Young heroes’ scrolls - Huang Jiguang, 1961
Huang Jiguang (黄继光, 1930-1952) was made a Hero Special Class of the Chinese People’s Volunteers fighting in the Korean War. He was seriously wounded during the Sangkumryung campaign in Korea in October 1952. After throwing out his last hand-mine, he threw himself against the machine-gun slit of a dugout manned by American troops. The machine-gun was silenced and the height was taken. Huang died.
Heroes of the Volunteer Army scrolls (2), 1964
Huang Jiguang was made a model for the Army in 1963, together with An Yemin, Dong Cunrui, Lei Feng, Zhang Side and Norman Bethune. These models were later also to be emulated by the population at large. In most if not all cases, the rendition of these models’ sacrificial behavior became extremely stylized and stereotyped. Even in the 1990s, Huang continued to be seen as an emulatable example.
