Autumn Diary of Hometown, 300 words written in Aojiang
October 16
Today I think of the old houses on Xinglong Street in Aojiang that survived back then
Aojiang Port is now one of the five major intermodal ports in Zhejiang Province. First, it was listed as a national second-class open port in the 1990s, with a thousand-ton pier built and an annual throughput of 1 million tons. The successive construction of Ounan Bridge, Wenzhou-Fuzhou Railway and Ningbo-Taiwan-Wenzhou Expressway have made Aojiang Port's status as a satellite port of Wenzhou Port increasingly apparent.
However, more than 60 years ago, Aojiang Port was bombed indiscriminately by the Japanese invaders. Within a period of time, the entire Aojiang Town and Aojiang Port area were bombed no less frequently than Oujiang and Wenzhou Ports. In 1938, Aojiang Port had just opened, and its scale and cargo volume were not as good as Wenzhou Port. Why did the Japanese "focus" on Aojiang Port so much?
On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the author interviewed some elderly people in Aojiang Town, and re-read Mr. Liu Shaokuan's "Hou Zhuang Diary" and Mr. Wang Lifu's "Wang Haibeard Chronicle" and other documents, and found that The whole story.
On September 30, 1939, Mr. Liu Shaokuan recorded in "Hou Zhuang Diary": "Yesterday's report reported that the population of Aojiang was evacuated. Due to Yongjia (Wenzhou) Commissioner Xu (Zongwu) and other quasi-foreign ships Navigation from Pingyang to Aojiang was due to the fear of Japanese planes bombing (Wenzhou Port), so this strategy was adopted. Not only would navigation be used to lure the enemy, but also the people would be evacuated. Who would be responsible for transporting and selling the goods? , if the navigation is not opened, the trouble will be eliminated? If the navigation is opened to attract the enemy, it is because the superiors are greedy for the tax profits of the import and export of goods, and do not care about the suffering of the people, but they order evacuation in order to protect the people. Just for explanation. Last year, the enemy came to block Haikou, but the commissioners and others first blocked the navigation of Aojiang River, so that all the goods passed through Yongjia (Wenzhou) for their own profit; now the Oujiang River is sealed, and navigation is allowed to Pingyang to avoid the disaster. How can it be said that the officials are so evil and want to use this to protect the people? "Provincial Chairman Huang Shaoxiong wanted to open a navigation route to Aojiang in Pingyang. The entire national economy was taken into consideration, so I don’t know the general meaning.”
One look at this diary and it becomes clear that it was the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, and in order to divert and avoid the Japanese bombing of Wenzhou Port, the authorities took measures. Insulate Wenzhou Port and abandon Aojiang Port. After sealing Wenzhou Port, in order to earn taxes on the import and export of goods, Aojiang Port was still opened, allowing foreign ships coming to Wenzhou and domestic freighters to come in through Aojiang Port, and attracting enemy planes to bomb Aojiang Port. At the same time, in order to appease the people, the people of Aojiang were allowed to flee.
After that, from 1939 to 1943, there were hundreds of bombings, not to mention general harassment by enemy aircraft and ships. There were more than 50 bombings, and enemy planes came to conduct reconnaissance or bombing every now and then. In those years, the entire Aojiang Port area and Xinglong Street built along the Aojiang River were destroyed beyond recognition. Xinglong Street became a deserted street and a burning street.
The most serious losses suffered by the Japanese bombings were Wang Guangyuan, Tong Shengli, Li Rentai, Yongji, Jiucheng, Yifeng, Bai Yongfeng, Tongfeng and other firms, especially Wang Lifu, an industrialist in Aojiang. , Wang Guangyuan firm opened by Wang Wenchuan and his son. Wang Guangyuan is the largest trading house in Aojiang Port, and the Wangs and his sons are the founders of Aojiang Port's foreign trade. Their business was under intensive bombing by the Japanese. "Within three years, they changed their residences nine times and lost all their assets." (According to "The Chronicle of Wang Haibeard"). Mr. Wang Lifu’s third son Wang Shi (a famous historian) once recalled: “Since the Anti-Japanese War, Aojiang has been burned and robbed repeatedly. In 1940, enemy planes bombed the Guangyuan store, and the house and goods were destroyed. In June 1942, In August, the enemy troops landed in Aojiang again and burned my old house, our family base. The store and home were burned down, so we moved to Wenzhou. In 1943, the enemy troops invaded from the Jinhua branch again. In the spring of 1945, a few months before Japan surrendered, the enemy troops marched north from Fujian to Zhejiang and passed through Aojiang to loot."
Ao. The old name of Jiangjiang was "Wuwantou". It was originally a small wharf where fishing boats docked. In 1923, Wang Lifu and Wang Wenchuan, father and son, founded and operated Wang Guangyuan Company in Aojiang, built wharves, and opened the first thousand-mile waterway to Shantou and Hong Kong in the south; to Shanghai, Dalian, Yingkou, and even Sichuan Port in South Korea in the north, making the "sealed and backward" sea lanes closed for thousands of years "Wuxantou" became an important import and export trade town in southern Zhejiang at that time, driving the development of Aojiang's agricultural and sideline industries, handicrafts and municipal construction, making Aojiang a well-known economic town with thousands of people in the southeast, and was once known as the "Southern Zhejiang". "Little Shanghai". Wang Guangyuan and other Aojiang merchants use this port to transport local products such as tea, vegetable oil, salt, alum and other materials to other cities across the country, or export them to Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand and other countries and regions. Many industrial products and materials from other places also come in through Aojiang Port. At that time, road transportation in southern Zhejiang and northern Fujian was not yet developed, so Aojiang Port became the material distribution center in this region.
The status of Aojiang Port, coupled with the authorities' approach of luring the enemy to bomb Aojiang, made Aojiang Port the most important target of the Japanese invaders in southern Zhejiang. "Houzhuang Diary" from 1939 to 1943 reflects the record of enemy aircraft invading almost every few days: "Both the upper and middle ports of Aojiang were bombed, but the central port was the most damaged. Wang Guangyuan, Tong Shengli, etc. There was nothing left but burned down, and it extended to Shangbu Street, killing and injuring more than a hundred people.
"Nineteen bombs were bombed in Aojiang, including four incendiary bombs. Another two bombs fell into the river, destroying Li Rentai, Yongji, Jiucheng, Yijin, Bai Yongfeng, Tongfeng, rice mill, and teahouse. wait. "Four more bombs were bombed in Aojiang, and one ship was destroyed." On that day, the county magistrate moved his family and all the government officials to Beigang. "In a small market town, more than a dozen bombs were dropped at once. The tragedy of Aojiang Port can be imagined.
"Houzhuang Diary" also has this record: The weather was sunny for a long time , the drought was severe, and it was the summer harvest and planting season. Fearing that enemy ships would break into the inner lake from Aojiang Port, the authorities ordered "all townships to open up the steep slopes and release water to make it shallower, so as to block its entrance... The outer river of Fu Nei Lake, the middle river No matter how big or small the steep gate is, enemy ships cannot enter. With this order, local officials must be cautious and cannot express their feelings on behalf of Chen. It’s a pity! What a shame! ”
It can be seen from the above historical data that Aojiang Port was the hardest-hit area during the Anti-Japanese War, and it suffered a more serious blow than other small towns in southern Zhejiang. Detailed records in "Houzhuang Diary", " The records in "Annals of Wang Haibeard" and the move of Wang Lifu's family from Aojiang to Wenzhou show that Aojiang was more dangerous than Wenzhou at that time. In order to protect Wenzhou Port, the authorities protected the transportation of import and export goods during the war, and at the same time, to prevent enemy ships from coming in and fighting. They engaged in direct combat and adopted the strategy of "losing soldiers to save vehicles". These are one of the reasons why Aojiang Port and Aojiang Town have become the hardest hit areas.
History has passed for a century. As a city with a history of nearly a century. Old Port, now Aojiang Port, is an important port for Wenzhou City to implement the "One Port and Three Cities" development strategy and Zhejiang Province to implement the "Strengthening the Province by Water Transport" project. However, the people of Aojiang will never forget this period of indiscriminate bombing. , a history of bloody looting.