Chang Liyi
Chang Liyi | ||
---|---|---|
Hanyu Pinyin Zhāng Lìyì | | |
Wade–Giles | Chang Li-i |
Chang Liyi (
Early life
Chang was born in Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China, on 7 November 1929.[2][3] After the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese army attacked Nanjing in December 1937. Chang's mother fled the city with the children and trekked across China for more than a year, eventually arriving in the wartime capital Chongqing in 1939. His father, who stayed behind to look after his shop, died in the Nanjing Massacre.[2]
In 1943, the
U-2 pilot and capture
In the late 1950s, the United States and the Republic of China government in Taiwan initiated a top-secret reconnaissance program to spy on Communist China's
After Communist China
When his plane was hit, Chang ejected and parachuted down to a farm. He was captured and held in a guesthouse of the
In April 1965, four U-2 aircraft were shot down by China, including the U-2C piloted by Chang, were put on display at the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution in Beijing.[5][7] Decades later, Chang was invited and brought to the museum to see the wreckage of his plane.[5]
Chang was released from detention in late 1969, almost five years after his capture. He was later sent to live in his hometown Nanjing, where he reunited with his mother and siblings for the first time in 27 years. He worked as a farmer, a factory worker, and eventually as an engineer at the
Return to Taiwan
In 1982, the PRC government granted Chang and Yeh Changti permission to return to Taiwan and sent them to
Chang finally was granted permission to return to Taiwan in 1990, after the death of Chiang Ching-kuo.[6] On 12 June 2019, Chang died from a heart attack[8] at Songshan Hospital in Taipei. He was 89.[6]
Personal life
In 1956,[6] Chang Liyi married Chang Chia-chi (張家淇), a fellow native of Nanjing, and they had three children.[2] Eight years after he was shot down in 1965 and declared dead in Taiwan, she married an army officer. Still not fully convinced that Liyi was dead, she made an agreement with her second husband that she would reunite with Liyi if he would ever come back.[6] In 1983, she met with Liyi in Hong Kong following his release from China, and expressed her guilt for having remarried while he remained single in China. After he was given permission to return to Taiwan, she divorced her second husband and remarried Liyi in April 1991. She died in August 2003 from kidney disease.[6]
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-316-19385-6.
- ^ a b c d e f "世上最真挚的情感来自对绝望的等待". Phoenix TV (in Chinese). 31 May 2017. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
- ^ "击落台湾侦察机后:被俘飞行员文革后成工程师副教授". Phoenix TV (in Chinese). 8 December 2013. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-61200-389-4.
- ^ a b c d e f "三位台湾"黑猫中队"飞行员的悲情人生". Netease (in Chinese). 4 February 2010. Archived from the original on 9 February 2010. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Hung Che-cheng 洪哲政 (13 June 2019). "黑貓飛官張立義91歲病逝 留下動人愛情故事". World Journal (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Archived from the original on 16 June 2019. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
- ISBN 978-0-8108-6294-4.
- ^ "黑貓中隊飛行員張立義病逝 享壽91歲". China Times (in Chinese). 12 June 2019. Retrieved 17 June 2019.