On September 22, 1983, former Foreign Minister Qiao Guanhua died of illness in Beijing at the age of 70.
Qiao Guanhua was one of the first diplomats after the founding of New China and played an important role in many diplomatic activities. He participated in the Panmunjom negotiations, followed Premier Zhou to the Geneva Conference, and participated in the establishment of diplomatic relations between New China and the United States as a member of the Chinese delegation, especially in 1971, he led the Chinese delegation to the United Nations to participate in the 26th session of the United Nations General Assembly, personally witnessed the historic moment of restoring new China's legitimate seat in the United Nations, and his photo of laughing in the sky has since become a classic and is well known to everyone.
It can be said that Qiao Guanhua made immortal contributions to the diplomatic cause of New China.
However, what many people may not know is that after Qiao Guanhua's death, his final fate was twisted and turned, and he was not even successfully buried in his hometown of Jianhu County, Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province.
After Qiao Guanhua's death, the Chinese Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries presided over the farewell ceremony of Qiao Guanhua's body on October 25, and then put his urn into the columbaria of the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery, but it was only left for three days, and Qiao Guanhua's wife Zhang Hanzhi took out the urn and put it in her bedroom, because Zhang Hanzhi had said that she only wanted to spend more time with her husband, and her husband had also said before he died that he should not enter the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery, just find a quiet place.
At the end of 1984, Qiao Guanhua's urn had been placed in Zhang Hanzhi's bedroom for more than a year, and in line with the traditional concept of being buried in the ground, Zhang Hanzhi decided to find a final home for Qiao Guanhua.
At first, she thought of letting Qiao Guanhua's soul return to her hometown, so she first went to Jianhu County, Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province, to find the relevant departments, hoping to get the support and assistance of the local government department, but unfortunately, her wish could not be realized.
Why? In fact, it is still some historical problems before Qiao Guanhua's life, because Qiao Guanhua participated in the unfair criticism of Premier Zhou.
Although Qiao Guanhua once apologized to Premier Zhou in person, and he also received Premier Zhou's understanding and forgiveness, for many people, some things can never be treated as if they did not happen, so Qiao Guanhua naturally has to bear certain responsibilities.
At the end of that year, he no longer held the post of foreign minister, and even after his death, there was no large report in China, which shows that at that time, the country still held certain opinions on Qiao Guanhua.
Although the movement has long passed at this time, many facts have not changed, even after his death.
Therefore, when Zhang Hanzhi came to the Yancheng City Government, the leaders of the government were not willing to help with this, and even for the banquet of Zhang Hanzhi and Qiao Guanhua's nephew Qiao Zonglian, they were unwilling to attend, but only let an old leader who had retreated to the second line come to the scene to fulfill the friendship of the landlord.
It can be said that the leaders of Yancheng City and Jianhu County were very indifferent to Zhang Hanzhi's arrival, and their negative attitude was also keenly perceived by Zhang Hanzhi, who knew very well what the local leaders meant, so she did not mention qiao Guanhua's burial in his hometown.
A few days later, Zhang Hanzhi could only leave with tears, after returning to Shanghai, Zhang Hanzhi washed his face with tears all day, although she loved her husband deeply, but his husband had been dead for more than a year, she had to find a place for her husband, but in the vast China, where should her husband be buried?
Just when she was at a loss, she suddenly thought of a person, that person was her husband's early friend, Li Hao, who was the director of surgery at Shanghai First People's Hospital!
Qiao Guanhua and Li Hao met in Chongqing during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, when Li Hao was just an ordinary surgeon, and Qiao Guanhua was a staff member of our party stationed in Chongqing. Once Qiao Guanhua suddenly fell ill, fortunately, thanks to the treatment of Li Hao and the experienced surgical director Liang Shufang invited, Qiao Guanhua was able to escape.
In the more than four months after that, Qiao Guanhua and Li Hao got along day and night, and Li Hao was impressed by Qiao Guanhua's profound knowledge and humorous conversation, and when talking about the revolutionary situation at that time, Qiao Guanhua was like a river and analyzed China's problems very thoroughly, which made Li Hao gradually have a clear understanding of the complicated political situation.
Since then, Li Hao has also embarked on the revolutionary road without hesitation and become a firm member of the revolutionary contingent, and it can be said that Qiao Guanhua is not only Li Hao's close friend, but also a guide on his revolutionary road.
After the founding of New China, although the two were separated by their work, they never broke off contact, and for decades the two often kept in touch by letters.
On September 20, 1970, Qiao Guanhua's first wife Gong Peng died of illness, and Qiao Guanhua was extremely sad, and he could only use wine to dispel his sorrows. After getting this news, Li Hao traveled thousands of miles to Beijing to visit, and when he stepped into Qiao Guanhua's home, he saw a large pile of empty wine bottles piled up in the corner of the living room, and Li Hao couldn't help but burst into tears, hugging Qiao Guanhua and crying bitterly.
In the days that followed, Li Hao stayed with Qiao Guanhua, and with Li Hao's help, Qiao Guanhua was able to get out of the pain of losing his wife and resume work.
In 1980, Qiao Guanhua was sick and recuperating at home, Li Hao sent his second son to Visit Beijing, and after the two met, Qiao Guanhua could not hide his thoughts about Li Hao, so he personally wrote a five-word poem:
"Huai Li Hao"
Long memory of Hanshan Temple, Jiang Feng reflects the fire.
When a glass of wine, promote the knee to talk to life.
This poem is regarded by Li Hao as a symbol of his lifelong friendship with Qiao Guanhua, who was already in Suzhou and was a professor at Suzhou Medical College.
When Qiao Guanhua died, Li Hao lost his voice and wept, and he once again took out the five-word poem written by Qiao Guanhua to himself, and when he was sad, he was full of infinite emotions about life.
Because she knew the sincere friendship between Qiao Guanhua and Li Hao very well, when Zhang Hanzhi ran into a wall in Yancheng, she thought of Li Hao, and she thought of Li Hao's dongshan town in Wu County, Suzhou, which is a peninsula on the verge of Taihu Lake, where the mountains and rivers are beautiful, and there is a cemetery, which must be her husband's ideal home.
In 1985, as soon as the Spring Festival passed, Zhang Hanzhi came to Suzhou and found her husband's former best friend Li Hao.
For Zhang Hanzhi's arrival, Li Hao was greatly surprised, and when Zhang Hanzhi told him the purpose of his visit, he expressed his position on the spot that he was willing to do everything possible to let the ashes of his old friend fall in Suzhou, and was also willing to be a tomb keeper for his old friend.
After receiving Li Hao's affirmative reply, Zhang Hanzhi immediately burst into tears, and his gratitude overflowed into words...
In order to let Qiao Guanhua's ashes fall smoothly in Suzhou, Li Hao first went to the Wu County Party Committee to ask for directions, after all, he did not know whether the Wu County Government would snub this matter like the Yancheng Government.
After coming to the Wuxian County Party Committee, Li Hao found Guan Zheng, who was then the secretary of the Wuxian County Party Committee, and conveyed Zhang Hanzhi's idea.
Guan Is a very courageous leader, he treats people kindly and thinks straight, although in his early years he was wrongly classified as a rightist, he did not passively sink, but always had a sincere and positive heart for the revolutionary cause and the construction of new China.
Therefore, after understanding Zhang Hanzhi's thoughts, Guan Zheng did not hesitate at all, and he immediately agreed to all the requirements of Zhang Hanzhi conveyed by Li Hao. Although Qiao Guanhua once had a not-so-good history, his life was generally meritorious to the revolution and to the country, and he deserved to be affirmed by the country and the people.
Regarding Guan Zheng's decision, a reporter once asked him:
At that time, you promised to be deposed by the Fourth National People's Congress, former foreign minister Qiao Guanhua was buried in Dongshan, didn't you have the same concerns as the Lakers?
”
For the "concerns" mentioned by the reporter, Guan Zheng was naturally clear, in that era, before the matter was clear, it was indeed necessary to bear certain pressure and even blame Qiao Guanhua to bury him in Wu County, after all, many people could not correctly view Qiao Guanhua at that time, and even the official was secretive about it.
However, Guan Zheng was not worried, and he replied without hesitation:
At that time, Qiao Guanhua gave me the impression of being a talented man, and when I was 'smelling it', once the newspaper published a large number of pages in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly, which was very touching and powerful, that is, speaking on behalf of Chinese people on the world stage. He was a capable man, a man who had contributed to nation-building, and I firmly believe that there would be no major problems.
Guan Zhengzhen is really a person as his name, a righteous person, his few words perfectly summarize Qiao Guanhua's life, although the two did not know each other before, but Guan Zheng knows more than most people, and believes in Qiao Guanhua more.
When Li Hao told Zhang Han of Guan Zheng's attitude, Zhang Hanzhi was excited and grateful, and before the Qingming Festival that year, Zhang Hanzhi went to Dongshan Town, Wu County, Suzhou with Li Hao, and accompanied by local government leaders, selected a scenic hillside facing Taihu Lake in Dongshan Town Cemetery as the burial place for Qiao Guanhua.
On the same day, Zhang Hanzhi and Li Hao were warmly received by the leaders of the Dongshan Town Government in Dongshan, and during the banquet, Yang Qilin, who was then the manager of the Overseas Chinese Cemetery in Dongshan Town, said frankly to Zhang Hanzhi: "Director Zhang, we are ordinary party members, we don't know much about things on the political stage, Minister Qiao has made great contributions to the country's diplomatic cause, and we ordinary people are very welcome to be buried in Dongshan. ”
Listening to Yang Qilin's words, Zhang Hanzhi stood up excitedly, she was full of tears, took Yang Qilin's hand and said: "Manager Yang, thank you, thank you dongshan people!" ”
In this way, the problem of Qiao Guanhua's ashes being buried was completely solved, and a heart matter that had been hanging in Zhang Hanzhi's chest for a long time also fell, and then the atmosphere of the scene began to be active, Zhang Hanzhi chatted with everyone while drinking tea, she talked to everyone about a lot of Qiao Guanhua's preferences and interesting things before his death, and everyone laughed happily after listening to it.
Behind this burst of laughter, everyone is even more Zhang Hanzhi's thoughts about Qiao Guanhua!
Later, Yang Qilin sincerely asked Zhang Hanzhi what requirements he had for the burial of Qiao Guanhua's ashes, or what will Minister Qiao had for this before his death.
Zhang Hanzhi replied: The ashes of Babaoshan are stored freely, and there is no problem in taking them out and burying them on a selected date. As for the will, she said with emotion: "Old Qiao said, 'Ten years on the stage, ten years offstage, don't enter the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery, just find a quiet place', now that his wish has been realized, there is nothing else." ”
Finally, Yang Qilin asked Zhang Hanzhi: "I don't know what plans or requirements Director Zhang has for the tomb?" ”
Zhang Hanzhi replied even more crisply after listening, she said: "Old Qiao had two sleeves of fresh wind before he died, almost did not leave any inheritance, and my monthly salary was limited, so Old Joe's ashes were buried like ordinary people, the simpler the better." After saying that, she also took out her own prepared sketch in advance, and a sum of money.
Zhang Hanzhi said: "This is the manuscript fee I received recently from Old Joe, a total of 2,000 yuan, just take this money as the cost of purchasing a tombstone!" ”
The fact that the foreign minister of a country has no savings of his own and only uses his own living expenses to bury himself after his death is something that no one here has ever encountered or dared to believe, but this is exactly the case.
Listening to Zhang Hanzhi's words, everyone present had respect for Qiao Guanhua and Zhang Hanzhi!
On the Qingming Festival of that year, Zhang Hanzhi came to Dongshan again with Qiao Guanhua's urn in his hand, and she finally buried her husband with her own hands and found this quiet place for her husband.
Qiao Guanhua's tombstone lies quietly in the Dongshan Overseas Chinese Cemetery, here, there is no shortage of tombstones of some famous and wealthy businessmen, like above him is the Brazilian overseas Chinese rich businessman Zhang Quansheng and his wife, and his lower right is Mr. Wang Yiting, the chief bodyguard of Mr. Sun Yat-sen, whether it is Zhang Quansheng and his wife or Wang Yiting, their tombs are built very luxuriously, compared with their tombs, Qiao Guanhua's purpose is really inconspicuous, and even a little shabby.
After all, Qiao Guanhua's contribution to new Chinese diplomacy has long been known, and the tombstone, although simple, is eternal in the hearts of the people.
postscript:
With the development of the times, people's ideological concepts have become more and more open, and many things in the past have gradually become clear, so everyone has a very fair evaluation of Qiao Guanhua. Therefore, since 2002, Qiao Guanhua's hometown Jianhu County, Shanghai and Suzhou Overseas Chinese Cemetery District II have established Qiao Guanhua's cemetery and tombstone for various reasons, which is why there are currently four Qiao Guanhua cemeteries in China.