<font color='black' size='2' face='arial'>
<div style="font-family:helvetica,arial;font-size:10pt;color:black">
<div id="AOLMsgPart_1_b29bc30e-0115-4740-a435-77ceaa9146b8"><font color="black" size="4" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">
<div class="MsoNormal"><b>Martyrs Day</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><b> </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">The sun is out but the temperature is going to dip below
zero C for the first time this season in <i>Dong
Bei</i>, so I have the plants getting the full benefit of sunroom warmth with
the windows closed and the TV on.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">I've been to Tiananmen Square a few times since '89, so the
sight of it on TV is not unexpected it being the central tourist attraction of
Beijing, and before the nation go on a travel frenzy for a week at the end of
September, the public TV is expected to run patriotic programs on the occasion
of the 65th year of the nation since Mao Zedong declared the Peoples Republic
in-charge over the ROC that retreated with Chiang Kai-shek (bka Jiang Jieshi,
or Jiang Zhongzheng in Chinese)<b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family: Helvetica;mso-bidi-font-family:Helvetica;color:#1C1C1C"> </span></b>to Taipei.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">September 30 marked the first Martyrs' Day in China, and the
public ceremony that had everybody who is anybody in Beijing gathered around
the Peoples Heroes Monument at the Tiananmen Square coincided with decision in 65
years ago to construct the monument, the day before the PRC independence.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Uniformed members of the Young Pioneers (charming without
raised Mao red books) sang in winsome attires and smiles, held red and yellow
flowers, as the laying of wreaths of flowers was ritually made by members of
the Peoples Liberation Army followed by the 7 members of the Politburo standing
committee led by President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang, who were then followed
by all the other dignitaries to view 8-relief panels carved around the
monument.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">The panels tell a visual story of the heroes the monument is
honoring. It actually begins with those
who fought the British during the Opium War when England waged war against the
Qing Dynasty when China banned the increasing sale and addiction of the
population on the drug. Thus, the
heroes' monument goes back to the resistance against the British, which
resulted in the first of what is now referred to us uneven treaties, the
Nanjing Treaty, allowing opium trade to continue. Hong Kong also was ceded to England,
emboldening the Portuguese and Spanish forces in the western Pacific. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">The US signed in 1843 the Treaty of Wangxia (site now the
Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Macau) that accorded US business traders the same
favored status as other foreigners, and to spite the Brits, the Treaty with
moralist America declared the opium trade as illegal. Not surprisingly, the second Opium War broke
out in 1856 lasting until 1860, this time including the French who also demanded
free access to anywhere in China, legalize opium, cancel levies and tariffs,
allow coolie trade, and other concessions from cultures convinced of Aryan
supremacy, and a passivity that naturally thought of itself as the middle
kingdom. The greed caravan was joined by
the US and Russia, and later, Germany and Japan. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Heroes of the 1911 revolt get a relief column, resulting in
the Qing's abdication and the declaration of the 1912 Republic. Come next are the soldiers who fought in the emboldened
imperial Japan that humbled the Russian Tsar's Navy, and moved population and technology
to Manchuria it considered as north of the Great Wall and thereby not China
proper. Manchuria had the tug-of-war
between Russia and Japan, led Nippon in the Mukden (now, Shenyang) incident to
the War of 1931, which lasted until the end of WWII in 1945. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">The eight bas-reliefs include the destruction of Opium
(1939), the Taiping Revolution (1951), the 1911 revolution, the May 4th
movement (1919), May 30 movement (1925), Nanchang uprising (1927), war of
resistance against Japan (1931-45), and the crossing of the Yangtze during the
Chinese Civil War (1949). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">China has the <i>Qing Ming</i>
(literally, clear and bright) festival in honor of ancestors (kin rather than vocation)
where the tombs are swept but the Martyrs Memorial Day accent works of
self-sacrifice and liberation, both military and civic. As one of the day's commentator said, "A
nation without martyrs is just a collection of mediocre individuals." China's legislature instituted this holiday
for its own soul.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">The US' commemorates Memorial Day in May of its dead
soldiers, a consequence of its Civil War experience. Russia has Victory Day when it turned German
forces from occupying Russia. The
Commonwealth of Nations (UK et al) observes November after WWI as its memorial
of its honored dead. Japan has made it
clear (and rightly so) that who Japan honors in shrines is their business, and
how it tells its story regarding Korea and China is a matter for its own
soul. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Christendom observes All Saints Day and All Souls Day. (Christians were frowned upon when making
profit off his neighbor, Protestants say with historical accuracy, so the
Vatican reserved purgatory where their souls stayed, enjoyed profit and still could
pay off their way to heaven!) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">Birthdays and funerals are given certitudes. They are remembered commonly and privately. China offers a new definition to being a
martyr. We can now decide how to offer
our own deaths as an integral part in intentionally living our lives.</div>
<br>
<div style="clear:both"><i>j'aime la vie</i><br>
<div><i>yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today. participate. In all, celebrate!</i></div>
</div>
</font>
</div>
</div>
</font>