preface
Figure Chairman Mao in his later years
In 1972, Chairman Mao's condition gradually worsened, not only was his movement much slower than before, but also the first mild coma occurred, and the medical staff found that Chairman Mao's legs had become puffy and swollen, and specially advised him to stay in bed as much as possible.
Chairman Mao's death is a national grief
On January 10, 1972, Chairman Mao temporarily decided to attend Chen Yi's memorial service and went to the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery with his illness, but due to the emergency, the medical staff did not have enough time to prepare, and Chairman Mao only put an overcoat on the outside of his pajamas and set off in a hurry, so that it was inevitable that he would be attacked by cold.
Chairman Mao at that time could not hide his sadness, and led to a weaker body, a significant aggravation of lung infections, in which case he often had a low-grade fever, accompanied by coughs.
Figure Chairman Mao
On January 18, Chairman Mao's first coma, all the medical staff instantly nervous, they did not dare to have the slightest delay, all-out rescue, the same incident also alarmed Premier Zhou, who was holding a meeting in the Great Hall of the People, he personally rushed to Zhongnanhai to visit, and decided to set up a special medical team to treat Chairman Mao.
After carefully analyzing Chairman Mao's condition, they unanimously agreed that a comprehensive physical examination was needed as soon as possible, but Chairman Mao chose to politely refuse, and Premier Zhou at that time was very anxious and seriously told him:
"Now immediate treatment, the condition will not only improve, but also recovery is relatively fast, if it continues to delay, pneumonia may turn into other diseases." Judging from the current signs of upward spread of lower limb puffiness, it is best for the chairman to do an electrocardiogram examination as soon as possible. ”
Photo Premier Zhou and Chairman Mao
Chairman Mao respected Premier Zhou's opinion, and after careful examination, it was further confirmed that Chairman Mao's condition had gradually worsened, and looking at their serious appearance all day, Chairman Mao smiled and said, "Don't be so nervous." ”
In fact, Chairman Mao's mentality is very good, his positive optimism often infects the people around him, he has always believed that his condition is not as serious as imagined, and he also hopes that medical staff will not be so nervous.
At the beginning of 1974, Chairman Mao's condition showed a short-term improvement, not only could he go for a free walk outside, but also personally presided over the meeting, and the staff around him were very happy to see the situation, but the medical staff found that this was only a superficial phenomenon and absolutely could not be taken lightly.
In addition, Chairman Mao also unfortunately suffered from senile cataracts, severe loss of vision, but he was reluctant to operate, doctor Tang Youzhi was very anxious, and personally persuaded, and finally through an ancient poem by Bai Juyi, Chairman Mao directly nodded his head and agreed, after this operation, he was able to read and approve documents as before, but he also had to pay attention to it and could not use his eyes excessively.
In September 1976, Chairman Mao's physical condition was not optimistic, and under the torment of illness, he became increasingly emaciated, and even developed symptoms of shortness of breath, medical staff were always around, and politburo people also heard the news, after treatment, his heart returned to normal beating.
Chairman Mao slowly opened his eyes, and when Ye Jianying walked past him, he trembled and raised his slightly heavy arm, and even his hand involuntarily swung a few times, and Chairman Mao's lips moved slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but he never made a sound.
Figure Chairman Ye Jianying
Xiao Zhang, a staff member on the side, instantly understood Chairman Mao's meaning, and he took the initiative to come to Ye Jianying's side and gently reminded: "Ye Shuai, the chairman should have something to say to you, you go and ask about it." ”
Ye Jianying walked to Chairman Mao's side with a heavy heart and leaned down slightly, at this time Chairman Mao's eyes suddenly became bright, only to see his lips move a few times, but still could not make a sound, Ye Jianying tightly held Chairman Mao's hand, nodding with tears.
At 7 p.m. on September 8, nurse Xiao Meng came to take over, and during this time the medical staff did not dare to relax in the slightest, and always paid attention to Chairman Mao's condition.
At 7:10 a.m., Chairman Mao suddenly became short of breath, and Xiao Meng rushed to his side to massage Chairman Mao's chest, at which point Chairman Mao said, "I am very uncomfortable, call the doctor." ”
Pictured Chairman Mao and Meng Jinyun
This was Chairman Mao's last words to Xiao Meng, and it was also the last thing he said before his death.
At 00:10 on September 9, 1976, Chairman Mao passed away, and the whole country was grieved, and he did not leave a suicide note, nor did he ever confess his last words.
The disposition of the remains has been controversial
On the evening of September 8, 1976, Hua Guofeng was holding a thank-you banquet in the Great Hall of the People, when the news suddenly came that Chairman Mao was critically ill, and before the banquet was over, he immediately rushed back to Zhongnanhai, but unfortunately, he still could not see the last side of Chairman Mao.
Figure Hua Guofeng
After this, Hua Guofeng held an emergency Politburo meeting in Room 202 of the Zhongnanhai Residence with a heavy heart, which mainly focused on three issues:
The first is the aftermath of Chairman Mao; the second is how to deal with Chairman Mao's body; and the third is whether to invite foreign delegations to Beijing to offer condolences
Unconsciously, several hours have passed, but the issues discussed are still inconclusive, and the treatment of Chairman Mao's body has always been debated by everyone, and one of the ideas is that the body of the central leader should be cremated according to the policy advocated by Chairman Mao and decided by the central committee before.
Another idea is that Chairman Mao, as a symbol of the times, occupies an important position in the hearts of the people, and his body should be preserved forever for future generations to see.
After a heated discussion, the final result was still not reached, when Hua Guofeng and Ye Jianying proposed to take two steps:
It is necessary to protect the remains first, so as to facilitate mourning and mourning; and then to seek the opinions of the relevant parties, to make research decisions, or to cremate, or to preserve, all of which are possible. It is imperative to implement embalming treatment of the remains, otherwise it will be difficult to maintain even a few days of mourning.
At about 4:00 a.m. on September 9, a black sedan drove into Zhongnanhai and slowly stopped in front of a row of gray rooms, and two people got out of the car, one of whom was Liu Xiangping, minister of health, and the other was Dr. Xu Jing, secretary of the party branch of the basic medical group of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and the first deputy director of the morphology teaching and research department.
With a heavy face, they strode toward a room, where Wang Dongxing was already waiting, and when he saw the two coming, he took the initiative to get up and asked, "Are you Comrade Xu Jing?" ”
Xu Jing nodded and gestured, "Yes, I am." ”
At this time, Wang Dongxing could not hide his sadness, and he unconsciously blushed his eyes and choked up:
"I announce to you the unfortunate news that the great leader Chairman Mao passed away in the early hours of this morning. In order for people of all ethnic groups across the country to pay homage to the president's remains, it is necessary to protect the remains for about 15 days. ”
Figure Wang Dongxing and Chairman Mao
Xu Jing's achievements in medicine are in everyone's eyes, but also had the experience of studying abroad, she was urgently called by Liu Xiangping the night before, along the way she was speculating about the reasons, after listening to Wang Dongxing's words, finally unveiled the mystery, she was heartbroken.
In order to save time, Wang Dong continued: "If you have any requests, just mention them. ”
Xu Jing tried to calm her emotions, thought carefully for a while, and made three requests:
It is necessary to return to the hospital and study the plan together with fellow experts; second, to look at Chairman Mao's body; third, it takes a little time to prepare the necessary equipment and medicines.
After leaving Zhongnanhai, the two of them immediately went to the Medical Academy, Xu Jing made a detailed report on the incident to Yang Chun, the party secretary, and studied the next step together, they decided after unanimous discussion, Xu Jing served as the main person in charge, and formed a three-person team with Zhang Bingchang and Chen Kequan.
After determining the initial embalming plan for the remains, they immediately set off for Zhongnanhai with the necessary medicines and equipment, and Li Zhisui, the president of the 305 Hospital of the People's Liberation Army, waited at the door early, and then took the three of them to see Hua Guofeng.
At that time, Hua Guofeng was holding an emergency meeting in the conference room next to Chairman Mao's bedroom, the scene was very serious, after Xu Jing and others came in, Wang Dongxing signaled them to sit down quickly and asked her to talk about the handling of Chairman Mao's body.
Xu Jing generously said his plan, effect and specific methods for implementation, and also gave a professional answer to the questions they raised, Hua Guofeng said after listening:
It is a glorious and arduous political task to protect Chairman Mao's body for a long time and to let the masses of the people look up to him from generation to generation. If you accomplish this task well, the party and the people will not forget you... Just do as you go. ”
After their plan was approved, the next step was to implement it, Xu Jing and the other three decided to use Chairman Mao's bathroom as a work site, after thorough cleaning and disinfection, they directly placed the temporarily found dissection table in the center of the room to facilitate the next operation.
When everything was ready, Xu Jing did not even have time to eat, so she immediately threw herself into the next step of work and carried out embalming treatment of Chairman Mao's body.
But there was a problem that deeply troubled them, that is, how to place the arms, Xu Jing and others did not dare to make a decision in person, and reported to the leader, and finally unanimously decided to hang the arm in accordance with the traditional customs of Chinese.
Xu Jing and the other three people have a tacit understanding, in the next two hours or so, they discussed while carrying out, successfully completed the whole process, but in order to preserve the body permanently, you need to inject a lot of preservatives, but if a large dose of injection, it will inevitably produce swelling, but as for when it can subside, Xu Jing does not dare to easily guarantee.
At this time, Zhang Bingchang said solemnly: "It can subside in 24 hours." ”
Sure enough, after 24 hours, the swelling phenomenon subsided significantly, Xu Jing was instantly relieved, and everything was going smoothly according to plan.
Figure Chairman Mao's crystal coffin
After the embalming treatment was over, the three of them still did not dare to relax for a moment, and kept standing by the body, carefully observing the subtle changes and recording these changes at any time.
On the afternoon of September 10, Xu Jing and others resized Chairman Mao's body and handed it to the masters of the Hongdu Garment Factory, who rushed to make Zhongshan costumes day and night, and made two sets for the central comrades to approve, one of which was a thick dark gray and the other a thin light gray.
In the end, it was unanimously decided to put on the light gray set for Chairman Mao, and the barber Xiao Zhou re-combed Chairman Mao's hair with a sad mood, and Chairman Mao's makeup and plastic surgery was handed over to Ma Yanlong's technician.
The remains are permanently preserved
At about 3:00 a.m. on September 12, 1976, the hearse departed from the West Gate of Zhongnanhai to the north gate of the Great Hall of the People, and during the period of condolence, the leaders of the CPC Central Committee headed by Hua Guofeng unanimously decided to permanently retain Chairman Mao's body and build a Chairman Mao Memorial Hall for future generations to visit.
On the afternoon of September 17, the condolence ceremony ended smoothly, after which Chairman Mao's body was officially moved from the Great Hall of the People to Maojiawan and embalmed.
Before the shipment, they first removed Chairman Mao's body from the crystal coffin and then moved it to a sealed nitrogen tent, and in order to ensure the safety and confidentiality of the operation, the guard group organized two convoys, one of which was responsible for the task of confusing.
Under the leadership of Zhang Yaoci, Chen Changjiang's army first escorted Chairman Mao's body from the Great Hall of the People to Maojiawan, where the convoy led by Wang Dongxing was already waiting.
In addition, Chen Changjiang's army also received an important task, they considered that the construction of chairman Mao's memorial hall may take a year, before this protection task fell to Chen Changjiang, and specially stressed that this matter must be kept secret throughout the whole process and must not be mentioned to anyone.
Figure Chairman Mao Memorial Hall
The body protection room, code-named "769", was originally an underground operating room of a hospital, which was not only well-equipped, but also very complete in all aspects, and they specially modified each room according to the requirements of the protection of the body, soaking the body in a container full of liquid medicine.
After that, with the approval of the central government, a scientific research leading group for the protection of remains was formally established, only to be able to protect Chairman Mao's body for a long time, and after unanimous study, experts from all over the country finally decided to temporarily adopt a combination of liquid and gaseous states to protect Chairman Mao's body:
The skin needs to be exposed to the outside part, mainly the head and both hands in the gaseous state, the hidden part, that is, the body is in the liquid state, usually in the gaseous state, the annual large protection is in the liquid state.
Since then, Guards such as Chen Changjiang and body protection experts have been sticking to their mission and successfully completing this special mission.
On May 4, 1977, the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall was finally inaugurated, and the crystal coffin was moved into the memorial hall on August 18, and Chairman Mao's body was placed in the memorial hall on August 20.
Chairman Mao dedicated his life to the country and the people, and even in his later years when he was seriously ill, he continued to work, and such Chairman Mao always deserves our respect and will always live in our hearts.