Chapter 8 4. I was arrested during the "December 16th" Movement

On December 14, 1935, the Beiping newspaper reported: "The Jicha Political Affairs Committee is scheduled to be established on December 16." Under the leadership of our party's underground organization, the Peking City Student Union immediately decided: A larger-scale demonstration against the establishment of the "Jicha Political Affairs Committee".The parade plan and route were determined, and the student unions of each school were notified.When the Student Union of Peking University received the notice from the Student Federation on the evening of the 15th, it was holding its second class congress.The meeting enthusiastically passed the resolution to participate in the demonstration, and discussed various issues related to the demonstration, and the meeting lasted until 11 o'clock in the evening.Immediately afterwards, the executive committee organized students to prepare for the demonstration: many publicity materials were produced in a hurry, and a temporary picket team, a publicity team, and a traffic team were established.I work in the traffic team, responsible for the liaison and communication between the various parades.The male and female students of Peking University are divided into five teams based on the dormitory.

In the early morning of December 16, all the student dormitories of Peking University were surrounded by the armed police of the Kuomintang.I lived in Xizhai (No. 1 Dormitory), and stood in the front row of the parade, confronting armed military police at the gate of Xizhai.When I rushed out with the Xizhai team, I and the two students holding the banner were arrested.More than a dozen detectives pointed at us with pistols, punched and kicked us, and took the three of us to the Sixth District Police Station in Yinzha Hutong, where we were tied to wooden posts.Yinzha Hutong is very close to the beach where Peking University is located (now called Wusi Street).When I heard the slogans and singing from the beach, I guess it was the parade of Peking University students rushing out, I was very happy!

At around 10 o'clock in the morning, the "interrogation" (interrogation) began.The light in the interrogation room was very dim, and there was a trial table in the center, with four police officers standing on both sides, and a police officer with a mustache sitting on the north side of the table.He asked me aggressively: "You students who are bewitched by the Communist Party, what are you making a fuss about? Tell me, what is the purpose of your march? Do you still want to rebel?" I replied angrily: "Yes, we are going to rebel. We want to rebel against Japanese imperialism and the traitors." The interrogating police officer threatened, "Don't talk nonsense, who are the traitors and traitors? Be kind to your neighbors. Seeking peace is the major policy of the party-state, and you dare to express anti-Japanese remarks in the courtroom, you should add more crimes to the crime." I said angrily: "Those who suppress the anti-Japanese and national salvation movement are traitors, and those who treat the country as a good neighbor are traitors. We resist the Japanese Reasonable, patriotism is innocent, why did you arrest us?"

The police officer's mustache was trembling, his face turned pale, and he said viciously, "What nonsense are you talking about! Kneel down for me." I said angrily: "Only traitors and traitors would bow their knees and surrender to imperialism. I am a dignified college student, a patriotic young man fighting against Japan and saving the nation. I would rather die standing than live on my knees." The police officer who was interrogating yelled loudly: "Take him down, bring him a hand cast, and send him to the city police station." In the afternoon of that day, we were escorted to the Beiping Police Station, and the police cars drove directly into the gate.After getting out of the car, several policemen surrounded him, called his names, took off the handcuffs, and searched his whole body.Confiscated pens, keys, banknotes and other things; put us in the cell.These are three dark and damp old-style prison cells. There are two big kangs on both sides of the room, and a urine bucket is placed in the middle.There are no bedding on the kang, and students sleep on broken mats.Two meals a day, each with two small buns and a piece of pickle.At night, when the north wind roared, we were hungry and cold, and couldn't sleep, so we sang songs of salvation together.The arrested students came from different schools and were strangers to each other, but they were like brothers, united and fought against the enemy.In the cell, besides our arrested students, there were also several "old political prisoners".When they saw our arrested students, they eagerly inquired about the situation of the student movement and the political situation in society.After we made a brief introduction, they happily said: "The revolution has its own successors, and you can't catch them all, and you can't kill them!" They also secretly told us that there was a fake "political prisoner" in the cell. "It was a spy sent in by the authorities, who asked us to have less contact with that person.After we were sent to the city police station, we were not "interrogated" once.

Beginning on December 20, students from various schools detained in prison cells have been released on bail one after another.A total of five of our Peking University classmates who were arrested on "December 16th" were also released on bail by the school authorities.Through this arrest and imprisonment, I further realized that in order to resist Japan and save the country, we must draw close to the Chinese Communist Party. The "December 16" Movement was a continuation of the "December 9" Movement, but more people participated and the struggle was more intense.A civic meeting of about 20,000 students and citizens was held in Tianqiao, and resolutions such as "opposing the establishment of the Hebei-Chahar Political Affairs Committee" and "recovering the lost land in the Northeast" were passed.There were scenes where students and military police snatched water dragons, students smashed open the iron gate of Xibianmen with their flesh and blood, and students and military police engaged in bloody struggles many times.The heroic struggle of the patriotic students frightened the Hebei-Chahar authorities into panic, and they were forced to announce: "The establishment of the Hebei-Chahar Political Affairs Committee has been postponed."

Under the leadership of our party, the influence of the "December 9th" and "December 16th" movements rapidly expanded throughout the country.Patriotic students in Tianjin, Jinan, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Xi'an, Kaifeng, Taiyuan, Chengdu and other cities responded one after another and launched a vigorous anti-Japanese and national salvation movement.This movement promoted the outbreak of the "July 7th" Anti-Japanese War.Most of our patriotic students who participated in the "December 9th" Movement were involved in the Anti-Japanese War after the "July 7th" Incident.