Wu Jifang, image courtesy of Southern Metropolis Daily

A man in Guangzhou who found four IOUs that were given to his grandfather by Communist Party guerrillas in the 1920s and 30s had been trying to claim the money for over a decade until he gave up this year. There is no policy that dictates the party must pay back the money so officials say they cannot reward him with anything other than honour, Sina News reported yesterday.

In 2000, Wu Jifang was clearing out an old house when he discovered four IOUs from Communist Party guerrillas. Three of the IOUs were written during the 1925 campaign to wipe out the forces of Chen Jiongming, who is considered a traitor by both communists and nationalists. The fourth was written by communists during the part of World War 2 that is known in China as The War of Resistance Against Japan.

Chen Jiongming, against whom Wu’s grandfather’s allies were fighting, via Google Images

Wu, 58, has campaigned for more than a decade to be compensated by the government. He could not find legal grounds to rightfully claim the money and after being contacted by a number of museums, libraries and research centres, Wu donated the IOUs in March this year to the Party History Research Centre at the Revolution Memorial Hall in Guangzhou.

Wu, who grew up in Jiulong Village in Luogang District (which belonged to Zengcheng in his grandfather’s time) was given a number of certificates to honour his donation and 1,000 yuan in compensation.

The money owed to Wu’s grandfather could have amounted to millions of yuan in today’s terms.