Chapter 12 Anti-Japanese National Salvation Activities of Zhou Enlai and Overseas Chinese in Thailand

I am an overseas Chinese living in Thailand since I was 9 years old.As early as during the Great Revolution, when Zhou Enlai was the director of the Political Department of the Whampoa Military Academy, I heard his name and respected him. In the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, I had a correspondence with Zhou Enlai, which taught me a lot. It's been 50 years since this happened, but every time I think about it, I get very excited. On the occasion of Zhou Enlai's 90th birthday, I recall this past event as a memorial. Before and after the "July 7th" Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937, in the overseas Chinese community in Bangkok, because many overseas Chinese had no clear understanding of the future of the motherland's Anti-Japanese War, their thoughts were confused.For example, can the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party continue?How long will this war be fought?Can China win?In addition, at that time, some traitors and Japanese spies took advantage of the chaos to spread the theory of traitors' subjugation everywhere, such as "China is known as the sick man of East Asia, and if it fights with the Japanese, China will perish." What "China has been bullied by European and American imperialism, Japan is our neighbor , 'A distant relative is not as good as a close neighbor', and China and Japan should unite to form a 'co-prosperity sphere' to jointly deal with European and American imperialism." And so on, these strange theories are popular everywhere.All of a sudden, there was a lot of discussion and debate, and the patriotic overseas Chinese were all worried about the fate of the motherland.

At that time, I was working at the "Eighteen Chung Racecourse" in Bangkok.This is a sports club for Europeans, with a horse racing casino, bars, cafes, swimming pools, dance halls and book reading rooms.I work as a worker in the library reading room.There are more than 30 Chinese workers who work with me. They live together in the worker's dormitory at the racetrack. In their spare time, they often discuss the issue of the Anti-Japanese War together, and feel uneasy about the endless debates among the overseas Chinese. One day, I read in the newspaper that Zhou Enlai presided over the work of the Eighth Route Army Office in Wuhan.At that time, I discussed with a few workers at the racetrack and decided to talk to him about the situation here and ask him how he viewed the future of the War of Resistance.Therefore, we raised 4,000 baht from the racecourse workers, folks from other departments in Bangkok, and Chinese foreign workers, and wrote a letter in the name of "Chinese foreign workers at Shibachong Racecourse in Bangkok, Thailand", He reported to Zhou Enlai the debate on the issue of the war of resistance against overseas Chinese.The money and letter were mailed to the Eighth Route Army Office in Wuhan by a fellow from the Guangdong Bank in Bangkok.

At that time, we thought that Zhou Enlai was so busy that he would not reply to our letter.However, to our surprise, after some time, we actually received a personal reply from Zhou Enlai.At that time, we were all moved to tears. Zhou Enlai's letter has as many as 8 pages of letter paper.In addition to praising the patriotic enthusiasm of overseas Chinese for caring about the fate of the motherland and supporting the motherland in the Anti-Japanese War, the content focused on the situation of the Anti-Japanese War. As far as I can remember, the main things he talked about were: 1. The Japanese imperialist war of aggression against China is unjust, and it will be condemned and opposed by peace-loving people all over the world; it is just for the Chinese people to fight against the aggressors, and it will also be won by righteous people all over the world sympathy and support.

2. There are capitulators in the Kuomintang. They are openly and covertly colluding with Japanese imperialism. They are a group of reactionaries who betray the country and seek glory.There are also wavering factions and enlightened people in the Kuomintang who advocate the resistance to Japan. As long as we do our work well, at a critical moment when the people of the whole country are in dire straits and the nation is alive and dead, and under the strong pressure of unanimously demanding resistance to Japan, the Kuomintang-Communist alliance is likely to persist.Our policy towards the Kuomintang is to unite and struggle, seek unity in the struggle, strive to form and develop the anti-Japanese national united front with them, and jointly fight against the Japanese aggressors.

3. Japanese imperialism is still a powerful and ferocious enemy, and we have many difficulties, so it is impossible to defeat it in a short period of time.Therefore, the Chinese people's war of resistance against Japan will be a arduous, even cruel, and long-term protracted war.In his letter, Zhou Enlai analyzed the situation in detail, elaborated on the development trend of the war, and pointed out the subjective and objective conditions for defeating the enemy.The final conclusion is that "the War of Resistance Against Japan will surely end with the final victory of the Chinese people".

At the end of the letter, he asked us to send the donations to Hong Kong and hand them over to Liao Chengzhi for collection and forwarding, and not to send them to Wuhan. Zhou Enlai's letter was quickly circulated from the workers at the racetrack to the Chinese workers outside the racecourse.I thought, since so many overseas Chinese are vying to read Zhou Enlai's letter, I should get it published in a newspaper so that more overseas Chinese can read it.So, I went to my friend Lin Qiuye.He is the editor of the supplement of "Bangkok Times", and under the pseudonym "Shoyu Erlang", he specializes in writing "lace" essays.He was very happy to read Zhou Enlai's letter, and promised to persuade the editor-in-chief to publish Zhou Enlai's letter.

Not long after, the "Bangkok Times" really deleted Zhou Enlai's letter, deleted the part about the donation at the beginning and the end, used "Zhou Enlai's Discussion on the Situation of the Anti-Japanese War" as the title, and reproduced the letter's exposition on the issue of the Anti-Japanese War without changing a word, and reproduced it in full.As a result, the entire overseas Chinese community in Bangkok was shocked, and this article was talked about everywhere.Since then, the doubts, worries, hesitation, and endless debates of the war against Japan among the overseas Chinese have gradually disappeared, and the confidence and unity of the overseas Chinese in resisting Japan have been strengthened.Soon, we established the "Bangkok Foreign Workers Anti-Japanese Aid Association" to carry out anti-Japanese propaganda and donation activities more actively until the Japanese invaded and occupied Thailand.

On December 8, 1941, the Japanese army attacked Pearl Harbor and landed in Thailand at the same time. I had to burn Zhou Enlai's letter.However, his concern for the overseas Chinese and his discussion of the War of Resistance Against Japan are deeply engraved in the hearts of the overseas Chinese. It has been motivating and inspiring the confidence of the overseas Chinese in resisting Japan until the final victory of the Anti-Japanese War.