Role of ‘Cloud Dragon’ in strife-torn years
IN the earlier section, we mentioned General Long Yun.
Readers might like to know the thread that had strung Long Yun, Yunnan and Nanyang Volunteer Mechanics.
Geographically, Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area with high elevations in the northwest and low elevations in the southeast. Most of the population live in the eastern part of the province.
In the west, the altitude can vary from mountain peaks to river valleys as much as 3,000 metres ( 9,800 ft). The Nanyang Volunteer Mechanics, driving along the Yunnan-Burma Road, had described the dangerous terrain with its deep ravine from their prospective.
Their joke is: “A truck that overturns on day one will only touch the bottom on day fifteen.”
Yunnan is rich in natural resources and has the largest diversity of plant life in China. Of the approximately 30,000 species of higher plants in China, Yunnan has perhaps 17,000 or more. Its reserves of aluminium, lead, zinc and tin are the largest in China, and there are also major reserves of copper and nickel.
Yunnan spans approximately 394,000 square kilometres (152,000 square miles) and has a population of 46 million as of 2010. The largest group is the Han and of the minority ethnic groups the largest is the Yi, followed by Bai, Hani, Zhuang, Dai, Miao, Hui, Tibetan, De’ang and others.
There are 25 ethnic minority languages spoken in Yunnan. Incidentally, the Nanyang Volunteer Fang Yu Ming of Miri married an ethnic Bai girl from Dali.
In 221 BC, Qin Shi Huang unified China and extended his authority south. Requisitioned regions and counties were established in Yunnan. When the Qing Dynasty was overthrown in 1911, the Nationalist Government established a Military Government in Yunnan Province in Oct of the same year with Cai E as leader of the Yunnan Army (1911 – 1916).
From 1912 to 1920, Zhu De was the protégé of Cai E, later Zhu became the Commander-inChief of the Chinese Red Army. Tang Jiyao succeeded Cai E as Military Governor of Yunnan (1913 – 1927).
At this juncture, readers might wonder how General Long Yun came into the picture. Long Yun, an ethnic Yi, the largest group of the minority races, was the Governor of Yunnan. His name Long Yun means “Cloud Dragon.” He was born on Nov 27, 1884 in Zhaotong, a town in the northeast of Yunnan Province. He participated in the early years of the anti- Qing struggle.
The Military Government was established in Yunnan in 1911 with Cai E (1911 – 1916) as military governor and leader of the Yunnan Army. Long Yun joined the Yunnan Army in 1911 and gradually rose to the rank of corps commander. He served in Tang Jiyao’s Yunnan Army until Feb 1927 when he and his ally Hu Ruoyu launched a coup to oust Tang, the then Military Governor of Yunnan, from the office.
Soon after that, Long Yun became the governor and the commander of the 38th National Revolutionary Army, and at the same time, served as the governor of Yunnan from 1928 to October 1945. Period of unrest During the early years of the Republic of China, a period of unrest ensued especially during the Warlord Era (1916-1928). The warlords and foreign powers were the major enemies of China’s national revolution, and most warlords attached themselves to foreign powers to extend their influence.
When the Qing Dynasty was overthrown in 1911, and through negotiation, Yuan Shikai (1859 – 1916) became the first president of the Republic of China in 1912. He was frustrated in a short-lived attempt to restore monarchy in China, with himself as the Hongxian Emperor (1915-1916).
Then following Yuan Shikai’s death in June 1916, China was fractured by the establishment of regional military governments. More often than not, the main activity of the military governors was to amass fortunes at the expense of the state and people, and to satisfy their vanity by maintaining large armies which were employed mainly for the purpose of looting and plundering.
It was an era of chaos and strife that resulted in the subsequent re- organisation of the Chinese Nationalist Party and the rise of the Chinese Communists Party that was formed in 1921.
When Long Yun was in power (1928 – 1945), he put forward the goal of building a new Yunnan. He carried out a series of reorganisations and reforms from political, military, economic, cultural and educational aspects. He prioritised textile export while reorganising and developing production of mineral resources.
Soon after the July 7, 1937 Marco Polo Bridge Incident, the coastal regions of China were blockaded, the Yunnan-Burma Road initiated by him was constructed. Other routes for transportation of war materials were the YunnanSichuan West Road, the YunnanSichuan Road and the YunnanGuangxi Highway.
During the Second SinoJapanese War (1937- 45) Long Yun was the commander-in- chief of the First Army Group fighting against the Japanese in his province.
In 1938 the Yunnan- Burma Road made Yunnan the corridor through which supplies f lowed to the Allied bases in all parts of China, and Kunming became a key US Air Force base. Vital role The Yunnan- Burma Road played a vital role in the country’s defence. In 1942 when a major advance by the Japanese army along the upper Salween River was halted at Huitong Bridge near Tengchong, when the retreating Chinese troops blew up the bridge.
The Chinese had been beaten and battered beyond human endurance. It is believed during the Japanese advance in 1942 that Xu Qixin, the first Sarawak Volunteer Mechanic from Sibu sacrificed his life.
After the bridge was blown up, a general killed himself before his troops. The men wavered, looked towards the rear. But Long Yun dashed to the front and called on the soldiers for another last stand.
As he spoke, his soldiers suddenly turned away and looked at the sky too. Long Yun stopped talking for he, too, heard the steady humming throb of aircraft engines.
The noise grew louder as they saw six P- 40 Kittyhawk fighters of the American Volunteer Group, nicknamed the Flying Tigers. These P- 40 fighters were singleengine, single seat, all metal aircraft that first flew in 1938.
The six American P40s whipped across the bluff and bellowed across the gorge, swung into column and dived on the Japs. Their 50- calibre slugs tore into the gasoline drums on the enemy trucks, sent them blazing. Their bombs uprooted their trucks and tanks and rolled them down the precipice to the river.
The Japs broke rank, dashed for the bushes and ran into patrols of cheering Chinese who had been left behind at the river crossing. On the China side, the dead general lay where he had fallen. His men, shouting their war cries, hurried down to the river and sniped at the Jap as he ran.
Down the road into Burma fled the once elite Japanese troops, broken, bereft of their trucks and equipment. The six AVG youngsters and the Cloud Dragon had saved a bitter day. Sarawak volunteers When the Huitong Bridge was blown up in 1942, many of the Nanyang Volunteer Mechanics and Drivers were jobless and left behind in Yunnan to fend for themselves.
According to Sarawak Volunteer Mechanics Fong Chen Piao’s recollection, he made a living by becoming a porter at the Kunming railway station. Some volunteer mechanics followed the Chinese Expeditionary Force into India while some others joined the Allied Force in India where they were trained as paratroopers in preparation for their counterattack in Malaya.
According to records, the three Sarawak volunteers who joined the Z-Force as paratroopers were Chua Gin Teck of Kuching, Zhang Wen Shun of Batu Kawa and Lee Ah Liew of Lundu.
The Chinese launched a counterattack across the same gorge in 1944 to reopen the Chinese section of the Burma Road as other Allied forces, advancing from India and northern Burma, cleared the Japanese from the Burmese portion.
The campaign involved the Chinese troops, assisted by American forces. They crossed the upper Salween on May 11, 1944 to drive the Japanese forces from Yunnan into northern Burma.
On May 11, about 40,000 Chinese of the Chinese Expeditionary Force crossed the Salween River initially and a further 60,000 arrived later. About 17,000–19,000 Chinese and 15,000 Japanese were killed in the resulting battle. There were more Chinese casualties because the Japanese had time to prepare their fortifications on the south side of the river.
Immediately following the war, Chiang Kai- shek moved against Long Yun. Patriotically obeying Chiang’s diversionary order, a large part of his private army of over 100,000 men had marched far away into Indo- China.
The absence of his army led to the final extraction during the “Kunming Incident” Oct 5, 1945. Chiang’s men – Premier TV Soong and General Ho Ying- chin – came from Chungking and had a conference with General Long and that afternoon escorted Long Yun by air to Chungking. So, Long Yun was removed from his reign of 18 years of Yunnan and his former aide, General Lu Han, took over the Yunnan government for Chiang Kai- shek.
At the end of 1948, Long Yun escaped to Hong Kong and joined the KMT Revolutionary Committee, an anti- Chiang organisation. In Aug 1949, he declared revolt against Chiang together with Huang Shaohong in Hong Kong.
After the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, Long Yun went back to Yunnan in 1950. An outstanding administrator, Long Yun was the pride of his Yi ethnic race in Yunnan.
Many of the Nanyang volunteer mechanics followed the Chinese Expeditionary Army to Burma and India. According to records, Sarawak Volunteer Mechanics Cai Zi Ying from Engkilili married an Indian girl and stayed behind in India after the war. The couple moved to Hong Kong during the time of an anti- Chinese movement in India.
In 1936 when Long Yun made his official residence at Zhen Zhuang Guest House at Green Lake during the war years against the Japanese, his life was intertwined with that of the Nanyang Volunteer Mechanics and Drivers. The Yunnan Archival collection of Nanyang Volunteer Drivers and Mechanics shows further proof of his presence. He, too, shares the recognition of “UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register – Asia and Pacific Regions.”