The Soldier's Spirit in Straw Sandals

This book won the top prize, the Golden Qimao Award, at the Sixth Qimao Realistic Fiction Writing Contest; was selected for the Sichuan Writers Association’s 2025 Key Works Support Program; and took part in a symposium on Sichuan web literature hosted by the Sichuan Writers Association’s Online Literature Center and co-organized by the Sichuan Online Writers Association. The Marco Polo Bridge Incident broke out in July 1937. In Sichuan, military leaders from across the province gathered to discuss the war effort. At the Send-Off Rally for Sichuan’s Anti-Japanese Troops, held at Shaocheng Park in Chengdu on September 5, Sichuan soldiers swore: “If we win the war, we will return in glory. If we fail, we will return wrapped in our own shrouds!” The straw-sandal-wearing Sichuan Army took part in nearly every major battle against Japan, leading the nation in both the number of troops deployed and casualties suffered. Sichuan was also the rear base of the resistance and a cultural center. Its contributions of laborers, donations, and grain ranked first nationwide, and it sheltered large numbers of experts, scholars, teachers, and students from across the country, waging an unyielding cultural resistance against Japan’s cultural enslavement. The novel follows three main threads: the history of the Sichuan Army’s resistance; modern college students and descendants of Sichuan soldiers visiting sites and memorial halls commemorating the war; and patriotic gamers creating an online game that recreates the Sichuan Army’s resistance. The story is artfully plotted, with each thread linked to the next, deftly weaving together the resistance history of eighty years ago and contemporary journeys to uncover its legacy. Its pages evoke the feeling of moving between eras and witnessing events firsthand. Through a series of mysteries and suspenseful twists, the novel reveals the ups and downs of different characters’ fates and unravels one mystery after another, using modern reinterpretations and storytelling to carry forward the spirit of resistance.