I watched over him all my life, green silk to white hair; I am for the people, killing the enemy and winning the world; I hope that he will return safely, and my heart is worried. He was born for the revolution, and I was a reunionist. The heart follows him to the end of the world, he believes in the revolution, I believe in him, I think of him, I dream of him, I miss him, even if I only say a few words. The heart follows him to the end of the world, he believes in the revolution, I believe in him, I think of him, I miss him, but I look at the crescent moon at night...
This is a revolutionary red song, the song title is "Life Watch", sung by the well-known singer Wang Zhe, and it is also the theme song of the movie "Fa Gu". This film affectionately interprets the revolutionary era, a peasant woman watching over the life of her Red Army husband, spanning 3 centuries of protracted love story, a "most tragic red revolutionary love classic". The protagonist in this movie is not fictional, but really exists. This peasant woman was Chen Fagu, a Hakka woman affectionately known as the "Sister-in-law of the First Army of the Republic".
Movie "Fa Gu"
1. From two small nothings to guess the knot connection
One day in October 1894, in the Xiashanba Big House in Shishui Township, Wuyang District, Ruijin County, Jiangxi Province, a poor peasant family surnamed Chen, a loud cry sounded, and a baby girl was born, and this baby girl was Chen Fagu. Poorly, her mother died less than 200 days after she came into the world and left her. The Chen family was too poor to support the baby girl, so her father gave her to a family surnamed Zhu in shangshanba house in the same township as a child bridesmaid. Soon after, Chen Fagu's father also unfortunately passed away.
"Fa Gu" Plot: Newly married
Since adopting Chen Fagu, the Zhu family's parents regarded this girl as if she were their own. The Zhu family has only one son, named Zhu Jixuan. These two children grew up playing a small piece, green plum bamboo horse, two small no guess, the relationship is very good. At the age of 19, the Zhu family organized the wedding of the two children. Since then, they have become husband and wife. Although the life is very poor, the couple loves each other and the family lives happily. If it is a peaceful era, they may grow old and stay together for a lifetime. But at that time, the land of China was already full of wolf smoke and war, and all this also deeply changed the fate of the young couple.
2. From husband singing to persuading husband to join the army
"Fa Gu" Plot: The establishment of a Soviet government
In 1931, the Revolution was in full swing. Under the leadership of Mao Zedong and Zhu De, the Communist Party of China crushed the first, second, and third encirclement and suppression of the Kuomintang. The Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviets centered on Ruijin was established in Jiangxi, which continued to develop and consolidate at the same time. Since then, the Soviet union has launched a vigorous "red expansion campaign".
When Chen Fagu, 37, learned of the news, she immediately volunteered to join the district's propaganda team, the Wuyang District Blue Shirt Regiment, and became a female cadre in the village. She actively organized and mobilized her sisters in the village to raise food and raise funds, sew military clothes, straw shoes, and wash clothes for Red Army soldiers; went to the Red Army hospital to help take care of the wounded and sick, deliver food... That period of time was Chen Fagu's happiest day, and she liked to sing mountain songs and became a "lark" in the team in the Su District.
One day, the district went to Shangshanba to hold a mobilization meeting to encourage the villagers to actively participate in the Red Army revolution. The couple knew how to beat the local tycoons, divide the land, let the people turn over and become the masters, everything was for the common people, and they heard that they were excited, and her husband Zhu Jixun also had the idea of joining the army.
"Fa Gu" Plot: Contradictions
Back at home, after Zhu Jixun told his mother what he thought, the elderly mother could not accept it for a while. After learning the news that Zhu Jixuan was going to join the army, his uncle came over and advised Zhu Jixuan, saying, "Do you know what you are going to do when you join the army?" That's going to war! Fighting a war will kill people, and you are an only son, after you leave, what will your mother do? Zhu Jixun was silent and did not say a word. In the evening, Zhu Jixun tossed and turned, and the idea of joining the army became stronger and stronger. Chen Fagu then began her husband's ideological work and said softly: "We are all poor people, and participating in the revolution is for the happy life of more people, and we should do such things." I still have me at home, and I will take care of my mother. His wife's words strengthened Zhu Jixun's determination to join the army. The next day, he went to the district government to sign up for the conscription, becoming the first batch of young people in the whole district to join the Red Army at that time.
3. From sending off her husband to fleeing
In October 1934, due to the failure of the fifth anti-encirclement and suppression campaign, the Red Army stationed in the Soviet zone had to be transferred and began the arduous 25,000-mile long march that was recorded in history. Zhu Jixun, as a Red Army soldier of Ruijin nationality, naturally had to follow the large troops to move north.
As the Long March approached, Chen Fagu's work became more and more arduous, and she and other women kept weaving straw shoes day and night, from the initial 20 pairs a day to 36 pairs a day. In order to complete the task, they often weave straw shoes all night long. At night, there are many mosquitoes, and the workshop is very hot, so you have to rely on sandalwood to drive away mosquitoes, mosquitoes drive away, and people are about to faint. It was under such harsh conditions that Chen Fagu did a good job of completing the tasks assigned by their superiors.
Two days before the Long March to the north, Chen Fagu used the money she usually saved to buy a few feet of cloth, sewed a set of clothes for her husband, and made a pair of cloth shoes. On the night before leaving, the couple had endless words. Chen Fagu snuggled tightly in her husband's arms, her eyes full of tears. Zhu Jixuan gently touched her cheek and comforted her: "Don't be sad, wait for me, wait for the day when the revolution is victorious, I will definitely come back..." Chen Fagu nodded vigorously and comforted her husband: "You can go with confidence, I will wait for you to come back, until you return victoriously." ”
"Fa Gu" Plot: Farewell
The next day, the couple bid a tearful farewell, and Zhu Jixun followed the Red Army to begin the great and long Long March. From then on, Chen Fagu began her long wait, waiting for her beloved husband to return safely one day. Prompted by her thoughts, she began to weave her husband's first pair of straw shoes.
Since the departure of the Red Army's Long March, the Kuomintang troops quickly captured Ruijin and carried out a frenzied persecution of the revolutionary masses and the families of the Red Army. Chen Fagu was also unfortunately arrested because she was both a cadre in the Soviet union and a family member of the Red Army, and the enemy tortured her, forcing her to break away from the organization and divorce her husband. Chen Fagu never gave in, she survived the persecution of the enemy and survived tenaciously. Even in such a harsh environment, Chen Fagu did not leave behind the matter of compiling a pair of straw shoes for her husband every year.
"Fa Gu" Plot: Fa Gu was arrested
In the torment, Chen Fagu spent 3 years. In the winter of 1937, the only mother-in-law who was dependent on Chen Fagu for her life also died of illness and lack of money for medical treatment. Coupled with the fact that the Kuomintang authorities forced her to suffer on the grounds of "chasing and escaping expenses", Chen Fagu chose to escape from her hometown in the middle of the night, and began a turbulent and displaced escape career.
Chen Fagu fled alone to a broken liao in the mountains of Mianliaokou in Baying Township, where she made a living by digging wild vegetables and sometimes picking grass to fill her hunger. Later, in the deep mountain forest of Baying Township, she met lumberjacks and cooked for them, thus surviving. Later, Chen Fagu left the deep mountains and old forests and went into exile in the four capitals of Changting, Fujian Province, which is close to Jiangxi, where she made a living by picking bamboo for others. Later, he went into exile in the ancient town of Changting County, and followed others to cut firewood and sell firewood for a living. In the end, she went around and returned to Yeping Township in Ruijin, Jiangxi Province, where she worked as a maid for a large family.
From 1934 to 1958, in the turbulent and displaced days, Chen Fagu always did one thing unchanged, that is, to compile a pair of straw shoes for her husband every year. In the days of her escape, Chen Fagu always remembered her sweetheart, and the Ruijin Mountain song when she bid farewell to her husband often floated out of her mouth: "Wow Li (said) Wait for you to wait for you, oh (no) afraid of the iron tree blossoming water backflow." The water hit the stone and turned over, well (no) when will I return? ......”
4. From entering the nursing home to dying safely
In the spring of 1958, childless and childless, 64-year-old Chen Fagu carried 24 pairs of straw shoes she had compiled from the age of 41 to live in the Yeping Township Honorable Elderly Home. Since then, people have often heard the old man in the courtyard humming "Send the Lang to the Red Army", and often see the old man leaning against the door, as if he is always waiting for something. When she heard that a leader or reporter had come, she always asked people on crutches, and as always, asked, "Is there any news about my family's Yoshikao?" The old man did not know how many times he had said this sentence.
"Fa Gu" plot: do not believe in the sacrifice of the husband
In the year after her husband's departure, whenever the Red Army came from the front or far away, she always asked this question. Later, the government also conducted relevant investigations, and it was determined that her husband may have disappeared during the Long March or died. But Fa Gu always firmly believed in her heart that her husband was not dead, and firmly believed that his husband would definitely come back to her. Some people also advised her not to wait, and even some people advised her to remarry, but Chen Fagu never wavered, as always, waiting for her love, waiting for the return of her beloved husband.
"Fa Gu" Plot: Recalling the Past
At the same time, Chen Fagu still did not change her previous habit of knitting a pair of straw shoes every year, expressing that persistence and firmness in her unique way. Yang Xiaoning, former chairman of the Ruijin Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference who had contacts with Chen Fagu, recalled: After Chen Fagu finished doing things every day, she would move a bamboo chair and sit at the door and look into the distance. Whenever someone advised her not to wait, Chen Fagu would say, "He believes in the revolution, I believe in him."
The persistence of waiting, the persistence of that love, has moved countless people. Chen Fagu waited from a green silk to a full head of white hair, from Gu Panming's eyes to the old eyes, from the youth years to the year of the period, until the last moment of leaving the world. On the morning of September 12, 2008, Chen Fagu, an elderly man who has walked for 3 centuries, left the nursing home safely at the age of 114.
Hair gu with straw shoes
75 pairs of straw shoes, 75 years of waiting, that is a firm watch for love, but also a firm belief in the revolution. The phrase "Thaksin believes in the revolution and I believe in him" conveys not only love, but also the feelings of home and country. It is precisely because of this that the party and the state have not forgotten this ordinary and great military sister-in-law, not only for her to build a statue, but also to use her story as a prototype to shoot the movie "Fa Gu", which has the tear-jerking "Life Watch" at the beginning of the article.
Statue of Chen Fagu
epilogue:
In the revolutionary years, blood and rain were bloody, and countless benevolent people threw their heads and spilled their blood for the country. Behind the founding of New China, there were countless nameless soldiers like Zhu Jixuan who died on the battlefield, and behind them there were also countless nameless family members like Chen Fagu who sacrificed their small families to take care of everyone. The country will not forget them, the people will not forget them, and their heroic deeds have spread throughout the country. In this article, I would like to honour the memory of this "sister-in-law of the First Army of the Republic".
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