Feng Hongzhi, the second son of General Feng Yuxiang, was born in Beijing in 1917. In his youth, he went abroad to study. After some hard study, Feng Hongzhi has achieved success in his studies and has become an internationally renowned expert.
Although Feng Hongzhi has been living in the United States for a long time, he has never been willing to become a U.S. citizen. In 1982, he proposed to Deng Xiaoping that he wanted to return to China and settle down and make contributions to the motherland. However, it was rejected by Deng Xiaoping, who bluntly said that he should not rush back now.
What kind of story does Feng Hongzhi have? Why didn't Deng Xiaoping suggest that he return to China and settle down? What's behind this?
Feng Hongzhi was born in Beijing in 1917, and his mother was Liu Dezhen, the original wife of General Feng Yuxiang. Although he was born in the Shomen family, Feng Hongzhi and his siblings did not enjoy any special treatment since childhood. Although Feng Yuxiang once held a heavy army and influenced the domestic political situation throughout his life, he ruled the family very strictly, especially the requirements for his children.
Under the strict requirements of Feng Yuxiang, the Feng brothers and sisters have lived the life of ordinary civilians since childhood and have not enjoyed any privileges. When Feng Hongzhi was young, he also lived in a thatched hut and went to herd sheep.
In Feng Hongzhi's recollection, when he was a child, his family ate, and almost every meal had a nest. For a child, this nest is naturally not a delicacy.
Young Feng Hongzhi once did not understand in his heart, obviously his father was a high-ranking official, why did the family eat this unpalatable nest?
Once Feng Yuxiang suddenly asked Feng Hongzhi, is this nest delicious? Feng Hongzhi wanted to say that it was not delicious, but he was afraid of angering his serious father, and he did not want to tell lies against his heart. I had to honestly say, "It tastes good when my father is there, but it doesn't taste when my father is away."
Feng Yuxiang listened to this answer, Wan'er smiled, and he said to Feng Hongzhi: "Although these nests are unpalatable, there are still many people in our country who can't even eat this." I let you eat in the hope that you will not think that I can eat and drink spicy food. In the future, when you grow up, you will have to support yourself and be a capable Chinese."
His father's words took root in Feng Hongzhi's heart, and in his future life path, he always followed his father's teachings.
At the age of 12, Feng Hongzhi went to the Soviet Union to study with his second sister Feng Fufa. Later, the sisters and brothers transferred to Germany to study at the same time, and Feng Hongzhi entered the Technical University of Berlin in Germany to study mechanical engineering. In the identity of Feng Yuxiang, the social circles of Feng Hongzhi's sisters and brothers were naturally descendants of the domestic magnates at that time, such as Chiang Kai-shek's second son Jiang Weiguo, Kong Xiangxi's son Kong Lingjie, and so on.
Although Feng Hongzhi and his sisters and brothers have contacts with them and often meet together, Feng Hongzhi has always been clear-minded, has not delayed his studies because of fun, always keeps in mind his father's teachings, and is a capable Chinese.
With the progress of World War II, when China and Germany broke off diplomatic relations in 1941, the 24-year-old Feng Hongzhi returned to his homeland. After returning to China, Feng Hongzhi joined China Industrial Corporation as a mechanical engineer. At that time, the general manager of China Industrial Company was Hu Ziang, a famous patriotic businessman. Feng Hongzhi worked under him, heard a lot of things, constantly deepened his patriotic thinking, and also firmly believed that he would take the road of industrial salvation and scientific and technological power in the future.
This period was also the most difficult time for China's War of Resistance. The outbreak of war and the increasing difficulty of international assistance are indeed a critical moment for the survival of the Chinese nation. At this time, it is better than endurance, than determination, if China does not hold on at this time, first discouraged, it is the end of the catastrophe.
At this time, Feng Yuxiang could not lead his troops to kill the enemy, but he ran around and called on the people to actively support the War of Resistance. Feng Hongzhi followed his father and ran all over Sichuan. Whenever Feng Yuxiang went to a place, he gathered the people and gave a speech, calling on everyone to "have money to pay for it, make a strong contribution, and go to the country together." His father's strong patriotism inspired ordinary people to deeply infect Feng Hongzhi.
When the crowd's emotions were high, the city mountains roared like a tsunami, "Recover the lost land, return my rivers and mountains!" "China will win!" These pictures have always been deeply rooted in Feng Hongzhi's heart, until he recalled in his later years, he was still full of enthusiasm.
Feng Hongzhi followed Feng Yuxiang for more than a year and raised more than 23,000 donations. The father and son divided the donation in two, half to the Nationalist government and the other half to the Eighth Route Army.
This personal experience has made the patriotic spirit a flesh-and-blood memory that Feng Hongzhi cannot give up since then.
In 1945, when the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was about to be won, Hu Ziang was keenly aware that China needed a large number of construction talents, so he sent Feng Hongzhi to the United States for further study and study industry. Xuecheng participated in the construction of the motherland, and Feng Yuxiang also agreed, so the 28-year-old Feng Hongzhi embarked on a journey to the United States for further study.
On the occasion of bidding farewell to his home country, Feng Hongzhi's heart involuntarily reverberated again, and many years ago, his father's exhortation to "be a capable Chinese"
In early 1945, Feng Hongzhi went to the United States to study, first obtaining a master's degree from the New York Institute of Physical Engineering, and then entering the University of California to pursue a doctorate.
After the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Feng Yuxiang gradually understood Chiang Kai-shek's reactionary rule. In 1947, Feng Yuxiang publicly pointed out that "Chiang Kai-shek's regime is the pinnacle of all corrupt governments in China" and completely broke with the Chiang Kai-shek clique. In 1948, Feng Yuxiang took a tour of reincarnated in the country and unfortunately died of a fire.
Feng Hongzhi, who is in the United States, heard the news of his father's death and was deeply saddened. But he turned his grief into motivation and continued to study hard.
In October 1949, the good news of the founding of New China reached the United States. Feng Hongzhi was very excited, and he was eager to grow a pair of wings and fly back to the motherland to contribute what he had learned to the construction of the motherland. However, at that time, the United States was full of hostility to New China and did everything possible to obstruct the return of scientists and scientific research workers in the United States. Feng Hongzhi is also on the list of Americans who are banned from appearing on camera. Feng Hongzhi repeatedly tried to return from Canada to China via the Soviet Union, but unfortunately this plan was unsuccessful many attempts.
Feng Hongzhi was forced to stay in the United States.
In the United States, Feng Hongzhi wanted to survive, and he had to start looking for a job in the United States. Originally, with Feng Hongzhi's academic qualifications, it was not difficult to find a high-paying job. But in the United States in the 1950s, there was an unspoken rule that chinese must become Americans in order to get a well-paid job. At that time, many students in the United States had to choose to become American citizens in order to make a living.
However, Feng Hongzhi resolutely refused to become a U.S. citizen. Feng Hongzhi's insistence made him unable to find a suitable job for a while, but Feng Hongzhi did not think so, and he chose to start from the bottom.
Feng Hongzhi started from an ordinary lathe worker, and with his own knowledge and technology, he struggled all the way. After many years, Feng Hongzhi has become a well-known scientific research expert in the United States, and even participated in the design of nuclear power plants and nuclear submarine-related equipment in the United States. And Feng Hongzhi also went from a lathe worker to a vice president of a world-renowned company.
Feng Hongzhi's struggle process once again proves to us that gold will always shine.
After becoming famous, Feng Hongzhi had a family and a job in the United States and a good social status, but he always refused to become a U.S. citizen. People around are curious, wondering why Feng Hongzhi did not become a U.S. citizen under such good conditions.
At the beginning, Feng Hongzhi mostly laughed at this question and did not answer, and when asked a lot, Feng Hongzhi was a sentence: "I am Feng Yuxiang's son, I can't forget that I am Chinese."
After the relaxation of Sino-US relations, the two sides set up liaison offices in the early 1970s. In the early spring of 1973, Feng Hongzhi received a message: Huang Zhen, director of the Chinese Liaison Office in the United States, invited him to meet.
After many years, seeing his relatives in the motherland again, Feng Hongzhi was excited in his heart and did not sleep all night. Early the next morning, he arrived at the meeting point early. Although it was the first time to meet, the concern for the motherland quickly diluted the strangeness.
Huang Zhen said excitedly: "You are the first Chinese expatriate I have met since I came to the United States and did not become an American citizen." After so many years, it's not easy, you are really like your father, you have a hard bone! ”
Indeed, several of Feng Yuxiang's children have inherited their father's character in the same way, and they are humble on the outside, but in their hearts they have a mountain-like attachment and persistence in the things they believe.
During the meeting, Huang Zhen asked Feng Hongzhi what he wanted. Feng Hongzhi thought for a while and said, "My only hope is to get a passport of the motherland."
After many years of wandering in a foreign land, Feng Hongzhi, who is close to a flower armour, only wants a Chinese passport. Behind this simple sentence is the heartache, pride and persistence of many wanderers in a foreign land.
A few months later, Feng Hongzhi couldn't wait to embark on the journey back to China. When the plane arrived over China, Feng Hongzhi leaned his face dead against the window and stared "greedily" at the scenery of his hometown. At this moment, Feng Hongzhi's heart had mixed feelings, the motherland! I am back!
In 1982, Feng Hongzhi returned to China to participate in the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Feng Yuxiang's birth.
This time, Feng Hongzhi met Deng Xiaoping in Beijing.
It was also during this meeting that Feng Hongzhi proposed to Comrade Xiaoping that he wanted to return to China to settle down and do some more work for the country in his lifetime.
Everyone present thought that Comrade Xiaoping would agree, but they did not expect that Comrade Xiaoping shook his head and refused after listening to it.
At the moment of everyone's surprise, Comrade Xiaoping expressed his views
I think you don't have to rush back, you have been abroad for so many years, you have more contacts with people in all aspects, and you are familiar with foreign affairs, which can play a role that cannot be played in China. Foreign countries can also do their best to promote the reunification of the motherland and the construction of the "four modernizations."
Feng Hongzhi listened to Comrade Xiaoping's words and suddenly felt Comrade Xiaoping's lofty position. Because of his father, Feng Hongzhi had a unique advantage in doing things that promoted reunification. In Taiwan and the United States, there are many old subordinates and colleagues of Feng Yuxiang, and some words and some things are done by Feng Hongzhi, which will be more effective than those in China. And Feng Hongzhi and Jiang Jingguo and others also had a friendship with each other, and they could have one more channel of communication at the right time.
Feng Hongzhi understood this layer of meaning and happily agreed. In his view, as a descendant of Yan Huang, as long as he can do things for the motherland, where does it matter?
After returning to the United States, Feng Hongzhi, Song Xilian, and others immediately formed the "Association for promoting Peaceful Reunification" and ran around in overseas Chinese circles to call for peaceful reunification.
In 1985, Feng Hongzhi made a special trip to Fenghua. He took a lot of photos of Chiang Ching-kuo's hometown, and specially held three cups of soil from the tomb of Chiang Ching-kuo's birth mother Mao and packed them in a delicate box. Together with photographs and handwritten letters, they were handed over to Chiang Ching-kuo in 1987.
In this letter, Feng Hongzhi painstakingly advised Chiang Ching-kuo to proceed from the great cause of the nation and the will of the people to start peaceful reunification at an early date, and urged Chiang Ching-kuo to resume cross-strait visits to relatives and to reunite those who were separated from the flesh and bones at an early date.
Here we have to admire Deng Gong's foresight, and the most impressive thing is often family and friendship. In the past, Chiang Ching-kuo always handled the issue of cross-strait family visits coldly, and if he did not answer or take a stand, he simply put it aside. This time, Feng Hongzhi's letter played an unexpected role.
Chiang Ching-kuo quickly reacted to the letter, and on September 17 the media reported that Chiang Ching-kuo had set up a five-member panel to study the issue of opening up the mainland to visit relatives. On September 25, Taiwan announced that it could open up the mainland to visit relatives. In November, Taiwan compatriots were granted permission to visit relatives on the mainland.
For a time, many white-haired veterans embarked on the road back to their hometowns, either for themselves or for their former friends, and finally returned to their homeland where their souls had been haunted for many years.
Feng Hongzhi undoubtedly played an important role behind the "ice-breaking" between the two sides of the strait this time.
In addition to running for the peaceful reunification of the motherland, Feng Hongzhi also devoted a lot of energy to the modernization of the motherland. He often traveled between the United States and China, when it took more than 20 hours for the United States to fly one way to China. Flying down, young people may also be overwhelmed, not to mention that Feng Hongzhi is already over the age of ancient at this time. The long flight caused Feng Hongzhi's legs to swell, and it took at least two days to recover.
Friends and relatives saw that they had advised Feng Hongzhi not to work so hard, but he stubbornly replied, "As long as the country is strong, what is it that I suffer a little?" ”
As a result of his efforts, in 1988, Shanghai and foreign companies reached a technology transfer agreement for sewage treatment equipment, which benefited The citizens of Shanghai a lot. In 1994, the United States and China jointly built China's first coal pipeline agreement, which is planned to run from Shanxi to Shandong via Hebei, with a total length of 602 kilometers.
Over the years, Feng Hongzhi has traveled around for the motherland, but his life is particularly simple. He always kept in mind his father's teachings: "Be commoner and be frugal." As an executive of a well-known company with a lot of money, he only lives in apartments in the United States, not villas.
Overseas for decades, Feng Hongzhi has never forgotten his Chinese identity and refused to become a U.S. citizen. All this shows Feng Hongzhi's patriotic feelings.
On the wall of Feng Hongzhi's apartment, there is a Chinese painting. On the painting is the majestic Mount Tai, this painting Feng Hongzhi especially cherishes, as a treasure. This painting is the handwriting of his father Feng Yuxiang. Whenever he gazes at this painting, Feng Hongzhi always thinks of people, thinks of his father, thinks of his father's teachings, and thinks of the motherland in the depths of his heart.
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