On the night of July 4, 1927, a heavily guarded Kuomintang police car secretly drove on the way to the Longhua Execution Ground to escort a mysterious prisoner to the execution site.
In the police car at this time, there sat a young man dressed in coarse cloth, dark skin, dressed like a guy, he was Mr. Chen Duxiu's eldest son- Chen Yannian.
After arriving at the execution ground, Chen Yannian walked up to the guillotine under the push and shoving of a group of soldiers, and the servants ordered him to kneel, but he straightened his chest and responded angrily: Revolutionaries are bright and upright, regard death as a homecoming, only stand and die, never kneel!
At the moment of life and death, Chen Yannian showed an admirable spirit of fearlessness, but in the end he was outnumbered and died under the enemy's chaotic knife.
Young and ambitious, yearning for the vast world
In 1989, Chen Yannian was born in Huaining County, Anhui Province, in a family of scholars in urban and rural areas, his father was the famous revolutionary Chen Duxiu, and his mother was Gao Xiaolan, the daughter of Gao Deng, deputy general of the United Front Work Department of Anhui Province.
In 1901, his father Chen Duxiu was wanted by the Qing government for making anti-Qing remarks, and he had no choice but to flee to Japan to study, since then, Chen Yannian has rarely seen his father, Chen Duxiu has been busy with the revolution for half of his life, and he naturally does not pay much attention to Chen Yannian's education.
Although he did not get too much love from his father, Chen Yannian truly inherited some of his father's characteristics, such as intelligent talent and patriotic ambition.
When he was 6 years old, his mother sent him to a famous local private school, where he was smart and studious, and he was loved by his husband. At the age of 12, Chen Yannian entered Anqing Shangzhi Primary School, when the principal of Shizhi Primary School was Tang Baoming, a democratic progressive, who was progressive in his thinking and his educational philosophy was not stereotypical.
Tang Baoming was very appreciative of Chen Yannian, once he asked questions about the content of the Four Books and Five Classics in class, just after saying the last sentence, Chen Yannian immediately answered the next sentence, and he had such knowledge at a young age, which surprised Tang Baoming.
In addition to learning knowledge in the classroom, Chen Yannian will also humbly ask others for advice in his spare time. When he was young, Chen Yannian often went to the homes of people who collected a large number of books to borrow books, so he also read all ancient and modern works, and also learned the most advanced scientific and cultural knowledge, and continuous learning enabled him to grow smoothly into a good young man with a broad vision.
It was also at this time that Chen Yannian came into contact with the first revolutionary besides his father, the monk Yuexia. One day, Chen Yannian and a few friends went to the famous local temple Yingjiang Temple to play, and on the same day, the temple held a large-scale event, and the scene was very lively. By chance, they met the monk who presided over the moon.
Although Yuexia was a monk, she was very talkative and knowledgeable, and Chen Yannian especially admired this kind of erudite person, so he often went up the mountain to find him.
As time went on, the two became more and more familiar, and Yuexia gradually opened her heart. He told Chen Yannian that he was originally a revolutionary and later converted to Buddhism.
In the exchange with Yuexia, Chen Yannian learned a lot of stories of anti-Yuan patriots, in order to defend the motherland, countless heroes and martyrs went forward to succeed and put life and death aside, Chen Yannian got great inspiration from them, he decided to follow these heroes as an example and learn from their revolutionary spirit.
On the evening of March 20, 1913, Kuomintang representative Song Jiaoren was shot at The Shanghai Railway Station and died two days later. Newspapers at the time were full of reports of the incident.
At that time, Chen Yannian, who was only 14 years old, did not think that this shooting case, which occurred thousands of miles away, would make a drastic change in his life.
Dissatisfied with The assassination of Song Jiaoren, on July 12, 1917, the Kuomintang launched a "second revolution" against Yuan Shikai. Soon, Yuan Shikai's right-hand men came to Anqing, and he was ordered to arrest Chen Duxiu and his father, but at that time, Chen Duxiu had already fled to Japan, and his father had also died of illness, and if they wanted to cut the grass and remove the roots, their goal could only be transferred to Chen Yannian and his brother.
When the pursuing soldiers chased after the Chen family, Chen Yannian and his brother had just heard the sound of the wind, and as soon as the pursuing soldiers entered the front door, the two brothers fled through the back door, fled all the way to the countryside, and stayed at the home of a distant relative for three days, which only escaped the disaster.
After this difficulty, Chen Yannian realized the brutality of opposing warlords, and he was determined to work hard to learn to transform society. People say that "lofty ambitions are established from an early age", and This is the case with Chen Yannian.
The Father is the Father, the Son is the Son, and the Father and the Son are independent and do not conspire with each other
Hearing the news of his father's return to China, Chen Yannian was a little excited. He had always longed to go out of Anqing like his father and show his skills in the outside world, but he was suffering from not having a chance, so he wrote to his father and offered to study in Shanghai with his brother, and Chen Duxiu agreed.
But at that time, the relationship between Chen Yannian and Chen Duxiu was actually very tense, as early as five years ago, Chen Duxiu divorced his mother, turned around and married his sister-in-law, that is, Gao Xiaolan's half-sister Gao Junman, the two settled in Shanghai, but the mother was alone in the empty house in his hometown, so Chen Yannian was very dissatisfied with his father.
After Chen Yannian and his brother arrived in Shanghai, they studied under the arrangement of Chen Duxiu, who first found a cram school for his two sons in the French Concession to learn French, and in the environment at that time, it was very important to master a foreign language in order to break through the hall of fame.
In the bustling French Concession, Chen Yannian saw a prosperity he had never seen before. Capitalists, bureaucrats, and foreigners all live extravagant lives here, while most of the Chinese are still struggling on the subsistence line.
In order to change this situation, Chen Yannian worked hard to become stronger. Chen Yannian worked very hard while learning French in the cram school, and in less than two years, he became proficient in French and was praised by his teachers as "excellent French".
Later, with his outstanding knowledge and fluent French, Chen Yannian was successfully admitted to Fudan University in Shanghai, and at the same time, they also moved out of their father's residence, and the brothers rented a small house outside.
Although the Chen family has a big family and an industry in Shanghai, the brothers are very frugal and think that men need to be self-reliant, so they never ask for money from the family.
At that time, Chen Yannian was always wearing dirty and torn jackets, dragging tattered cotton shoes on the road. During the day, he would look around for odd jobs, and at night he would go back to sleep on the floor of the New Youth distribution, in the cold winter days.
Chen Yannian did not even have a quilt, and the staff of the distribution agency always silently accused Chen Duxiu of his cruelty in his heart when he saw it.
But compared with living in his father's house, wandering the streets seemed to make Chen Yannian more comfortable, and Chen Yannian at that time thought that his father was still playing the "old bureaucrat" set, without any progress, and scorned what his father did. Chen Duxiu was a staunch Marxist, while Chen Yannian often participated in the activities of anarchic groups.
At that time, almost everyone knew that Chen Duxiu and his son were at odds. "The Father is the Father, the Son is the Son, and the Father and the Son are independent and do not conspire with each other." A friend of Chen Duxiu's commented on their father-son relationship.
Break away from anarchism and turn to Marxism
At that time, anarchism was widely spread in China. A large wave of students who have returned from studying abroad have vigorously advocated anarchism, opposed all domination and authority, including the government, advocated self-help relations between individuals, and paid attention to the freedom and equality of individuals... These are anarchist ideas that have been hyped up in magazines such as The Voice of the People and Liberty Records.
Chen Yannian not only read these publications, but also got very close to the anarchist Wu Zhihui and others, and even whenever he had time, he would go to the anarchist rallies.
After Chen Duxiu heard about it, he hurriedly sent a letter to Chen Yannian, in which he persuaded his son to break away from anarchism and turn to Marxism, but Chen Yannian only glanced at the letter and threw him in the trash.
After staying in Shanghai for 5 years, Chen Yannian and his brother went to France to study with the help of Wu Zhihui, who helped them get their tickets and helped them many times during their time in Paris, chen Yannian was very grateful to him.
But not long after, Chen Yannian discovered Wu Zhihui's cattiness, and he actually colluded with the French government to arrest a large number of work-study students, which greatly shocked Chen Yannian.
Since then, his impression of Wu Zhihui has plummeted, and he has gradually alienated him. At the same time, he saw through the anarchist face and decided to break away from anarchism.
In France, Chen Yannian became acquainted with Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping, Li Weihan and other staunch Marxists, and under their influence, Chen Yannian turned to Marxism and co-founded the Young Communist Party of China with them, Chen Yannian served as the propaganda director in the organization, and Chen Duxiu was also very pleased after hearing this news.
In 1924, Chen Yannian returned to China after completing his studies. After reporting to the central organs, Chen Yannian was sent to Guangdong as a special commissioner of the central committee of the regiment, and his old classmate and comrade-in-arms, Comrade Zhou Enlai, also waited for him in Guangdong early.
After arriving in Guangdong, Chen Yannian actively carried out his work, often going deep into the grassroots to communicate with workers, and personally responsible for propaganda work. Thanks to Chen Yannian's efforts, the number of party members in the liangguang area soon grew to more than 9,000, becoming the region with the largest number of party members and the most solid mass base in the country at that time.
On June 26, 1927, Chen Yannian was invited to Shanghai to attend a secret meeting, and at the beginning of the meeting, the news that the meeting site was leaked, and some party members who had arrived quickly withdrew from the meeting place, but Chen Yannian did not get the news in time, and was arrested by the secret agents and taken to the Shanghai Police Headquarters without preparation.
When the party learned of Chen Yannian's arrest, the organizers rescued him, but at this time, Chen Yannian's old rival Wu Zhihui also got the news, and he hated Chen Yannian for "abandoning" anarchism, so he held a grudge in his heart and betrayed Chen Yannian.
In prison, Chen Yannian was tortured inhumanly, and the enemy tried to force him to obey by torturing him to confess, but Chen Yannian was unmoved, and from the day he joined the revolutionary ranks, he was ready to sacrifice for the revolution, even if he gave his life, he would not quit!
In the end, Chen Yannian still did not escape the fate of persecution, and he was brutally hacked to death by the enemy with a random knife on the execution ground, and he was only 29 years old when he died.