The Qingming Festival event for people from all walks of life to pay tribute to the anti-Japanese aviation heroes was held in Nanjing Aviation Martyrs Cemetery (photo on April 3, drone photos). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Mao Jun

Xinhua News Agency, Nanjing, April 3 (Reporters Jiang Fang and Zhu Xiao) The Nanjing Anti-Japanese Aviation Martyrs Memorial Hall announced the second batch of information re-enactment list of Chinese anti-Japanese aviation heroes on the 3rd. At this point, the number of Chinese anti-Japanese aviation heroes engraved on the monument of heroes in the memorial hall has been updated to 1,470.

The names of the two new heroes added this time are Cao Xugui and Liu Yi. "We received a supplementary application from the relatives of the hero Cao Xugui, and the information of the hero Liu Yi was provided by a enthusiastic citizen. After verification and demonstration by multiple sources, they all met the supplementary conditions." Dou Ruoqi, a staff member of the Nanjing Anti-Japanese Aviation Martyrs Memorial Hall, said.

At the same time, the memorial hall erratized and supplemented the names, hometowns, birth and death information of the 12 heroes. Among them, 7 people corrected their names, 3 people supplemented or corrected their hometowns, and 2 people corrected their birth or sacrificed their time.

During the Qingming Festival last year, the memorial hall fully released information about 1,468 Chinese anti-Japanese aviation heroes to domestic and foreign countries for the first time.

Over the past year, the memorial hall has contacted more than 120 relatives of Chinese anti-Japanese aviation heroes. All sectors of society and the relatives of heroes have actively provided a large amount of historical materials to fill the gap in the information and archives of heroes in the past.

At present, the memorial hall has completed the supplementary and errata of the names of 32 Chinese anti-Japanese aviation heroes.

The Qingming Festival event for people from all walks of life to pay tribute to the anti-Japanese aviation heroes was held in Nanjing Aviation Martyrs Cemetery (photo on April 3). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Mao Jun

"Gong Shizhong, Jin Wen, Chen Huaimin, Xia Xundian, Lou Zhiwen, Cao Xugui, Huang Hanru... We will always wait for you to return!" At the 2025 Qingming Festival event for people from all walks of life to pay tribute to the anti-Japanese aviation heroes held that morning, the call of descendants of heroes conveyed deep remembrance and respect.

"Today, we can finally solemnly engrave the name of our uncle into the memory of our motherland." Cao Zhiqin said.

Cao Zhiqin's uncle Cao Xugui is one of the new heroes this time. Cao Xugui is from Yongchun, Guangxi. He was admitted to Chengdu Air Force Mechanical School in 1943. He went to the United States for training in June 1944. He died during training on November 24 of the same year at the age of 21. Finding his news has become an obsession in the hearts of three generations of the family. After decades of unremitting efforts, they finally found Cao Xugui's burial place in the United States in 2018.

"After knowing the whereabouts and reasons for his sacrifice, the whole family has been hoping that his name will be included in the list of anti-Japanese aviation heroes as soon as possible. Now, the wish of many years has finally come true." Cao Zhiqin sighed.

Xia Boyu, the nephew of the hero Xia Xundian, also posted a message to find Xia Xundian's wife and daughter who had been separated for many years.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. Dou Ruoqi said that the addition and errata have made the list of heroes of anti-Japanese aviation more complete, which is not only a deep remembrance of heroes, but also a respect and inheritance of history.

The Nanjing Anti-Japanese Aviation Martyrs Memorial Hall, located on the northern foot of the Purple Mountain in Nanjing, contains rich historical materials from the joint fight against the Japanese army invading China during World War II. The stele of heroes in the memorial hall is engraved with the names of 4,299 Chinese and foreign anti-Japanese aviation martyrs, and has established complete archives for more than 300 anti-Japanese aviation heroes.