Feature: Singaporeans pay tribute to Nanyang transport volunteers

It is only a sculpture but it speaks volumes about the tenacity and acts of heroism of the Nanyang transport volunteers who saved thousands of lives during Japan's invasion of China.

The statue, that has stood at the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall in Singapore since March 4, 2013, is a tribute to the sacrifices of some 3,200 voluntary drivers and mechanics from Nanyang and other parts of Southeast Asia who joined the China Relief Fund or the Nanyang Federation of China Relief Fund initiated by Tan Kah Kee, a prominent figure in the overseas Chinese community from 1939 to 1942.

The volunteers have helped build the famous Burma Road, a more than 1,400 kilometer-long treacherous land route which begins in northeast Myanmar and wounds its way across mountainous terrain to Kunming, the provincial capital of China's Yunnan Province.

The volunteers transported equipment and goods to China through the winding road to support the long war against the Japanese invaders.

It has been over 70 years after the war when the commemorative sculpture of Nanyang transport volunteers was erected.

According to Han Tan Juan, vice president of the Association of World War II Studies in Singapore, the sculpture was a "belated salute" to the Nanyang volunteers. "We regard them as heroes nowadays, but they are no longer around to receive our tribute to them," Han said.

Han, who is also a retired journalist, formerly with Lianhe Zaobao, has focused on historical research. He has often acted as a voluntary guide to help people learn more about the history of World War II.

He told Xinhua that he had interviewed many of Nanyang transport volunteers before and also went to Yunnan Province to do research on this group. Han lamented that only few young people in China today know about the heroism and sacrifices of the Nanyang transport volunteers.

Although stories of the heroism of the Nanyang transport volunteers have aroused attention and have been filmed as documentaries in recent years, the number of people who are aware of the history of Nanyang transport volunteers is still relatively small.

Zhang Bin, director with Documentary Channel of China's CCTV, who has shot a documentary on Nanyang transport volunteers, called the group "the forgotten patriotic personages."

It is estimated that the number of Nanyang transport volunteers who went to China to transport goods was about 3,226, of which 1, 028 died during the war, 1,126 returned to Southeast Asia after Japan surrendered, and 1,072 chose to live in China.

"When Nanyang transport volunteers participated the war against Japan, they just did it as their own contribution to their motherland ," Han said.

Han said that the surviving volunteers are getting older and sickly. "If we don't give them recognition now to preserving their legacy, then it could be too late," he said.

As this year marks the 70th anniversary of the victory of anti- fascist War and a series of commemorative events are scheduled, Han hoped that we can seize the opportunity to do something to remember Nanyang transport volunteers, and bestow to them the recognition sense of gratitude that they deserve.

Han also added that the Association of World War II Studies in Singapore is planning to shoot a 40-minute documentary, which tells the history when Singapore was occupied by Japanese troops during World War II, and elaborates the struggle of Dalforce at that time.

Huang Jianli, associate professor of Department of History, National University of Singapore, said not only the Nanyang transport volunteers who helped to build the Burma Road should be remembered but also the efforts of Chinese community in collating stories about them. Endi