Huang Jiguang

Huang Jiguang (1930-1952) was made a Hero Special Class of the Chinese People's Volunteers fighting in the Korean War. He was seriously wounded during the Sangkumryung campaign in Korea in October 1952. After throwing out his last hand-mine, he threw himself against the machine-gun slit of a dugout manned by American troops. The machine-gun was silenced and the height was taken. Huang died.

Huang Jiguang was made a model for the PLA in 1963, together with An Yemin, Dong Cunrui, Lei Feng, Zhang Side and Norman Bethune. These models were later also to be emulated by the population at large. In most if not all cases, the rendition of these models' sacrificial behavior became extremely stylized and stereotyped. Even in the 1990s, Huang was still considered an emulatable example.

Sources:
Zhiyuanjun yingxiong zhuan sanji [Accounts of Heroes of the Volunteer Army vol. III] (Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1956) [in Chinese]
Li Jingying, “Huang Jiguang”, in Qingnian yingxiongde gushi [Stories of youthful heroes] (Beijing: Qingnian chubanshe, 1965), pp. 152-179 [in Chinese]
Li Ming, Huang Jiguang (Beijing: Zhongguo shaonian ertong chubanshe, 1957) [in Chinese]
Shao Wu et al. (eds), Gongheguo qunyingpu [Register of heroes of the Republic] (Beijing: Zhongguo shaonian ertong chubanshe, 2003) [in Chinese]
Xu Yan, 80 wei gongchandang rende gushi [The stories of 80 Communist Party personages] (Beijing: Jiefangjun wenyi chubanshe, 2001) [in Chinese]

s.r.landsberger@let.leidenuniv.nl

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