In 1952, black soldiers in Macau injured Chinese soldiers, and the two sides went to war, firing 599 artillery shells.

In July 1952, a fierce armed conflict broke out between Portuguese soldiers in Macau and public security border guards. Because the launch site was at the Border Gate, it was known in history as the "Guanzha Incident." 30 border guards were injured and 2 died.

There are different opinions on the cause of the incident. One theory is that the black mercenaries were illiterate and poorly educated, and they urinated at the border gate. The police soldier on the opposite side smiled, so the black man thought he was being ridiculed and discriminated against.

According to the memories of "Macau King" He Xian, the "Ho Genealogy" records: The Chinese soldiers had never seen black people, so they nodded to the black soldiers opposite and gave a kind smile. Those black soldiers believed that they were discriminated against by the Chinese soldiers on the opposite side, so they resorted to violent methods, which triggered an escalation of the conflict.

There are different opinions on the cause of the incident, but one thing remains unchanged: the border gate incident was instigated by Macao and Portugal. From bayonets to cold weapons, it escalated to gun battles, and then to artillery battles. Both sides fired a total of 599 rounds of artillery shells and tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition.

All this starts with Guanzha, which was originally an archway-style building built in 1574, the second year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty. It is about three meters high and more than three meters wide.

When it was first built, it was naturally not a Western-style building like today, but an antique oriental building. There was a plaque hanging on it, which read "Fugan Zhende" in four vigorous and powerful characters. It's an iron painting with a silver hook.

This is the famous Border Gate. Later, Portugal invaded and occupied Macau. In order to prevent these colonists from expanding, China rebuilt the Gate.

The Chinese side sent soldiers to guard the border gate to prevent Portugal from unreasonable expansion in Macau. At that time, the border gate was opened every five days to transport food to Macau.

Except for open days, there are seals and cross-posted gates at other times, prohibiting anyone from entering or exiting.

By 1849, with the rise of world trade, the customs gate became one of the four major customs in China, and many merchants took advantage of the trend to rise.

On March 13, 1849, there was a Portuguese leader named Amarqin. This man drove away the Chinese customs officials, and then led his men to swing a big ax and cut down the fence pole, The gate was dismantled (after reconstruction, the gate looks like today).

In 1945, ninety-six years later, the Portuguese intensified their efforts and once again crossed the original border gate, once again encroaching 33 meters into China's sacred territory, and sent sentries to guard it.

The mainland is in war and has no energy to deal with this border incident, so Macao and Portugal are even more arrogant.

It was not until the founding of New China that it began to deal with the unequal treaties of the past. Colonialism was an old social problem left over from history, and China would never recognize the inequality imposed on China by imperialism. treaty.

Regarding the Hong Kong and Macao issues, the Chinese government’s proposition is to recover these two lost territories through negotiation when conditions are mature.

Our article mainly refers to the memories of the "King of Macau" Ho Xian, because he was one of the key people in the Border Gate incident and a witness to the incident.

Here is a brief introduction to the King of Macau. He was born in Guangzhou on December 1, 1908. When he was a child, he followed his father to sell department stores. When he was a teenager, he followed his father in the shipping business and was enthusiastic about charity.

In 1922, the shipping business was bleak and the originally wealthy family was increasingly struggling. He Xian, who was only thirteen years old, went to work as a waiter in a grain and oil store.

Three years later, the big owner of Guangzhou Fuyuan Hao discovered He Xian's business talent, so he spent a lot of money to recruit him and became the shopkeeper of his own store. In fact, to put it bluntly, he was poaching and recruiting talents.

When He Xian reached the age of eighteen, he started working as a bank account with two hundred yuan, jumped into the rolling waves of the financial market, and opened a "Hongji" bank account.

By the age of twenty-one, he had become a rising star in the business world... However, with the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, He Xian faced the war-torn southern China and had no choice but to escape. Develop in Hong Kong.

However, the tragedy is that with the outbreak of the Pacific War, Hong Kong was also invaded by the Japanese invaders, so He Xian had no choice but to go to Macau.

The small Macao was poor and backward. He Xian started his own business again and took root in the small Macao.

Because the war did not break out in Macau, but the surrounding areas were shaken by the war, the population of this small peninsula increased sharply.

The gambling industry is developing rapidly, and He Xian doesn't like gambling very much, but gambling stimulates finance, so He Xian rises again.

The then president of the Macau Chinese General Chamber of Commerce was named Ma Wanqi. He teamed up with friends in the gaming industry to open a Dafeng bank.

However, Ma Wanqi is not in good health, so his deputy He Xian handles all matters of the bank.

Also, because He Xian was proficient in finance, the Atlantic Bank founded by the Portuguese also invited He Xian to serve as the manager of the Chinese business department.

Ho Yin's battle for fame was to risk his life by smuggling back to Hong Kong to transport a large amount of coinage paper, and then operated from it to print a large number of Australian dollars and temporarily solve the local economic crisis.

The Communist Party of China also has an office in Macau. There is an old party member named Ke Lin. He is proficient in medical skills and good at treating difficult and complicated diseases, so he opened a clinic.

Ma Wanqi came to He Lin for treatment, so they became close friends. Under Ma Wanqi's introduction, He Lin met He Xian.

He Xian had long heard that He Lin always treated poor people nearby for free, and he admired people like He Lin the most, so he regarded him as his best friend. As long as he had free time , just drink tea together.

He Lin wanted to open the Jing Wu Hospital to help the poor in Macau, but He Xian kept giving money without saying a word.

In fact, He Xian has already guessed that He Lin is likely to be a communist, but he is not afraid of the oppression of the Kuomintang at all and always regards He Lin as a close friend.

Chiang Kai-shek rigged the election in 1948 and became the so-called president. The Macau General Chamber of Commerce said it would hold a celebration party.

He Xian was very angry, so he went to find He Lin. The two immediately invited Ma Wanqi to come out, severely criticize wrong ideas, and correct the disgusting and ugly trend of "worshiping Chiang".

The reason why He Xian is called the "King of Macau" is not that he is domineering, greedy and bullies the weak, but because he sincerely serves the people. There is a sign directly in front of the door that says: He Xian works. at.

If anyone has difficulties in life, he can come directly to this office for help, so people keep saying: If you have any problem, go to the King of Macau!

Doing things for the people can only reflect the kindness of entrepreneurs, but if you do things for the country, it can better reflect the national sentiments of entrepreneurs. He Xian is such a person. During the War of Liberation and the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, Made great contributions to China.

Due to space reasons, today we will talk about He Xian in the Border Gate incident alone. If I have time to write an article another day, I will introduce this truly successful person.

At the end of the Liberation War, Ye Jianying of the South China Bureau wanted to raise supplies for the public security of Hainan Island and Guangxi, so Ye Shuai asked He Lin and Ke Zhengping to set up a Nanguang Co., Ltd. to purchase from Macau. supplies.

By May 1950, the Macao and Portuguese authorities also knew that the Chinese Communist Party officials were behind Nam Kwong Co., Ltd., so they regarded the company as a representative institution of New China.

With the war on the Korean Peninsula, He Lin naturally sought the help of He Xian and Ma Wanqi to purchase a large amount of war supplies for the volunteers on the front line in Macau.

Before liberation, the Communist Party of China mostly carried out clandestine activities in Macau as underground parties. After liberation, it naturally turned to semi-open activities.

But in July 1952, the Macau Border Gate incident suddenly broke out. When Ho Xian recalled this incident, he said that it was one of the three most dangerous experiences in his life.

At that time, there were probably more than 1,500 Portuguese soldiers in Macau, and most of them were black mercenaries of African descent.

On both sides of the gate, there were public security and Portuguese soldiers stationed. There was a distance of about ten meters between the two sides, and it was agreed that soldiers were not allowed to enter this area.

On the afternoon of the 25th, a black soldier was the first to provoke. While standing guard, he took a step forward and entered the neutral zone.

The person on duty here is the squad leader of the 3rd Class of the 1st Company of the 29th Public Security Regiment, named Song Youzeng. He ignored the other party's provocation.

The Australian and Portuguese soldiers began to spit at the police border guards, and at 6:10, an African-American soldier actually took a dozen steps forward.

In this way, the tip of the public security sentry's nose was only one foot away from the tip of the black soldier's nose, which was equivalent to standing guard face to face.

Immediately afterwards, another black soldier moved his post forward, only thirty centimeters away from the police border guard's post.

This was tantamount to taking the initiative to cause trouble. Of course, the border guards of the public security were not happy, so they protested, but the black soldier said he did not understand, and then called 9 companions to push the "Trojan Horse" forward. , there is only one meter away from the police sentry post, which is tantamount to multiple provocations.

The public security soldiers issued a warning, but a large group of black mercenaries not only refused to listen, but actually dared to cross the cordon by pushing and shoving them.

That cordon was not just a rope, but also the bottom line for our public security soldiers, so the first border conflict in the history of New China happened like this.

There is no doubt that it was the black soldiers from Macao and Portugal who started the instigation, but the border guards of the police tolerated it again and again, not wanting to cause a conflict.

The public security soldiers suppressed the anger in their hearts, but in order to prevent the matter from escalating, they talked and gestured to get the other party to return to the original dividing line.

Three black mercenaries picked up bayonets, causing our squad leader Song Youzeng to be injured in the shoulder. Song Youzeng wanted to stop the conflict, so he raised his hand to hold the opponent's gun.

As a result, the black mercenary suddenly raised his gun and deliberately scratched Song Youzeng's finger with a bayonet, causing blood to drip from his finger in an instant. This obviously does not want to cool down the situation, but rather aggravates the situation.

At this time, the public security soldiers were still restrained. Unexpectedly, these Australian and Portuguese soldiers actually went back and set up machine guns, and started firing in demonstration.

Now things really got serious. The Macao and Portuguese fired the first shot. The police immediately fired the grenade, turned on the machine gun safety, and the two sides shot at each other.

At about 19 o'clock in the evening, the Macao and Portuguese pushed out the artillery, and the bang-bang-bang explosion shattered the night sky, causing the destruction of many houses on our side.

The conflict further intensified, so the police immediately opened fire. The gun battle escalated to an artillery battle. If the conflict was not cooled down in time, the consequences would be obvious.

After destroying civilian houses, the Macao-Portuguese artillery fired at the five-star red flag on the border, causing the death of one border guard from the police.

Portugal contacted Britain and France and seemed to want to relive the Eight-Nation Alliance. Moreover, the war in Korea was raging at that time, so these Europeans believed that China would surrender.

The matter soon reached the Guangzhou Provincial Party Committee. Ye Jianying first decided to close the border gate and block the land road to Macao and Portugal, and then reported it to Beijing.

Mao Zedong received the telegram from the Guangzhou Provincial Party Committee and immediately gave instructions: Resolutely eliminate all invading enemies!

Portugal wanted China to surrender. However, New China was not the corrupt and incompetent late Qing Dynasty. When Portugal saw China’s tough attitude, they immediately contacted various anti-China forces in Europe and the United States.

In the context of the Cold War and the hot war in Korea, Portugal quickly formed gangs and began to oppose China and Japan.

At that time, Britain occupied China's Hong Kong, so when they saw a military conflict between Australia and Portugal, they immediately came up with the so-called military alliance, saying that Britain and Portugal would advance and retreat together. Therefore, some of China's assets in Hong Kong were frozen by the British.

Two days after the incident, the U.S. warships in Taiwan immediately sailed towards Hong Kong and began to provoke the Chinese warships. The United States naturally had no good intentions and was obviously going to add fuel to the fire.

The police and the Macao and Portuguese fought fiercely for five consecutive days, from the 25th to the 30th. The Portuguese troops poured more than 490 rounds of artillery shells on us, and the bullets were as high as two Thousands of hairs. Our side fired back with 109 rounds of artillery shells and more than 8,000 rounds of ammunition.

It is well documented that both sides fired a total of 599 artillery shells.

Casualty results: Five of the Western troops in Macao and Portugal died and 14 were injured; our side lost two people and injured 30.

As mentioned earlier, the Border Gate is a place where daily necessities are transported to Macao. Therefore, after the Border Gate is blocked by us, Macao, a small place, will naturally not be self-sufficient.

As Macau became an isolated city on the peninsula, the people were very panicked, so the whole city was in chaos and immediately protested to Macau and Portugal.

At this time, Macao and Portugal realized the seriousness of the matter, and Portugal in Europe also began to be afraid. They panicked about losing the colony of Macao.

So Macao and Portugal began to sue for peace. They went to Ma Wanqi and He Xian.

However, while Ma Wanqi and He Xian were mediating, the Portuguese soldiers did not restrain themselves, and the two sides fought for five days.

Ye Jianying from Guangzhou saw that Portugal wanted to negotiate, so Ye Shuai held a meeting to discuss how to resolve the matter.

So some people in the military suggested that it was obvious that Macau and Portugal deliberately provoked disputes and mistook our New China for the Qing government, so Macau should be blocked and colonialism should be gone forever.

Fortunately, Ye Jianying is very calm. He naturally knows that if the blockade continues like this, it will put pressure on the Macau and Portuguese authorities for a short time, but if it lasts for a long time, the people of Macau will definitely suffer.

Therefore, Ye Jianying decided to cool down the matter and agreed to the negotiations with the Macao and Portuguese authorities. Therefore, after the meeting, China immediately put forward conditions, asking the other party to make a guarantee that such an incident would not happen again in the future. And a written apology must be made.

As a result of several days of artillery battles, we have suffered losses in life and property, and Macao and Portugal must pay full compensation.

Ma Wanqi and He Xian were responsible for contacting China and Portugal, and they themselves represented Macao and Portugal in negotiations with Guangzhou.

Because of the harsh conditions in Macao and Portugal, Ma Wanqi and He Xian had no choice but to make three trips in vain. After they returned, they went to find the Macao and Portuguese authorities.

He Xian said to his face: "You are my old friend. There is no need to beat around the bush. It doesn't matter if we run a few more times. But if you don't change your attitude, running a hundred times will be useless. We are not the Kuomintang." , I don’t even buy it for Americans, let alone you Portuguese people.”

This sentence is indeed straightforward enough and expresses China’s attitude.

Portugal only promised to ensure that similar incidents would not occur in the future, but did not want to apologize or compensate. Therefore, China will definitely not accept their attitude.

At this time, the importance of He Xian and Ma Wanqi was revealed. They became Macao and Portugal's best hope for solving the border issue.

Immediately afterwards, China officially issued a notice clarifying the cause and consequences of the incident. The incident was instigated by Portuguese soldiers, so the Portuguese side must bear full responsibility.

Both Ma Wanqi and He Xian knew that this matter was important, so they quickly contacted Guangzhou, hoping that the matter would be resolved peacefully and not escalate to the point of war.

It’s not that these two people were afraid of fighting, it was mainly because the international situation at the time did not allow it, because North Korea was fighting an earth-shaking war, and if there was a second battlefield between China and the West, the pressure would be even greater.

At the same time, the Party Central Committee held a meeting and believed that the big Western countries should be strict and the small Western countries should be lenient.

So Ma Wanqi and He Xian participated in negotiations again at the border gate. After the agreed time, the border gate, which used to be bustling with trade, was now at war with each other, and there was a strong trend of a storm coming.

During this negotiation, representatives from China also expressed the hope that the situation would not worsen.

Because the land access to Macau is blocked, rumors have spread in Macau, so protests of various sizes have broken out to put pressure on the Portuguese and Macao authorities.

He Xian and Ma Wanqi helped the Portuguese and Macao authorities and participated in negotiations again and again, hoping to open a land channel.

However, Portugal and Macao have not shown sincerity to solve the problem, so China will naturally not open land access, so Macao is an isolated city.

After eighteen rounds of negotiations between He Xian and Ma Wanqi, Macao and Portugal were finally willing to admit their mistakes.

Against the background of the Cold War, Portugal chose to surrender. In the process, He Xian and Ma Wanqi once entered and exited both sides of the border gate three times in 24 hours.

Ye Jianying characterized the incident as being caused by the mistakes of individual Portuguese sentries, and decided to treat it leniently, so he requested a formal apology and compensation from the Macao and Portuguese governments.

On the 23rd, He Xian and Ma Wanqi, accompanied by Luo Bao, the economic director of the Macao and Portuguese authorities, walked out of the border gate and walked towards the border security guards with a formal written apology. Enter the Border Guard Bureau to negotiate.

China stated that Portugal must publicly apologize in the media for this matter, and that the Macao-Portuguese sentry post at the border gate must be moved back to the dividing line before 1945.

Luo Bao himself, on behalf of the Portuguese and Macao authorities, signed the apology and then published it publicly. Make sure that something like this won't happen again in the future.

Because some Chinese people lost their lives during the border crossing incident, Macao and Portugal had to pay compensation, so they paid more than 44,000 yuan in compensation.

According to Xinhua News Agency, the military conflict between China and Portugal triggered an armed confrontation because the Portuguese soldiers crossed the cordon of our public security border defense. On August 23, 1952, the Portuguese government of Macao officially sent a representative to apologize in writing to our Qianshan Border Guard Bureau, promising that similar incidents would not happen again in the future.

On the third day after Macao and Portugal apologized, land transportation to Macao was opened. The tense relationship between China and Portugal finally came to an end.

During the battle at the border gate, in addition to the casualties of soldiers on both sides, there were also innocent farmer Li Chunjin and a female passenger on the passenger ship Guan Qian. They both lost their precious lives. In addition, Nine others were injured, all caused by Portuguese shelling.

In March 1957, the Zhuhai County People's Committee erected a monument to commemorate the martyrs who died in the Border Gate Incident.

It is estimated that many readers can guess that there must be a great connection between the He family and the return of Macau, so I will briefly talk about this matter at the end of the article. The content is as follows:

In the mid-1980s, China and the United Kingdom reached an agreement on the Hong Kong issue.

However, there has been no news about when Macau will return, so local people from all walks of life are discussing it privately.

The problem arises at this time. Beijing wants to hear Macao’s voice, and Macao wants to hear Beijing’s voice even more, otherwise it will feel unsure.

At that time, He Xian had passed away. He was originally a deputy to the National People's Congress. Now that the patriotic "King of Macau" has passed away, who will take the first step in Macau's return?

In 1985, a group of young businessmen from Macau, at the invitation of Beijing, went to the capital of the Republic of China.

Among this Macau businessmen group, the leader is Liu Yanquan, the executive director of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, and the deputy leader is Ho Hau Wah, the son of Ho Xian.

Ho Hau Wah later recalled: "If I remember correctly, this was the first group of visiting delegations from Macau, and the first group to discuss the issue of Macau's return to the motherland with Ji Pengfei, director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council... "

This matter is naturally of great significance to Macau, and it is tantamount to setting the countdown to Macau's return.

Therefore, Ho Hau Wah said: "That time left a deep impression, which also made us anticipate the subsequent Sino-Portuguese negotiations and even the formulation of the Basic Law. It had a profound impact on both our members and Macau society... "

At the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in March 1986, five celebrities from Hong Kong and Macao were elected, three from Hong Kong and two from Macao, and Ho Hau Wah was one of them.

Regarding the return of Macao, the importance they played is self-evident. On June 30 of the same year, Sino-Portuguese negotiations were held in Beijing to resolve the issue of Macao's return.

At the age of 31, Ho Hau Wah became a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, so he was very happy and aware of the responsibilities on his shoulders.

On the unity and united front of Macau, Ho Hsien's son, Ho Hau Wah, has made outstanding contributions.

Especially during the transitional period after Macau's return, a large amount of capital poured into the city, so Ho Hau Wah stepped forward. After his efforts, Macau's business community moved towards a more rational operation.

Although some people always say that Ho Hau Wah stands on his father's shoulders, but in terms of contribution alone, Ho Hau Wah has actually surpassed his father Ho Hsien in many aspects.