An essay on the heavy memory of a city

First of all, the urn with the wrong name.

People in this land in Northeast China have an extremely painful memory, that is, the fall that began at the end of feudal society. Especially the thunderous explosion on the railway.

"9. 18" is a set of numbers that people can't forget in this land. As a Changchun native, I know how the local people feel about the unique meaning of this set of numbers. Especially those who have experienced difficult times.

My father used to sing two lyrics when I was a child. The song sang "September 189 18" and "My home is on the Songhua River". Two words come from the same song.

At that time, I didn't quite understand the meaning of the song, but I vaguely understood that people on the Songhua River suffered aggression and oppression, and we lived on the Songhua River. My hometown is very close to Songhua River, which is four or five miles away. On the other side of the river are our relatives.

Childhood didn't realize that the lyrics came from the heaviness of songs. After all, the Songhua River has nurtured the people on both sides of the strait, and the water is beautiful and the fish is fat. When I was a child, I only saw the fun of Songhua River, and I never thought about the story behind the beautiful scenery. Only with the growth of age, a person gradually has an idea. With thoughts, you can think, and the old people are still telling what happened, so I began to know that this place has been trampled and destroyed. This is often associated with aggression and war.

My grandfather's father died by the railway because he worked for the Japanese invaders. It is said that he was fine at that time, but he had stomach trouble, had finished his labor task and was waiting to return to China. Grandpa's father dragged his sick body and just boarded the train home, but unfortunately he was stopped by a Japanese soldier. The Japanese threw him into the kennel next to the railway station with a gun.

What happened after that can be imagined. It is impossible for a patient to die when he is thrown into a Japanese dog pen. So my grandfather received a telegram at home and rushed to the labor site to attend the collective memorial service held by the Japanese for the workers. And received his father's urn and 100 yuan. It's just that the money is really not worth a life, and the name on the urn is the other way around. Grandfathers have always wondered why the Japanese wrote the name of the urn of the dead worker backwards. It was not understood until many years after my grandfather died.

No one can understand why the Japanese wrote the names of the dead workers upside down on the urn. They only know that there are only two kinds of people who can go home to work for the Japanese, one is alive and the other is dead. And the living must also ensure that they are full of energy. The premise of this guarantee is only to eat a bowl of rice that can survive. Eating for Japanese workers is also quantitative, with only one bowl for each meal. Grandpa's father got stomach trouble because he ate less rice in winter, so he lost the chance to go home.

What is even more incredible is that the deceased may not really be able to go home. Grandpa's family buried the urn with the name written backwards with doubts. Then I guess, faced with so many dead people, how can the Japanese know whose body was bitten beyond recognition by dogs in the kennel? Not all those workers know each other. The mystery was finally solved by a wandering fortune teller. He said that cremation should be true and the ashes should be true, but it is hard to say whose ashes it is. The Japanese employ laborers to work without rest. Is there still time for someone to confirm the bones and names of the deceased for you? With that kindness, we won't engage in aggression, and we won't throw patients into the dog pen and bite them to death!

The fortune teller curled his lips and smiled. He said that many workers died on the construction site every day, and cremation was carried out together. Grandpa's family understood everything, and finally couldn't bear to dig out the urn he brought back from his ancestral grave.

My grandfather's story was my first impression of the fall of Northeast China. At that time, I was still in my hometown of five counties under Changchun. My grandfather's family also lives there. Like me, they are all registered in Changchun.

Second, the stupid last emperor.

I finally came to Changchun from the countryside, a city with a short history.

The high school teacher said that the city of Changchun has only a history of more than 200 years and has detailed written records. But there is a sad story in this only 200 years. This seems to be shared by everyone.

No one doesn't know about germ warfare, and no one doesn't hate world war. But who would have thought it was all around him? It was a rude awakening that I realized that the wasteland of Changchun No.1 Automobile Factory also had the site of biochemical troops who studied and used bacteriological warfare by the Japanese army, and the Cultural Square was actually the place where the Japanese army tried to occupy China land and formally established its capital.

It turned out that Emperor Puyi was so sad that the Japanese just got him a house in the wrong place and made a promise to make him emperor, so he became a puppet. Look at the traces left by that year. Obviously, the planning of the cultural square is carefully designed, but Puyi's fake palace is built in a place facing potholes. Everyone knows Japanese superstitions. Puyi's fake palace is definitely an unlucky residence in geomantic omen. It was probably a good choice to build a grave at that location.

The intention of the Japanese invaders is only for all purposes conducive to occupation and control. This made Puyi look forward to the new palace built for him, but he was not blessed. He lived in the area facing the potholes in the Puppet Manchuria Palace for more than ten years, but the Japanese promised to lay the foundation for his new Puppet Manchuria Palace, and then everything began to end.

At that time, the Japanese had already made a plan to build the capital in the occupied area along Xinmin Street with the cultural square as the coordinate, and designed the buildings needed by various central departments, that is, the old sites left on both sides of Xinmin Street. Fortunately, the eight-year anti-Japanese war made the land of China resound with the cheers of victory. All ugliness and ignorance will end immediately. Today, the old people are still reminiscing and feeling in the sun, telling the story of that year. Most people who have been to War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression are old, and few have been hurt. But their children still remember those emotional stories.

In the memory of my teenager, it seems that there have been rumors that the Japanese want to rent a street land in Changchun for development. Rumors in the ears of ordinary people directly turned into anger and protest. In people's minds, their land is sacred and inviolable, and the word "Japan" is also very sensitive. They are not as stupid as the last emperor, and no matter how big the promise, they can't get home.

Third, the voice of the city.

Don't think that you don't watch China's war movies. This is just the immature consciousness of the new youth. When they grow up and face the aesthetic reality, they will find that war movies are so attractive. There was a time when I didn't watch war movies, but now I always feel that the men there are manly and the women there are more like real idealized women. Especially the plot of the battle. You know, it's a story that has been interpreted in this land.

This story seems heavy in this city. I don't know how many people have been "biochemical", mutated and destroyed by Japanese biochemical forces here-

Don't think that there will be no bright lights in a city in autumn. At that time, there was a ballroom at the western end of Chongqing Road, the most prosperous city in Changchun, which was the location of Zhuo Zhan Department Store. Life outside is lifeless, but there are romantic parties every night. It is said to be a place where Japanese officers play. Imagine how many women in China were mutilated there. No wonder the old people always make hate noises when they look at War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression's camera. What they hate most is the smug face of the invading army, and what they like most is "killing another devil."

September 18 every year is a mourning day for the people in Northeast China. An air defense alarm will also be sounded over Changchun at 9: 00 18 on the same day. People will listen solemnly at that moment, and then tell each other stories and feelings of being violated. They can't forget the memory of that autumn. Those sad histories have long been recorded in everyone's heart, including their descendants.

In Changchun, I once heard a story about September 18 air defense alarm. It is said that a person is thinking about listening to the air defense alarm at 9: 00 on September 18, and it is already 9: 30 when he is busy. Then the man got angry and said, "Why didn't you hear the air defense alarm?" Why the fuck is it not ringing? "So everyone else laughed, because everyone heard it. It's just that the place is remote, the distance makes the alarm sound much weaker, and the man has work to do, so he didn't notice it. I have encountered this kind of thing, but I am more civilized than him. What I said at that time was "Call the mayor publicly to complain! "Of course, I didn't complain in the end, because everyone next to me heard it. I wonder if anyone complains that the sound of the air defense alarm is too low, which is probably a reasonable request.

It is said that this kind of thing often happens. "9. 18" is a sensitive symbol for the northeast people, and people want to hear the sound of memory. What you hear is not only memories and stories, but also heaviness and solemnity, and it is also the "rise" of newcomers from the heart.