Based on the prototype of the text "Golden Fish Hook", the 102 year old Red Army veteran Wang Yuqing passed away. Wang Yuqing | Red Army | Prototype
The reporter learned from relevant departments that Comrade Wang Yuqing, a retired official of the Red Army, a former consultant of the Fuzhou Military Region Command, passed away in Fuzhou on the evening of June 23, 2023, at the age of 102, due to ineffective medical treatment.
Wang Yuqing, male, born in December 1921, is from Qianxi, Guizhou. He participated in the revolution in November 1935 and joined the Communist Party in October 1940. He went through the Land Revolution War, Anti Japanese War, Liberation War, Korean War, and Kinmen Artillery War.
During the Land Revolution War, Wang Yuqing successively served as a soldier, health officer, and propaganda officer in the Army's wireless radio station, health department, and propaganda department, and participated in the Long March. He was the prototype character of the text "Golden Fish Hook".
During the War of Resistance Against Japan, Wang Yuqing served as a propagandist in the Yan'an General Administration Wind and Fire Theater Troupe, as well as a communication officer and guard platoon leader, acting deputy platoon leader, and other positions at the Anti Japanese Military and Political University. He participated in the mass production movement and was rated as a "model worker". And he studied at the Anti Japanese University and Yan'an Artillery School.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Wang Yuqing was ordered to advance into Northeast China with his troops and served as the platoon leader and deputy platoon leader of the artillery company of the 1st Regiment of the Security 1st Brigade of the Liaoxi Military Region of the Northeast Democratic United Army. In 1946, he was appointed as the commander of the artillery company of the 3rd Regiment of the 1st Security Brigade. In March 1948, Wang Yuqing was appointed as the Deputy Battalion Commander of the Mountain Artillery Battalion of the 19th Division of the 7th Column of the Northeast People's Liberation Army, and later served as the Battalion Commander.
After October 1952, Wang Yuqing served as the Director of the Artillery Department of the 130th Division of the 54th Army and the Deputy Chief of Staff of the 130th Division Command. At the end of the same year, he entered North Korea and participated in the Korean War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
Since September 1955, Wang Yuqing has held various positions including Deputy Artillery Division Commander, Chief of Staff, Deputy Commander, and Division Commander of the Military Region, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Fuzhou Military Region Command, Commander of Artillery in the Military Region, and Advisor to the Military Region Command. In September 1983, he retired from his position as an advisor at the Fuzhou Military Region Command. Wang Yuqing was awarded the rank of Major in 1955 and was promoted to the rank of Colonel in 1964.
In June 2022, the People's Liberation Army Daily published an article titled "101 year old Red Army soldier Wang Yuqing: Unforgettable Grassland on the Long March Road". In the memories of many people's growth, a text titled "Golden Fish Hook" introduced us to the hardships and camaraderie of the Red Army on the Long March road. In the vast grassland, Red Army soldiers had been out of food for many days. A senior cook bent a sewing needle into a fish hook to take care of three sick comrades, fish and cooked fish soup for them to eat, but he himself was reluctant to take a bite. In the end, the old class monitor collapsed on the grass.
Suffering from hunger, fishing with sewing needles, and distributing "treasure like" fish soup to comrades... More than 80 years ago, during the Long March, Red Army soldier Wang Yuqing also looked like an "old squad leader". Fortunately, he walked out of the grass.
According to military reports, in July 1936, the Red Second and Sixth Army Groups and the Red Fourth Front Army met in Garze, Sichuan. After a brief rest, the troops continued northward, and Wang Yuqing and his comrades each carried a few pounds of fried noodles and advanced into the vast grassland. During the wilderness march, there was a lack of supplies. Within a few days of entering the grassland, Wang Yuqing and his comrades ran out of food.
"Digging for wild vegetables, eating grass roots, gnawing on tree bark, eating whatever you can," Wang Yuqing recalled. The cooking class leader saw that several of their young comrades were too hungry to walk, so he flipped over the pockets of food, washed them with water, and boiled them into "rice soup" for everyone to drink. The bowl of "rice soup" with almost no rice pulled the dying Wang Yuqing and his comrades back from the brink of life and death.
Gunfire and bullets rained down the road, almost reaching the end of the mountain and water. That day, exhausted Wang Yuqing sat by a ditch to rest. In a daze, she caught a glimpse of ripples on the water surface and couldn't help but feel overjoyed: there were fish! "I didn't have the strength to wade into the ditch to catch fish. Even if I had the strength, I wouldn't dare to go down. Many comrades got stuck in such a ditch and never came out again."
Wang Yuqing suddenly remembered the two sewing needles pinned to his military cap. He had a clever idea and after burning the needle red, he bent it into a hook and tied it up, catching several small fish that were thumb long. Wang Yuqing, who felt like a treasure, shared the cooked fish soup with his comrades in arms. After regaining some physical strength, they supported each other and continued to move forward... Later, this method was borrowed by many comrades to support them out of the grassland.
"On this fish hook covered in red rust, there is a brilliant golden light shining." Every time I reread "The Golden Fish Hook," imagining the scene of my father and comrades trekking hard in the Long March, my younger son Wang Ning pays more respect to his ancestors. Years later, looking back at the Long March, Wang Yuqing also wrote this poem with emotion: "The Red Army soldiers are heroes, trekking mountains and rivers to Gansu and Shaanxi."
