Yang Huimin (; March 6, 1915 – March 9, 1992) was a
Girl Guide
Girl Guides (or Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) are organisations within the Scout Movement originally and largely still for girls and women only. The Girl Guides began in 1910 with the formation of The Girl Guides ...
during the
1937 Battle of Shanghai who supplied a flag and brought supplies to besieged defenders of the
Sihang Warehouse. 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 prior ...
.
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 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 Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...
, Yang followed the
Chiang Kai-shek government to
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
. She married
National Taiwan University
National Taiwan University (NTU; zh, t=國立臺灣大學, poj=Kok-li̍p Tâi-oân Tāi-ha̍k, p=, s=) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Taipei, Taiwan. Founded in 1928 during Taiwan under J ...
Professor of Physical Education, Zhu Chongming () and had two sons, Zhu Fugui () and Zhu Fuhong (). 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'' with
Brigitte Lin
Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia (; born 3 November 1954) is a Taiwanese actress. Regarded as a screen icon, Lin played a key role in boosting Taiwan’s film production with her romantic heroine roles in the 1970s before transitioning to Hong Kong, where ...
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, Wang Qianyuan, Jiang Wu, Zhang Yi, Du Chun, Vision Wei, Li Chen, and Yu Haoming. The film is b ...
, 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.]
See also
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 women in World War II
Educators from Shanghai
Scouting pioneers
Taiwanese people from Shanghai
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