When Feng Yuxiang is mentioned, people have mixed praise and criticism of him. Some people think that he is a wall-headed grass that mutilates Zhongliang. However, he is indeed a patriotic general, a close friend of our Party, an outstanding contribution to the cause of Democracy in China, and a staunch democratic fighter.
It is often said that behind a successful man, there is often a woman who pays silently. And Feng Yuxiang's wife, Li Dequan, she was not only Feng Yuxiang's internal helper, but also extensively united women from all walks of life during the War of Resistance Against Japan to join the work of supporting the frontline in the united anti-Japanese resistance. She is also the first female minister in the history of our country and has made outstanding contributions to our country.
Born poor, determined to learn
Li Dequan was originally a Mongolian, and her father, Li Chaogui, was originally a herdsman who grazed for the steppe herders. Life is hard, but it is also stable. However, li Chaogui, who was unfortunately hit by a heavy snowstorm during a grazing operation, lost his herd, and worried about being punished by the herdsmen, decided to start fleeing without stopping and living a precarious life.
He begged all the way, and after escaping to Tongzhou, he met a woman who was also fleeing the wilderness, and the two of them quickly fell in love and married.
After getting married, in order to give his wife a stable life, Li Chaogui decided not to flee anymore and settle down in Tongzhou. He began to travel around in search of a job. In the end, they can only sell coolies at the docks.
Soon after, they had their own child, Li Dequan. Li Dequan has been very smart since she was a child, full of curiosity about the things around her, and she is also very bold, and everyone around her says that she is a piece of reading material. However, with their family's income, they could only barely survive in Tongzhou, and they could not afford her tuition.
Fortunately, Li Dequan's parents are all Christian believers, and Christianity has also run a rich primary school for children who believe in Christianity and have no money to study. In this way, the young Li Dequan had the opportunity to successfully receive an education with the help of the church.
Li Dequan, who entered the school, cherished such a hard-won learning opportunity, studied hard every day, and never slackened off. Thanks to her efforts, a few years later she successfully entered the secondary school founded by the church.
When she entered the middle school, she was even more energetic and frantically absorbed knowledge. With her unremitting efforts, after graduating from high school, she was successfully admitted to the private Women's Union University in Beijing.
But this good thing made Li Dequan's family difficult, primary and secondary school she can receive free education, but university can not. The tuition and miscellaneous fees alone worried the already wealthy family, not to mention other expenses.
At a time when he was at a loss, Li Dequan took the initiative to find the church and explained that he was admitted to the university but had no money to support him.
The church agreed to fund her to finish college, but only if she agreed to return to her hometown to teach after completing her studies. After listening to such a simple request, she happily agreed and happily rushed to the next journey of her life.
Participating in the revolution fell in love
During his college years, Li Dequan was exposed to a lot of new ideas and new cultures, and he had different views on many things, no longer the nerd who only knew how to work hard before.
Later, when the May Fourth Patriotic Movement broke out, she immediately signed up, actively participated, and was successfully elected as the president of the student union of the women's university, leading her classmates to march in the streets. But this action was immediately suppressed, and countless patriotic students were injured and imprisoned.
Fortunately, although there were casualties, this movement was a very successful patriotic movement, and they successfully made the authorities change their policies and made countless young people begin to awaken to their own strength, which gave Li Dequan great encouragement. In the same year, Li Dequan graduated from college and returned to his hometown.
After returning to her hometown, she kept her promise to teach at her former secondary school. During her teaching, she often preached progressive ideas to her students, hoping that they would also emancipate their minds, devote themselves to the revolution, and see the outside world.
Whenever she spoke of the rise, she was impassioned and radiant. This scene happened to be seen by the Christian general Feng Yuxiang, who fell deeply in love with this unusual female teacher.
After the introduction of Li Dequan's brother-in-law, he successfully met Li Dequan. During the exchange, Li Dequan also admired this famous general very much, and the two hit it off and successfully married.
After getting married, Li Dequan did not give up his career to become an old-fashioned woman who taught her husband and son. She deeply felt that it was not easy for her to study when she was young, so that more children from poor families would have the opportunity to enter the school. She decided to set up a school of curiosity, which enrolled children from poor families to attend school for free.
Of course, after getting married, she also fulfilled her responsibility as a wife, and was Feng Yuxiang's xiannai helper. In the spring of 1925, Feng Yuxiang went to the Soviet Union for an inspection, and as a family member, she accompanied her. In the Soviet Union, she learned about the Social System and the living conditions of women in the Soviet Union and began to be influenced by Marxism-Leninism.
After returning to China, due to the domestic form, Feng Yuxiang retired to Taishan twice in 1930 and 1933, and she took care of her husband again and again, and continued to run the school again. During this time, she founded 15 primary schools to enable the children of local farmers to receive education.
Later, she went to Nanjing, busy with women's liberation. At the same time, because of her early influence on Marxism, she was very sympathetic to the Communist Party that was arrested for saving the country. So she was actively involved in the rescue of captured Communists and patriotic democrats.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, she joined the National Comfort Workers' Federation and extensively united women from all walks of life to join them in supporting the frontline in the work of unanimously resisting Japan.
During the war, countless people were displaced and many children were orphaned on the streets. Therefore, she also initiated the preparation of the China Wartime Child Care Association and actively rescued children who suffered because of the war. While helping the children in distress, she never gave up her efforts for the liberation of women.
However, the War of Resistance Against Japan was over, and the whole country was again shrouded in the fear of civil war. For the sake of national stability, she contacted progressive women and organized them to participate actively in anti-civil war, anti-dictatorship, and democracy movements.
Later, she was selected as a member of the military expedition and continued to promote the establishment of nurseries in major cities to work for the development of China's child welfare.
Life goes on and on
However, in 1948, Feng Yuxiang and her youngest daughter Feng Xiaoda were killed by a ship fire on the way back to China, which brought her a lot of blows. When she heard the news, she was devastated and her physical condition was much worse than before.
But thinking of the unfinished business, she endured the grief and went to the Northeast Liberated Area to continue her work. Later, she attended the First National Congress of Chinese Women and was elected vice chairman of the All-China Women's Federation for Democracy.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, she was appointed Minister of Health of the Central People's Government, President of the Red Cross Society of China, and became the first female minister in China. Until her death in 1972, she fought for the welfare of children in China.
Tiger father has no dog, she and Feng Yuxiang's son returned to China after completing their studies in the Soviet Union, and served as the deputy director of the Navigation Guarantee Department of the Naval Command, and was also awarded the rank of rear admiral.
Perhaps Li Dequan's story is not as wonderful and magnificent as other revolutionary martyrs, but she has made outstanding contributions to the rescue of children and women in our country and is a well-deserved national hero.