A Republic-Era Student’s Journey to the Southwest [University]

Spring, 1936

Su Linghui fled the suffocating mansion with a small suitcase, escaping the engagement that was a perfect match by family status but left her alone feeling wronged. Taking her mother's surname and the assumed name Liu Zhixing, she headed to Tianjin to sit the university entrance exams.

Autumn, 1936

With an admission letter from Minghua University in hand, Liu Zhixing boarded a train bound for Beiping. The young men traveling with her were in the prime of their youth, full of spirit and confidence.

She applied to the physics department, the hardest department to graduate from.

"People have different sexes. Does that mean exam scores do too?" The senior student who escorted her into the university laughed freely.

Summer, 1937

Gunfire raged and smoke filled the sky. Beiping fell.

Some people scraped by to save their own lives, some laid down their pens and took up arms, and some yearned for the truth.

Liu Zhixing retreated with her school to Xing City in Hunan Province. At the foot of Mount Yuelu, she and her classmates sang loudly among the hills.

"Shall we choose to fight or surrender?"

"We will be masters of our own fate, and fight to the death on the battlefield."

"We will not be slaves, but rise high into the clouds."

Winter, 1937

War engulfed the land north and south of the Yangtze River. The Japanese bombed the region in waves, and the school decided to retreat another thousand li.

Liu Zhixing took a train to Hong Kong, then boarded a passenger ship to Vietnam. From Vietnam, she followed the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway to Kunming.

She traveled a thousand li to join the National Southwest Associated University.

What they sowed were seeds of fire; what grew was hope.

"I love freedom, I love truth, and I love my country even more."

This is the story of a native-born young woman in the Republican era. She is not reborn and does not transmigrate. Armed with nothing but courage and wisdom, she defies the tides of her time and ultimately carves her name into history.

Theme: Stay true to your original aspirations, and you will reach the end.