China News Service, Huichang, Jiangxi, September 5th. Title: Telling the story of my grandfather who pretended to be mute for 14 years. The descendants of the old Red Army "return to their hometown" with their long-cherished wish.
China News Service reporter Jiang Tao
The moment the plane landed, He Li shed tears when she saw the hometown that her grandfather had longed for.
"I finally returned to my grandfather's hometown." As the granddaughter of He Mulin, she grew up, got married, and worked in Guizhou. She had never been to Jiangxi before. But she has known since she was a child that she has a hometown in Huichang, Jiangxi that she has never met before. That is where her grandfather started.
Recently, He Li took her grandfather's long-cherished wish to return home and returned to her hometown of Huichang to take group photos with her relatives. Photo by Liu Zhaochun
He Mulin was born in Junmenling, Huichang, Jiangxi Province in 1904. In 1927, he and several young people from his village signed up to join the Red Army. In 1934, the fifth counter-encirclement and suppression campaign failed, and the troops began to strategically shift. He Mulin followed the team on the Long March.
In 1935, the troops marched to Tucheng, Guizhou, and had a fierce exchange of fire with the enemy at Qinggangpo. In that battle, He Mulin was seriously injured and was rescued by local people. He Mulin stayed, but he did not dare to speak.
"He has a Jiangxi accent, and when he opens his mouth, his identity will be revealed, and he will also implicate the people who saved him. He chose to pretend to be dumb." He Li said.
In those years, my grandfather would walk to the Chishui River almost every day and sit there for several hours. "He misses his hometown and his comrades, and hopes that the troops will be able to fight back one day," He Li said.
Fourteen years later, New China was founded. He Mulin could finally reveal his identity, but the long silence had left him speechless. He Li recounted the scene her mother told her: He Mulin ran home to tell his grandma the news. His lips trembled, but his throat could only produce a hoarse breath.
In the next few years, He Mulin went to the Chishui River every day to practice his voice, and his wife asked around for herbal medicine for him to take. He gradually regained some of his language skills. In his later years, he began to take the initiative to tell the stories of the Long March to his neighbors and students.
In 1979, He Mulin passed away. Before he died, he left two wishes. He Li said: "He said that he must be buried in Qinggangpo after his death because he wanted to accompany his comrades; secondly, he hoped that we would return to his hometown in Jiangxi if we have the opportunity, because that is where he grew up. Let us not forget his hometown."
In 2014, a martyrs cemetery was built in Qinggangpo, and He Mulin's ashes were moved here and buried beside his comrades. When He Li returned to her hometown this time, her relatives greeted her with firecrackers. "My aunt came over and pulled me, and I hugged her and cried like a tearful person. I couldn't say a word. They took my hand and walked to the house and told me welcome home, welcome home."
Recently, He Li, a descendant of the old Red Army in southern Jiangxi from Zunyi, Guizhou, shed tears after returning to her grandfather's hometown and hugging her relatives. Photo by Liu Zhaochun
In 2020, He Li resigned from her original job and became a red story preacher in Tucheng. "I just want to tell their stories to more people from generation to generation. The younger generations must not forget how today's life came about, and they must pass on the spirit of the older generation."
Gannan is the starting point of the Central Red Army's Long March. That year, 50,000 people from southern Gansu left their hometown and followed the Red Army northward. The certificates of more than 40,000 martyrs only have the words "No news from the north."
Now, He Li has fulfilled her grandfather's long-cherished wish and returned to where he started. (over)
