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After staying up for several late nights, I finished watching the historical documentary "The Sinister Slaughter: Lushunkou as Witness" re-broadcast by CCTV's Exploration and Discovery.
With comprehensive materials and profound insights, it is truly a rare series.
In the mid-19th century, Northeast China was almost entirely under the influence of Russia; during the First Sino-Japanese War, China was utterly defeated by Japan. By the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, Japan and Russia, both wanting to exclusively control Northeast China, had already intensified their conflicts to the point of mutual exclusion.
In 1904, an invasion battle for the Lushun fortress finally broke out in Liaoning, China. However, at that time, China couldn't afford to provoke either side, so it could only announce to the world: We remain neutral and observe. Then we watched the enemies fight in our own home. According to the narration in the documentary "Lushunkou as Witness," during this war, hundreds of thousands of Chinese died merely because they were caught in the crossfire.
Since in this war, there was essentially no involvement from the Chinese themselves, the series mainly showed how specifically Russia and Japan fought each other.
The documentary, based on historical facts, introduced that Russia's economic and military strength back then was ten times stronger than Japan's; however, after nearly a year of naval and land battles, Russia ultimately suffered a terrible defeat in Lushunkou against Japan, which was ten times weaker.
Japan is just an island country, but whether it was the First Sino-Japanese War or the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, two vast empires were successively defeated by this small neighboring country.
Regarding the First Sino-Japanese War, I had only seen the movie "The Jia Wu Sea Battle" and some records in modern history books. The movie left me with the impression that Deng Shichang was just one cannonball away from winning against Japan; and some books discussing this war also seemed to suggest that we lost unwillingly, implying that if we had more Deng Shichangs back then, we wouldn't have lost so badly. This is very similar to today's Chinese football, always refusing to accept defeat and blaming referees or other reasons; yet we consistently lose in international matches.
For both China and Russia, Japan was the winner in both major wars. Could these outcomes be due solely to accidental factors?
"The Sinister Slaughter: Lushunkou as Witness," since it tells the story of two foreign countries fighting in China, remains relatively objective throughout.
The entire documentary meticulously documents how Russia, whose national strength was ten times greater than Japan's, had numerous opportunities to win during the war but missed them all, leading to its complete and utter defeat.
In the Chinese narration of this documentary, one point is repeatedly emphasized: corruption, even in a nation with immense power and military might, will still lead to eventual failure. During the great 1904 war between Japan and Russia, there were indeed some outstanding Russian commanders involved, but the narration explicitly states: even the wisest commander, when placed within an extremely corrupt government, will still face failure—it’s not just about being a few cannonballs short of victory.
After finishing "The Sinister Slaughter: Lushunkou as Witness," my thoughts immediately turned to Chinese football over the past few years.
With a population of 1.3 billion, the slogan used to be "Break out of Asia," but the current reality is that we're almost unable to break out of Southeast Asia.
Is it due to the players' lack of quality? Is it because the football infrastructure can't keep up? Or does Chinese football lack sufficient funds? Or do Chinese fans not support enough?
None of these are the issue. It's because the corruption within Chinese football has rotted it to the core.
Therefore, anyone who still harbors the illusion of "almost winning," like in the case of the First Sino-Japanese War, will inevitably end up completely disillusioned.
Yesterday, on my way home in a taxi, some fans were sending text messages to Beijing Radio Station, wishing the Chinese team to win 3-1 or 2-0 against Japan; how could that possibly happen?
And just like Russia in "Lushunkou as Witness," Chinese football will continue to lose—first blocked by South Korea and Japan, then teased by West Asian countries; until eventually becoming the losing party to Vietnam and Malaysia.
I estimate that "The Sinister Slaughter: Lushunkou as Witness" will be rebroadcast. If anyone notices, take a careful look—it offers much more than just one-sided inspiration.