Yu Sili statue. Photo provided by the Propaganda Department of Jiyuan Municipal Party Committee

The southern foot of the towering Taihang Mountains, in the western part of Jiyuan City, Henan Province, there is a town named after a hero - Sili Town.

Sili Town was originally named Wushan Town. In February 1944, in order to commemorate the anti-Japanese hero Yu Sili who died here, it was renamed Sili Town with the approval of the Jiyuan County Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Yu Sili's original name is Yu Zhixiang, from Zhuyuangou Village, Wushan Town, Jiyuan, and was born in 1913. After the full outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War in 1937, he resolutely gave up his studies and devoted himself to the Anti-Japanese National Rescue Movement. The following year, together with Communists such as Yang Bosheng and Shi Xiangsheng, he formed the "Du Balian Anti-Japanese Self-Defense Corps".

During the arduous years of the War of Resistance, Yu Sili led the Self-Defense Regiment to successfully attack the Japanese and puppet troops' strongholds many times, destroying the enemy's traffic lines. In October 1943, Yu Sili, who was only 30 years old, died heroically due to a betrayal of a traitor. Before his death, he shouted slogans such as "Long live the Communist Party of China!" and "Defeat Japanese imperialism!", and the noble integrity of a Communist Party member was moving.

"We not only have Sili Town, but also Sili Village and Qinghua Village, all named after the heroic names of revolutionary martyrs." said Yu Xiaobo, secretary of the Party Committee of Sili Town. In June 2017, the Sili Town Government rebuilt the tomb of the Sili Martyrs and built it in the Sili Hero Square. It erected the statue of the Sili Martyrs for future generations to admire.

Heroic spirit is passed down from generation to generation. From the 1980s to the 1990s, in order to get out of the mountains, the people of Shuihongchi Village in Sili Town built the mountains and drilled walls, and built the road for ten years. They wrote the contemporary legend of "Yugong Moving Mountains" and were listed as one of the on-site teaching and practice bases of Yugong Moving Mountains in Henan Province. "We are the hometown of martyrs, and we have the spirit of fighting the sky and the earth. This difficulty is nothing!" said Miao Tiancai, the former party branch secretary of Shuihongchi Village, who led villagers to build roads back then.

In recent years, Sili Town has carried out a red education inheritance project, incorporated red education into the course of primary and secondary schools in Sili Town, compiled "Sili Town Red Story Collection", and compiled and published "Du Balian Memoirs of the Anti-Japanese War" and other materials.

Lu Ju, a 46-year-old villager in Sili Village, Sili Town, was infected by his heroic deeds and joined the Jiyuan City "Small City Big Love" public welfare team to serve. He organized and participated in volunteer service activities such as rescue, searching for people, and searching for things. The total value of donations to the public has reached hundreds of thousands of yuan. "I grew up listening to Yu Sili's story. I want to pass on the heroic spirit." Lu Ju said.