Chen Yi died of cancer on January 6, 1972, and his memorial service was scheduled for the afternoon of January 10 in Beijing. At Chen Yi's memorial service, many leaders of many countries came to the scene to bid farewell to Chen Yi, and Chairman Mao, who was nearly eighty years old at this time, actually appeared in only a nightgown, which was also the last time he participated in the memorial service in his life.
In Beijing in January, the coldest time of the year, why did Chairman Mao wear a nightgown to attend the memorial service in such an extreme environment? What happened before the memorial service began?
Photo: Chen Yi
As the founding marshal of New China, Chen Yi's physical condition was actually OK after the founding of New China in 1949, but as he grew older, his health was also deteriorating, which was worrying. One day in 1970, Chen Yi suddenly felt abdominal pain at home and was hospitalized for treatment, when he was diagnosed with appendicitis. In early 1971, Chen Yi's abdominal pain worsened, and doctors decided to operate on him. During the operation, doctors discovered that he had colon cancer, and that the cancer had begun to spread, affecting the liver.
Pictured: Chen Yi is hospitalized due to illness
Chen Yi has been receiving treatment in the hospital since he developed cancer, and at first his physical condition was relatively stable and his condition was controlled, but at the end of 1971, his condition suddenly deteriorated, during which Chen Yi underwent a second operation.
In order to give Chen Yi the best treatment environment, Zhou Enlai personally arranged for Chen Yi to be treated at Ritan Hospital in Beijing, and also personally received the doctor who treated Chen Yi to understand the condition, and on the day of the operation, Zhou Enlai also sent Bian Zhiqiang, director of the Zhongnanhai Health Office, into the operating room in order to report chen Yi's operation to him at any time.
Pictured: Chen Yi and Premier Zhou
On the afternoon of January 2, 1972, Chen Yi woke up, and Li Xiannian rushed to the hospital to visit him immediately after hearing the news. Facing Li Xiannian in front of him, Chen Yi opened his eyes with great effort and said to him with all his might: "Old comrade, thank you for coming to see me..." The doctor saw that Chen Yi had awakened and was more conscious, so he reported the situation to Premier Zhou.
After Hearing the doctor's report, Premier Zhou immediately left for the hospital, and faced Chen Yi, who woke up, the two talked for more than an hour. On January 3, Chen Yi fell into a coma again and did not wake up until the afternoon of the next day. Perhaps knowing that his life had come to an end, Chen Yi's eyes on the lady and child who woke up stayed on the wife and child next to the hospital bed.
Although Premier Zhou and all the doctors made their best efforts, cancer was originally a terminal disease, and the medical level at that time was relatively low, and in the end, everyone failed to save Chen Yi's life. At 11:55 p.m. on January 6, Chen Yi died of ineffective rescue at the age of 71.
Pictured: Chen Yi has made every effort to develop the New Fourth Army
At the moment of dying, Chen Yi tightly grasped the hand of his daughter Chen Shanshan, and used all his strength to make a final voice: "Keep moving forward and defeat the enemy!" These were Chen Yi's last words to the world. Until the last moments of his life, the Marshal of the Republic still cared about the motherland and the future of the party and the country.
Knowing that Chen Yi died of illness, Liu Bocheng was very sad, he came to the hospital, and stumbled towards the ward with the support of everyone, facing Chen Yi, who had died, Liu Bocheng was in tears. At that time, Liu Bocheng's eyes were already blind, he touched Chen Yi's face with his hand, and shouted at Chen Yi with all his might: "Mr. Chen, Mr. Chen, I Liu Bocheng can't do without you!" ”
Pictured: Liu Bocheng and Chen Yi fight side by side
Premier Zhou also rushed to the ward after learning of Chen Yi's death, and when he arrived at the ward, he first bowed deeply three times to Chen Yi's body. Then, Zhou Enlai walked over to Chen Yi's body and slowly stroked the back of Chen Yi's hand, bursting into tears. Zhang Qian, who was standing nearby, quickly stepped forward and tightly shook Premier Zhou's hand and said, "Premier Zhou, you need to take more care of your body!" ”
In addition, Mr. Zhu De also came, and at this time, he was suffering from a high fever and came to the ward with the help of people. When Mr. Zhu looked at Chen Yi's body, he couldn't help but burst into tears, he trembled and raised his right hand to salute Chen Yi's body, and kept saying in his mouth: "Chen Yi is a good comrade, he left too early." ”
Pictured: Zhou Enlai with Zhu De and Chen Yi
Chen Yi's death coincided with a special period, which doomed his memorial to be smooth. According to the previous arrangement, Chen Yi's memorial service began at 3 p.m. on January 10, 1972, organized by the Central Military Commission, presided over by Li Desheng, attended by Zhou Enlai, and Ye Jianying delivered a eulogy, and the number of people attending the memorial service was 500.
However, after the memorial service process was announced, it quickly attracted controversy. In just two days, countless people asked to attend the memorial service: Vice Chairman Soong Ching Ling also called Zhou Enlai directly and said that he insisted on attending; even Prince Sihanouk, the father of cambodia, sent a telegram of condolences and offered to attend the memorial service; in addition, many democrats also called Premier Zhou, and everyone unanimously asked to attend Chen Yi's memorial service.
This incident caused Premier Zhou a lot of headaches, and after thinking hard, he did not know how to explain it to everyone, but could only say that this was a plan already decided by the Central Military Commission, and he was powerless to change it, and he hoped that everyone would understand more.
No one can make up their minds about how to draft the eulogy, and everyone does not dare to take a stand on this matter easily. In the end, in this short 600-word eulogy, Chen Yi's personal resume alone accounted for more than half, and the eulogy also appeared in the evaluation of Chen Yi: meritorious service. After the eulogy was drafted, Premier Zhou personally revised it, and every sentence and every word was carefully considered, and in the end, he added a sentence after the eulogy to evaluate the merits of Comrade Chen Yi's life: "Comrade Chen Yi has worked hard to serve the people all his life. In the most difficult period of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he was not afraid of danger, resolutely carried out the orders issued by the central authorities, and made tremendous contributions to the development of the New Fourth Army. ”
Pictured: Zhou Enlai painstakingly delivered Chen Yi's eulogy
On January 8, Premier Zhou submitted the revised eulogy to Chairman Mao for review. Chairman Mao carefully reviewed the eulogy, and then he picked up a pen to circle the evaluation of Chen Yi's merits, and Chairman Mao said: "It is best not to do meritorious deeds at the memorial service." ”
At noon on January 10, Chairman Mao had finished his lunch, and according to the custom, he was going to take a break. At this time, he was wearing beige pajamas, holding a book in his hand, and lying on the bed. But at this time, he seemed to be very anxious, did not have the heart to read, tossed and turned in bed, and it was difficult to sleep. According to the chairman's previous habit, he should wake up at about three o'clock in the afternoon when he takes a nap after a meal.
Suddenly, Chairman Mao got up from his bed, and he asked a staff member outside the door, "What time is it?" ”
The staff member looked at his watch and said, "Chairman, it's 1:30 p.m. ”
"In one hour, I'm going to attend Comrade Chen Yi's memorial service!"
Pictured: Chairman Mao and Chen Yi
This decision confused the staff at the time, and they immediately took action, calling for a car and dialing Premier Zhou's phone. After Receiving the call, Premier Zhou immediately called the General Office of the Central Committee, in which the Premier said:
"Please inform Vice Chairman Soong Ching Ling, as well as the comrades who have previously proposed to attend Comrade Chen Yi's memorial service, that they can attend this afternoon."
Subsequently, Premier Zhou called the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
"Please tell Prince Sihanouk immediately that, if he so wishes, please attend Chen Yi's memorial service, and we will have the leaders of the country present."
On Chairman Mao's side, due to the urgency of the situation, he did not have time to change his clothes, so he rushed out in a pair of pajamas, and the staff saw the situation and quickly took a coat and draped it on the chairman's body.
In fact, Chairman Mao's physical condition at this time was not optimistic, since the second half of 1971, Chairman Mao once suffered from a serious illness, and after careful treatment by doctors, he was out of danger. Since then, although the chairman himself has also tried to recover his body, the effect has not been obvious.
Regarding Chairman Mao's physical condition at that time, Nix, who was the thirty-seventh president of the United States at the time, also mentioned in his memoirs: "In my opinion, his state was not very good, and when I walked into the room and he saw me coming, it was the secretary who helped him up. He apologetically told me that he couldn't speak very well anymore. ”
At this time, Chairman Mao's feet were very seriously puffy because of his illness, and he could not wear any leather shoes brought by the staff. In the end, Chairman Mao attended the memorial service wearing a very loose pair of round-mouth cloth shoes.
Pictured: Chairman Mao attends a memorial service
Seeing Chairman Mao coming, Zhang Qian could not suppress the tears in her eyes, at this time she was already full of tear marks, and she choked up and said:
"Chairman, how did you get here?"
"Chen Yi is a good comrade!" When we were in Jinggangshan, we were comrades-in-arms, and I also want to mourn Comrade Chen Yi! ”
At this time, Zhang Qian excitedly held Chairman Mao's arm, and this scene was also recorded by the cameraman, leaving this precious photo.
Pictured: Chairman Mao and Zhang Qian
Facing Chen Yi's son, Chairman Mao said: "You must work hard to serve the people and learn from your father!" ”
Seeing that Chairman Mao's physical condition was not very good, Zhang Qian said with concern: "Chairman, you can go back after sitting here for a while, after all, your health is very important!" ”
In the face of Zhang Qian's concern, the chairman shook his head and said, "No, I also want to attend the memorial service, please bring me a black veil." After hearing the news, the staff immediately sent a black veil and brought it to the sleeve of Chairman Mao's coat.
Pictured: The scene of Chen Yi's memorial service
The memorial service began, Premier Zhou came to the statue of Chen Yi to prepare a eulogy, Mao Zedong stood in front of the deputies attending the memorial service, and many leading comrades of the party and the state also came to the scene one after another, and the memorial service reached the highest standard.
At this time, Chairman Mao's tall body trembled slightly, and he listened quietly, and it was not difficult to see that his heart was extremely sad at this time.
As the mourning music sounded at the scene, Premier Zhou delivered a eulogy with a heavy heart:
"Comrade Chen Yi is an excellent member of the Communist Party of China and a loyal soldier of the Chinese people. Since he plunged himself into the revolution, Under the leadership of Chairman Mao and the Cpc Central Committee, Comrade Chen Yi has persisted in fighting, working, and striving to serve the people in the long-term socialist revolution and socialist construction.
The passing away of Comrade Chen Yi has deprived us of an old comrade-in-arms, an old comrade, and is a great loss to our party and our army. We mourn Comrade Chen Yi with deep sorrow, learn from Comrade Chen Yi's revolutionary spirit, turn grief into strength, and under the leadership of the Party Central Committee headed by Chairman Mao and under the guidance of Chairman Mao's proletarian revolutionary line, be modest and prudent, guard against arrogance and impetuosity, and strive to accomplish new international and domestic combat tasks and strive for new and greater victories. ”
Photo: Premier Zhou delivers a eulogy
At that time, there were more than 1,500 people at the scene, and everyone was immersed in great grief, and Zhou Enlai also choked up and lost his voice twice during this period. After Premier Zhou finished reading the eulogy, under the leadership of Chairman Mao, all the participants bowed deeply in front of Chen Yi's ashes covered by the party flag.
After the memorial service, Chairman Mao came to Zhang Qian again to shake her hand, and Zhang Qian and the children took Chairman Mao to the car, and the guards on the side opened the car door. However, Chairman Mao could not lift his legs at all, and finally he sat in the car with the support of the guards.
The next day, people's daily published a full-page report on Chen Yi's memorial service on the front page, which was Chairman Mao's last attendance.
After returning from Chen Yi's memorial service, Chairman Mao had a heavy heart, and since then, he has not rested well for a long time, and it is difficult to enter every night, and in the early morning of February 12, the chairman suddenly went into shock.
Pictured: Chairman Mao's physical condition in his later years was no longer optimistic
And this time the illness was very sudden. At the time of the onset of the disease, the head nurse Wu Xujun was next to the chairman, he found that the chairman sweated a lot, rushed to the chairman's pulse, found that the chairman's pulse was very weak, breathing did not respond, Wu Xujun realized that the chairman may be in shock, he immediately called someone to rescue the chairman.
The rescue lasted for more than twenty minutes, and Chairman Mao's original purple-blue face gradually turned reddish, and his breathing gradually calmed down. The doctors measured the chairman's blood pressure and found that his blood pressure was also trending normal. Chairman Mao's consciousness slowly cleared up. He slowly opened his eyes and said to the nurses and doctors next to him, "I seem to have slept." ”
Since then, Chairman Mao's physical condition has gradually deteriorated with age, and on January 15, 1976, Premier Zhou Enlai's memorial service was held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, and this time, the chairman failed to arrive at the scene. After receiving the news, he said painfully and painstakingly to Zhang Yufeng, the life secretary next to him:
"I really can't walk..."
Therefore, Chen Yi's memorial service was also the last memorial service that Chairman Mao attended in his life. At 00:00 on September 9, 1976, our great leader died at the residence in Zhongnanhai at the age of 83.