Chapter 29 "December 9" Movement

On December 9, 1935, the sky was dark and the wind was biting.Students from various high schools and middle schools in Peking started to go to Xinhuamen to participate in the petition in the early morning, calling on He Yingqin, the head of the Executive Yuan Office in Peiping, to declare resistance to Japan. This was the beginning of the famous "December 9th" Movement.Much like the "May 4th" Movement in 1919, students were dissatisfied with the government's foreign policy and were no longer silent, and public opinion across the country has been no longer silent since then.

There is no room for a desk in the University of North China.Around the establishment of the Jicha Political Affairs Committee, the students realized the horror of subjugation.While calling on He Yingqin to declare resistance to Japan, they also pointed their finger at Song Zheyuan, the military and political chief in North China at that time.At this time, Song Zheyuan, who served as the chairman of the Jicha Political Affairs Committee, was dissociated between the central government of the Kuomintang and the Japanese. Song Zheyuan's ambiguous attitude caused strong dissatisfaction among the students, and the vigorous students worried that Song Zheyuan was no longer the hero of Xifengkou, but would only follow in the footsteps of Yin Rugeng, who had just rebelled against the country.Tsinghua University Salvation Association pointed out in the "Letter to the People of the Country" on December 8: "The once prominent national heroes and anti-Japanese generals have all turned into 'dragons'." During the demonstrations on December 9 and 16 , The students angrily shouted the slogan "Down with the traitor Song Zheyuan".

Song Zheyuan and his officers believed that saving the country was a matter for the government and the army, and that the duty of the students was only to study, and that taking to the streets to parade was not doing their job properly, and shouting the slogan "Down with Song Zheyuan" was even more outrageous.Therefore, Song Zheyuan and the 29th Army took tough measures against the student movement. Before the demonstration on December 9, the military police sent by Song Zheyuan surrounded almost all the schools in Beiping that were preparing to participate in the petition. Attacks by military police and other weapons.The big sword that the 29th Army cut off from the devils’ heads during the Great Wall War of Resistance swung at the students. Although the back of the sword was used instead of the blade, many students were still injured. The parade was dispersed, and more than 10 students were killed. catch. The large-scale demonstration on December 16 was also brutally suppressed. More than 20 students were arrested and nearly 400 people were injured, including the daughter of Weng Wenhao, Secretary-General of the Executive Yuan of the Nationalist Government.The next day, Song Zheyuan published the "Letter to the Students", accusing the students of being "deceived and incited by the communists" and expressing to the student movement that "in order to maintain the stability of the people, we will definitely stop it appropriately."On the 22nd, the Peking City Student Federation held a blood-cloak exhibition and complaint conference at the Yixian Hall of China University, exhibiting more than 500 blood-cloaked clothes from students injured in the "December 9" and "December 16" parades.

The student movement in Peking shocked Nanjing.Although Chiang Kai-shek had always had a dislike for the student movement, but when he saw the students chanting slogans to overthrow Song Zheyuan, he also felt that he could use the students to bargain with the Japanese and at the same time hit Song Zheyuan who was difficult to control.Shortly after the "December 16th" parade, he asked Yang Likui, a professor of Peking Normal University, to come forward and invite Huang Jing, Yao Yilin, etc., representatives of the Student Federation, to dinner in the name of the "Peking National University Staff Association". I hope that the Peking Students' Federation can accept the leadership of the Nanjing government, and the Nanjing government can even provide money to support the Students' Federation.Chiang Kai-shek's temptation was not accepted by the students. He became a little annoyed and felt that the student movement was probably related to his political enemy, the Communist Party, so he changed his policy and agreed with Song Zheyuan to suppress the students.The Japanese government was even more disturbed by this anti-Japanese student movement. On the second day after the movement broke out, it lodged a strong protest to the Nanjing government and the Peking authorities through military and diplomatic representatives stationed in China, expressing serious concern about the development of the situation and demanding that the Chinese side comprehensively suppress the students. sports.

Thus, from February 21, 1936, the Peking authorities began a mass arrest and suppression of students.In the afternoon of the same day, after receiving the news that the students of the Chinese University were holding a meeting, the Police Department of the Second Inner District of Beiping immediately sent people to monitor the school and blocked the school gate to prevent students from entering or leaving.At 10 o'clock in the evening, the police entered the school to search and arrested more than 50 students, and found various progressive books such as "Students' Federation Daily".Then, the military police raided Northeast Zhongshan Middle School, Hebei High School, Peking University School of Law and Business, etc., arresting nearly 100 students. At 6 a.m. on February 29, the student dormitory of Beiheyan No. 3 Hospital of Peking University was searched by military police and patrol police. Nearly 200 progressive books, periodicals and letters were confiscated, and progressive student Han Shizhong and others were taken away.

Among the large-scale arrests, the search and arrest of Tsinghua University was the largest. At midnight on February 29, more than 400 military and police officers, under the command of Chief Inspector Qian Zongchao, lurked around Tsinghua Park and jumped off the wall at 5 o'clock in the morning. Enter, surround each student dormitory separately, prohibit students from moving, and search and arrest according to the "blacklist" provided by the spy students.The angry students fought with the military police and demolished the police car, so the military police had to return on foot, but none of the students were arrested.After Song Zheyuan received the report from the military police who had fled back, he became furious. That afternoon, he dispatched more than 5,000 military police, including the 29th Army's broadsword team and machine gun company, under the personal command of Chen Ji'an, the chief of the Peking Public Security Bureau, to Tsinghua University to arrest people.The military police searched from 9:00 p.m. until dawn, only to find the hidden students concentrated in the gymnasium behind Tsinghua University. They arrested more than 20 people indiscriminately, but they failed to catch a single underground member of the CCP or a major student cadre.

The mass arrests and suppression made the students determined to fight back. On March 31, 1936, the "March 31" demonstration broke out.On this day, students held a mourning meeting in the auditorium of the Third Academy of Peking University to mourn Guo Qing, a high school student of Peking who died in prison due to torture.Song Zheyuan sent a large number of military police and special agents to surround the Third Hospital of Peking University, set up machine guns at the door, and prohibited students from entering and leaving.After the memorial service, students rushed out from the neighboring Kongde Middle School to hold a coffin-bearer parade.Angry students chanted slogans such as "Down with the traitor and traitor Song Zheyuan" and took to the streets.Near the south entrance of Beichizi, they were suddenly attacked by the military police of the brigade. More than 100 students were injured and 53 students were arrested.The arrested students were brutally abused in prison.

The "March 31" incident put the students and Song Zheyuan's 29th Army in a state of sharp hostility, like fire and water.At this time, Liu Shaoqi and the Northern Bureau of the Communist Party of China under his leadership changed their tactics. Instead of pointing their fingers at the troops with a history of resisting Japan, they decided to establish a united front with Song Zheyuan and the 29th Army, and promptly put forward the "support Song committee member" Long-term Anti-Japanese War", "Support the 29th Army Anti-Japanese War" and other slogans.The students' minds also calmed down, and they began to seek to ease the tension with Song Zheyuan's 29th Army. On April 6, the Peking Students' Federation published an open letter to Song Zheyuan, in which he praised the glorious history of the 29th Army's Great Wall War of Resistance and hoped that Song Zheyuan could "take up the responsibility of the leader of the Anti-Japanese War."At the same time, the Student Federation also organized students to go deep into the 29th Army's garrison through various forms to communicate with officers and soldiers, teach soldiers to play basketball, football, and practice track and field.During the contact, the gap between the students and the officers and soldiers of the 29th Army was gradually eliminated and friendship was established.

Song Zheyuan saw that the students no longer opposed him, so he didn't take it too seriously.His transformation was first manifested in the handling of those arrested in the mass arrests in February 1936 and the "March 31" parade. In May, all those arrested were released. On June 13, the students held demonstrations against the Japanese armed smuggling and the increase of troops in North China, and demanded a thorough investigation of the floating corpse incident in the Haihe River.During this parade, the students chanted the slogans "Support the 29th Army to Resist Japan" and "Support General Song Zheyuan to Resist Japan". The military police who were ordered to intercept along the way just followed the procession to maintain order, and there were no further beatings or arrests. student events.

After the "June 13" demonstrations, the Japanese lodged a strong protest to the Peking authorities. Under the pressure of the Japanese, Song Zheyuan ordered the banning of the Peking Student Federation and all student groups.However, the Peking Student Federation did not disappear from the scene, nor did it confront Song Zheyuan head-on. Instead, it continued to send representatives to actively participate in activities such as laboring the army and mourning the fallen soldiers. On July 15th of the lunar calendar in 1936, Song Zheyuan held a Yulan Basin ceremony in Beihai in order to save the souls of the officers and soldiers who died fighting against the Japanese army at Xifengkou.Representatives from the Federation of Students attended the ceremony, presented wreaths and elegiac couplets, and read sacrificial rites on stage, which deeply moved the officers and soldiers present.The 29th Army's acceptance of the wreaths and elegiac couplets of the Students' Federation is tantamount to acknowledging the legal existence of the Students' Federation.

On September 18, 1936, all schools in Peiping successfully held commemorative meetings for the fifth anniversary of the "September 18th", and the 29th Army did not intervene.On the same day, the troops of the 29th Army stationed in Fengtai clashed with the Japanese army, and Song Zheyuan was forced to humiliately accept Japan's unreasonable request to withdraw the Chinese garrison in Fengtai.After hearing the news, the Peking Students' Federation immediately sent representatives to Fengtai to express condolences. After the representatives returned to Peiping, the Students' Federation held a talk meeting from all walks of life to condemn the atrocities committed by the Japanese army. , so that the officers and soldiers were very moved. In order to maintain military pressure on the 29th Army, Japan has frequently increased its troops since 1936, and the situation in North China has become more urgent. Beginning in late October, the Japanese troops stationed in Pingjin conducted large-scale military exercises.Song Zheyuan and the 29th Army were not to be outdone, and decided to conduct military exercises at Hongshan Pass and Gu'an. On November 7, the 37th Division of the 29th Army stationed in Xiyuan held a small-scale exercise at Hongshan Pass.After contacting in advance, many students from Tsinghua University and Yenching University also participated in this exercise.At the beginning of the exercise, the soldiers read out the oath drafted by the representatives of the Student Federation: "We have to use the bullets bought by the blood and sweat of the people, and we must do our best to hit and annihilate the enemy Japanese devils." "We must prepare to die on the battlefield." The exercise. In the middle of the war, students and soldiers participated in the charge together, and the targets they hit were all "Japanese devils". On November 11, the autumn exercise of the 29th Army was held in Gu'an, and Song Zheyuan went to Gu'an to preside over it in person.With his consent, more than 200 Tsinghua University students went to Gu'an to visit the exercise.After the exercise, Song Zheyuan stood on a square table to make comments, and at the same time he also delivered a speech to the students, expressing his admiration for the students "who came with the army without fear of fatigue" and hoped that everyone "exercise, study hard, and prepare for the country. Use..." Patriotic students welcomed Song Zheyuan's change in favor of resisting Japan.In his speech, the student representatives expressed their willingness to join hands with soldiers to defend the country's territorial sovereignty.Afterwards, the students donated a yellow satin flag of "Support the 29th Army and Defend North China" and a flag of "National Qiancheng" to the 29th Army in the names of the Peking Students' Federation and the Tsinghua University Student Union respectively.The flag offering by the students greatly encouraged the 29th Army. When the students returned to Peking, Song Zheyuan specially allocated 4 military trucks to send the students back to Peking directly.So far, the relationship between patriotic students, Song Zheyuan and the 29th Army has changed from hostility to cooperation.