Chinese New Year's Eve 1976, the fireworks in Beijing were in full bloom and bustling, and the people took to the streets, rushed to the market, visited relatives, friends and neighbors, and expressed New Year congratulations to each other. The atmosphere in Zhongnanhai is not very different, and the quiet atmosphere contrasts sharply with the lively scene of Beijing.
Chairman Mao spent Chinese New Year's Eve nights accompanied by police personnel, and the staff served Chinese New Year's Eve meals, which were Wuchang fish and rice that Chairman Mao liked to eat, but Chairman Mao did not have any appetite because of his health, and simply ate a few bites.
Chairman Mao
The staff around them were very worried about Chairman Mao's physical health, and the whole emotional atmosphere was also silent, but Chairman Mao was very calm, he asked the staff around him to set off firecrackers, indicating that the young people would be happier, the firecrackers were lit, the atmosphere was back to drive, Chairman Mao looked at the young people to set off firecrackers, and the corners of his mouth also showed a smile.
Chairman Mao met with the President of the United States
Chairman Mao's physical condition in his later years was very poor, sometimes standing and talking were a little difficult, always lying on the bed to check and annotate documents, and his voice was also very low, often conveyed by people around him. Among those who presided over the work inside and outside, those who were deeply trusted by Chairman Mao were Hua Guofeng and Wang Dongxing.
In addition to gaining Chairman Mao's trust, Hua Guofeng and Wang Dongxing also understood Chairman Mao, and they deeply understood Chairman Mao's will and spirit in their hearts, and both of them had deep feelings for Chairman Mao.
Hua Guofeng's feelings for Chairman Mao
Hua Guofeng was a native of Shanxi, and at that time, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, our party established an anti-Japanese base area in Shanxi; Hua Guofeng joined the local anti-Japanese guerrilla forces at a young age, later joined the Communist Party of China, and was sent to his hometown of Jiaocheng County to engage in anti-Japanese national salvation activities, which was the beginning of Hua Guofeng's revolutionary career.
Hua Guofeng
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Hua Guofeng continued to struggle against the reactionary forces in Shanxi and began to play the role of commander in the battle, Hua Guofeng creatively adopted a mode of struggle that combined political struggle and armed struggle, first dividing and disintegrating the enemy politically, and then using force against the diehard elements in the enemy, achieving very good results.
During the time he worked in Hunan, Hua Guofeng grew a lot, and his working methods gradually became mature, especially the ambitions and insights in his heart, and he got the opportunity to play them.
In July 1955, after repeated reflection and reference to the experience of the Soviet Union, Chairman Mao had a plan for the development of socialist collective agriculture in mind and published an article entitled "Report on the Problem of Rural Co-operatives", which was a valuable experience in the experimental stage of socialist agricultural construction, and received a warm response as soon as it was issued.
Hua Guofeng, who was working at the Xiangtan Prefectural Committee at that time, saw this article and had many feelings in his heart; Hua Guofeng had been working in the countryside for a long time after participating in the revolution, and his time in Hunan Province had been very important to research and investigation, and he had a profound understanding of socialist rural and agricultural issues, so he wrote three articles to echo Chairman Mao's "Report on the Problem of Rural Co-operation."
Just as Bole met Maxima, Chairman Mao and Hua Guofeng met through the exchange of ideas in the article, and Chairman Mao saw Hua Guofeng's ability and quality. Later, Chairman Mao learned from his relatives and friends in his hometown in Shaoshan that Hua Guofeng was a man from the north, young and down-to-earth.
In 1955, Chairman Mao inspected Hunan Province and named Hua Guofeng, secretary of the Xiangtan Prefectural CPC Committee, and Hua Guofeng, secretary of the Xiangtan Prefectural CPC Committee, and Tan Yubao, Hu Jizong, Xu Qiwen, and other provincial-level cadres were received by Chairman Mao.
Chairman Mao received the leaders of Hunan Province
Hua Guofeng was dressed simply, did things competently, looked very loyal and at the same time often became excited, leaving a deep impression on Chairman Mao, who looked at people very accurately all his life and felt that Hua Guofeng was a comrade who could be trusted.
In the subsequent conversation, Chairman Mao inquired about the economic development of Agriculture, Commerce, and Handicrafts in Xiangtan, and Hua Guofeng's answer was very pragmatic, that is, he pointed out the achievements made, pointed out the existing problems and causes in a burst of blood, and also put forward his own views on solving the problems.
Chairman Mao was impressed by the down-to-earth style of the young man in front of him and praised Hua Guofeng for being able to sink down in his work, maintain close ties with the masses, and seek truth from facts. He believes that the young man in front of him can be entrusted with a big responsibility after being trained.
Hua Guofeng while working in Shaoshan
After that, every time Chairman Mao returned to Shaoshan, he would always meet with Hua Guofeng and listen to his work report while also observing Hua Guofeng's progress.
After the Sixth Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was convened, Hua Guofeng was also invited to Beijing to participate in the meeting, at which Hua Guofeng made a report on the cooperative construction of the Xiangtan area, put forward many valuable experiences, reflected and summarized many problems, and won unanimous applause from the participants.
After the meeting, Chairman Mao cordially shook hands with Hua Guofeng and happily praised hua Guofeng's progress.
Chairman Mao even personally named Hua Guofeng when receiving American journalist Snow, and Chairman Mao said that there were several figures in Hunan Province, one of whom was Hua Guofeng of the Hunan Provincial CPC Committee today, saying that Hua Guofeng was an old team member, who was outstanding in ability and trustworthy.
After receiving Chairman Mao's praise, Hua Guofeng worked harder, paid more attention to a pragmatic style, linked up with the masses with a more intimate posture, and scored more achievements in his work.
In 1959, after Chairman Mao returned to his hometown of Shaoshan for the first time, Shaoshan attracted tourists from all over the world to visit, and as the number of tourists visiting Shaoshan increased, the local government planned to build a Chairman Mao Memorial Hall to remember Chairman Mao's contributions to the Chinese nation and the Chinese revolution.
After learning of the situation, Hua Guofeng expressed great agreement, and he also put forward his opinions, holding that it is possible to build a Chairman Mao Exhibition Hall to display Chairman Mao's life and deeds to help everyone understand Chairman Mao at a deeper level, a great man.
Hua Guofeng understood Chairman Mao's humble and humble character, and Chairman Mao certainly would not agree to set up a museum to commemorate himself, so he did not cut it first and then play it out, and directly started construction, but through an opportunity, expressed this idea to Tao Zhu at the meeting, and got the support of Tao Zhude, and after Tao Zhu reported to the premier, Hua Guofeng got a positive reply from the central authorities.
Hua Guofeng was very attentive to the preparation of the Chairman Mao Exhibition Hall, on the one hand, he repaid Chairman Mao's appreciation, and on the other hand, he treated the exhibition hall as an important propaganda position for the purpose of publicizing and expanding the influence of Mao Zedong Thought.
Hua Guofeng led the construction of the Chairman Mao Exhibition Hall, dispatched staff members out of the province to collect cultural relics related to the deeds of Chairman Mao and his family, and put forward strict requirements for the collection and sorting out of historical materials, striving to restore chairman Mao's true life trajectory and explaining to the world the greatness of Mao Zedong Thought and Chairman Mao himself in a reasonable and well-founded manner.
Chairman Mao himself criticized the construction of the exhibition hall, believing that it was a move to build a large number of civil engineering and to work hard and hurt the people's wealth, but after inspecting the exhibition hall accompanied by Hua Guofeng, Chairman Mao found that the display in the museum was not only the glory and disgrace of his own life, but also set off the development trajectory of the Chinese revolution with a small view, and the construction of this exhibition hall was to open up a new propaganda front for Mao Zedong Thought.
Chairman Mao instructed Hua Guofeng not only to publicize himself and his family, but also to publicize their deeds in Shaoshan, where there are many people who have paid for the revolutionary cause.
Hua Guofeng quickly implemented Chairman Mao's instructions, began to collect the deeds of other revolutionary volunteers in Shaoshan, and launched a column on the deeds of the five martyrs.
Wang Dongxing, who followed Chairman Mao all the way
Wang Dongxing was born in Yiyang County, Jiangxi Province, when he was a child, his family was poor, which exercised his hard-working quality, and it was precisely because his family conditions were not rich that Wang Dongxing joined the Communist Youth League at a very young age and then embarked on the revolutionary road.
In 1947, the transfer of personnel made Wang Dongxing responsible for Chairman Mao's security work, and has been staying with Chairman Mao ever since, Wang Dongxing is known for doing things carefully, whenever Chairman Mao has a trip, Wang Dongxing can always make careful plans in advance, and in case of unexpected situations, Wang Dongxing can always handle them safely.
When Chairman Mao and the central organs marched from Xibaipo to BeipingCheng, Chairman Mao talked and laughed with everyone all the way, and his mood was very relaxed, and the famous scene of "rushing to the examination" was what Chairman Mao said when he left the northwest slope, although Peiping had just been liberated, everyone was in a very happy mood, but Wang Dongxing maintained a tense working state, opened the road at the front of the line, vigilantly followed what happened on the road, and escorted Chairman Mao's safety.
Wang Dongxing
After entering Beiping, Wang Dongxing rushed to Xiangshan in Beiping, reconnoitred the surrounding terrain, and arranged guards on each traffic artery, because this was where Chairman Mao wanted to stay. Wang Dongxing once said excitedly: "After years of arduous struggle, Chairman Mao finally led everyone to Beiping. ”
Since then, every time Chairman Mao went out to inspect, most of them had Wang Dongxing in charge of guard work; Chairman Mao visited the Soviet Union, traveled to the Yangtze River in winter, returned to Jinggangshan, inspected the Yellow River, and so on; Wang Dongxing studied the route in advance and made careful arrangements, and he was also specifically responsible for the service around Chairman Mao.
Wang Dongxing proposed to revise the eulogy, and Hua Guofeng expressed his approval
At 00:10 on September 9, 1976, the great Chairman Mao left forever, and Hua Guofeng, who was receiving foreign guests, rushed to Chairman Mao's residence after learning of this, but unfortunately could not meet Chairman Mao for the last time.
Paying respects to Chairman Mao's body
Hua Guofeng did not have time to grieve, because the next thing to deal with the follow-up matters, the time is very urgent, the Party Central Committee urgently convened a meeting, and while most people were sleeping, the leaders had gathered.
The meeting decided to hold a mourning ceremony for Chairman Mao and seal Chairman Mao's body in a crystal coffin for future generations to see.
Hua Guofeng approached Zhou Qicai, the head of the Secretariat Bureau, who then wrote Chairman Mao's eulogy, and because of the importance of the matter, Hua Guofeng decided to convene a meeting and the leaders would discuss en masse to finalize the eulogy.
Tribute to Chairman Mao
Wang Dongxing found Zhou Qicai, first, he wanted to guard Chairman Mao's body and could not attend the meeting, entrusted Zhou Qicai to ask Hua Guofeng for leave, and second, he told Zhou Qicai his views on the eulogy, Wang Dongxing believed that the eulogy drafted by Zhou Qicai was good overall, but it lacked an important instruction from Chairman Mao, "Three must not be dispersed."
The principle of "three wants and three don'ts" is the guidance left by Chairman Mao to the socialist builders, and it is also the precious spiritual wealth of the party and the state.
After Wang Dongxing's opinion was conveyed to Hua Guofeng, Hua Guofeng immediately expressed his approval, pointing out that Chairman Mao's instruction had a far-reaching impact on the development of our party and our country and should be resolutely implemented.
On the afternoon of September 9, the Party Central Committee informed the whole country of the news of Chairman Mao's death, and the Great Hall of the People in Beijing held a ceremony to mourn Chairman Mao, and Hua Guofeng delivered a eulogy to the people of the whole country.
Although after discussion among the leaders, no foreign representatives were invited to come to mourn, many governments and many international organizations responded one after another, paying tribute to Chairman Mao in their own form, with a total of 123 countries sending letters of condolence and 53 countries lowering half of their flags to mourn.