Sihanoukville: The Chinese treatment of a king

After the death of Cambodian Emperor Norodom Sihanouk at 2:20 a.m. Beijing time on October 15, 2012, his relationship with Chinese people was upgraded from "old friend" to "great friend".

His life was full of ups and downs, and he led Cambodia to peaceful independence in 1953, known as the "father of Cambodian independence", and also suffered a coup d'état launched by his prime minister and cousin. "Da zeal is good for the world, poor is alone", he fought against the colonists and rebels for the liberation of the motherland, compromised and cooperated with foreign regimes and domestic revolutionaries, and when those who tried to be frustrated and imprisoned and exiled, he was passionate about movies, music and food.

Sihanouk twice went into exile in China, the first for 5 years, the second for 12 years, seeing China as its "second hometown" and composing many songs to praise China.

He has a deep friendship with successive Chinese leaders, and in the folk, generations from the post-50s to the post-80s know the name Sihanouk, although many people are not very clear about what this foreigner has done, but they all agree that this smiling prince is our "old friend".

After his death, he was greeted with high-level condolences from Chinese officials, who lowered his flag to half-mast; several party and state leaders expressed condolences and condolences, and then state councilor Dai Bingguo personally escorted the coffin back to Cambodia.

In folklore, his passing evokes memories of the past: the name Sihanouk grew up with generations of Chinese and was once an element of their lives. Today, the memory of him will fade with the imprint of that era.

The leader's guest of honor

During the Bandung Asian-African Conference in Indonesia in April 1955, Sihanouk forged a friendship with Zhou Enlai.

Sihanouk was 33 years old at the time. He ceded the throne to his father, formed the "People's Social League" on his own and won the general election, becoming the prime minister of Cambodia to show his political talents.

On February 14, 1956, Sihanouk first set foot on Chinese soil. Although the two countries had not yet established diplomatic relations at that time, the Chinese government's greeting team was of the highest standard, and Zhou Enlai personally braved the cold weather to meet him at the airport.

According to statistics, during his time in China, he met and talked with Zhou Enlai as many as 210 times. In her book Interview with a Man of the Past by Italian journalist Oriana Farage, Sihanouk said that when I needed to see Zhou Enlai, he called him and asked, "Can I come to you?" He replied, "I'll come and see you and I'll come right away." Sihanouk objected: "No, you have so much to do, it is up to me to visit you." Zhou En: "No, no, you're welcome." I'll stop working now and go to you right away. ”

Sihanouk's friendship with Mao zedong was equally deep. He once recalled the first time he met Mao Zedong in 1956: "When my car drove into the courtyard of Mao's apartment, Mao was already waiting at the door. Seeing my car approaching, Mao himself stepped forward to greet me. This was a big surprise for me, and it was also a great honor. After we had a long and lively discussion, he personally put me in the car, and it wasn't until he pulled out of his sight that he turned back into his simple traditional Chinese style. ”

In 1970, Mao Zedong met with Sihanouk three times above Tiananmen Square. On International Labor Day, Mao Zedong talked to Sihanouk and his wife for nearly two hours on the upper floor of Tiananmen Square, and the plan to set off fireworks was postponed.

According to Sihanouk's long-term accompanying interpreter She Chunshu in China, when Mao Zedong first took a photo with Sihanouk and other foreign guests at the Tiananmen Tower, he suddenly shouted: "Long live Prince Norodom Sihanouk, the head of state of Cambodia!" ”

Sihanoukville is currently the foreign head of state who has climbed the Tiananmen Tower the most. In addition to the three times in 1970, he appeared on the Tiananmen Tower in 1964, 1965, 1984, 1989 and 2009.

Sihanouk has established good relations with successive Chinese leaders. In 1979, when the Vietnamese army invaded Phnom Penh, Sihanouk went into exile in China for the second time, Deng Xiaoping personally went to the airport to greet him; in 1982, Deng Xiaoping wished the 60-year-old Sihanouk a happy birthday and specially arranged for a chef to make a table of authentic Sichuan cuisine; in 1999, Sihanouk and his wife went to Kunming to attend the opening ceremony of the World Horticultural Exposition; in 2008, he attended the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games.

Eternally recognized Fuehrer

In 1970, former Cambodian Prime Minister and Commander of the Armed Forces Lon Nol and Sihanouk's cousin, Deputy Prime Minister Shri Mada took advantage of Sihanouk's visit to launch a coup d'état, deposing Sihanouk and later sentencing him to death. Sihanouk, unable to return home, came into exile in China.

On March 19 of that year, Sihanouk flew from Moscow to Beijing. On the plane, the news of the coup made him cry bitterly.

Zhou Enlai, Ye Jianying, Li Xiannian, and several other leaders greeted them at the airport and invited 46 foreign ambassadors to China to attend. After he stepped off the plane, Zhou Enlai said to him: "You are still the head of state of Cambodia, we will always recognize you, and we will never agree with others!" ”

After Sihanouk and his family went into exile in China, Zhou Enlai instructed him to renovate the State Guest House at No. 15 Dongjiaomin Lane, which was originally the Qing Dynasty French legation in Beijing.

After Sihanouk established the Cambodian National United Front and the Unity Government in Beijing, China also provided him with an office location at the Friendship Hotel in Beijing's Haidian district. Zhou Enlai said China decided to donate 5 million yuan a year to them, as well as security guards and car teams.

According to the book "Interviews with Influential People", the Chinese government paid Sihanouk all the expenses for living in China, including not only the living expenses of his family and the more than 100 Cambodians who came to China with him, but also the cost of his diplomatic activities in the world.

Sihanouk needed two planes for a trip to another country, so the Chinese government provided him with a presidential-class Il-62 and another four-engine Il-18, one for him and his 30 entourage, and the other carrying his luggage.

He also said to Mao Zedong with some embarrassment: "Mr. Chairman, China's own burden is very heavy, it has given a lot of assistance to the third world, and I, along with my entourage, friends and staff, have now become an additional burden." Mao Zedong replied, "I beg you to let us bear a little more." The more I bear you, the happier I am. ”

216 chickens make a dish

At that time, he was confiscated all his property by the coup d'état and became dispossessed. He once said: "If China doesn't help me, I won't even be wearing the clothes I'm wearing." ”

Because Sihanoukville liked to eat Western food, a skilled Western chef in Shanghai was invited to Beijing; he liked to swim, play badminton and sing and dance, so he built a swimming pool, club and badminton court for him.

During his stay in China, Sihanouk traveled to various places, such as Nanjing, Shanghai, Kunming, Hangzhou, Qingdao, etc., and received a grand reception everywhere he went.

In 1971, in order to facilitate his visit to Xuanwu Lake, Xu Shiyou, then commander of the Nanjing Military Region, specially sent people to widen and pave the original narrow, pebbled road around the lake in Xuanwu Lake, and paved it with asphalt, and the facilities along the road were renewed. The road was later known as "Sihanoukville Road" by the people of Nanjing.

Farage said in Interviews with People of the Past that Sihanouk likes to eat creamy foie gras and caviar, and his love of food can at least be compared with his love of his country. In China, he has enjoyed local cuisine many times.

In his 2007 book The Taste of Old Shanghai, the writer Shen Jialu wrote that in 1973, Sihanouk visited Shanghai's Yu Garden, and the Nanshi Catering Company at that time was responsible for receiving and elaborately producing 14 dim sum. Xiao Jianping, who participated in the reception work that year, said that in order to make a flavor called "chicken and duck blood soup", the company killed 108 chickens to find chicken eggs of the same specifications.

But on the same day, Sihanouk and his wife held a family tennis tournament, and the play was so exciting that it was difficult to end it for a while, that is, the word came out: go again tomorrow. So the next day the masters killed another 108 chickens.

Memories of generations

Many Chinese especially young people may not know what really happened in Cambodia, but they are not unfamiliar with the name "Sihanoukville", which has become part of the collective memory of the Chinese of that particular era.

Sihanouk and his wife, Empress Monilie (then known as "Princess Monique"), were often featured in newspapers, television and radio. There was also a little joke: some old people with little cultural knowledge once asked, "Who is this Norodom?" Why is he always with Sihanouk? ”

The couple often visited various places, and all localities were treated according to the courtesy of foreign heads of state, and thousands of people were empty, singing and dancing. So that in some remote towns, once there is a citywide cleaning and sanitation activity, everyone will say that Sihanoukville is coming.

At that time, the students would be organized to welcome the Sihanouks. The school required flower clothes and flower skirts, but at that time, people's dress was relatively plain, so students went everywhere to borrow beautiful flower clothes and skirts. They also made their own bouquets, picked up branches, and pasted them with colored paper.

In Jiang Wen's film "Sunny Day", there are men and women holding wreaths, shouting and dancing to warmly welcome Prince Sihanouk's motorcade.

Princess Monik, the last of his six wives, behaved nobly, dignified and elegant, and constantly changed her clothes, adding a little bright color to the gray aesthetic taste of the Cultural Revolution "Iron Maiden" and "No Love of Red Makeup and Love of Arms". Princess Monique even became the first enlightenment for some girls and boys about "beauty".

Sihanouk visited various places and also filmed the documentary "Prince Sihanouk's Visit to ×××". From 1970 to 1975, the Central News Documentary Film Studio produced 23 documentaries about Sihanoukville in total. This is the most preserved and complete historical picture of a foreign head of state's activities in China in "New Shadow".

In addition, Sihanoukville's dynamics were often seen in the form of a "news bulletin" before the film was screened at the time. So in the early 1970s, there were a few slips of the tongue in the streets: Vietnamese movie airplane cannons, North Korean movies crying and laughing, Albanian movies cuddling and cuddling, and Chinese movies "News Bulletin". There is also a saying that it is "eight plays, three battles and one haha", eight plays are eight model plays, three wars are three movies such as "Tunnel War", and "one haha" is the news about Sihanoukville in the "news briefing" before the movie.

In an era of cultural scarcity, Sihanouk became China's most popular "movie star." His figure has accompanied a generation of Chinese from adolescence to middle age and to old age.