After Yang's Death
The Japanese initially buried Yang's beheaded body carelessly in the wild. It was then rumored that the Japanese commander-in-chief in the area, General Shōtoku Nozoe (野副昌德), was having nightmares and feared that it was Yang's ghost. Panicked, Kishitani ordered his men to rebury the body properly with full cemetery ritual and military respect, honoring Yang — though an enemy — "a true warrior".
Yang's death was a great blow to his remaining troops, who turned their sorrow into anger. Over the next few months, Japanese forces reported increasing attacks by "fierce, mad insurgents".
After the end of the Second World War, Yang's severed head was recovered by the People's Republic of China, rejoined to his body and reburied with full military honor. The Mengjiang County was also renamed to Jingyu County in his memory. Many traitors who betrayed Yang and contributed to his death were tracked down and executed.
Read more about this topic: Yang Jingyu
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“But, when nothing subsists from a distant past, after the death of others, after the destruction of objects, only the senses of smell and taste, weaker but more enduring, more intangible, more persistent, more faithful, continue for a long time, like souls, to remember, to wait, to hope, on the ruins of all the rest, to bring without flinching, on their nearly impalpable droplet, the immense edifice of memory.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)