The Hakka author Tsai Sentai from Wanluan in Pingtung County, Taiwan, spoke to us on June 10, 2025. Tsai, who has dedicated many years to cultural history research and forest ecology, describes Wanluan’s affection for Wang Jingwei and Zhong Renshou (1902-1979) from a unique local perspective.

Zhong Renshou was a member of the Wanluan gentry who served as confidential secretary in the Wang Jingwei government’s Propaganda Bureau. He also was a translation officer, and participated in many meetings during negotiations between China and Japan, and was later promoted as the Director of Construction Department of Anhui Province. His unpublished memoir Seventy Years of Friendly Resistance Against Japan recounts his interactions with Wang Jingwei and his wife Chen Bijun. Accompanying Wang on his visit to Japan, he attended the East Asia Journalists Conference and also witnessed the Wang regime’s reactions to the attack on Pearl Harbor. The memoir provides a unique insight into the inner workings of the Wang regime as well as a record of Zhong’s personal experience.

Because of his work with Wang Jingwei, Zhong had long been vilified as a hanjian (traitor to the Han people) along with Wang.

However, as Tsai points out, in the hearts of local people, Zhong Renshou and Wang Jingwei were different from the way they are written about in today’s history textbooks. Grateful for the contributions Chung made to the local people upon his return to Wanluan after the end of the Wang government, including the construction of the Wanluan Bridge, the people remembered Zhong and Wang with respect. Recalling a scene from childhood, Tsai describes how the elders would toast at the end of a meal to every mention of Zhong Renshou’s name, adding Wang Jingwei’s name to the toast. It was not an ordinary gesture, but a salute to the historical figures they could not forget.

From Wanluan, a “small” town of with a population of only 18,785, one can only wonder how many such stories are still quietly buried in local memory, waiting to be told.

For Tsai Sentai, history is never about who wins or loses, but about who is writing and who has the power to write:

To Mr. Tsai we extend our gratitude, and thank the author Vivian Chang for the introduction and organization, allowing us to share this little-known history. Readers wishing to share their stories, and local memories, please feel free to contact us.