Yang Huimin (; March 6, 1915 – March 9, 1992) was a

Girl Guide Girl Guides (known as Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) is a worldwide movement, originally and largely still designed for girls and women only. The movement began in 1909 when girls requested to join the then-grassroot ...

during the 1937 Battle of Shanghai who supplied a flag and brought supplies to besieged defenders of the

Sihang Warehouse The Defense of Sihang Warehouse () took place from October 26 to November 1, 1937, and marked the beginning of the end of the three-month Battle of Shanghai in the opening phase of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Defenders of the warehouse he ...

. Her actions proved inspiring to the defenders, who flew the flag the next daybreak in front of thousands of watching eyes across the bank of the

Suzhou Creek Suzhou Creek (or Soochow Creek), also called the Wusong (Woosung) River, is a river that passes through the Shanghai city center. It is named after the neighboring city of Suzhou (Soochow), Jiangsu, the predominant settlement in this area pri ...

Personal life

Yang had studied physical education in Shanghai and was a member of the Girl Scouts when the war broke out. Her courageous action during the

Defense of Sihang Warehouse The Defense of Sihang Warehouse () took place from October 26 to November 1, 1937, and marked the beginning of the end of the three-month Battle of Shanghai in the opening phase of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Defenders of the warehouse h ...

made her famous. In 1938, she was sent overseas to raise support and spoke about China's struggle in a number of countries. After the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on main ...

, Yang followed the

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

government to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

. She married

National Taiwan University National Taiwan University (NTU; ) is a public research university in Taipei, Taiwan. The university was founded in 1928 during Japanese rule as the seventh of the Imperial Universities. It was named Taihoku Imperial University and served d ...

Professor of Physical Education, Zhu Chongming (朱重明) and had two sons, Zhu Fugui (朱復圭) and Zhu Fuhong (朱復轟). She worked as a physical education teacher in Taipei. The sons were not aware of their mother's war effort when they studied her role in grade school lessons. Yang died of a stroke on March 9, 1992 at the age of 78. Her involvement in the Sihang Warehouse defense is featured in the 1976 Taiwanese film ''

Eight Hundred Heroes ''Eight Hundred Heroes'' () is a 1976 Taiwanese historical war drama film directed by Ting Shan-hsi about the Defense of Sihang Warehouse in 1937 Shanghai, China. The film was selected as the Taiwanese entry for the Best Foreign Language Fi ...

'' with

Brigitte Lin Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia (; born 3 November 1954) is a Taiwanese actress. She is regarded as an icon of Chinese language cinema for her extensive and varied roles in both Taiwanese and Hong Kong films. Biography Lin was born in Chiayi, Taiwan. ...

playing her role. She objected to some of the ways in which the film exaggerated her action for dramatic effect. In 2020, Yang is portrayed by

Tang Yixin Tang Yixin (), born Tang Ting (, 9 December 1987), also known as Tina Tang, is a Chinese actress and singer. Career Tang began her career when she was picked by Zheng Xiaolong to play the role of Concubine Qi in ''Empresses in the Palace'' (20 ...

in the Chinese historical war drama

The Eight Hundred ''The Eight Hundred'' () is a 2020 Chinese historical war drama film directed by and co-written by Guan Hu, and starring Huang Zhizhong, Oho Ou, Jiang Wu, Zhang Yi, Wang Qianyuan, Du Chun, Vision Wei, Li Chen, Yu Haoming, Tang Yixin, and ...

, which became the second highest-grossing film of 2020.Scott Mendelson (20 September 2020). "Box Office: Tenet Tops $250M As Eight Hundred Passes Bad Boys 3". Retrieved 20 September 2020.

References

* Margaret Mih Tillman
"Engendering Children of the Resistance: Models of Gender and Scouting in China, 1919–1937"
''Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review'', no. 13 (2014): 134–173.
800 warrior offer flag – Yang Huimin , China Financial
1915 births 1992 deaths Chinese people of World War II Educators from Shanghai Scouting pioneers Taiwanese people from Shanghai {{Scout-bio-stub

Personal life

See also

References