In 1931, the 24-year-old Zhou Xiulian married her husband Yang Ping, who was an officer in the 6th term of the Whampoa Military Academy, and after graduation, he threw himself into the revolution, while Zhou Xiulian, who graduated from high school and elementary school, was also an intellectual at the time, and at the age of 14, he joined the "Women's Federation" and worked hard to improve the status of women.
After marriage, Zhou Xiulian and Yang Ping lived very happily, but as a soldier, Yang Ping's duty was to defend the family and defend the country, and could not stay with Zhou Xiulian for a long time, and soon after marriage, he returned to the army, and Zhou Xiulian, because she missed her husband, married in the second year, she followed her husband to the army and did some logistical work in the army.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Yang Ping's army threw itself into battle, while Zhou Xiulian silently supported her husband in the rear, in 1942, Yang Ping bid farewell to his wife and went to the Sino-Burmese border to fight against the Japanese army.
In June 1943, in a fierce battle with the Japanese army, Yang Ping unfortunately died, and his comrades held a solemn memorial service for him, and the government also posthumously named Yang Ping a major general, and Yang Ping received the honor he deserved.
But Zhou Xiulian, who is only 35 years old, lost her husband forever, and when she heard this bad news, Zhou Xiulian was heartbroken, and her children returned to her hometown in Hunan with her husband's ashes and relics.
At first, Zhou Xiulian also had a photo of her husband, which could be taken out from time to time to remember, but in 1944, when the Changsha defense war was fought, the Japanese army broke into Zhou Xiulian's village and frantically burned and looted, and Zhou Xiulian left with her children in a hurry, and did not have time to take anything away.
After the Japanese army left, Zhou Xiulian returned, the Yang family's old house was burned by the Japanese army, and all the relics of her husband were burned by this fire, which became a regret for Zhou Xiulian in her life.
After the founding of New China, the lonely and lonely Zhou Xiulian chose to remarry, but never forgot her husband Yang Ping, as time went on, Zhou Xiulian grew older and older, and her memory of her husband became more and more blurred, and Zhou Xiulian hoped to get a photo of her husband Yang Ping as a souvenir.
In 2015, when Zhou Xiulian was 108 years old, but still deeply missed her husband Yang Ping, this year, volunteers came to visit Zhou Xiulian, and Zhou Xiulian told the volunteers about her desire to have a photo of her husband Yang Ping.
Listening to the old man's wish, the volunteers immediately took action and began to look around for the photo of General Yang Ping, and after unremitting efforts, in 2016, they found a photo of Yang Ping in the Zhejiang Archives.
When the volunteers came to Zhou Xiulian with Yang Ping's photo, 109-year-old Zhou Xiulian was in tears, touching her husband's photo over and over again, at this time, 72 years had passed since 1944, when Zhou Xiulian lost her husband's photo.