Historical links between a railway line and an American hero are being highlighted these days in Jiangsu Province, as a new high-speed-train track begins its replacing of what was a critical wartime link dating from 80 years ago.
On 30 November, construction got underway on the Jiangsu and Zhejiang sections of the Tongsu Jiayong Railway. The line is a new north-south link which shall eventually connect Nantong in Jiangsu with Ningbo in Zhejiang.
Upon completion, the new line will will greatly shorten journey times between Nantong, Suzhou, Jiaxing, Ningbo and other cities, reports the Yangtze Evening News.
But the line is just as significant for it being, in part, a replacement for the Suzhou-Jiaxing Railway, dating from 1936.
A full 2 years after deciding to proceed on the project intended to resist further Japanese invasion and facilitate the mobilisation of troops in wartime, ground was broken for the new line on 22 February, 1936.
As ever in China, the date was chosen for a reason. It was the fourth anniversary of the death of American pilot, Robert McCawley Short, an event which still carries a strong significance in China today.
For Short was the first pilot to die in the Second Sino-Japanese War in China and the the first American casualty in that country’s operations against Japan. Just 2 days earlier, he had also become the first pilot to shoot down a Japanese plane in that same War.
According to the Archives at The Museum of Flight, Short worked in China for the L. E. Gale Company, marketing American-made planes in Asia. In this capacity, he became acquainted with T. V. Soong, then Chinese Minister of Finance. Song was to appoint Short as advisor to the Chinese Air Force and hire him as the School for Military Air Tactics’ Chief Instructor.
In the battle that would cost Short his life, on 22 February, 1932, Short watched a train attempt to evacuate citizens from Nanjing and the subsequent Japanese arial bombardment thereof.
Springing into action, Short took to the Boeing Model 218 plane he had just delivered to Nanjing and to the air to defend the Chinese civilians aboard the train.
As the Archives note, “Accounts of the ensuing battle differ, but it is certain that Short was outnumbered at least three to one and the leader of the attack, Susumu Kotani, did die of injuries sustained during the battle. Short was shot down and died of his injuries, which he sustained both during the attack and in the crash”.
Short received a hero’s funeral in Shanghai, attended by tens of thousands of local people, together with many Chinese officials, as well as Short’s own mother and brother.
According to the Party History Office of the CPC Suzhou Municipal Committee, on 28 April, 1932, more than 10,000 people participated in a memorial meeting for Short, held in Suzhou Public Stadium, in the process raising funds to build a monument to him. Meanwhile, the people of Chefang in Suzhou erected a commemorative granite column on the very spot where Short died, so as to never forget.
In his honour, so the building of the Suzhou-Jiaxing Railway commenced. Today, more than 80 years later, the new high-speed line now under construction connects not only more and more cities in the Yangtze River Delta, but also both the past and future.
