When you think of the most famous woman in China's modern history, who do you think of? Personally, the first name that popped up in my head was Song Qingling.
In addition to the identity of "Sun Yat-sen's wife", Soong Ching Ling is also a famous patriot, one of the founders of new China, a female representative of the new era, and so on. She was also elected Vice Chairman of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China and Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress!
Best of all, she is the Honorary President of the People's Republic of China and the only one so far! Such an outstanding woman is naturally loved by thousands of people.
She has loved a lot all her life, paid a lot for the people, and even in the last stages of her life, she still cares about others. She proposed to the central government that everything should be simplified for the funeral, and the number of participants dropped again and again, and finally reduced to 200 people. In order to ensure that her funeral would not go wrong, the central government began to organize it several months in advance.
It had all reached this point, and I didn't expect that there were some small episodes on the day of the funeral, so the funeral began five minutes earlier. What's going on here?
Things started in early 1981, when Song Qingling had been so weak from leukemia that she lay on her hospital bed looking out the window and flashed a lot of pictures in her mind.
At this time, people will miss their hometown especially, and Song Qingling also has such a thought - she wants to be buried back in Shanghai, the birthplace of Shanghai. To this end, she specifically asked the central government.
Regarding Mr. Soong Ching Ling's request, the central authorities have two different views, one is to proceed from the overall situation, believing that she is the widow of Sun Yat-sen, and that she is the one who inherited the legacy of Dr. Sun Yat-sen and should be buried with Sun Yat-sen in Nanjing for future generations to see.
The other is that from a personal point of view, the Chinese people pay attention to the roots of the fallen leaves, and Song Qingling has clearly put forward his own requirements, so he should respect her ideas.
Unable to reach a unified opinion, the organization approached Soong Ching-ling's secretary, Du Shuzhou, and asked him whether Mr. Soong Ching-ling had chosen to be buried with Dr. Sun Yat-sen.
When Song Qingling on the hospital bed heard about it, he shook his head and rejected the offer. She said: Please don't bury me with Mr. Zhongshan, I want to be buried in the Shanghai All Nations Cemetery, where my father and mother are.
This idea has both public and private, private is that since she married Dr. Sun Yat-sen at the age of 22, she has dedicated her life to revolution and love, and she has paid a lot for her husband and the country, but she owes her parents and fails to fulfill the responsibility of support. This is the regret in her heart, so she wants to be with her parents in another world.
Yu Gong is that she still has several brothers and sisters overseas, and these brothers and sisters have involved a large number of important people, so Song Qingling hopes to set an example for herself, using her parents and family affection as a bond to let the family return to the embrace of the motherland as soon as possible.
The Central Committee finally decided to follow Song Qingling's choice.
Because of Mr. Song Qingling's special status, the state decided to hold a state funeral for her, so that it could not be sloppy.
At the end of March 1981, Li Jiachi, then deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Organs Affairs, went to Beijing to attend a work conference, and he was responsible for handling the administrative affairs of Soong Ching Ling's apartment and Sun Yat-sen's former residence for many years, so he received a special task after the meeting.
At that time, Feng Wenbin, deputy director of the General Office of the Central Committee, found Li Jiachi, and Feng Wenbin frankly said that Mr. Song Qingling was now in the late stage of leukemia, and although the central government had arranged the best doctors and used the best drugs, she still could not make her health better.
Now that many of Mr. Song Qingling's organs are nearly exhausted, it is beyond the ability of human beings, and the central government has decided to perform a state funeral for Mr. Song Qingling based on the great contributions that Mr. Song Qingling has made all along.
According to Mr. Song's wishes, the funeral site was chosen in Shanghai, so it was necessary to find a person in Shanghai who was both trusted and capable of Mr. Song to be responsible for the preparations. After deliberation, the Central Leading Group decided that Mr. Song's funeral would be carried out by Li Jiachi.
At that time, there was basically no precedent for holding state funerals in the localities, and in order to ensure that there would be no mistakes at that time, Li Jiachi immediately rushed back to Shanghai to convey the specific requirements of the central government to the municipal party committee.
The preparation of Mr. Song Qingling's funeral began at this moment, and it took almost two months to prepare.
The specification of the state funeral is grand and grand, but Song Qingling has said more than once that he wants to "conform to Jane", and the conflict between the two has caused Li Jiachi a great headache, and he can only communicate with the central government repeatedly.
Initially, 500 people attended the funeral, which is not a large number for leaders at the national level. Later, considering that Mr. Song Qingling's wishes were reduced to 300 people, but this number was still considered to be too much, so it was finally determined to be 200 people.
Not only is it a matter of attendance, but also li jiazi in all other aspects is not easy to deal with, and it is a test to use the smallest scale to run the highest specifications. Fortunately, the central and local governments are very cooperative, so things are also pushing forward step by step.
In late May 1981, the state funeral was generally complete, only a few small details were left in the final stage, at this time, Li Jiachi received news from Beijing, Mr. Song Qingling's health is not optimistic, the hospital has issued a notice of critical illness, so the entire plan for the funeral must be given as soon as possible.
Although he was relatively hurried, Li Jiachi still completed the task as scheduled, and he later recalled: From the preparation to the smooth completion of this state funeral, the process was extremely difficult, which was not the credit of me alone, and departments and leaders at all levels gave great help.
On May 29, 1981, Soong Ching Ling left this world forever, and the whole country fell into grief. From May 31 to June 2, the central government held a public memorial service in Beijing, and on June 3, the Great Hall of the People held a memorial service for Soong Ching-ling.
Then, June 4, was the day Shanghai hosted a funeral for Soong Ching-ling.
Very early that day, Deng Yingchao, Liao Chengzhi and other central leaders arrived in Shanghai by special plane, and originally planned that they wanted to go to the State Guest House to rest, and then go to the Cemetery of All Nations.
However, Deng Yingchao and Song Qingling had a very good relationship, and in order to ensure that the funeral was foolproof, she first contacted Li Jiachi to go to the scene.
Although the number of people attending the funeral was only two hundred, many people spontaneously stood guard on the streets near the Cemetery of Nations, and the dense crowd caused a certain degree of traffic congestion, and when Deng Yingchao entered the funeral site, it was 9:30 in the morning.
She saw that the two hundred people on the list had already arrived at the scene, and she also found a tricky problem.
It's not that these people are messing up order, but on the contrary, each of them stands up straight with flowers in their hands in order to show respect, and everyone knows that it is very tiring to maintain a posture. It was June, and the temperature in Shanghai was high, but it was still the rainy season, so the humid air was mixed with sweat, and many people's clothes were soaked.
Deng Yingchao saw this scene, both touched and distressed, she found a lot of old people and students in the crowd, worried that if this continues, someone will be sunburned.
So she discussed with Li Jiazhi, the weather is too hot at the moment, the old man and the child can not hold out for long, if they are ready, then the funeral will start immediately.
Li Jiazhi replied: All affairs have been arranged, and it is no problem to start now, but such an important matter as a state funeral has been announced earlier that it will start at ten o'clock on time.
"The funeral starts right away, and if there's anything wrong, I'll take care of it." Deng Yingchao said it to the point.
So Li Jiachi ran to Chen Guodong, the first secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, informed Deng Yingchao of his decision, and the funeral began, five minutes earlier than the established time.
Deng Yingchao and Song Qingling have known each other for many years, and the first new CPPCC in September 1949 was when Deng Yingchao went to Shanghai to invite Song Qingling to the north to attend the meeting. At present, the heavens are eternally separated, and Deng Yingchao looked at the portrait of Mr. Song Qingling and emotionally shed tears.
After the funeral, Deng Yingchao returned to Beijing, and she wrote in her diary: Mr. Song Qingling, today Yingchao came to send you the last journey, remembering the past, as if yesterday, I miss you a lot. Regarding the matter of bringing the funeral time forward, I know that if you were present, you would agree to let me do so, sir's spirit of great love, YingChao will always remember.
Indeed, Soong Ching Ling had done too many deeds of great love during her lifetime, and she was committed to continuing to unite the Chinese Communist Party after the death of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, and even when Chiang Kai-shek's reactionaries came to power, she still actively promoted this matter. Many revolutionaries escaped the butcher's knife under her protection.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, she devoted most of her energy to the cultural, educational, health and welfare causes of women and children, helping many people in need.
How could such a great woman care about those five minutes?
The revolutionaries of the older generation are all wholeheartedly thinking about the people, so is Mr. Soong Ching Ling, so is Deng Yingchao, and history will always remember them!