{"id":5084848,"date":"2016-07-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-07-20T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ctlatinonews.com\/the-chinese-volunteers-who-fought-in-the-spanish-civil-war-their-amazing-courage-and-obscure-fates\/"},"modified":"2016-07-20T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-07-20T04:00:00","slug":"the-chinese-volunteers-who-fought-in-the-spanish-civil-war-their-amazing-courage-and-obscure-fates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/2016\/07\/20\/the-chinese-volunteers-who-fought-in-the-spanish-civil-war-their-amazing-courage-and-obscure-fates\/","title":{"rendered":"The Chinese Volunteers Who Fought In The Spanish Civil War – Their Amazing Courage And Obscure Fates"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n

In the autumn of 1937, Zhang Ruishu was enjoying a rare break from his 14-hour days on the frontline. One of very few, if not the only, Chinese in Madrid, he hadn\u2019t asked for time off \u2013 there was so much to do \u2013 but his commander had insisted he take a break. The Spanish capital was decorated with defiant if raggedy banners reading No pasar\u00e1n<\/em> (“They shall not pass”) and Madrid ser\u00e1 la tumba del fascismo<\/em> (“Madrid will be the tomb of fascism”). Zhang had seen many such signs before. At a newsstand, however, a large promotional poster for Spanish news magazine Estampa<\/em> caught his eye.<\/p>\n

Xie Weijin (left) and Zhang Ji (right) with a fellow Chinese in Spain, in 1938. Photo: courtesy of Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives<\/span><\/p>\n

The intriguing poster featured a man\u2019s face in profile. It wasn\u2019t a handsome face, but ruddy and weathered, with tightly cropped hair, hollow cheeks and a muddle of crooked teeth in a mouth set slightly agape \u2013 the face of a no-nonsense man who had known hardship. Suddenly, a crowd was gathering around Zhang; eyes were widening and fingers pointing. “That\u2019s him!” they cried, lunging forward to shake the stranger\u2019s hand.
\nThe Chinese soldiers who fought in the American civil war<\/span><\/a>
\nAlmost 20 years to the day since he had first set foot on European soil, the humble 44-year-old from Shandong province, now a medic with Republican forces fighting fascism in the Spanish civil war, was being hailed as a hero in a country almost 10,000km from home.<\/p>\n

Zhang Ruishu on the cover of Estampa magazine.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just over a year earlier, on July 17, 1936, at the same time as militaristic Japan was becoming increasingly assertive in China, a group of right-wing officers in the Spanish Army, led by General Francisco Franco, rose against the demo\u00adcratically elected Republican government. The move marked the beginning of a civil war that was to last for two years and eight months and provide a prelude to an even greater conflict in Europe.
\nWhile Franco\u2019s Nationalists were openly assisted by the German and Italian forces of fascist dictators Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, democratic nations including France and Britain operated an official policy of non-intervention, to the disgust of many of their own people, who saw the struggle as a…..
\nTo read full article: http:\/\/www.scmp.com\/magazines\/post-magazine\/long-reads\/article\/1989792\/chinese-volunteers-who-fought-spanish-civil-war?utm_source&utm_medium&utm_campaign=SCMPSocialNewsfeed<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the autumn of 1937, Zhang Ruishu was enjoying a rare break from his 14-hour days on the frontline. One […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[173,1004,1005],"tags":[1134],"ppma_author":[565],"class_list":["post-5084848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-ma-education","category-ri-education","tag-chinese-fightersspanish-civil-warspanish-history"],"acf":[],"mb":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Jermaine Smith","author_link":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/author\/jay\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"In the autumn of 1937, Zhang Ruishu was enjoying a rare break from his 14-hour days on the frontline. 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