(260521) -- ZHOUSHAN, May 21, 2026 (Xinhua) -- Descendants of former British prisoners of war (POWs) aboard the Lisbon Maru shed tears during the commemorative ceremony on the Lisbon Maru rescue, on Dongji Island in Zhoushan, east China's Zhejiang Province, May 19, 2026. Twenty descendants of British POWs aboard the Lisbon Maru gathered in Zhoushan for a commemorative ceremony honoring a remarkable act of courage from Tuesday to Wednesday.

After the flowers were laid, relatives of British soldiers and local fishermen's descendants took up shovels. Together, they planted a boxwood sapling, a gesture intended to symbolize a friendship that has outlived war and distance.

In October 1942, the Lisbon Maru, a cargo vessel requisitioned by the Japanese army to transport more than 1,800 British POWs from Hong Kong to Japan, was torpedoed off the Zhoushan Islands by a U.S. submarine after failing to display mandated POW transport markings.

Local Chinese fishermen, despite Japanese soldiers firing into the water, made 65 trips in 46 small wooden sampans to rescue 384 British POWs from the sinking ship. (Xinhua/Weng Xinyang)