RUCHENG, July 8, 2019 (Xinhua) -- Tens of thousands of people from across the country came to a small village in central China's Hunan Province last week looking for a quilt, to be exact, a halved one that is now no longer able to be found.
The halved quilt was cut by three young female Red Army soldiers as a gift to Xu Jiexiu, a countrywoman who lived in Shazhou village with her husband and her one-year-old son in 1934.
Fifty years later, a Chinese journalist retraced the 12,500-km LongMarch on foot and wrote the story of Xu and the halved quilt.
Since then, it has become probably the most famous quilt in China, with books written about it and an exhibition hall telling its story built in Shazhou. A movie about it also began shooting last week.
Every day, 81-year-old Zhu Zhongxiong, Xu's youngest son, would come back to his ancestral house in the village and unlock the doubt of visitors who wondered where the half quilt was.
"It had been burned by the Kuomintang (KMT) soldiers 85 years ago," he said.
During the Long March, the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army of China passed by Shazhou and had a short respite there on a rainy winter night of 1934. Fearing being robbed, everyone in the village hid on nearby mountains except Xu and her husband, who had to stay at home taking care of her sick son.
The KMT soldiers used to come by and loot every house in the village, Zhu said. Xu was scared in the beginning until she dared to open the door in the middle of the night.
After Xu opened the door, she saw three female soldiers in grey uniform at the door, getting soaked, and was told not to be afraid by one of the soldiers who said that they were with the Red Army led by the CPC.
She let the girls in and shared her 1.2-meter-wide bamboo bed with them. It was her dowry. The three female soldiers took out the only cotton quilt they had and covered Xu, her child and themselves up.
"Before leaving, the three soldiers asked my mom if she had scissors to cut the quilt in half," Zhu said, noting that his mother was both embarrassed about the worn-out batt on the bed that showed her hard days and proud of herself for inviting the girls in.
They cut the quilt in half and left her half, telling her they would come back to visit after their victory with a brand new quilt.
However, not long after, the KMT soldiers came back and searched the village after the Red Army left, and found the cut quilt in Xu's house and burned it.
The history of the Long March is a history that reflects the inseparable relationship between the army and the people as fish and water, and the ultimate Communist mission has been stressed by the CPC top leadership as halving duvets for the people.
Xu kept their promise in mind and waited until she met the journalist in 1984 and told him her story, asking him for a favor to find the girls and send words that she missed them a lot.
She never saw them again until she passed away in 1991.
Xu always told her children and grandchildren that the Communist Party was a group of people who would cut the only quilt they had in half and give it to those in need.
"Since I was little, grandpa and dad used to tell me the stories about my great-grandmother," said Zhu Shuhua, Xu's 31-year-old great-granddaughter, who applied for the job at an exhibition hall that commemorates the story in Shazhou as a guide, telling people the stories she has been told.
Last year, the exhibition hall received nearly 300,000 visitors from across the country.
Zhu Shuhua, 31-year-old great-granddaughter of Xu Jiexiu, tells the story about a halved quilt at an exhibition hall. (Xinhua/Wang Siwei)
A view of Shazhou Village. (Xinhua/Chen Zeguo)
Part of a house where three young female Red Army soldiers and a countrywoman named Xu Jiexiu lived in 1934. (Xinhua/Chen Zeguo)
A view of Shazhou Village. (Xinhua/Chen Zeguo)
A view of Shazhou Village. (Xinhua/Chen Zeguo)
Sculptures that commemorate the story about a halved quilt. (Xinhua/Chen Zeguo)
Zhu Zhongxiong, 81, son of Xu Jiexiu, poses for a photo. (Xinhua/Chen Zeguo)
