This year marks the 120th anniversary of Zhao Yiman's birth. Zhao was a pivotal figure in Northeast China's resistance against Japanese aggression, and one of the most lionized women revolutionary martyrs. Captured in 1935, she endured brutal torture, but she divulged nothing to the enemy. She remained unyielding, and she was executed in 1936, at the age of 31.
Prior to her execution, she wrote the following in a farewell letter to her young son: "My beloved child, Mom is not going to teach you through words, but through action. When you grow up, don't forget your mother sacrificed her life for the nation."
Even as time passes, Zhao's spirit remains as fresh as ever. Chen Hong, Zhao's granddaughter, has, for many years, been dedicated to telling her grandmother's heroic deeds, inheriting and carrying forward the great spirit of the War of Resistance, continuing the revolutionary legacy, through actions, and ensuring the revolutionary spirit is passed down from generation to generation.
"Grandmother once wrote a poem, 'At the Riverside.' It reads in part, 'I do not regret sacrificing my life for the country; with all my heart, I offer my blood to soak the soil of the motherland.' The poem is a vivid portrayal of my grandmother as a revolutionary," Chen says.
Chen recalls how, as a child, a hand-copied letter had deeply affected her. In 1957, years after Zhao's death, Chen Yexian (Zhao's son and Chen Hong's father) finally saw the farewell letter his mother had left him.
"My father was separated from my grandmother when he was a kid. He cried bitterly after reading the letter. He copied it by hand and gave the hand-copied letter to me," Chen Hong says. As she grew up, and especially after she became a mother, she gained a deeper understanding of the profound meaning of the letter.
In 2005, Chen Hong participated in the filming of the documentary, Zhao Yiman. "For more than three months, I visited where my grandmother was born, and where she fought. I felt I had gotten close to her," she recalls. Chen Hong was also invited to read her grandmother's last letter in the documentary, which moved countless viewers.
In 2014, after she retired, Chen Hong began devoting all of her energy to collecting historical materials associated with Zhao and to popularizing Zhao's heroic story. She has given lectures, in many schools and communities across the country, to tell the stories about her grandmother.
She has also made multiple trips to the Northeast China Revolutionary Martyrs' Memorial Hall (in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province) and the Zhao Yiman Memorial (in Yibin, a city in Southwest China's Sichuan Province) to collect archives, letters and oral accounts, as she has compiled more than 100,000 words that compose precious historical materials. "Every document and every photo is a fragment of history, and I want to piece them together into a complete puzzle," Chen Hong explains.
Zhao participated in the war in Northeast China, and she sacrificed her life there. "Every time I go to Northeast China, I can deeply feel the local people's heartfelt respect for my grandmother, and the other war heroes," Chen Hong says.
In Yibin, Zhao's hometown, a statue of Zhao stands on Cuiping Mountain. The statue's prototype is Chen Hong, who bears a striking resemblance to her grandmother. Every time Chen Hong gazes at the statue, her mind is filled with the words from her grandmother's letter, constantly reminding her never to fail her ancestors' expectations.
"My grandmother demonstrates self-reliance with her life, and it is my responsibility to pass on this family tradition," Chen Hong says. Her father also encourages her. "Don't take pride in being a martyr's descendant, live the life of an ordinary person," he tells her. His words have helped her stay focused on her original aspirations.
Chen Hong attaches great importance to her daughter's education. She tells her daughter stories about how Zhao bravely faced the enemy, and how Zhao held firm in her revolutionary beliefs. "My grandmother sacrificed herself, so that more people could live in peace. We should protect this peace with practical actions. Never forget history, and be a useful person to society," says Chen Hong.
During the matriculation ceremony for the 2025 undergraduate freshmen of Renmin University of China (in Beijing), on August 25, Chen Hong gave the students a moving "first lesson of the new semester." She told the students, "Young people, please do not forget the grueling years of the War of Resistance, and please do not forget the countless martyrs, like Zhao Yiman, who fought for the country's survival, national rejuvenation and the cause of justice for all humanity."
Chen Hong hopes younger generations will draw strength from the deeds of heroes and martyrs, and grow into pillars underpinning the country's efforts to build a great country and rejuvenate the Chinese nation.
Today, an increasing number of young people are following in the footsteps of heroes, and they are striving forward with youthful vigor in the new era, to ensure the revolutionary spirit is passed down from generation to generation, and that the spirit lives on forever.
Photos from Interviewee
(Women of China English Monthly September 2025)
Editor: Wang Shasha
