In July 1953, a special media article was published in the American magazine Truth, which was titled "An Escaped Atomic Spy."
Joan Hinton, a female nuclear physicist involved in the U.S. atomic bomb research program, suddenly disappeared in 1948 and then appeared in China.
The story depicted in this article has ups and downs, and reads more like a thrilling spy novel, with a picture comic next to the text, in which Joan Hinton wears a delicate trench coat and holds a codebook in his hand, and he is free of the image of a professional female spy.
Years later, Han Chun, a technician who works as a consultant at the China Agricultural Machinery Institute, read this article, and she cried and laughed a little, because she was the protagonist of this article, Joan Hinton. She did not expect that the Original American Media would describe herself in this way.
All this must start from The Second World War.
At the end of World War II, Joan Hinton decided to travel to China
At the end of World War II, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, causing hundreds of thousands of casualties, and the militarist country that had been frantically invading the Asian theater of World War II finally swallowed the bitter fruit of the disastrous defeat.
But the devastation caused by the atomic bomb also made the scientists involved in its research feel uneasy and guilty, and after the Japanese nuclear explosion, Oppenheimer, the head of the Manhattan Project, publicly declared: "My hands are stained with blood."
This feeling also arose in Han Chun's heart, and they originally participated in this work in order to develop this powerful weapon before Germany, so as to achieve the purpose of eliminating fascism and quickly ending the war.
But after The end of World War II, instead of immediately stopping nuclear weapons research, the United States stepped up its efforts to build more nuclear warheads and began the Arms Race in the Cold War.
This is what Han Chun does not want to see, she is very disappointed in the us authorities' approach, peace-loving she does not want to continue to delve into this power that can destroy the world, but nuclear physics is after all her hard-working and immersed in many years of expertise, suddenly let her give up, she is a little unwilling.
Torn between her personal career and her social ideals, she did not know how to choose, and at this time, a letter from the far east made her decide.
"You can study physics whenever you want, but if you don't come to China now, you'll miss the 'last train'!"
The initiator of the letter is Erwin Engst, Han Chun's boyfriend. At this time, he was in Yan'an, China, and on the letter sent to his lover, Erwin Engst also thoughtfully attached his Chinese name: Yang Zhao.
An American, who traveled thousands of miles to China during the war, also wrote to his girlfriend to ask her to catch the "last train", which also sounds a bit strange, how do they know each other, and why do they all yearn for China so much?
The love story of Han Chun and Yang Early
Yang was born in an ordinary peasant family in the United States, lived on a farm since he was a child, studied agriculture and animal husbandry in college, and his ideal as a child was to be a farmer.
William Hinton, a member of the Communist Party of the United States and an alumnus of YangZao, used to play on Yangzao's farm when he was in school, and he also dragged his sister to the farm for an internship.
At that time, Han Chun was only in his twenties, full of vitality, skiing, horseback riding, wrestling, and even knocking boys of the same age to the ground.
Coming and going, Yang had already noticed this special girl, and he expressed his affection to Han Chun, but at this time, Han Chun was intoxicated with physical research and did not accept it immediately.
And, she adds, "I don't hate farming, but I would never be a farmer's wife." ”
This made Yang Early more or less sad, but he did not give up the pursuit.
But in addition to his personal feelings, he was also concerned about the development of society, and Yang witnessed a capitalist economic crisis at the age of 11. That year, a large number of products were surplus, destroyed by the capitalists, tons of milk were poured into the river, and correspondingly, it was difficult for the poor to eat a full meal.
That tragic situation prompted Yang to start thinking about the crux of society, and one day, he saw "The Red Star Shines on China" written by the American journalist Edgar Snow, which depicted a social scene that was completely different from his life in the United States.
It was like opening the door to a "new world" for him, and from then on, he set an ambition: to join the army, to go to China, to participate in the anti-fascist struggle.
In August 1945, he wrote a letter to Hanchun, saying that he had sold all his property, was going out to join the army, was not a farmer, and wanted to visit Hanchun before leaving.
However, a few days after he sold the cows, Japan was defeated and surrendered, and he did not catch up, but at this time, China was engaged in a vigorous war of liberation, and Yang had decided to meet the world.
Therefore, in February 1946, Yang Zao came to Yan'an as a dairy expert with the staff of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. There, he saw the real appearance of the Liberated Areas, chairman Mao and other leaders, and later recalled the appearance of Chairman Mao when he first met him, he said:
"When many officials in the United States met with the masses, they shook hands with you, but their eyes looked at the people behind you, hoping that the handshake would end as soon as possible, but when Chairman Mao met us, the situation was very different, he looked at me when he shook hands with me, and asked me where I came from."
In addition, he also found that although the people here are poor, they are very ambitious, everyone has food to eat, clothes to wear, whether men, women or children, will get the respect and courtesy they deserve.
Everything in the Liberated Areas, in the eyes of an American who came from afar, was so kind and natural, although the conditions were very difficult, Yang felt that he had come to the right place.
He also felt that Han Chun should also come with him, so he kept writing to her to describe life here. In the letter, Yang Zao's enthusiasm for building a new society jumped on the paper, and it was also infected by the cold spring that was still in the United States, although they were thousands of miles apart, but the hearts of the two were gradually connected.
Interestingly, at that time, Han Chun also wrote many replies to Yang Zhao, and later, she learned that Yang Zhao did not keep those letters. The paper he used to reply to the letter, which he used when he went to the toilet—Yang had only fully adapted to wiping his ass with a dirt block after a long time.
After many years of marriage, Han Chun talked about this matter, and could not help but complain a few words, of course, it belonged to the "sweet mouth" between husband and wife...
Cold spring and yang early meet again
In February 1948, Hanchun also set off. Before leaving, she also specially told her Chinese classmate Yang Zhenning about the news.
After saying that, she cried sadly for a long time. Yang Zhenning comforted and encouraged her, and also taught Hanchun some Chinese. The first Chinese she learned was "This is a pen."
Subsequently, Han Chun boarded the "General Gordon" cruise ship and headed to Shanghai, China.
At that time, Shanghai had not yet been liberated, and there was no shortage of noble ladies and wives with heavy makeup and drunken gold fans, and it was not very accustomed to coming here at the beginning of the cold spring.
But on the other hand, the decline of the nationalist army has been revealed, due to the republic of China government's indiscriminate issuance of gold coupons, the price of goods in the nationalist area at that time soared, and inflation was serious. When Han Chun went to the local bank to exchange currency, he found that the local currency did not need to be counted at all, and directly discussed the pound - money, which was already the most "worthless" thing.
In this chaotic state, it was as difficult for a foreigner to run to the Liberated Areas, but it was good that Song Qingling took care of her basic life here, and after a year, Hanchun was able to reach Yan'an.
After many years, she saw her sweetheart Yang Early again, and Han Chun excitedly threw a punch on his shoulder.
When lovers meet, there are always endless words, and Yang Zhao introduced the customs and customs of Yan'an to her in detail, and taught him a few practical Chinese. The two talked and laughed, so uncomfortable.
"I came to Yan'an as the disillusionment of a dream and the beginning of another faith." Han Chun said.
If before this, Han Chun was still hesitant about the relationship between the two. Then, after the encounter, she confirmed that the tall man in front of her was worth entrusting herself to for a lifetime.
In the spring of 1949, the two were officially married in a dilapidated cave in northern Shaanxi, and the former physicist Joan Hinton also had his own Chinese name. Cold spring, early sun, just like the Chinese couplet, mirror each other.
Participate in socialist construction
Before, she was an expert and scholar who studied nuclear energy, and after arriving in Yan'an, she had to change careers and build agricultural machines, which was still a big challenge for Hanchun.
But she quickly adapted, in the "three-sided pasture" in northern Shaanxi, Yang Early and Han Chun were the most outstanding technicians there.
They seem to have an innate ability to make the hard life visible. At that time, there were many rats and pests in the three-sided pasture, and people were overwhelmed, but hanchun regarded these as the experience of a new life. Outside of work, she also learned "skills" such as catching mice and catching lice.
Many years later, someone once asked Han Chun, you have suffered so many sins and the conditions are so bad, why do you still come here?
She said boldly:
"I really don't remember what sins we suffered, but maybe people see us wearing the same clothes every day, eating coarse food, and think that this is suffering. Then you are wrong, this is my habit, I will not spend time in that regard. ”
This sentence is indeed a true portrayal of them, on November 9, 1950, Yang had his 32nd birthday, Han Chun also deliberately used clay to pinch a cake for him, Yang Early held the "soil cake" and happily left a photo.
Their material life is scarce, but wisdom and happiness are always growing.
In 1952, Han Chun attended the "Conference on Peace in the Asian and Pacific Region" in Beijing, at which she read out a "Brief Statement" calling on all countries to stop manufacturing weapons of mass destruction.
Such a statement was tantamount to dropping an "atomic bomb" in the field of public opinion dominated by the United States, and since then, the US media have regarded it as a negative model, slandered her as a spy, and said that Han Chun often flew to various places on Mao Zedong's private plane.
In fact, Han Chun has never engaged in nuclear energy-related research in China, and she has devoted the rest of her life to agriculture and animal husbandry.
She was the designer of China's first straight-cold milk tank and was awarded the "Special Meritorious Service Award" by the China Academy of Agricultural Machinery.
Later, according to HanChun's eldest son Yang Heping, cattle in China is different from cattle in the United States, raising cattle in the United States is only a means of subsistence, but in China, it can help a backward country to become strong. My mother said she had the happiest time of her life at the Trilateral Ranch.
"Help a backward country to become strong", peace and mutual assistance have always been the life creeds that the couple insisted on, and they also realized it with their own lives.
In 2010, Han Chun died in Beijing, in the face of such a great and ordinary person, how to evaluate her life?
Perhaps, it is most appropriate to use her self-statement.
"Looking back on my life path, from elementary school to graduate school, it is not unhappy. But compared with building a beautiful and prosperous new country without oppression and exploitation, the original happiness is so narrow. Some people only change the world for personal purposes, but this happiness, which is built on the suffering of most people, is not real happiness, and it will eventually be destroyed by history. ”
Key References:
"Xinhua Monthly", "The Story of "Red Cow" Yang Early and Cold Spring"
BTV Archives, Early Spring in China
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