Wang Qiye donated revolutionary relics left by his father to the New Fourth Army Memorial Hall. Zhao Ling and Xiao Chuan took the picture.
On the morning of the 6th, the People's Court of Tinghu District in Yancheng City opened a trial for a special civil lawsuit. Wang Qijing, one of four siblings from Yancheng City, sued their eldest brother Wang Qiye and the New Fourth Army Memorial Hall in Yancheng, demanding that the two defendants return 26 revolutionary certificates left by their father.
The Memorial Hall received precious relics
On the morning of September 1st, the New Fourth Army Memorial Hall in Yancheng received an extremely valuable donation. On that morning, Wang Qiye, an official from the Yancheng Urban Management Bureau, donated 26 medals that he had collected for many years, which belonged to his father Wang Ruxiang, to the New Fourth Army Memorial Hall free of charge. These medals and certificates, marked by the passage of time, witnessed three historical periods: the Anti-Japanese War, the Liberation War, and the Korean War. The Anti-Japanese Commemorative Medal, the Hainan Island Liberation Commemorative Medal, the Third-Class National Flag Medal of the Korean War, the Independent Freedom Medal... Each of these revolutionary relics, filled with blood and courage, reflected the life of a New Fourth Army veteran who fought through gun battles and numerous campaigns across the country.
Donor Wang Qiye told reporters that his father Wang Ruxiang was from Jianhu County, joined the New Fourth Army in November 1940, joined the Communist Party in May 1943, and was awarded the rank of Major in 1955. He personally experienced the Anti-Japanese War, the Liberation War, and the Korean War, participating in 29 various campaigns and receiving honors for his achievements in 17 different battles. In 1953, he was awarded the National Flag Medal by the Supreme Commander of Korea, and in 1956, he was awarded the Independent Freedom Medal and the Liberation Medal by the Ministry of National Defense. In 1985, Wang Ruxiang passed away at the young age of 59. At the time of his father's death, Wang Qiye was still serving in the army on Hainan Island. Initially, no one in the family paid much attention to these medals. Wang Qiye said that later, his four siblings heard that the medals might contain precious metals and wanted to take them to a jewelry store to make jewelry, but Wang Qiye firmly stopped them. To preserve these certificates, his mother handed over the 26 medals to Wang Qiye, the eldest son and also a soldier, for safekeeping. Wang Qiye said that more than 20 years have passed, and he has always cherished the 26 medals, using them as a constant source of inspiration for himself.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Wang Qiye believed that these medals should play a greater role, inspiring future generations, so he decided to donate all of them to the New Fourth Army Memorial Hall for preservation. "Donating to the memorial hall is also a way to honor my father's decade-long military career. These things were earned with my father's blood, and donating them will allow more people to understand the spirit of my father and other revolutionary martyrs through these medals," Wang Qiye said. Sun Guodong, director of the New Fourth Army Memorial Hall in Yancheng, believed that it is extremely rare domestically for 26 items to so comprehensively and completely reflect one person's military career. More precious is that some certificates and medals are paired, which is also very uncommon.
Four siblings sue to reclaim the medals
Unexpectedly, on October 15th, the court delivered a summons separately to Wang Qiye and Sun Guodong, director of the New Fourth Army Memorial Hall. Wang Weiwei, Wang Rongrong, Wang Yingying, and younger brother Wang Qijing filed a lawsuit in court, demanding that Wang Qiye and the New Fourth Army Memorial Hall return the 26 donated relics.
Wang Qiye said that after he donated the 26 medals for free, the four began asking him and the memorial hall for the medals. When their requests were unsuccessful, the four sued the court for the 26 medals, citing spiritual attachment. Wang Qiye believed that experts from the New Fourth Army Memorial Hall gave high evaluations of these medals, calling them "very rare and extremely precious." This evaluation may have made his siblings think that these medals were worth a lot of money. However, what they did not know was that the experts' evaluation referred to the spiritual value of the medals, not their material value.
Sun Guodong, director of the memorial hall, told reporters that when he received the court summons, he felt very conflicted. "The value of revolutionary relics lies more in their spiritual value. They are a condensation of the older generation of revolutionary predecessors' lifelong struggle for the new China, and are also a spiritual寄托for educating the next generation to build a better motherland. But now lawsuits have arisen due to donations, which is really disheartening."
To whom do the 26 medals belong?
At around 9 o'clock on the morning of the 6th, the Civil Division of Tinghu District Court held a trial for this highly anticipated lawsuit. Wang Weiwei, Wang Rongrong, Wang Yingying, and Wang Qijing, the four plaintiffs, requested the court to declare Wang Qiye's donation invalid and demanded that the New Fourth Army Memorial Hall return the 26 medals. The plaintiffs argued that the 26 medals were their father's legacy, common property of the five siblings, and their elder brother had no authority to represent the remaining four in making the donation. Wang Qiye, however, stated that the medals were left to him by his father and personally handed over by his mother, making them his personal belongings. His donation was a personal act, and others had no right to interfere. Wang Jia's fourth uncle and fifth uncle both confirmed that Wang Qiye's mother indeed told them, "Give the house to Xiao Wu Zi (Wang Qijing), and the medals to Lao Da (Wang Qiye)." In fact, Wang Qijing did inherit all the parental properties.
Mr. Liu Hui, deputy director of Yancheng Fa Ding Law Firm, believed that Wang Jia's fourth uncle and fifth uncle are elders and mutual stakeholders for the five Wangs. In the absence of a will from their parents, their testimonies can be considered credible.
During the debate between the two parties, the plaintiffs ultimately did not oppose the act of donation but opposed the method of donation. They proposed that only three commemorative medals of their father were exhibited at the New Fourth Army Memorial Hall, while the remaining 23 medals were stored in warehouses. They believed that the medals should be donated to different memorial halls according to their respective periods, allowing their father's spirit to be displayed in more places. In response, Chen Zongbiao from the Cultural Relics and Historical Materials Research Department of the New Fourth Army Memorial Hall, who participated in the defense, said that these 26 collections possess completeness, series, and educational value. The New Fourth Army Memorial Hall values these medals very much and respects Wang Lao very much. Three of the medals are displayed, which is also extremely special in the exhibition of cultural relics in the museum.
"The collection value of the 26 medals lies in their 'completeness and series'. Once separated, their value would be negligible. If, as the plaintiffs suggested, the 26 medals were donated to different types of memorial halls, the final result might be that they would never see the light of day. Regardless of the outcome, we hope that these 26 medals remain in the New Fourth Army Memorial Hall." Currently, the case is still under further trial.
Zhang Zhaoling and Guo Xiaochuan