A Jotting on September 18th

Essay, September 18, 2021

Everyone, do you still remember what day it is today?

On September 18, 1931, in our country's Northeast, the Japanese Kwantung Army stationed in the region launched a sudden attack on Shenyang, occupying the Northeast by force and triggering the Mukden Incident, which shocked the world! Calculating carefully, it has been exactly 90 years since that day.

We all know that China's modern history is a history of humiliation and oppression. Since 1840, the Chinese people have suffered under the bullying of foreign powers, forced to sign a series of treaties that ceded rights and brought disgrace—treaties so numerous they are impossible to record, with clauses that still break one's heart to read today... Thinking of what the foreign powers did on our Chinese soil, I cannot help but fill with tears.

Yet today, the Chinese nation stands tall among the nations of the world, standing at the pinnacle of the globe.

Let us turn the wheels of history back and reminisce about those bygone years.

The 1842 Treaty of Nanking, the 1860 Convention of Peking, the 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki, and the 1900 Boxer Protocol. The Mukden Incident on September 18, 1931, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident on July 7, 1937, the Nanjing Massacre on December 13, 1937, and finally, the unconditional surrender of Japan on August 15, 1945!

This 103-year history saw countless patriots stain the motherland's soil with their blood. Even so, the Chinese people never forgot to save the nation and ensure its survival. From the beginning, when Wei Yuan proposed "learning from the advanced techniques of the barbarians to control them," to Liang Qichao's Young China, and then to the revolutionary predecessor Li Dazhao, who first spread Marxism in China, the wave of socialism gradually swept across the country. Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, we forged a strategic path of encircling the cities from the countryside, a political path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and a Chinese solution to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation!

Since 1840, the Chinese people have never forgotten the humiliation and oppression of the past, nor have they forgotten the devastation caused by the invasion of foreign powers.

Even though China is now the world's second-largest economy, the Chinese people will never forget the tremendous efforts made by our ancestors. I believe that under the guidance of our pioneers, the youth of China will surely fulfill the historical mission of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. We will surely be able to do as Mr. Li Dazhao said: to advance civilization for the world, to create happiness for humanity, and with our youthful selves, build a youthful family, a youthful nation, a youthful race, a youthful humanity, a youthful earth, and a youthful universe, so as to enjoy our boundless lives. We will surely be able to do as Mr. Liang Qichao said: if the youth are independent, the nation is independent; if the youth are stronger than Europe, the nation is stronger than Europe; if the youth are the heroes of the world, the nation is the hero of the world!

Chinese youth, keep going!

China, keep going!