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Sacrifice from the weeping wife
Read Wu Yuzhang's feelings of home and country
Liu Gang
In 1946, the lunar calendar year of the dog. At the beginning of the new year, five agreements, including the Program for Peaceful Nation-Building, were adopted at the Political Consultative Conference attended by representatives of the Kuomintang, the Communist Party and the Democratic Parties, and China, which is broken in mountains and rivers, is about to usher in a historical opportunity for a century-long rejuvenation. However, before the enthusiasm of the agreement dissipated, the Kuomintang gathered heavy troops at the turn of spring and summer to attack the Liberated Areas, and China, which had just ended less than a year after the War of Resistance, once again hovered on the brink of all-out war. Around war and peace, the Kuomintang and the Communists began to contest overtly and covertly.
In this year, Wu Yuzhang, a 68-year-old revolutionary elder, went to Chongqing as a representative of the Communist Party of China to attend the Political Consultative Conference, and then became the secretary of the Sichuan Provincial Party Committee and stayed behind in Chongqing Zengjiayan. During this period, Wu Yuzhang led the CPC delegation to the Liaison Office in Chongqing and the organs of the Sichuan Provincial CPC Committee to fight resolutely against the Kuomintang reactionary forces in order to oppose the civil war and strive for peaceful and democratic construction, until they withdrew to Yan'an after the outbreak of a full-scale civil war in March of the following year.
In June 1946, Wu Yuzhang's 70-year-old wife, You Binglian, suddenly fell seriously ill and urgently needed her husband to return to her hometown in Rong County for care. However, at this time, the country's civil war was thick with clouds, and Wu Yuzhang, who was in Chongqing, was comprehensively leading the work of the party in the southwest regions of Yunnan, Guizhou, sichuan, and the work of Xinhua Daily, and there was no possibility of separation. In desperation, Wu Yuzhang had to rush his son Wu Zhenhuan back to his hometown to serve his terminally ill mother, and prayed that his wife "will be able to obtain Corning." Not wanting to be 4 months later, Wu Yuzhang, who was busy, waited for the bad news of his wife's death. In addition to grief, Wu Yuzhang, with guilt, gratitude and regret for his deceased wife, wrote the famous weeping wife sacrifice text on October 24, 1946, the 35th year of the Republic of China (1946). The sacrifice text is not long, only more than 1,000 words, but it is touching and tearful to read, and the simple and unpretentious text is soaked with Wu Yuzhang's extreme sadness about the loss of his beloved wife and his strong feelings for his homeland.
She Xiaojia did not hesitate to go out of the door
In the fourth year of the Qing Dynasty (1878), the famous Xiang army general Zuo Zongtang led his troops to recover the entire Xinjiang except Ili, and the governor of Sichuan, Ding Baozhen, founded the province's first arsenal in Chengdu, the Sichuan Machinery Bureau. On December 30 of that year, Wu Yuzhang (formerly known as Yongshan, Zishuren) fell to the ground in a small village called Caijiayan in Shuangshiqiao, Rong County.
The Wu family is a family of cultivators who educate their children rigorously and pay special attention to the cultivation of moral conduct. Wu Yuzhang's father was a farmer and a scholar, his mother was a housewife, and there were two brothers and two sisters in the family, of which the eldest brother Wu Yongqi (号匡時) and the second brother Wu Yongkun (号紫光) both studied in Japan and joined the Chinese Revolutionary League. Wu Yuzhang successively studied at the rural private school, the Chengdu Zunjing Academy, the Gongjing Asahikawa Academy, and the Luzhou Jingwei Academy, but later abandoned his studies and returned home because he was dissatisfied with the corruption of studying politics. In 1896, the 18-year-old Wu Yuzhang was married by Ming Media and married You Binglian, an ordinary peasant woman two years older than him, and married a family. You Binglian is a typical old-fashioned woman, not only wrapped around her feet, but also almost illiterate. After marriage, the two successively gave birth to a daughter and a son, namely the eldest daughter Wu Chunlan and the son Wu Zhenhuan (also known as Wu Zongling).
Wu Yuzhang took a group photo with his wife You Binglian
During his time in the township, Wu Yuzhang witnessed events such as the Sino-Japanese War, the Penghu Reform Law, and the Boxer Rebellion, and saw that the Treaty of Maguan and the Treaty of Xinugu and other treaties of loss of power and humiliation of the country gave rise to the decline of the decadent Qing Dynasty step by step. With strong national integrity and patriotic enthusiasm, Wu Yuzhang gradually realized that in order to save China, the road of reform is not feasible, and we must find a new revolutionary road. In 1903, Wu Yuzhang, with a yearning for new learning, resolutely embarked on the road of studying in Japan. When the ship crossed the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, Wu Yuzhang wrote an impassioned poem with the title of "Shuzhi of the Journey to the East": "Do not hesitate to go out of the door, save the country and try to strengthen a heart." It is said that the East is backward, and there are yellow people in the rise of Asia. Since then, Wu Yuzhang left his wife You Binglian to embark on the revolutionary road, and in the past 44 years, except for a few brief meetings, the two have little time to live together.
But You Binglian, who has a strong personality, not only did not blame her husband, but chose to be her husband's strong backing. Although she was an illiterate, she single-handedly raised her children and nephews with painstaking efforts, supported the family alone in extreme difficulties, and always quietly supported the revolutionary cause advocated by Wu Yuzhang. Wu Yuzhang has always been grateful for his wife's sacrifice and dedication, hoping that one day his wife and children will be reunited to comfort his wife's "longing heart". However, his wife, who had accumulated illness, did not wait for this day, and Wu Yuzhang could not help but mournfully write in "Weeping My Wife You Binglian":
"I cry for the lotus, I cry that you are a victim of the times. We've been married for fifty years, and I've been away from you for forty-four years. In order to overthrow the oppression of imperialism, the oppression of authoritarian politics, and the oppression of social life, I left my family for Japan in the first month of 1903 and immediately joined the revolution. The children in the family cry hunger and cold, relying on you to support and earn. Although there is no rice and no salt, it is also necessary to boil water to cook tea, so that the cooking smoke is continuous, so as not to insult the family. Because of your diligence and thriftiness, your children will grow up and your family will be saved from poverty. I think that if the revolution is accomplished, I will be reunited with your homeland and enjoy peace. Unexpectedly, in the past forty years, although the future of China's revolution has been bright, it has taken twists and turns, and there is still a difficult road. You have not been able to enjoy both the happiness of the old times and the glory of the new times. Now that I have passed away for a long time, I have become a victim of the times, and it is not sad. ”
In the altar text, Wu Yuzhang especially thanked his wife for "raising a good daughter" and "raising a good son". At the same time, the contribution of the wife to the extended family is also highlighted:
"I was a revolutionary family. My second brother (Wu Yongkun) died because of the failure of the second revolution against Yuan Shikai, and he was angry and hanged himself. My eldest brother (Wu Yongliang) died because of the failure of the Great Revolution, poverty and disability. My four nephews and died because of the agrarian revolution. In this kind of misfortune, you can comfort the widow, unite the nephews, make the family harmonious, and prosper the teeth. You are loyal and cautious in your dealings, so that your relatives and friends can be praised and everyone will be pleased. You deserve to be a typical example of a good wife and mother. ”
It can be seen from the sacrifice text that Wu Yuzhang's two brothers and nephews have successively sacrificed their precious lives for the revolution. What is even more precious is that because Wu Yuzhang has been running away for the revolutionary cause for many years, his wife has to support this family without a man with her independence. From this point of view, the wife was the solid cornerstone of this revolutionary family, and her death was also for the revolution. Therefore, Wu Yuzhang, his wife and even the entire family made great sacrifices for the Chinese revolution.
Strive to strengthen the hearts of a big country and save the country
Chairman Mao Zedong once spoke highly of Wu Yuzhang: "It is not difficult for a person to do something good, but it is difficult to do good deeds all his life, not to do bad things, to consistently benefit the broad masses, to always benefit the youth, to always benefit the revolution, and to work hard for decades as a day. Our old comrade Wu Yuzhang is such a person who has been the same for decades. This familiar classic remark was said by Chairman Mao on January 15, 1940, at the celebration of the sixtieth birthday of Wu Yuzhang, who was then the president of the Lu Xun Academy of Arts and Literature, which was then the president of the Lu Xun Academy of Arts and Literature. Because of this, he and Dong Biwu, Lin Boqu, Xu Teli, Xie Jueya and other 5 highly respected revolutionaries were called the "Five Elders of Yan'an".
Quotations of Chairman Mao (Greetings on the Sixtieth Birthday of Comrade Wu Yuzhang)
Indeed, since Wu Yuzhang left home at the age of 25 to explore the road of "saving the country and striving to become stronger," he did not hesitate to abandon his wife and children, and he shouldered the responsibility of saving the country and saving the people with the feeling of sacrificing his children. Even in the face of widowhood, he was able to turn grief into strength and continue to lead the Sichuan Provincial Party Committee to fight in Chongqing, making the only openly established provincial party organization in the period of the new democratic revolution stand tall in the Kuomintang area. He is well aware of the main role of a provincial party secretary, and he understands the importance of "insisting on the party's order to be stationed in Yuzhou, daily propaganda and fighting for freedom", so it is impossible to leave his post to send off his wife. So, at the end of the altar, he writes:
"Dear Lin, we will never say goodbye! I don't dare to cry, I can't cry, I don't want to cry. Because the outstanding sons and daughters of the Chinese nation have sacrificed too much! Crying is not enough, crying is not helpful. It is also because although we have defeated the Japanese-Koso-Fascist, today we are even more oppressed by the new imperialism and the new Fascist. The state power has been lost, foreign goods are flooded, industry and commerce have collapsed, and the people have no livelihood. However, the civil war is full of flames and devastation, so how dare I use my children's private feelings to relax my sacred duty to save the country and the people. Only with the spirit of indomitable and unremitting efforts can I unite millions of my outstanding sons and daughters of the revolution to overthrow the new imperialism and the new fascist and build an independent, free, democratic, unified and prosperous new China. Rest in peace! The final victory must belong to the broad masses of the people to comfort you in the spirit of heaven. ”
Wu Yuzhang wrote "I cry for the lotus" three times in the entire altar text, but at the end of the article, he repeatedly stressed that "I dare not cry, I cannot cry, I do not want to cry", and further encouraged himself to "cry can not do anything, crying is not beneficial", afraid of "using the private feelings of children and daughters, laxing my sacred duty to save the country and save the people", which seems contradictory and unreasonable, but in fact embodies the true feelings of a proletarian revolutionary.
The author believes that the reason why Wu Yuzhang "cried the lotus" three times is that on the one hand, his wife is "sad" because she is "a victim of the times", and on the other hand, her wife is "a typical example of a good wife and a good mother" and he is touched. The husband and wife have been separated for 44 years, and Wu Yuzhang, as a husband, not only does not care about the family, wife and children, but also rarely pays, and even at the moment when the husband and wife never say goodbye, they cannot see the last side, and this "crying" must come from the depths of their hearts. It is not so much that "crying" is due to "sadness" and "touching", but rather to the true love and reluctance of his wife. The author believes that when Wu Yuzhang wrote "Dear Binglian, we will never say goodbye", he will not only cry, but must also cry bitterly.
However, in order to finally realize the revolutionary ideal of "building an independent, free, democratic, unified, and prosperous new China," Wu Yuzhang resolutely chose to hide his love for his wife, changed "crying" into "the spirit of indomitable and relentless efforts," and prepared to use the "final victory" to comfort his wife's "spirit in heaven." This is the responsibility of a "big husband" to the home country, not the love of a "little husband" for his wife.
The Tomb of Wu Yuzhang and You Binglian
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Wu Yuzhang successively served as president of Chinese Min University and dean of the Central Socialist College, member of the Central People's Government, member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, director of the Chinese Character Reform Committee, member of the Philosophy and Social Science Department of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and chairman of the China Education Trade Union until his death in 1966.
In 2001, with the approval of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Wu Yuzhang's ashes were moved from Beijing's Babaoshan to the homeland of Rong County, where he and his wife You Binglian were buried in their hometown and lived together, realizing the wish of "reuniting their homeland and enjoying peace".
Source: Sichuan Provincial Local History Work Office
Text/Photo: Liu Gang (Zigong City Local History Office)
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