Picture 丨 Li Siguang old photo
preface
"I'm sure he won't go to Taiwan."
In 1949, Li Siguang was invited back to China to participate in the first national geological work conference. In order to avoid the persecution of Kuomintang agents, he traveled to many places and did not hear from him for a long time. When some people in China questioned Li Siguang, Premier Zhou responded resolutely and instructed the relevant personnel:
"We must wait until Li Siguang returns."
Premier Zhou met in secret for two times
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1937, the domestic situation was not optimistic, and the Kuomintang government traveled to many places and finally chose to move to Chongqing. At that time, the Kuomintang government demanded that the research institutes must also go to Chongqing, otherwise they would stop paying funds and would not be responsible for the relocation. After analyzing the situation, Li Siguang considered that going to Guangxi could do more work conducive to the anti-Japanese resistance, so he decided to move the Geological Research Institute to Guilin, Guangxi.
Picture 丨 Li Siguang when he was young
Li Siguang took all the staff and family members of the institute to Guilin at the risk of traveling, due to overwork during the journey, Li Siguang had a heart attack, but there was no hospital along the way to treat him, Li Siguang endured pain to find a place to rest, and continued to lead the team after recovery. According to the needs of the anti-Japanese resistance, Li Siguang conducted an investigation of the local coalfield after arriving in Guangxi, solved some of the urgent needs at that time, and inspected the local minerals.
In March 1940, Li Siguang went to Chongqing to attend a meeting, and Chiang Kai-shek, in order to win over intellectual scholars, invited all the participants of the institute, and Li Siguang refused to participate on the pretext of being physically ill. In April of the same year, Zhu Jiahua, president of the Academia Sinica, sent a secret telegram to Li Siguang asking him to go abroad for talks on behalf of Chiang Kai-shek, but Li Siguang again refused. In 1941, Li Siguang insisted on resigning as vice president of the Provisional Senate of Hubei Province.
Three times in a row, Chiang Kai-shek's refusal of Chiang Kai-shek's kindness made Chiang Kai-shek greatly dissatisfied with Li Siguang, when Qian Changzhao learned from the depths of Li Ji that Chiang Kai-shek was going to send him, and immediately informed Li Siguang to hide first. After consulting with his family, Li Siguang decided to relocate his family to a poor village, on the one hand, to avoid Chiang Kai-shek's arrest, and on the other hand, to avoid the Japanese bombing of Guilin.
Pictured by Li Siguang and his wife Xu Shubin
After all, life in the village is no better than the city, in front of Li Siguang is a lot of difficulties in life, especially at night, the loss of lighting equipment has caused great obstacles to Li Siguang's work, fortunately, life in the village is quiet, these difficulties have also been overcome by Li Siguang and his family.
With the Japanese army attacking Guilin on a large scale, Li Siguang was in a hurry to leave Guilin with the staff of the institute for Guiyang, and after the fall of Dushan County in Guizhou, Li Siguang once again led the team to Chongqing. Due to long-term displacement and intense work, Li Siguang finally stayed in Chongqing for recuperation due to heart disease.
Many high-ranking Kuomintang officials came to visit Li Siguang many times, asked whether Li Siguang and his wife needed help, and asked Li Siguang to serve as ambassador to Britain, but Li Siguang refused, saying that his body was no longer allowed to carry out major activities, and he would obey the doctor's request to recuperate at home.
In 1945, the Kuomintang began to frantically "encircle and suppress" the Communists, and under this terrible high pressure, Premier Zhou secretly received Li Siguang twice in Chongqing.
At that time, Premier Zhou heard that Li Siguang and his wife were ill, and in order to avoid the arrest of the spies, Premier Zhou specially picked a stormy night to visit Li Siguang's home.
Pictured premier Zhou and Li Siguang
When he saw that Li Siguang was working with illness in front of a desk full of documents and materials, Premier Zhou was greatly moved, analyzed the development of the future situation to Li Siguang, and encouraged Li Siguang to take care of his body, and he also needed people like him to contribute to the construction of the country in the future. Premier Zhou's words greatly touched Li Siguang and he couldn't help but say to his family:
"I have the greatest feeling from Mr. Zhou Enlai that when China has the Communist Party, China has hope."
Soon after, Premier Zhou met with Li Siguang for the second time and suggested that Li Siguang unite scientific workers to establish his own organization, li Siguang very much agreed with this idea, and with the help of Premier Zhou, Li Siguang began to make preparations with a group of scientists for the establishment of the Chinese Association of Scientific Workers.
Soon the Chinese Association of Scientific Workers was established in Chongqing, in which Li Siguang served as the chairman of the board of supervisors, and the establishment of this organization made the scientific community, which had been quiet for a long time, revitalized and grew rapidly, with branches in addition to the General Association in Chongqing, in some other major cities and many countries.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Li Siguang led a team to carry out geological investigation
In view of Li Siguang's notorious opposition to Chiang Kai-shek, in order to avoid his persecution, Premier Zhou instructed him to go abroad to avoid it, and just when the 18th International Geological Congress issued an invitation to Li Siguang, Li Siguang and his wife set off from Shanghai to London, England, and in the same year accepted a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Oslo in Norway.
"I'm sure he won't go to Taiwan"
After Li Siguang and his wife arrived in Britain, Li Siguang attended the conference while writing scientific papers to wait for his return to China, and every day he would learn about the civil war through the newspaper.
In September 1948, the Liberation War achieved a huge victory, Li Siguang immediately booked a ferry ticket, and applied for a visa for France, Switzerland, and Italy, preparing to leave for China in September of the following year.
In April 1949, Guo Moruo led a Chinese delegation to Prague to attend the World Congress for the Maintenance of Peace, and according to Premier Zhou's instructions, Guo Moruo brought Li Siguang a letter from Premier Zhou "please return to China at an early date."
After the establishment of the New CPPCC, Premier Zhou nominated Li Siguang as a member of the CPPCC National Committee and instructed Li Siguang to organize geological workers throughout the country and shoulder the main responsibility for national construction.
Pictured: Li Siguang and his wife in London
While Li Siguang was anxiously waiting for the departure date to arrive, the Kuomintang was secretly plotting in Taiwan to obstruct Li Siguang's return to China. At that time, Li Siguang's friend Chen Yuan suddenly called Li Siguang and said
Zheng Tianxi, the Kuomintang ambassador to Britain, received orders for Li Siguang to issue a statement rejecting the CPPCC members or detain him and send him to Taiwan.
Chen Yuan revealed that people at the embassy may find him soon, hoping that Li Siguang will leave the UK as soon as possible. After Li Siguang got the news, he immediately packed up several important manuscripts and books, packed them in a small leather bag, and said goodbye to his wife. Before leaving, he told his wife that he would find a way to leave England on a freighter, and asked her to return the ticket first, and then stay with his daughter for a while, waiting for him to find a safe place to meet him again.
After packing up, Li Siguang sat at his desk and wrote a letter to Zheng Tianxi, severely reprimanding the Kuomintang's behavior and clearly telling Zheng Tianxi that he would never refuse to serve as a new CPPCC member, and finally Li Siguang also persuaded Zheng Tianxi not to follow the Kuomintang to do bad things. That night, Li Siguang left home with his small leather bag.
Picture 丨 Li Siguang used the box when he returned to China
The next day, the embassy people did find Li Siguang's home, and also brought a letter written by Zheng Tianxi and $5,000, and Li Siguang's wife told the visitors that Li Siguang had left for China and that he would definitely not refuse to serve as a CPPCC member. At the same time, Li Siguang's wife handed over Li Siguang's letter to Zheng Tianxi and refused the money sent.
The news of Li Siguang's departure from Britain soon reached China, and Premier Zhou was very worried about the safety of Li Siguang's journey, and called the Prague branch of Xinhua News Agency and asked them to negotiate with the Czech side to facilitate And protect Li Siguang's entry. Because Li Siguang detoured through many countries and took a freighter at the same time, there was no news of Li Siguang for a long time.
At that time, the Kuomintang did not know the whereabouts of Li Siguang, and there was no news of Li Siguang on the Communist side, so some people rumored that Li Siguang had gone to Taiwan and suggested that Premier Zhou should not wait for Li Siguang to hold a national conference of geological workers. Premier Zhou had great trust in Li Siguang and said unswervingly:
"I believe he will not go to Taiwan, he has not returned yet, he must have been delayed by some difficulties."
At the same time, Premier Zhou instructed the relevant personnel that the first national geological work conference must wait until Li Siguang returns.
After several months of tossing and turning, Li Siguang finally returned to the motherland, and when he heard that Premier Zhou trusted him so much, his heart was extremely warm and he was moved to tears.
Photo: A handwritten letter from Premier Zhou to the Ambassador to the Czech Republic
In May 1950, Li Siguang and his wife arrived in Beijing and were arranged to stay at the Beijing Hotel, and the next morning Li Siguang received a phone call saying that someone would come to visit him, and it was not until the evening that Li Siguang learned that Premier Zhou had come to visit him. Premier Zhou shook Li Siguang's hand and said happily:
"You are finally back, welcome you, welcome you, the motherland needs you."
Li Siguang had planned to continue to return to the Nanjing Institute of Geology for research work after returning to China, and he never wanted to become an official, but Premier Zhou hoped that he could assist Guo Moruo in doing a good job in the research work of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and also organize geological workers throughout the country to shoulder the heavy responsibility of building the country. Looking at Premier Zhou's earnest gaze, Li Siguang could not refuse, and nodded his head to say that he would try his best to do a good job.
"You may want to consider joining the party"
After returning to China, Li Siguang was appointed vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to assist Guo Moruo in doing a good job in the research work of the Academy of Sciences, and after the establishment of the Ministry of Geology in 1952, Li Siguang was appointed minister of geology.
Because the study of geology before liberation was greatly hindered, Li Siguang's idea at that time was to train a group of students to continue the discipline of geomechanics, and he himself did not want to bear too much administrative work.
Picture 丨 Li Siguang in Hangzhou
Premier Zhou is very familiar with Li Siguang's ideas, he knows that Li Siguang loves the geomechanics he created, and he also knows the tortuous process of geomechanics development in recent years. Although this discipline has been defamed by foreign experts, its correctness requires long-term practice and testing. Therefore, Premier Zhou and He Chang, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Geology, have a volume of industry and commerce:
"Is it possible to set up a geomechanics institute under the Ministry of Geology?"
When He Changgong told Li Siguang the news, Li Siguang was very touched by Premier Zhou's concern, but whether to establish a geomechanics research institute, Li Siguang's heart was still a little entangled.
According to Li Siguang's daughter Li Lin, when his father discussed this matter with himself at that time, taking into account his physical condition, if he could not lead the research institute to make some achievements, would he not have failed to live up to Premier Zhou's expectations of himself.
Therefore, every time Li Lin came home, he would encourage his father to fight as hard as in the past and have confidence in the geology he created. Premier Zhou knew that Li Siguang had many concerns, and once personally talked to him to dispel the worries in his heart. Later, Li Siguang decided to set up a research laboratory of more than 20 people to try.
Figure 丨 Li Siguang inaugurated the establishment of the Ministry of Geology
In 1955, the Geomechanics Research Office was formally established in the basement of the Ministry of Geology, led by Li Siguang personally, and the following year the Institute of Geomechanics was formally established, and Li Siguang concurrently served as the first director. Without the strong support of Premier Zhou at that time, the Institute of Geomechanics would not have been established today.
At the beginning of 1957, li Siguang was living in Hangzhou for recuperation due to kidney disease, and premier Zhou accompanied the Czech delegation to visit Hangzhou, and specially visited the Nanshan Guest House where Li Siguang lived. In the course of their conversation, Premier Zhou and Li Siguang talked about his joining the party and asked him what he thought on the issue of joining the party.
Li Siguang has repeatedly considered joining the Chinese Communist Party, and whenever he thinks about this issue, his heart is very complicated.
In the course of the revolutionary struggle in the past few decades, I have not thrown myself into the revolutionary ranks, and now the Communist Party has led the people to establish a new China, but it is far from meeting the standards of party membership in terms of consciousness and contribution. Moreover, he is already old, and even if he joins the party, it is difficult to play the role of a communist party member.
Pictured Li Siguang, who is seriously studying
In the face of Premier Zhou's sincere concern, Li Siguang, who was originally not good at words, said all these thoughts of his own, and after Premier Zhou understood Li Siguang's attitude, he sincerely enlightened him:
"In carrying out socialist construction now, it is very necessary for intellectuals to work for the party, and you may consider it."
Premier Zhou's remarks dispelled Li Siguang's concerns, and he soon applied to the party organization to join the party. Because Li Siguang's kidney disease continued to worsen, after careful examination, the doctor confirmed that Li Siguang's disease was not a tumor, but a kidney stone, and the left kidney needed to be removed.
On the day before the operation, Premier Zhou came to the hospital to personally review the surgical plan, inquired about the possible situations and treatment methods during the operation, and finally approved the operation. After the operation, Premier Zhou visited the hospital several times and suggested that he go abroad for recuperation. Before his deathbed, Premier Zhou again raised the issue of his joining the party and asked him how he was thinking about it, to which Li Siguang replied:
"My application to join the party has been written, please test me."
Pictured: Li Siguang and daughter Li Lin
Under the care of Premier Zhou, Li Siguang, secretary of the party group of the Ministry of Geology, as the introducer, officially approved the joining of the Communist Party of China at the end of 1958, preparing for the CPC for a period of one year, and since then his life has turned a new page.
"How can I be greedy for life and afraid of death"
On March 8, 1966, a 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck Xingtai, Hebei Province, collapsing houses and causing huge losses to infrastructure facilities and people's lives and property. The next day, Premier Zhou risked aftershocks and personally flew by helicopter to the disaster area to direct disaster relief. At the same time, it was instructed to send the survey data of the earthquake site to Beijing, and Li Siguang presided over the study.
Figure丨 The scene of the Xingtai earthquake in 1966
As the leader of the earthquake team of the State Council, Li Siguang was eager to go to the disaster area immediately, directed the geological personnel to conduct data surveys, and studied whether the second earthquake could be accurately predicted, but at that time, Li Siguang had been found to have an aneurysm and was in danger of rupture at any time, and the doctor resolutely did not allow Li Siguang to act.
Li Siguang had no choice but to stay in Beijing and rely on the data sent back to study the trend of earthquake development. At that time, there were many people who held different opinions, and Li Siguang was very worried about their endless arguments:
"You're fighting here, and there's probably going to be a tremor over there."
Sure enough, 14 days after the earthquake, another 7.1 magnitude earthquake occurred in the Xingtai area, and this earthquake made Li Siguang make up his mind and immediately report to the State Council that he must go to the disaster area for field investigation. At the same time, Li Siguang also said to his wife and doctor:
"Don't stop me anymore, Premier Zhou has already risked his life to go to the disaster area four times, how can I be greedy for life and afraid of death when I do this work?"
Photo: Premier Zhou comforted the affected people
A month later, Li Siguang took a train to Xingtai, where he went to several important seismic observation stations and held a symposium with local leaders and earthquake workers in Xingtai to study the causes of the earthquake and the problem of predicting the earthquake. In order to study the development trend of the Xingtai earthquake, Premier Zhou held several meetings to discuss, and Li Siguang attended.
Late at night in early 1968, Li Siguang suddenly received a phone call asking him to attend an emergency meeting convened by the State Council, and when Li Siguang arrived at the meeting site, it was already two o'clock in the morning, and Premier Zhou beckoned him to sit next to him. At that time, everyone was studying an earthquake forecast report, saying that a magnitude 7 earthquake could occur in Beijing that morning, and asked the State Council to issue a notice to let residents prepare for the earthquake.
After listening to various opinions, Premier Zhou turned to ask Li Siguang what his opinion was, and Li Siguang learned that they were deducing the possibility of an earthquake based on some unusual scenes, but with reference to the data sent back by several stress stations, there was no abnormal scene, so Li Siguang suggested that he should not send a notice to let residents spend the night outside to avoid freezing, and at the same time quietly said to Premier Zhou:
"The chairman and his old man's family had better not move out to live, what should I do if I have a cold?"
Chairman Mao and Li Siguang shook hands cordially
Premier Zhou nodded knowingly, adopted Li Siguang's advice, did not issue an earthquake alarm, and asked Li Siguang to quickly go back to rest. For the safety of the people of Beijing, Premier Zhou did not rest all night, monitoring new situations in his office at any time, and waited until dawn the next morning, when the earthquake did not occur, which proved that Li Siguang's inference was correct.
"Now, leave the task to everyone!"
As early as 1965, Li Siguang was diagnosed with an aneurysm, and doctors had suggested that he undergo surgical resection to avoid the risk of rupture, but Li Siguang did not agree to the operation, he believed that conservative treatment, if proper attention, can also be fought for a period of time.
After the State Council received a report on Li Siguang's condition, Premier Zhou gave instructions to exempt Li Siguang from his foreign affairs activities, reduce his work and meetings, and generally not bother Li Siguang unless there is a major matter.
Soon Li Siguang's condition stabilized under the guidance of doctors, but Li Siguang was very anxious in his heart, and the diagnosis of an aneurysm meant that his life was coming to an end, and if he did not grasp his work and write down what he had learned, how could he be worthy of the party and the people, and also failed to live up to the expectations of Premier Zhou and Chairman Mao.
Li Siguang teaches geomechanics in Beijing
In the period before his death, Li Siguang threw himself into his work, sometimes sleeping until midnight, often suddenly getting up and turning on the flashlight to write down something in a notebook. Li Siguang's wife felt that he was not good for his health, often persuaded him, and when he saw that he could not convince his wife, Li Siguang turned on the flashlight and hid in the bed.
The day before Li Siguang's death, he couldn't sleep and lay in bed talking to his daughter Li Lin, he said
What I am most uneasy about is earthquake forecasting, but my views have not yet been adopted by people, and I don't know if I have time to work with comrades to overcome the problem of earthquake forecasting.
On April 29, 1971, Li Siguang's aneurysm suddenly ruptured, and he felt a sharp pain in his stomach, followed by shock. When Premier Zhou heard about it, he immediately sent someone to rescue him and instructed the hospital: "As long as there is a glimmer of hope, do our best to rescue it." After more than two hours of surgical rescue, the doctor finally declared the rescue ineffective, and Li Siguang died at 11 o'clock on the same day.
Picture 丨 Li Siguang and his wife taking a group photo with their daughter and son-in-law
When Li Lin learned that she was going to hold a memorial service for her father on May 3, she wrote a letter to Premier Zhou with a sad heart, which was what Li Siguang said to herself before his death, and it was also what he wanted to say to Premier Zhou. Through this letter, Li Lin wanted to tell Premier Zhou what his father had not yet had time to say.
On May 3, Li Siguang's farewell ceremony was held in the small auditorium of Babaoshan Mountain, and his family came to the lounge early to wait. When Liu Xiyou informed them that Premier Zhou was about to arrive, Li Lin hurriedly pulled out the letter he had written and asked him to forward it to Premier Zhou. After Premier Zhou arrived at Babaoshan, he heard that no eulogy had been prepared for Li Siguang and severely criticized the relevant person in charge:
"How can you do that? How can a memorial service be held like this? ”
When the memorial service began, Premier Zhou took the lead in entering the small auditorium, followed by Li Xiannian, Li Fuchun, Guo Moruo and other central leaders, and the farewell ceremony was presided over by Guo Moruo.
This morning I received a letter from Comrade Li Lin, the daughter of Comrade Li Siguang.
Pictured Li Siguang, who is lecturing
After saying that, Premier Zhou took the letter out of his pocket and read it slowly.
When he read a passage that Li Siguang had written about his work, Premier Zhou raised his voice slightly. At the end of the letter, it was about Li Siguang's respect for Premier Zhou, and when Premier Zhou read this, he immediately stopped, folded the letter and put it back in his pocket.
After Premier Zhou finished reading this "eulogy," he walked slowly to the door of the small auditorium and asked loudly to the people who had come to mourn Li Siguang:
"Do you have geology here?"
"Yes!" Everyone responded in unison. Immediately after that, Premier Zhou asked:
Have you studied earthquakes?
Everyone replied, "Yes!" ”“
Did you hear what I said just now?
Everyone replied in unison, "I hear you!" ”。 After asking these three questions, Premier Zhou said to everyone in a serious tone: