In December 1991, Li Xianbin, a former PLA Air Force pilot, was arrested at the airport by the police department while visiting his mother to return to the army, and he was charged with "defection to the enemy" and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
So, why did this pilot choose to betray his country and army, and what kind of story is hidden behind him?
Li Xianbin was born in Xinyang County, Shandong Province, at a time when war was raging, which should have made him live a difficult life. However, the poverty of the family and the turmoil of the country did not affect his life.
Due to the preference of his parents, he lived a relatively privileged life. In that war-torn era, it was difficult for children from poor families to receive a good education, but Li Xianbin's parents resolutely created conditions for him to let their son receive an education.
This kind of doting has made Li Xianbin's living conditions a clear gap with others. But unfortunately, he was not well educated.
Li Xianbin's family did not want him to become a national salvation person, their expectation was only that he could glorify his ancestors and add glory to the family. Under the careful care of his parents, Li Xianbin gradually developed a sense of self-superiority, and he lived up to expectations and had excellent academic performance.
However, when he was eleven years old, his parents found him a child bride despite the family's poverty. The girl was five years older than him, and she took good care of him and obeyed him.
In the early days of liberation, when Li Xianbin reached the age of 18, he was conscripted into the army and became a soldier of the People's Liberation Army, which was a very honorable thing. With the advantage of studying in the military, he was placed to study at the Air Force Academy, which meant that he would become a full-fledged national pilot after graduation.
This news made the whole small village boil, and people were full of praise for him, and he was in the spotlight and glory because of it!
Li Xianbin was pampered since he was a child, but in the training of the army, he felt extremely difficult and gradually became dissatisfied. Once, he was unable to participate in training due to illness, and his superiors were worried about his technical level, so they did not let him participate in night flight training.
This made Li Xianbin feel left out by the leadership, and he cried bitterly in the room, thinking that he had been neglected. The persuasion of the leaders and his partners made him feel targeted, and his heart was even more depressed.
At this time, although Chiang Kai-shek retreated to Taiwan, his ambitions were still alive, and he even used radio to spread false statements. Li Xianbin heard a radio on the radio, the content of which was that as long as you concentrate on sincerity, you can get money, beautiful women, and promotions, and ensure that you will be prosperous and wealthy for a lifetime.
This broadcast moved Li Xianbin's heart, and he forgot the nurturing grace of his parents and the nurturing grace of the motherland.
On November 11, 1965, Li Xianbin's long-planned action was finally about to be put into effect. He and his comrades-in-arms, Li Caiwang and Lian Baosheng, carried out the flight mission together.
When the plane arrived at Kinmen Island, Li Caiwang felt that something was wrong and immediately fought back with a gun. However, when he pulled the trigger, he found that the pistol had been reloaded and his arm had been hit by Li Xianbin.
At this time, Lian Baosheng, a communications and shooter in the tail of the plane, knew nothing about it. It wasn't until the plane landed and he saw the Kuomintang troops standing on the ground through the glass that he understood what was happening.
He took aim at the Kuomintang, but soon realized that he was powerless, so he turned his gun to his chest and chose to commit suicide as a sign of loyalty.
After his defection, Li Xianbin received special treatment from Chiang Kai-shek, and was even promised a large reward. However, instead of receiving the expected promotion, Li Xianbin was placed under house arrest and placed under close surveillance.
His flattery and greed were looked down upon by Chiang Kai-shek and others, so his job was only vacant. When he offered to fly a mission, he was also ridiculed. They think that as a traitor, does Li Xianbin still dare to put forward conditions?
There are even fears that he will fly back again.
Li Xianbin is facing a difficult situation, he looks for a little solace in this land, but his hopes are dashed one by one. He had hoped to be knighted, but as a defector, his path to promotion was far away.
In order to take advantage of his defection, the Kuomintang would only promote him once every ten or eight years, and when his propaganda value was exhausted, they would discard him. He also hoped for the company of beautiful women, but the Kuomintang, out of distrust, pretended to introduce him to a wife in order to monitor his movements.
The wife was profligate and even transferred his property, which eventually led to the breakdown of their marriage. Li Xianbin fell into poverty and loneliness, and his hopes were dashed.
Li Xianbin once received 4,000 taels ** promised by Chiang Kai-shek, which was equivalent to 8.8 million Taiwan dollars at that time. However, Chiang Kai-shek gave him only half of the amount, and the money could not be used until two years later, and if it was used in advance, there was a forty percent tax to pay.
In order to make a living, Li Xianbin applied to Taiwan's "Legislative Yuan" for 1NT$200 million, but he was ridiculed as a "** party" because they thought that those who defected to the past were just for money.
Li Xianbin's money was cheated away by his ex-wife, and he did not get any benefits from Chiang Kai-shek, he wanted to return to the motherland, but he was afraid of being held criminally responsible. He regretted it very much.
The appearance of a woman made this man feel warm and caring, however, the truth was that she turned out to be a married woman. This allowed him to experience the merciless tricks of fate again.
At this time, will he recall the child bride who was once abandoned by him? When he became an air force, he pursued a private teacher, but he was newly married, and he was reluctant to leave his wife, so he applied to the organization to let his wife join the army.
However, Nanjing was unable to arrange a job for her, so she was sent to Hangzhou. Unable to spend time with his wife, he began to feel dissatisfied with the leader. When he decided to defect, he once again left his wife behind.
This is already the second time that he has been abandoned in his marriage experience in mainland China and Taiwan.
Li Xianbin's four marriages have tormented his descendants. After his second wife defected from the country, she took her children and remarried, and it is reported that his daughter went insane as a result.
His children in Taiwan were also discriminated against at school, often called "little traitors" by his classmates, and even his teachers treated him coldly. After his father died, his parents in the mainland were infamous for decades, leaving his lonely old mother to guard the empty old house.
When the son sent back the money and built a new house, the mother had no idea of moving in, thinking that it would be a shame to build a house with the money from the rebellion. Now in Taiwan, does Li Xianbin still remember the wives and children who suffered because of him, what will it be like?
In Taiwan, senior military officers still have the opportunity to hold other positions after retirement, or even receive a higher-ranking advisory title, and may earn more than their original position. In addition, each officer received a house for free.
However, people like Li Xianbin do not have such treatment, they are basically in a state of self-fend after retirement, and if they are given a house, they also need to pay according to the agreed period.
In Li Xianbin's life, he met a person who had the same experience of betraying the motherland as him, who defected in 83. According to Li Xianbin's recollection, this man often wore a shirt printed with a large dog pattern, and always used words such as "people like us are like lost dogs" when expressing his opinion.
In the past, Li Xianbin's vexatious behavior at work had been persuaded by leaders and colleagues, but after arriving in Taiwan, he did not know when he lost his life because of the wrong words.
Fortunately, he was able to enjoy his retirement and now lives in Canada.
In 1991, Li Xianbin got the news that his mother was sick. His heart was full of longing for his mother, and at the same time, he decided to return to China to visit his mother.
However, he was still a little scared in his heart, so he set a place to stay in Jinan instead of at home. When his mother saw him, she didn't say anything, despite the pain and torment in her heart, because all these years of suffering had broken her heart.
She remembered that her son had never suffered since he was a child, and she and her wife never let him suffer a little grievance, no matter how hard and tired she was. At that time, everyone lived in poverty and hardship, and she tightened her belt to feed her children, although her children grew up to be a strong laborer, who could work in the fields and earn food, she still regarded her son as extremely precious, and only wanted him to get ahead and send him to school.
However, her son was not angry, and actually betrayed his motherland and did this kind of thing that made her unable to raise her head. Over the years, she has suffered all kinds of humiliation at home, she does not dare to look up, and she will be pointed at when she goes out.
In the end, the mother and son were opposite, and there was nothing to say, and the mother's mood was indescribable, full of sadness and pain.
Li Xianbin was in Canada and was about to take a flight back, but was stopped by a staff member at Qingdao Airport and told him that there was a problem with his documents, and he knew that this day would come. He owes himself, his family, his motherland, and his loyal comrades-in-arms a life.
On June 26, 1992, the Qingdao Intermediate People's Court sentenced Li Xianbin to 15 years' imprisonment and deprivation of political rights for five years for the crime of defecting to the enemy and betraying the enemy. His old mother died shortly after him, and the cause of his mother's death was known only to herself.
Because of Li Xianbin's confession, Lian Baosheng's ashes were also welcomed home. Years of misunderstanding followed the arrest of Li Xianbin, and the loyal martyrs were finally cleared of their charges and could rest in peace.
As Mr. Wen Yiduo said, some of the living people are like walking corpses, but among the dead there are souls that live forever. Those who steal the living, although they live in the world, are more uncomfortable than death, and those who sacrifice their lives for justice, although they die, their spirits are immortal.
However, Mother Motherland has always been tolerant of all sinners. Lee was sentenced to 15 years in prison, but after only 10 years in prison, he contracted cancer and was released on early bail due to serious illness.
At the end of 2002, Li Xianbin passed away in pain, and before his death, he was alone. Although his destiny came in this way, it was perhaps a comfort to him.
Because he had frankly said that he regretted it shortly after his defection, but he had no way out and could not do it if he wanted to come back. On the one hand, it is because of the strict guards, and on the other hand, because he protects his life, he wants to live a stable life rather than stealing his life.
The future should be bright, but it was swallowed up by greed, and we cannot understand why he forgot his homeland, forgot his past benefactors and comrades-in-arms, reflected on the lost future, and missed his abandoned partner.
Perhaps, it would be a relief for him to die in a foreign land. With the deepening of education, the Chinese people's sense of historical responsibility and national pride is rapidly increasing, and we hope that such betrayers will never reappear.