Since the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, a legendary female boss, proceeding from the great national righteousness, has actively responded to the Communist Party's policy of resisting Japan and saving the country, and has provided her decades of business income for the revolutionary war free of charge, making special contributions to the Communist Party's victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan and the War of Liberation. He was called by Deng Yingchao as "a very capable boss lady in our party" - Zhou Zongqiong.
Zhou Zongqiong
Da Ren Da Yi made the first contribution to the publication of Xinhua Daily
Zhou Zongqiong, a native of Chongqing, engaged in educational work in his early years, was influenced by the patriotic ideas of the Peiping youth to save the dead, and sympathized with the revolution and longed for the anti-Japanese resistance. In line with the idea of industry to save the country, in 1938, he and her husband Ren Zongde took a stake in the construction of Sichuan Hechuan Shengli Alcohol Factory. At that time, during the period of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communists in the War of Resistance, the Communist Party obtained permission to legally publish and distribute the Xinhua Daily in the Kuomintang area. However, due to the frequent bombardment of Chongqing urban areas by the Japanese, the houses were seriously damaged, and xinhua daily could not find a distribution base when it had difficulty obtaining permission. Ran Qinfang, an old classmate of Zhou Zongqiong, approached her and asked her if she dared to rent out a few factory buildings to run newspapers for the Communist Party. Zhou Zongqiong had long been very sympathetic to the Communist Party's idea of joint resistance to Japan, and he happily agreed. There is also an episode where, due to the tight housing supply during the bombing of Chongqing, the four houses rented to the Xinhua Daily are inhabited by the quartermaster of the Chongqing office of the Kuomintang 22nd Army. This important intelligence report was given to Zhou Enlai, who worked in Chongqing, who told everyone that the more dangerous the place, the safer the place. Let the comrades of the newspaper boldly rent it. The address is located at No. 86, Hutouyan Village, Hualongqiao, Yuzhong District, Chongqing, and Zhou Enlai's Eighth Route Army Office in Chongqing is located at No. 52, Hongyan Village, Hualongqiao, Yuzhong District, Chongqing, and the distance between the two places is only 8 kilometers.
Xiong Jinyue, the general manager of Xinhua Daily, and his wife Zhu Duanshou were the first newspaper staff to settle in. During the Great Revolution, Xiong Jinyue and Zhu Duanshou once pretended to be bosses and boss ladies and founded the "Fuxing" business in Shanghai to engage in gauze business and raise funds for the revolution. Later, under the mediation of Zhou Enlai, the two eventually became dependents. Due to the new arrival, the house was tense, and the two did not have a special bedroom. After Zhou Zongqiong learned about it, he consulted with her husband Ren Zongde and gave half of his bedroom to Xiong Jinyue and his wife to live. At the same time as the distance is closer, but also let the two couples establish a face-to-face interaction opportunity, chai rice oil and salt, in the process of coming and going, they are talking about the anti-Japanese national salvation and revolutionary ideals, Zhou Zongqiong and his wife's revolutionary enthusiasm was quickly ignited by Xiong Jinyue and his wife, and contributing to the revolution has also become Zhou Zongqiong's action consciousness.
In January 1939, the Southern Bureau of the CPC Central Committee was formally established in Chongqing, mainly responsible for the relevant work of the CPC in the southern Kuomintang-ruled areas, and directly led the party organizations in Yun, Gui, Sichuan and other regions, with Zhou Enlai as the secretary. The newly established Southern Bureau faced difficulties in terms of funding, personnel, confidentiality, and materials. In order to take root in Chongqing, Zhou Enlai thought of many ways, one of which was to let Xiong Jinyue set up a business to obtain funds. Xiong Jinyue had experience in running business and running enterprises in Shanghai in his early years, but this time his public identity was that of the general manager of Xinhua Daily, and it was inconvenient and impossible to run the enterprise separately, so he entrusted Zhou Zongqiong and his wife to set up a joint venture to build a national defense alcohol power plant. At that time, coinciding with the Japanese occupation of Nanning, China's international supply line was almost cut off, and all kinds of war materials, especially gasoline, could not be supplied, and the Nationalist government had to buy alcohol from enterprises as fuel. Because Zhou Zongqiong is very good at business, more than 95% of the high-purity "anhydrous alcohol" produced by the National Defense Alcohol Power Plant is very popular in the market, and the Ministry of National Defense has vigorously procured it, which has also allowed the alcohol factory to obtain sufficient sales channels and huge profits. This money has become an important source of funds for Xinhua Ribao, especially the Southern Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, to carry out united front, enemy specialty, intelligence, and propaganda work behind enemy lines.
In order to facilitate his work, Zhou Enlai personally arranged for Zhou Zhu'an, the liaison officer and commissioner of Xinhua Daily, to work as a secretary at the alcohol factory. Zhou Zongqiong told outsiders that Zhou Zhu'an was his own family, thus avoiding the suspicion of the agents. From 1940 to 1946, Zhou Zongqiong provided a large amount of money for the operation of Xinhua Daily through Zhou Zhu'an. General Manager Xiong Jinyue borrowed millions and tens of millions of dollars from Zhou Zongqiong, borrowing as much as he took. These funds are not only not accrued interest, but also do not even calculate the loss of the depreciation of the fiat currency caused by the subsequent issuance of gold yuan notes. As the revolutionary process accelerated, the money that followed became a grant. Therefore, Zhu Duanzhi, Xiong Jinyue's wife, said: "At that time, the National Defense Power Alcohol Factory was the treasury of the Xinhua Ribao, and it was ready to go to Zhou Zhu'an to access it whenever needed."
Zhou Enlai and Dong Biwu were in Hongyan
Fighting righteousness and neglecting wealth has helped the underground party to conceal the transfer
In those war years when soldiers were in chaos and chaos, coupled with the struggle in the kuomintang areas, the people's ideological understanding was completely different from that of the people in the liberated areas, so the role of money and things in the struggle against the enemy and the special forces was very prominent. In 1945, some comrades engaged in underground work in the Southern Bureau were exposed because of traitors betraying, and temporarily moved to Chongqing, waiting for the opportunity to disperse and escape from danger. However, the Kuomintang Military Command Bureau had already learned of the news and launched a large-scale search and arrest in Chongqing. In a hurry, it was necessary to evacuate urgently, but the evacuation of so many comrades required a lot of money and materials, and the Southern Bureau was temporarily unable to scrape together so much money. After Zhou Zongqiong learned about it, he sold a batch of alcohol that had just been produced at half price, and quickly exchanged it for money and handed it over to the party organization. This feat enabled more than 40 experienced "old underground" members of our party to escape from danger safely, and made an important contribution to preserving the strength of the party organization.
In 1946, the Shanghai Bureau of the CPC Central Committee organized the Shanghai Federation of People's Organizations and the Shanghai Students' Association for the Promotion of Peace to carry out demonstrations against hunger and peace. Some of the progressive students were arrested during the activities, thus exposing some members of the underground organization, and Wu Kejian, head of the intelligence group of the Nanjing Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, was ordered to urgently transfer intelligence personnel in the Shanghai area. At this time, after Zhou Zongqiong learned about it, he took out all the more than 500 pairs of gold that the factory could use to hand over to the traffic officers, so that the underground party organization in Shanghai avoided a "Gu Shunzhang-style" disaster.
He is wise and courageous, and serves as a hero behind the united front work
In the later period of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Zhou Zongqiong's alcohol factory had become a well-known national enterprise in China, and the production and operation situation of the enterprise was very good. In this case, Zhou Zongqiong expanded his operation at the right time and established the general management office of the National Defense Power Alcohol Factory at No. 16 Weijiayuanba in Downtown Chongqing. At this time, Zhou Zongqiong and his wife had established deep ties with the Communist Party, and Zhou Zongqiong expressed to Xiong Jinyue more than once his determination to join the party, but due to premier Zhou's instructions, they could contribute to the revolution more than they did in the party, so they never joined the party. Zhou Zongqiong understood the party's intentions, more consciously devoted himself to work, and at the same time dedicated all his assets and property to the party organization free of charge. The General Management Office of the National Defense Power Alcohol Factory at No. 16 Weijiayuanba has become an underground contact point for the Southern Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. Many of the party's underground work, such as Gong Yinbing, Li Weihan, and Wu Kejian, often went to Weijiayuanba to contact and report on their work, and social democrats Li Gongpu, Shen Junru, Zhai Bozan, Guo Moruo, Shi Liang, and others often met here.
After the "Anhui Incident," the Kuomintang set off a new round of anti-communist upsurge. The normal operation of xinhua ribao was wantonly undermined by the Kuomintang authorities. In accordance with Chairman Mao's strategic principle of "shading the elite, laying ambushes for a long time, accumulating strength, and waiting for the opportunity," the comrades of the Southern Bureau led by Zhou Enlai continued to struggle against the Kuomintang reactionaries on the ideological and propaganda and cultural fronts. Under the direct guidance of Zhou Enlai, he began to prepare for the Dafu Publishing Company, mobilized Tao Xingzhi, a famous educator in the Republic of China, as editor-in-chief and patriotic democrat Sha Qianli as general manager, and still found Zhou Zongqiong as chairman in terms of funding, which was formally established at No. 10 Weijiayuanba in Chongqing in early 1945. Under the auspices of Tao Xingzhi, the newly established Dafu Publishing Company published the first and second volumes of Zhai Bozan's Outline of Chinese History. In 1946, Dafu Publishing Company moved to Shanghai. In July of the same year, Tao Xingzhi died of cerebral hemorrhage due to overwork. In order to mourn the editor-in-chief of Tao Xingzhi, Dafu Publishing Company rushed to arrange the "Xingzhi Poetry Collection", and Guo Moruo wrote a preface to the "Xingzhi Poetry Collection". Faced with the rupture of the peace talks between the Kuomintang and the Republic of China and the outbreak of civil war in an all-round way, Dafu Publishing Company continued its work and successively published progressive books such as "Heaven and Earth Xuanhuang", "Qu Yuan's New Theory", and "Ancient Oriental Society", which guided the people in the Kuomintang area to turn to revolution and look forward to a new life.
Along with the creation of Weijiayuanba, there is also the Kunlun Film Company established under the leadership of Zhou Enlai. Kunlun Film Company' predecessor was lianhua film and art company, and under the contact of left-wing dramatist Song Zhizhi and left-wing film activist Situ Huimin and others, Xia Yunhu, former deputy manager of Changjiang Film Company, served as general manager and director of the factory, Ren Zongde and Zhou Zongqiong, democrat Zhang Naiqi and red capitalist Cai Shuhou contributed funds as directors. In September 1946, Kunlun Film Company began to shoot "Eight Thousand Miles of Road Clouds and Moons" and "A River of Spring Water Flowing Eastward", and in February 1947, "Eight Thousand Miles of Road Clouds and Moons" produced a sensational effect after its release. The last episode of "A River of Spring Water Flowing Eastward" "Eight Years of Chaos" was also filmed, but in the filming of the next episode "Around Dawn" encountered trouble, due to fear of being implicated by politics, the democrat Zhang Naiqi withdrew the original investment of 100,000 US dollars, and Xia Yunhu also withdrew the original investment of 500 taels of gold for commercial reasons, which made the film shooting come to a standstill. In order to complete the shooting of this epic film that shows the spirit of the Chinese people's war of resistance, Zhou Zongqiong and Ren Zongde sold their real estate in Chongqing, collected all available funds, borrowed a large part of the debt, and finally put together the shooting funds. In order to raise funds, Zhou Zongqiong even took risks alone. Because the film involves ideological issues, it has attracted the attention of the Kuomintang secret service. When Zhou Zongqiong returned to Chongqing to raise funds, he was placed under house arrest by Chongqing Kuomintang agents for up to a year. It was not until the liberation of Chongqing on November 30, 1949, that she was rescued by the defeat of the Kuomintang agents. Like the meandering flow of a river of spring water, the film was finally filmed in difficult twists and turns, and played a huge role in publicizing the united front after its release. When it was released in Shanghai, it lasted for three consecutive months, with an audience of nearly 800,000 people, setting a record for the highest grossing chinese film at that time. Since then, Kunlun Film Company has continued to make good films, and films exposing the corrupt rule of the Kuomintang, such as "Ten Thousand Family Lights", "Sanmao Wandering", and "Crows and Sparrows", have had a huge repercussions in the Kuomintang area and directly accelerated the process of the Liberation War.
Willing to be poor and have no regrets about the revolutionary cause throughout his life
After the founding of New China, Zhou Zongqiong did not put forward any compensation or demands to the people's government because of the great contributions he had made, and quietly threw himself into the construction of farmland water conservancy in the mountains of Sichuan, and became the leader of the farmland water conservancy project in the southwest region. It was not until 1954 that she was transferred to Beijing, where she served as deputy director of the Equipment Department of the Central Ministry of Water Resources, and until her retirement, she was at the deputy department level, and never made any organizational requirements. But trouble arose when the stormy Cultural Revolution came.
At the end of 1950, the film "Wuxun Zhuan" produced by Kunlun Film Company was released nationwide and was welcomed by the whole country. However, a year later, all sectors of society set off a national critique against the film, and the film was banned from being released, becoming the first banned film in New China. Therefore, Zhou Zongqiong was labeled "bourgeois" and "counter-revolutionary" and repeatedly criticized by the rebels. The rebels described her early years of running factories and doing businesses that contributed to the revolution as exploiting the masses of the people and asked her to hand over her secret gold dollars, but the rebels dug three feet into the ground at home and did not find half a bit of gold. During this period, it was possible to find Premier Zhou to prove it, but in order to cause less trouble to the premier, he survived again and again to criticize, beat and plant stolen goods and smears, and finally persisted until he was rehabilitated.
In May 1996, Zhou Zongqiong, who had bowed down to the revolutionary cause and scattered her family wealth, died in Beijing, completing her legendary life. According to the reporter's interview records before his death, it can be calculated that the assets contributed by Zhou Zongqiong and his wife to the revolutionary cause in the past few decades amount to tens of thousands of taels of gold, equivalent to more than 1 billion yuan now worth more than 1 billion yuan.
Guo Moruo once wrote the poem "Wing Bamboo" to Zhou Zongqiong, highly praising her high style and revolutionary beliefs:
Today, the south wind is coming, blowing the bamboo in front of the court.
The low alto will be, and the armor blades will touch each other.
The wind and snow are not humiliating.
The wind and bamboo have returned, and the green jade has been scattered.
The old mountain is now, and the autumn rain is barren.
This Junzhi Jian is not, and returns to Nan Xuanqu.