Homenaje a los periodistas chinos en medio del fuego de la guerra! Lo que registran no es solo el campo de batalla

China News Network, Beijing, 1 April, Report day. Title: Paying tribute to Chinese journalists in the midst of war! What they record is not only the battlefield

Reporter 贺劭清

The war between the United States, Israel, and Iran has not stopped its smoke of gunpowder, and the artillery fire still rages. For a month now, a group of Chinese journalists has been walking against the flow, moving through a hail of bullets and shellfire.

With words and camera shots, they record the “black poisonous rain” in the streets of Tehran, and recreate the blood-soaked tragedy at the Minab campus; they witness the devastation after missiles fall, and in the shattered ruins listen to the cries of the people; they continue to bring the on-the-scene news and in-depth observations about this war, so that the world can see the truth of war.

Adventurous filming of the “black poisonous rain” in the streets of Tehran

During the conflict, Israeli fighter jets launched airstrikes on multiple large oil-storage facilities around Tehran, the capital of Iran. After the explosions, oil tanks burst into fierce flames, and highly toxic black smoke shot straight into the sky. Not long after, black acid rain fell from the sky, and many people showed symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, coughing, and burning eyes. Billowing thick smoke turned daylight as if it were night. Just as people were sheltering from this black “poisonous rain,” several Chinese journalists arrived at the scene.

In an article, CCTV reporter Li Jiannan wrote that on the rooftops of cars along the street and the drainage ditches by the roadside, there were black marks everywhere; some residents experienced symptoms such as difficulty breathing and sore throats. Many citizens wore masks, moving hurriedly, with fear and unease in their eyes. An Iranian told Li Jiannan that this was eerie weather he had never seen before; this black rain was more despairing than missiles—“because after all, we all have to breathe.”

Four days later, when Li Jiannan passed by the oil-storage facility in eastern Tehran that had been attacked, he saw it was still burning. This “black rain” was like a缩影 of the war’s scars—it left behind not only a moment of injury; some of those scars may take dozens of years, or even over a hundred years, to heal, while some will never heal.

Missile attacks come in—our first reaction is not to hide, but to go to the scene

On 13 March, a gathering was held in Tehran, the capital of Iran, under an airstrike. On one side, crowds held up national flags and shouted slogans; on the other, airstrikes, explosions, and rolling thick smoke.

There were reports warning media reporters to go to the scene with caution, as there might be further danger, but still, some Chinese journalists chose to rush to the front line. Xinhua News Agency reporter Shadati wrote: “Facing the risk of airstrikes, the morale of the on-site parade group was not affected. Some residents held the Iranian national flag even higher and shouted slogans even louder. The parade group packed the road and continued forward, even though thick smoke still filled the way ahead.”

Local media later confirmed that two people were killed in the airstrike.

At multiple news scenes, you can often see Shadati holding a microphone in one hand and carrying a camera in the other. He began participating in reporting after the United States deployed heavy forces in the Middle East, and continues to this day. In the background of his videos, thick smoke billows again and again; sometimes the explosion is only a few hundred meters away from him.

Another Xinhua reporter, Feng Guorui, wrote in the China Journalists Association column “I’m on the scene” that, as an ordinary person who grew up in peaceful times, in the face of sudden alarms, missiles dragging trailing flames, and explosions shaking glass, fear is unavoidable.

But as long as missiles attack, their first reaction is not to evade; under the premise of safety, they quickly rush to the scene. “If we don’t go to the scene to record what we see and hear and spread it, the truth may be buried.”

Ask me why I didn’t evacuate? Because I’m a journalist!

Phoenix Television’s female reporter stationed in Iran, Li Rui, has served as an overseas correspondent for 20 years, moving between Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, and Libya in various places. During the U.S.-Israeli-Iran war, she used battlefield diaries to show the world battlefield journalists amid the war and ordinary people.

After the war began, one-third of people in Tehran had already left. Family and friends kept urging Li Rui to return to China. But Li Rui chose to stay: “I’m a journalist!”

Sometimes, for safety, Li Rui had to hide in a bathroom without windows to write articles and handle work. Because even if an explosion happened there, it would not send shattered glass to injure people.

In her recent diary, Li Rui recorded a blast scene in the northern part of Tehran—half of the exterior of a building was “normal,” while the other half was as if it had been split cleanly in the middle by a huge axe. People could see daily life from the outside directly: the sofa was still there, and the paintings on the wall were still hanging. In just an instant, such a home was torn open, and half of it was gone.

At the end of the interview, Li Rui received news that Trump announced a five-day suspension of strikes on Iranian power plants. “My first thought was actually anger: What about the people in those buildings? What about those who have already died? Does it just end like this?” Li Rui wrote in her diary.

Since the outbreak of the U.S.-Israeli-Iran war, many reporters have been killed or injured. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs once pointed out that the Israeli army carried out attacks against reporters who were considered civilians. Reporters in the attacked civilian vehicles wore clearly visible press badges, yet they were still killed by precision-guided weapons.

This profession of war correspondents is so high-risk, but China has never lacked war correspondents.

Fang Dazeng, the first person to report on the Lugou Bridge Incident, was a war correspondent. In 1937, after he sent his last dispatch《Changes in the North Section of the Pinghan》from Baoding, he disappeared into the flames of war, at just 25 years old.

At the age of 26, Fan Changjiang went alone to conduct an inspection tour in northwest China; it took 10 months and covered 4,000 kilometers, recording the real situation of the Long March. After his dispatch compilation《中国’s Northwestern Corner》shocked the entire country.

Writer and translator Xiao Qian was also a war correspondent. During World War II, he crossed the English Channel several times with British forces; he advanced with U.S. forces into the Rhine River; and he was among the first group of reporters to enter Berlin to interview. When German forces bombed London, he narrowly escaped death on multiple occasions.

On 7 May 1999, when NATO led by the United States bombed the Chinese Embassy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, 48-year-old Xinhua reporter Shao Yunhuan, 31-year-old Guangming Daily reporter Xu Xinghu, and his 28-year-old wife Zhu Ying sadly lost their lives. In the last moments before their deaths, they were still sorting out interview materials.

Amidst the chaos of war, Chinese journalists are not unafraid of death, but for the sake of the truth, they refused to turn away in the face of death.

They record the truth of history, the complexity of human nature, and also the dignity and courage of people.

The black rain will stop, the thick smoke will disperse, and the ruins will eventually be rebuilt, but those real moments that were recorded have been fixed forever. (End)

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