After the liberation of Shanghai in 1949, the first thing Deng Xiaoping did when he led his troops into the city to settle down was to take his wife Zhuo Lin with him to the Shanghai Jiangwan Cemetery. It is his wife, Zhang Xiyi, who has been dead for 19 years. Although 19 years have passed, Deng Xiaoping has clearly not forgotten her.
Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow
Zhang Xiyi, a native of Hebei, 3 years younger than Deng Xiaoping, was very beautiful, lively and cheerful, and she was sent to Moscow Sun Yat-sen University in the second half of 1925 to study, when she was already an excellent member of the Chinese Communist Party, with a radical ideology and a yearning for revolution.
Soon after entering the school, she was recorded to have taken a photo with more than twenty female classmates in a nursing home outside Moscow. In the photo, Zhang Xiyi has a capable short hair, a smile, showing a youthful and exuberant posture all the way.
▲ Zhang Xiyi
Because of her outstanding appearance and cheerful personality, Zhang Xiyi won the love of many classmates at Sun Yat-sen University, including a small leader who spoke Sichuan dialect, Deng Xiaoping.
Deng Xiaoping was sent to Moscow in January 1926, and because he already had considerable experience in revolutionary struggle, he was assigned to a senior theoretical class as soon as he arrived here, and served as the leader of the party group, with Chiang Kai-shek's son Chiang Ching-kuo.
Although Deng Xiaoping is not tall, the Russian language is not good, and mandarin still has a strong Sichuan accent, what makes the students admire is that he is not inferior at all, but optimistic and positive, quite a good demeanor.
It is reported that during his studies at school, Deng Xiaoping often wore a large scarf with blue and white stripes and did not take it off anywhere he went, which was very eye-catching. Once, Chiang Ching-kuo did not understand, so he asked Deng Xiaoping why he wore this scarf all the time. Deng Xiaoping said that this is because when he was in France before, because of the hardships of life, he often worked as a cleaner and picked up horse dung, and the French cleaners liked to wear such a red and white scarf, and Deng Xiaoping liked it and always wore it.
When he said these words, Deng Xiaoping had a bright smile, did not feel inferior at all because he had worked as a cleaner, and his optimistic and cheerful personality shocked Chiang Ching-kuo.
And it wasn't just Chiang Ching-kuo, Deng Xiaoping's outstanding talents and open-mindedness that made most of the students, including Zhang Xiyuan, sigh to themselves. Although the two were not in the same class at that time, they often participated in the work of the party organization together and formed a close friendship with each other. According to Deng Xiaoping's daughter Mao Mao, although Deng Xiaoping and Zhang Xiyi did not establish a romantic relationship at that time, the experience of studying and working together made them feel very compatible, and also planted the seeds of love for the later reunion.
Deng Xiaoping in his youth
Reunited after a long goodbye in Wuhan
After studying at Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow for nearly a year, at the end of 1926, Deng Xiaoping was transferred back to China to work in Feng Yuxiang's troops in the northwest; soon after, the "April 12" counter-revolutionary coup broke out, and he was transferred to the Wuhan Central Secretariat and served as a secretary.
In the autumn of 1927, Zhang Xiyi, who had just returned to China, was also transferred to the Central Secretariat in Wuhan, and what was even more coincidental was that she was assigned to work under Deng Xiaoping.
A long goodbye reunion, unexpected encounter, a beautiful encounter that makes two young men and women quickly come together. It is reported that at that time, Zhang Xiyuan was beautiful because of her appearance, as the saying goes, "Lady and gentleman are good", there was no shortage of suitors around her, including many excellent people, but what was admirable was that she insisted on choosing Deng Xiaoping, who was not proud and talented.
▲ Deng Xiaoping Zhang Xiyi and his wife film and television imagination
After falling in love, the two soon married in the spring of 1928, when they had been transferred to Shanghai, where they held a simple Chinese wedding ceremony at a Sichuan restaurant in Shanghai. Saying that it is a ceremony, it is actually a three-table banquet, inviting more than 30 colleagues and friends to drink together.
At that time, it was the era of warlord chaos and social turmoil, and it was not easy for Deng Xiaoping Zhang Xiyi to open a banquet openly in such a way in addition to his intense work. They received good wishes from Zhou Enlai, Deng Yingchao and his wife, Li Weihan, Wang Ruofei and many others. After the marriage, Deng Xiaoping took Zhang Xiyi back to his hometown in Guang'an, Sichuan Province, to find his roots and ask his ancestors, and then returned to Shanghai to continue his work.
Living in Shanghai for most of the year after marriage was the happiest time in the lives of Deng Xiaoping and Zhang Xiyi. At that time, they and Zhou Enlai and Deng Yingchao lived upstairs and downstairs in the same building, and their interaction was very close. According to Deng Yingchao's recollection in her later years, she often heard the hearty laughter coming from upstairs downstairs, and later Deng Xiaoping's daughter Mao Mao asked her father to verify this matter, and Deng Xiaoping said that at that time, they were all young people, and naturally there was laughter.
In addition, in the movie "Deng Xiaoping 1928", we can also see a lot of details of the father's love of Deng Xiaoping and Zhang Xiyi, such as when seeing Luo Yinong and his wife get married, Deng Xiaoping tightly held the hand of Zhang Xiyi next to him; Deng Xiaoping said to Zhang Xiyi that in the future, we will let our dolls also eat dandan noodles and stick chicken....
▲ Deng Xiaoping Zhang Xiyi, Zhou Enlai Deng Yingchao film and television images
Zhang Xiyi grew up in Hebei, has the cheerful personality of the northerners, and Deng Xiaoping's tenacity and perseverance complement each other, they are the best partner in work, the best partner in life, and spent a very happy new marriage time in Shanghai together.
It is precisely because of this that Deng Xiaoping still remembers Shanghai until his old age, and his memory is still fresh. Once, when he told his daughter about the underground work in Shanghai, he also mentioned Zhang Xiyi, and he could not help but sigh: she is rarely beautiful.
However, life is always imperfect, especially in turbulent times. Their happy time didn't last long and they were soon forced apart.
In August 1929, Deng Xiaoping was sent to work on the front line in Guangxi, and at the same time, Zhang Xiyi was already pregnant with Liujia, and the two were inseparable. At that time, no one expected that when Deng Xiaoping left, the two would never enjoy the happiness of raising eyebrows and respecting each other.
▲ Deng Xiaoping Zhang Xiyi film and television image
In Shanghai Baolong Hospital, bad luck has come
In January 1930, Deng Xiaoping, who successfully led the Baise Uprising, applied to return to Shanghai, on the one hand, to report on the work, on the other hand, her wife Zhang Xiyi was going to give birth, and he was about to usher in the first child in his life, what a happiness!
At that time, after Deng Xiaoping finished handling his work affairs, he quickly came to Shanghai Baolong Hospital to visit Zhang Xiyi, who was waiting to give birth here. Although this was only a hospital for the relief of the poor, it was already a very good condition under the tense struggle situation at that time.
No one expected that a very ordinary birth operation would end up taking two fresh lives.
It turned out that after Zhang Xiyi was pushed into the operating room, there were signs of dystocia, because of the limited medical conditions, she suffered from the pain of tearing her heart and lungs, although she gave birth to a child, but she was too weak, and improper postpartum care, suffered from puerperal fever, the wound was seriously infected, the continuous high fever did not go away, although Deng Xiaoping was always with him, but he died within a few days.
If puerperal fever is put into the current era of medical development, it is not a serious disease at all, and it can be cured as long as it is carefully cared for, but at that time, this was a luxury.
In 1930, Shanghai was the era of white terror, and the Kuomintang reactionaries, in line with the principle of "preferring to kill a thousand by mistake and not let go of one", vigorously searched and arrested communists in the streets and alleys of Shanghai.
The thrill of that time was not forgotten by Deng Xiaoping until his later years. He told his daughter that he had almost been arrested at least twice, once because he saw a shoe shine man with a finger, which was our own person, quickly realized the danger and fled; the other time was when he returned to a contact point, the agent had searched inside and he did not know in advance, knocking on the door normally and waiting, fortunately one of our comrades hidden in the secret service was alert, deliberately agreed, Deng Xiaoping heard that the voice was not right, quickly escaped, only to escape a disaster, only one minute before and after.
In short, in Shanghai in the 1930s, Communists faced extremely dangerous living conditions. Zhang Xiyi's unexpected death stemmed from the medical technology at that time on the one hand, and from the urgent struggle situation at that time on the other hand.
However, what makes life worse is that after Zhang Xiyi's unexpected death, her daughter, the first child in Deng Xiaoping's life, also died shortly after birth, not even a full moon, due to difficult childbirth and poor care.
Two lives, one big and one small, disappeared, and Deng Xiaoping, who was only 26 years old, suddenly suffered a major change, and suddenly fell to the bottom with the joy of becoming a new father. It is said that the one-day husband and wife have only been married for less than two years, and they have hardly had any good days, so they are scattered, separated by yin and yang, leaving Deng Xiaoping with a "scar" that is difficult to heal for life. In this regard, Deng Yingchao still remembered it vividly until his later years, saying that Zhang Xiyi's death made Deng Xiaoping very sad.
After 19 years, he took Zhuo Lin to find the grave of his wife
After zhang Xiyi and his children died, because of the urgent situation in Shanghai, Deng Xiaoping could not personally collect his wife and children, and he was soon forced to leave and return to Guangxi to work. On the way, he deliberately detoured to Hong Kong and contacted Comrade Li Qiang, who was in charge of underground work in Hong Kong, through secret channels, and asked him to complete the rest of the burial matters instead.
Li Qiang later recalled that at that time, Deng Xiaoping also entrusted me to bury his wife, and that was the first time I knew Comrade Xiaoping.
After Li Qiang rushed to Shanghai, he successfully buried Zhang Xiyi and another comrade of our party in the Jiangwan Cemetery in Shanghai. Because of the special nature of the underground work, the tombstone could not write Zhang Xiyi's real name, and wrote "Zhang Zhoushi", and the stele bearer could not write Deng Xiaoping's real name, but casually wrote a name.
Throughout the process, Deng Xiaoping worked on the guangxi front, and only when he returned to Shanghai in 1931, accompanied by Li Qiang, went to see his wife's grave once, and never went again.
▲ Zhang Xiyi Martyrs' Tomb
After Zhang Xiyi's death, Deng Xiaoping first had a brief relationship with Jin Weiying, and then because Deng Xiaoping was suppressed, Jin Weiying broke off contact with Deng Xiaoping. For many years afterward, Deng Xiaoping never entered into marriage again.
It was not until 1939, under the introduction of comrades in the Yan'an Party, that Deng Xiaoping finally ushered in a new relationship, and he married Zhuo Lin, a 12-year-old Yunnan girl. Fortunately, Deng Xiaoping harvested the most perfect love this time.
After marriage, Zhuo Lin gave Deng Xiaoping the most meticulous care. She was originally a high-caliber student in the physics department of Peking University, but in the face of family trivia, she took the initiative to put down the shelf of intellectuals and teach her husband to teach her children; because Deng Xiaoping liked to be quiet in his work, she stipulated that no one in the family was allowed to quarrel; if Deng Xiaoping was tired from work, she took the initiative to pull the child to him and accompany him to relax. Zhuo Lin accompanied Deng Xiaoping through the most difficult "two ups and two downs", especially the three-and-a-half-year decentralization life in Jiangxi from 1969 to 1972.
In life, Zhuo Lin is a good wife and mother; at work, Zhuo Lin is a good assistant and secretary; at the same time, in Deng Xiaoping's feelings, Zhuo Lin also shows her open heart. After marrying Deng Xiaoping, Zhuo Lin knew Zhang Xiyi as a person, and surprisingly, she not only did not mind, but used the unique tolerance of women to help Deng Xiaoping resolve the regret that was painful and heartfelt.
▲ Deng Xiaoping Zhuolin and his wife
After the liberation of Shanghai in 1949, Zhuo Lin entered the city of Shanghai with Deng Xiaoping, and the first thing the two did after that was to go to the Shanghai Jiangwan Cemetery under the leadership of Li Qiang to pay homage to Zhang Xiyi. This was Deng Xiaoping's long-cherished wish for decades, and when he was buried, he could not do it himself, and now that the founding of New China was imminent, Zhuo Lin decided to accompany Deng Xiaoping to realize that dream. Zhang Xiyi was not only a good wife, but also a glorious and excellent Communist Party member.
However, the wish is beautiful and the reality is cruel. Because since Shanghai was occupied by the Japanese, the Shanghai Jiangwan Cemetery has been greatly damaged, the Japanese have built an airport here, the graves of many martyrs have been destroyed, and the process of finding Zhang Xiyi's grave has become difficult. In the end, they were found in a flooded land.
At that time, because it was no longer suitable for burial, Deng Xiaoping ordered someone to open Zhang Xiyi's grave, remove the remains, and then find another place to bury.
Before deciding on a new burial site, Deng Xiaoping placed Zhang Xiyi's ashes downstairs at the Shanghai Inspirational Society, where she lived at the time. Originally, he planned to find another place, but later because of the sudden change in the war situation, he was forced to leave Shanghai quickly, and since then, Zhang Xiyi's ashes have been stored in the Shanghai Inspirational Society.
It wasn't until 1969 that Zhang's ashes were reburied in the Shanghai Martyrs' Cemetery, nearly 40 years after her death.
Although Deng Xiaoping and Zhang Xiyi only had a short two years of getting along, but because Zhang Xiyi's death was too regrettable, and because of the happy memories of the two people's early life in Shanghai, Deng Xiaoping still did not forget until his old age, talking about Zhang Xiyi, he always involuntarily fell into contemplation.
Although Deng Xiaoping was a great man of the times, he was also an ordinary husband at the same time, looking forward to ordinary love and marriage.