Who is the most badass person in history that no one knows about?

 "The People's Liberation Army has no history of quashing its own people. I refuse to tarnish this history!”

Words spoken by General Xu Qinxian of the 38th Grand Army, when the communist regime ordered him to march on his own people. He was court-martialled and followed up with another hard-core line that echoes in eternity: “I’d rather be beheaded than be remembered as a criminal when history is written!” The army found another general to eviscerate the protesters instead, and the Tiananmen Massacre still took place without him…

But damn… basically saying “bugger off” to your own party, your country, the ruling party, in a totalitarian state? That’s badass. It cost Xu everything — he was court martialled, lost his rank, was imprisoned in a camp for five years, and after this he was put on home arrest in another part of the country. Make no mistake, however; General Xu was a Chinese patriot through and through. Enlisting as a teenager at age 15, he was refused the right to serve due to being too young. Not given a pen, he bit his thumb and signed the paper with his own blood. The officer, impressed, let the fifteen-year-old recruit join. He quickly moved up in the ranks, proving himself to be a man of great bravery and powerful moral convictions.

In 2013 a journalist from Hong Kong managed to visit the former general in his home; some of the restrictions had been lifted, he could have visitors and so he agreed to an interview. Asked if he had any regrets about his defiance in 1989, Xu said he had “no regrets whatsoever”. Old, but no less defiant. The government moved quickly and put the aging general under even heavier restrictions, had an armed guard by his door 24/7, and no more surprise visits or interviews… He died on January 8, 2021.

Many great people in history are defined today by what they did. I think sometimes the greatest acts of bravery are found not in the orders followed or given, but in those orders bravely refused. Often the greatest heroes are defined not by what they did, but by what they didn’t do. Xu Qinxian was such a man.