In the morning of May 9th, in front of the memorial Cross, erected in 1997 on the premises of the Russian Embassy in the Peoples Republic of China "to honor and remember the compatriots who had died and were buried in this land", a Panikhida was held to remember the soldiers who had fallen in battle, as well as other Russian citizens who died of hardship in the years of the World War II. The Panikhida was held by Archpriest Dionisy Pozdnyaev.
It is important to note that on the eve of the ceremony in Beijing, where for a substantial time there weren't any rainfalls, suddenly rained heavily. As if the nature together with the people mourned the fallen soldiers. On the memorial service, the officials and the employees of the military liaison office of the Russian Embassy in China, as well as that of Belarus, co-workers and their families from the Russian Embassy and the Trade Liaison Office of Russia in China, citizens of Russia living and working in China. On the Panikhida, the choir belonging to the Orthodox Parish of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos in Beijing sang.
After the Panikhida, on the grounds of the Embassy summer playground a concert was performed honoring the Victory, which had been prepared by the creative group of the Russian Embassy middle school. The guests of honor of the celebratory activities were given "St George's ribbons" and flowers. The students of the older classes staged a vocal and chorographical performance dedicated to the heroic struggle of the Soviet people against Nazi Germany. The multitude of spectators with warm applause expressed their gratitude to the young performers for their sincere and profound interpretation.
The memory of the Great Victory among the many generations of Russians living in China is cherished as carefully and respectfully as in their homeland in Russia. In the cities of Harbin, Dalian, Lüshun (former Port Arthur), Changchun, Hailar, Shenyang, Wuhan and in several other places of North-East and Central China lay buried the remains of approximately 14,500 Soviet soldiers. More than 12,000 among them lost their lives in Chinese territory during the war against Japan in August-September 1945. In 45 Chinese cities there are around 50 memorials bearing the names of the fallen soldiers.
The first military burials of Russians on Chinese soil were done at the end of the 1890s, but most of them date from the period of the Russo-Japanese war of 1904—1905, during which Russia lost tens of thousands of her soldiers. The largest of all was the Port Arthur cemetery, where around 15,000 Russian soldiers were buried from many different places in Manchuria. Occasionally, when there is an opportunity for Orthodox priests to visit China, memorial services are held on the burial places of Russian and Soviet soldiers in Harbin, Shenyang, Dalian, etc. We are grateful to the citizens of China who take care for the military cemeteries of the Russian soldiers on Chinese ground.
Between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of China and Russia there is a constant line of consultation on issues of military memorials. A number of reparatory and construction works are done on many memorials of Soviet soldiers buried in China. In contrast to some European countries, whose authorities are trying to distort history and denigrate the memory of those who had fallen in the war against fascism by destroying the monuments built to the Soviet soldiers, China takes measures to preserve the military cemeteries and military memorials, providing for their maintenance, repair and preservation, as well as assisting Russian citizens who wish to visit the mentioned memorials. In 2009, at the premises of the Russian Embassy in China, a liaison office of the Russian Ministry of Defense was opened, specializing in the organization and caretaking of the military memorials issues in China.
In recent years, repair works had been done on many Soviet war memorials in the cities of Chunqing, Chengde, Zhangbei, Chifeng, Hailar, repair was also done on the cemeteries in Dalian and Soviet military tombs have been relocated in Shenyang and Harbin. There are plans in motion to reconstruct in September 2010 a memorial dedicated to the Russian soldiers, who had fallen during the Russo-Japanese war, as well as a war memorial honoring the Soviet soldiers, who died during the liberation of Northeastern China from the Japanese aggressors in 1945.
On the eve of the 64th anniversary of the Victory Day, official representatives from the Trans-Baikal region visited the cemetery belonging to the fallen fighters of the Red Army in the town of Manzhouli (Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region) and together with the local inhabitants paid homage to their memory. At the cemetery, the Chinese and the Russian representatives offered flower wreaths in front of the monument to the fallen heroes of the Red Army.
Manzhouli, situated in the border region of China with Russia, is the largest land control and communication point on the border between these two countries. On August 9, 1945, this city was liberated from the Japanese military occupation by the troops of the Soviet Army. The local inhabitants and the military personnel of the Red Army later built here a memorial and a cemetery.
As the Russian president Dimitry Medvedev remarked—as long as this memory lives on, the Victory Day will one of the greatest holidays of our people?.
Tatiana Manakova