fierce attack of over 2,000 people on the base, Li Lin led a machine gun squad to sneak into the enemy's barracks and launch a surprise attack, killing an enemy sentry on the spot and capturing a war horse. This forced the enemy to withdraw a large number of troops that were besieging the anti-Japanese base, thus successfully crushing the enemy's arrogant "mopping-up" operation.

  While fighting against the Japanese invaders, Li Lin also struggled against the reactionary stance and actions of the Kuomintang die-hards. In the spring of 1939, she went to Yichuan, Shaanxi Province to attend the "Autumn Forest Meeting" convened by Yan Xishan, where she used her personal experience and the achievements of our army in the anti-Japanese war in Yanbei to forcefully refute the die-hards' slander that our army was "roaming without fighting". At the end of that year and the beginning of the next, Yan Xishan launched the December Incident, attacking our party, government, and military organs in the Shanxi-Suiyuan border region. In response to the provocation by the die-hards, the Shanxi-Suiyuan Border Region Party Committee decided to launch a resolute counterattack against the die-hards in the Yanbei area. Under Li Lin's unified command, the 18th Regiment's 2nd Battalion, the Political Guard Company, and the six cavalry regiments and infantry battalions dispatched by the border region party committee launched a joint operation on the evening of the 26th, wiping out the three counties and one district of the die-hard government in the Hongtao Mountain base area, capturing over 100 guns and some ammunition. Of the more than 200 die-hard government personnel captured, most were released after investigation and education, while a small number of relatively progressive individuals were arranged to work, and 15 serious die-hard elements were suppressed at an anti-die-hard struggle rally held in mid-January 1940. This crushed the Kuomintang's die-hard forces in Yanbei, ending the situation where two governments and two armies coexisted within the base area. Under Li Lin's leadership, the anti-Japanese war work in Yanbei flourished.

  In November 1940, Li Lin attended the Shanxi Northwest Military and Civilian Representatives Conference and was elected as a member of the Shanxi Northwest Administrative Office, responsible for the work of mass organizations such as workers, youth, and women. Due to her outstanding performance, before the meeting of the committee members, He Long had a cordial conversation with Li Lin, praising her bravery in the fight against the enemy behind enemy lines and her leadership abilities. He Long said to her: "A female comrade, a university student from a big city, can lead cavalry, fighting Japanese devils inside and outside the Great Wall, it's not easy!" At the meeting of the administrative office committee, He Long also specially introduced Li Lin to all members. He said: "This is our anti-Japanese heroine, a overseas Chinese university student who can lead troops in battle behind enemy lines, worthy of everyone's praise! The Hongtao Mountain Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Base directly threatened the enemy's strategic location Datong and the northern section of the Tongpu Railway, becoming the enemy's thorn in the side. Therefore, from December 1937 onwards, the Japanese army launched eight large-scale "mopping-up" operations, attempting to destroy it. On April 25, 1940, as night was falling, an urgent intelligence report arrived at Wuxin Village. Zhao Zhongchi, the secretary of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Border Region Committee, who was attending a meeting, frowned after reading the report and said: "The enemy has started its ninth large-scale 'mopping-up' operation. The intelligence says that this time the enemy's 'mopping-up' is different from before, with more troops deployed, using layered encirclement and pincer tactics, it seems they want to wipe us out in one go." This time, the Japanese army mobilized over 10,000 troops to surround and attack the Yanbei Base Area, the situation was extremely critical.

  Wu Xinzhai is located in the hinterland of Hongtao Mountain, and since the spring of 1938 when local cadres and the Eighth Route Army's Yanbei Brigade closely collaborated to establish an anti-Japanese base, the invading Japanese army has rarely come here to harass. In addition to the party and government organs of the Shanxi-Suiyuan border region, mass organizations, and security agencies' political defense companies, guard companies, and a large number of trainees, totaling six or seven hundred people, are also stationed here. Based on the intelligence provided, Zhao Zhongchi exchanged simple opinions with Military Department Head Jiang Sheng, Organization Department Head Zheng Lin, and Special Commissioner Secretary Li Lin, and made the decision to relocate.

  Jiang Sheng, Zheng Lin, Li Lin and other comrades were in charge of the emergency assembly of troops. To avoid the enemy's sharp edge, they decided to move towards Pinglu City, where the enemy forces were relatively weak, and merge with the 120th Division's Independent Sixth Brigade Infantry Regiment. After breaking through the enemy's blockade line, they reached the Xi Shan area of Pinglu County. However, due to the fact that most of the training class members were new recruits who had not undergone sudden emergency situations, they panicked as soon as they heard about the enemy situation and took more than two hours to assemble and organize the troops. At around midnight, when the troops arrived at Luandao Village outside Pinglu County and merged with the Third Regiment, the local and special leaders immediately made arrangements to break through the blockade line. The Third Regiment led the way, followed by the agency staff and training class members, while Jiang Sheng and Li Lin led the political guard company, security platoon, and a newly arrived cavalry company as the rear guard. At this time, the enemy had already blocked the road ahead. When the long snake-like troops reached Tao Xiaofeng Mountain in Pinglu County, the vanguard Third Regiment clashed with the enemy and broke through the blockade line after a fierce battle. However, the large number of agency staff and training class members who followed closely behind the Third Regiment became disorganized and dropped out of the ranks, failing to break through and being intercepted by the reinforced enemy forces. In this extremely critical situation, the local committee leadership decided to have Jiang Sheng and Li Lin command the rear guard troops to launch a new charge and cover the retreat of the main force. However, due to the intense enemy fire and unfavorable terrain, the breakout was unsuccessful. The order was given for the troops to turn around and withdraw back to Dongpingtai Village.

  The troops only made a brief rest in Dongpingtai Village, and as night fell, the sky was already bright. At this time, the enemy had surrounded Dongpingtai Village from all sides. Jiang Sheng and Zheng Lin led part of the troops to try to break through from the south and north directions, but were both repelled by the enemy. Following this, the enemy launched an attack, with dense gunfire echoing through the sky, and the rolling dust smoke enveloped the entire Dongpingtai Village. In this extremely critical moment, Li Lin calmly and composedly said loudly: "Director Jiang, you lead the political defense company and the guard platoon to cover our retreat, prepare to break through to the south or west, I will lead the cavalry company to charge east and lure the enemy to advance!" Jiang Sheng said: "But that's too dangerous for you!" "The situation is critical, no time to argue." Li Lin said as he jumped onto his horseback, holding high his rifle, commanding the cavalry company soldiers: "Comrades! Follow me!" Nearly a hundred cavalry soldiers closely followed Li Lin, charging out of the village, braving the enemy's artillery fire, and fiercely charging towards the east of Dongpingtai Village.

  Li Lin's breakthrough action disrupted the enemy's deployment. The enemy, who was holding positions on the south and north mountains of Dongpingtai Village, saw the Eighth Route Army cavalry troops charging eastward and swarmed to pursue them. Zhao Zhongchi, Zheng Lin, Jiang Sheng and other local and special leaders saw that the enemy's main force had moved east, their deployment was in disarray, and immediately commanded the political guards company and the security platoon to cover a part of the comrades-in-arms, unexpectedly launching a southward charge and breaking through. Although these two breakthrough teams sacrificed dozens of comrades, both local and special leaders broke out of the encirclement and escaped danger.

  At this time, Li Lin led the cavalry troops to break through the enemy's first encirclement after a fierce battle, opening up a bloody road. However, the cavalry suffered heavy casualties, and two of Li Lin's guards were unable to continue fighting with her. One was buried in the mountains after his horse was shot from under him, while the other lay wounded in a pool of blood. Li Lin led the remaining 30-40 cavalry soldiers to continue charging eastward, but they suddenly encountered fierce resistance from the enemy coming from Majiahe and Qianhouyulin. Undaunted, Li Lin and her cavalrymen charged into the fray, ignoring the hail of bullets and shells. They fought bravely, killing many enemies in close combat. When she saw two enemy machine gunners still firing away, Li Lin used the smoke as cover to sneak up behind them and shot them dead with two quick shots. After a fierce battle, the enemy suffered over ten casualties, and Li Lin's troops broke through the enemy's third encirclement.

  Li Lin and the cavalrymen fought bloody battles, shaking off the surrounding enemy, reaching a relatively flat open area. If they continued to rush southeast towards Tunxiang and Daping Village, they could completely escape danger and transfer safely. However, Li Lin heard that the gunfire from Dongpingtai Village was still intense, worrying that Zhao Zhongchi, Zheng Lin, Jiang Sheng, Di, and other personnel had not yet broken through the encirclement. Therefore, she ordered the cavalrymen to stop advancing south, shouting loudly: "Comrades! Our large group of comrades is still surrounded by the enemy, we have a responsibility to rescue them!" Immediately, Li Lin and the cavalrymen turned their horses' heads, charging back northwest like fierce tigers.

  Li Lin's counterattack was completely unexpected by the enemy, leaving the Japanese puppet army caught off guard. The Japanese puppet army had dispersed to the top of the mountain and were preparing to shrink their encirclement circle towards Dongping Village, resolving the surrounded local and specialized personnel, but they didn't expect the Eighth Route Army cavalry unit to charge back out again. As a result, the enemy was forced to reorganize its forces and focus on dealing with this fierce cavalry unit.

  Li Lin and the cavalrymen, after several rounds of fierce fighting on various hills occupied by the enemy, heard that the gunfire from the direction of Dongpingtai Village was gradually becoming sparse. They estimated that the leaders and personnel had broken through and transferred, so they commanded the cavalrymen to break through to the east, in order to continue dispersing the enemy's forces and create conditions for the personnel of Dongpingtai Village to break through and transfer. However, the enemy had already formed a new encirclement around them. At Xiaoguojiaquan, an enemy grenade exploded beside Li Lin, killing her horse. She was thrown off the horse, and a soldier who saw her fall to the ground was about to get off his horse to help her when she sternly shouted: "What are you doing? Quickly charge forward!" Two soldiers fighting alongside Li Lin were also hit and sacrificed, leaving only Li Lin alone. Li Lin seized a small temple on the mountain, where she crawled into a pit and pretended to have fainted, lying motionless. When the enemy rushed up, she suddenly sat up, holding a shotgun in one hand and a small eight-sound gun in the other, firing continuously, and six enemies fell to the ground. The rest of the enemy hastily retreated.

  At this time, Li Lin had been wounded in many places, the bullets of the rifle had all been fired, and only one bullet was left in the small eight-sound pistol. Faced with the increasingly close enemy, Li Lin knew that he had no power to break through the siege, and resolutely pulled the trigger of the small eight-sound gun, firing the last bullet into his own throat, making a heroic sacrifice. The enemy could not believe that such a tenacious fighter was a female Eighth Route Army soldier. It wasn't until they were clearing the battlefield that the enemy discovered that the one who had made them lose their nerve was a female Eighth Route Army soldier. Even the Japanese invaders had to say: "The female Eighth Route Army is really formidable!"

  After Li Lin's sacrifice, the Central Organ of the Party and Chongqing's "New China Daily" and "New Northwest Daily" successively published news, editorials and mourning articles, with eye-catching headlines praising Li Lin as a "glorious model for female party members!" and "Hero of the Chinese nation!". The Shanxi-Suiyuan Branch Bureau and the Central Women's Committee held a memorial service specially for her. After liberation, the government placed her remains in the Pinglu County Martyrs' Cemetery and erected a monument to commemorate her.