My grandfather donated fighter planes to help fight Japanese aggressors

ZHONGSHAN, China, Oct. 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- A report from Zhongshan Daily & Zhongshan International Communications Center: 

How can there be a home without a country?

On September 3, 2025, at Beijing's Tiananmen Square, Fang Chi Wei once again recalled these words - his grandfather words, Fang Zuo Biao, as he watched the military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.

Fang Chi Wei, Honorary President of the Fiji Chinese Federation for Culture, Arts and Economic Development, it was the second time he was invited to attend the Victory Day commemoration in Beijing.

Ten years earlier, he also stood here, representing his grandfather in receiving the Commemorative Medal for the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

His grandfather, Fang Zuo Biao, was a native of Haochong Village in Shaxi Town, Zhongshan. In 1920, he and five of his brothers sailed across the oceans to Fiji to make a living.

When the war broke out in 1937, Fang Zuo Biao—though thousands of miles away—was filled with anguish for his homeland. He rallied Chinese in Fiji and Australia, sparking a powerful wave of donations to support the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Knowing that Japanese warplanes were ravaging Chinese skies and that China's air defense capabilities were lagging far behind, Fang and three leaders of the overseas Chinese community resolved to purchase four fighter planes for their native country of China. To fulfill this pledge, he mortgaged his home, poured in his life savings, and bore the full cost of a single plane—5,000 pounds—all by himself.

In 1943, defying the peril of Japanese pursuit, Fang delivered the aircraft to Chongqing in person.