A walk among heroes
Streets, memorials and museums honor wartime martyrs, preserving spirit of sacrifice and inspiring peace across generations, report Xu Lin and Liu Kun in Wuhan.
Zhou believes that Chen Huaimin embodied loyalty, righteousness, integrity and filial devotion — a timeless hero that strikes a chord with today's youth.
"Survival is instinctive, but sacrificing oneself for righteousness is extraordinary. Ask yourself: Could you face death with such resolve? Most wouldn't, and that's precisely why these souls are true heroes," Zhou says.
Wartime stories also reveal humanity across battle lines.
In 1938, on Takahashi's body, a letter from his wife, Mieko, along with her photograph, was discovered. The same year, Chen Huaimin's younger sister Chen Nan wrote a public letter of sympathy, which was published in a Chinese newspaper. She condemned Japanese aggression while expressing compassion for Mieko, and appealed for world peace.
"Chen Nan wrote to her again in 1987. When Mieko finally got to see the letters, she was deeply touched to know that there were strangers who still cared about her grief," Zhou says. "This was never a personal feud, but a matter of national righteousness. Ordinary people everywhere long for peace."
To bring wartime experiences closer, the memorial hall also organizes activities where broadcasters recite letters that heroes wrote to their families. The goal is to reveal the personal side of history.
