Cemetery connects lost soldiers with the present

The keepers

Because so many martyrs died too young to have direct descendants, the responsibility of preserving their memory often falls on distant relatives — and the cemetery staff who guard their legacy.

"When I started working here, heroes like Huang Jiguang seemed like figures from distant textbooks," Wang Chunjie said. "Then I realized Huang was only 21 when he died — younger than I was when I started."

Xia said those who come are often nieces and nephews, their parents long gone but the obligation to remember undiminished. "They don't say much when they reach the wall," she said. "There's just quiet crying, tears streaming down."

Every year, on the eve of the war's anniversary on Oct 24, a Shenyang resident places five apples on every grave — a quiet homage to the legendary Battle of Shangganling (the Battle of Triangle Hill), where a single apple was passed among starving soldiers, Xia said.

Ahead of the Chinese New Year in 2025, the cemetery staff boiled nearly 1,000 dumplings and placed them at the graves. "We wanted the martyrs to taste the sweetness of today," Xia said. "I was once told by one of the veterans that at the front line, they once made dumplings under fire — the enemy bombed them, and all that was left was soup."

Inside the cemetery's museum vault, more than 10,000 artifacts lie in acid-free containers — the legacy of careful preservation by Meng Dechang, a 35-year-old history graduate who joined the cemetery in 2022.

The collection consists mostly of everyday objects — decayed rubber soles, metal bowls and uniform buttons. But amid the routine items are reminders of personal lives cut short.

"There's a harmonica — rare, and remarkably intact," Meng said. "We can only imagine that during breaks, soldiers gathered to play melodies from home."

Another artifact, a small signaling whistle, holds a starker reality. "When communication lines failed on the battlefield, a coded signal on a whistle meant life or death," she said. "Guardianship of these relics gives my life meaning. Every piece belonged to a different young person. They are the only physical link between those soldiers and the world today."

For docent Xie Yutong, 34, the work is a continuation of her military service. Having served 12 years in the 15th Airborne Corps — the same historical unit as renowned war heroes Huang Jiguang and Qiu Shaoyun — she sees the cemetery as an extension of her own squad. "When I see these graves, I'm not telling someone else's story," Xie said. "I'm telling the story of my own unit's heroes."