History has its own life, it is like a person, both easy-going and self-respecting. ——Yu Qiuyu
During the revolutionary period, there were countless celebrities who dedicated themselves to the country, and the revolutionary road was arduous, but their families were actually very hard, and they also deserved our admiration.
Zhou Chenxuan, the mother-in-law of Chairman's brother Mao Zeqin, is a very great woman who gave all the love and even her life for the second half of her life to the Mao family, and today she will introduce the story of this kind old man to you.
Zhou Chenxuan, born on July 26, 1883, a native of Linchuan County, Jiangxi Province, husband Zhou Mobin worked as ZhiXian and Zhizhou in the late Qing Dynasty, and was quite famous in society.
In 1925, Mao Zeqin was teaching at the YanziMiao Civilian School in Huangjiaping, Changsha, and in the class he taught, there was a female student named Zhou Guoying, who had particularly good grades and lived in the home of her aunt Zhou Chenxuan. Teachers always prefer students with good grades, so Mao Zeqin visited Zhou Chenxuan's home and met her daughter Zhou Wennan, who was still studying at Hanguang Girls' Vocational High School.
Later, a teacher at Hanguang Girls' Vocational Middle School fell ill, so he found Mao Zeqin as a substitute class, so he met Zhou Wennan again, and the two had feelings for each other.
However, he was discovered by Zhou Wennan's brother and strongly opposed it. He believes that Mao Zeqin is not worthy of his sister, but his mother Zhou Chenxuan is very enlightened, and she likes Mao Zeqin very much, because although he is from a peasant background, he is smart and studious, and he is upright.
Under the influence of Mao Zeqin and other revolutionary volunteers, Zhou Wennan participated in some revolutionary activities. Zhou Chenxuan assisted her daughter in keeping and passing on the party's confidential documents and covering up the activities of revolutionary comrades, and Mao Zeqin and his second brother respected her very much and called her mother affectionately. In the years of subsequent battles, Mao Zemin used the pseudonym Zhou Bin, and Mao Zeqin used the pseudonym Zhou Fang, which was changed with Zhou Chenxuan's surname.
Later, Mao Zeqin went to Guangzhou with the chairman, and Mao Zeqin went to work in the political department of the Whampoa Military Academy, and he wrote to Zhou Wennan asking her to come to Guangzhou. With the consent of his mother and brother, Zhou Wennan went to Guangzhou to study at the Women's Movement Training Institute. As a result, Zhou Wennan's vision was broadened and he understood a lot of revolutionary principles. In the summer of 1926, the two married, and in 1927, Zhou Wennan joined the Communist Party of China.
The sweet life began, but in 1927 the Kuomintang launched a coup in Shanghai, and the Guangzhou launchers began to massacre the Communists. Zhou Wennan is pregnant, and the two set off for Wuhan to find their eldest brother.
After arriving, the chairman said that he must transfer, he stayed in Wuhan, Zeqin went to Jiangxi, and Zemin sent Kaihui and Wennan to Hunan.
But this parting became a farewell for the newlyweds. After arriving in Changsha, Mao Zemin lived with Yang Kaihui and Zhou Wennan in Zhou Chenxuan's home. A few days later, Yang Kaihui returned to her mother's house, Mao Zemin went to Shaoshan, and Zhou Wennan was waiting to give birth.
After some time, the chairman went to visit his sister-in-law. Here I met my relative Zhou Chenxuan, who was very enthusiastic and vacated the house for the chairman to live in. After the chairman lived for one night, he felt that the house was spacious, the family was kind, and the environment was safe, so he hoped to set up the Hunan Provincial Party Committee here, and the old man immediately agreed after hearing about it, telling him that there was something you are not welcome to just say.
After that, some communists came to discuss the matter, and the old man was very enthusiastic, making tea and toasting cigarettes, and even personally cooked and entertained.
In 1927, Zhou Wennan gave birth to a son, Mao Chuxiong, and the family was very happy, but at this time, Changsha was shrouded in white terror.
In March 1928, Zhou Wennan and his son were suddenly arrested and imprisoned, and Zhou Chenxuan was extremely anxious and ran around hoping to save them, but no one was willing to help. Zhou Wennan was tortured in prison, but never admitted his identity. Zhou Wennan later became seriously ill, Zhou Chenxuan was able to visit, she was distressed by her daughter, she brought all the private money to bail and released the two from prison, Zhou Wennan was imprisoned after he was well, and Mao Chuxiong stayed behind to be cared for by his grandmother.
In 1930, Marshal Peng captured Changsha to rescue the Communists, and Zhou Wennan was also saved, after which she went with the army to the Soviet area.
After the daughter left, the old man took care of his grandson alone, only hoping that his daughter and son-in-law could return. But the only thing waiting for was the news of Mao Zeqin's sacrifice. The daughter carried out guerrilla activities in Lianhua County and was also captured by local reactionary forces. The old man's heart hung up. Fortunately, the daughter was rescued by her nephew and returned to Changsha, and only then did she find that the original family was not bad, but in order to take care of her grandson Zhou Chenxuan, she sold the house.
But the Party organization did not forget them and took them to Shaoshan. When the chairman learned of this, he immediately sent a letter hoping that Zhou Wennan could go to Yan'an. Zhou Wennan set out to teach at the Yan'an Central Nursery School, fell in love with Wang Yingqiao, the director of primary school teaching at the nursery school, and married in 1942.
After Zhou Wennan left, only Zhou Chenxuan, Zhou Ziyu and his grandson were left in Shaoshan, Mao Chuxiong was young and was studying, and the whole family lived on Zhou Chenxuan alone, feeding pigs, feeding chickens, planting vegetables, chopping wood, weaving cloth, and doing everything. She was frugal and helpful. In difficult circumstances, a small cup of oil should also be distributed to others. Therefore, Zhou Chenxuan enjoyed a high prestige among the people of Shaoshan. She gave all her love to her grandson and carefully cared for him until he grew up to adulthood.
Mao Chuxiong gradually grew up, he was determined to inherit his father's legacy, to be a "figure who reformed society, to serve the country", and also set out for Yan'an to start the revolution.
Zhou Ziyu died early, his grandson also left, and Zhou Chenxuan struggled to survive alone with the help of his neighbors.
However, the grandson never wrote a family letter to his grandmother, who loved him, which made Zhou Chenxuan very anxious, and after liberation, he entrusted a comrade who went to Beijing to visit the chairman to carry a message: "ChuXiong came back for a trip, and grandma thought of you day and night." ”
But it was not that the grandson was cruel, but that he could never come back, and in 1946 he was buried alive by Hu Zongnan as a negotiator, and the chairman did not tell her for the sake of the old man's body.
At this time, it was difficult for her to live alone, so she wrote a letter telling her daughter that she wanted to go to the northeast to live with her. Zhou Wennan asked the chairman for advice, and the chairman replied to issue travel expenses, but there was no one to take care of the way and you needed to pick them up in person. Zhou Wennan left to meet the chairman in Beijing, and the chairman told her: "Grandma Zhou is old, please tell her, just say that I said: 'ChuXiong is a good child with ambition, very worthy of cultivation, so I sent him to study abroad, and I can't visit you for the time being.'"
After that, Zhou Chenxuan lived with his daughter in Tai'an, Qiqihar and Harbin in Heilongjiang Province, and was a member of the Harbin Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Later, due to stomach ulcer disease, after ineffective medical treatment, she died in Harbin on August 10, 1968, at the age of 85, and her ashes were buried in Shaoshan according to her will. Until Zhou Chenxuan's death, she did not know that her grandson had actually passed away.