In May 1942, in a small mountain village in Jiangjin, Sichuan, a seriously ill old man was lying on the bed of a dilapidated compound, staring out the window for a long time, was he pursuing the storm of the past struggle, or was he reflecting on the rights and wrongs of a long life?
As the old man closed his eyes helplessly,
The advocate, initiator and main standard-bearer of the New Culture Movement, the "Commander-in-Chief of the May Fourth Movement", and Chen Duxiu, who has countless dazzling halos, died in a foreign land in the midst of poverty.
First, he was imprisoned by Chiang Kai-shek for five years, but he refused to join him.
The first half of his life was full of scenery, and the second half of his life was sloppy, and After Chen Duxiu was expelled from the party, his life ushered in a great turning point. However, no matter how his identity changed and how his status was low, Chen Duxiu always maintained the integrity and integrity of a revolutionary leader throughout his life! This is also praised by future generations.
On August 23, 1937, the heavy iron gate of the Kuomintang Nanjing Prison opened, and an old man with a gloomy shirt and a haggard face came out, he raised his head to look up at the sky, took a long sigh, and in his glowing eyes, he revealed a stubborn and stubborn look, which was Chen Duxiu, who was in the limelight during the May Fourth period.
By this time he had long since been expelled from the Communist Party of China, but Chiang Kai-shek still treated him as an alien, and in 1932 Chen Duxiu was imprisoned and suffered from prison. It was not until after the August 13 War of Resistance that Chiang Kai-shek, out of the pressure of national public opinion, had to order Chen Duxiu's release. "After a long time in the cage, I can return to myself", Chen Duxiu, who stepped out of the iron wall gate, had not yet felt the vastness and freshness of freedom, and a person came to him, this person named Ding Mocun, who was the director of the Kuomintang Central Bureau of Unification, took Chiang Kai-shek's order and came to pick up Chen Duxiu.
Ding Mocun showed great humility and courtesy: "After the teacher is released from prison, I am afraid that there will be nowhere to go, and we would like to invite you to stay at the guest house of the Kuomintang Central Committee Party Department."
Chen Duxiu was immediately very annoyed, he waved his hand angrily and said, "Don't go, don't go!" What are you going to do in that place?"
Ding Mocun still put on a smiling face and said: "If you don't go, I hope that when the teacher leaves, he will leave a few words to the students to enlighten them."
Chen Duxiu turned around and asked, "Do you know that when I was arrested, one of your detective captains begged me to write a souvenir?"
Ding Mocun said busily, "I know."
"You want me to leave a message, or those two sentences." Chen Duxiu finished speaking, and he was no longer willing to open his mouth.
Young Chen Duxiu
In October 1932, after Chen Duxiu was arrested, he was imprisoned in the detective team. The detective captain admired Chen Duxiu's name and asked him to write a souvenir. He picked up a pen and wrote "Return my rivers and mountains" and "worry about the world before the world".
The disaster of imprisonment did not destroy Chen Duxiu's patriotic heart, and even if he was discouraged, Chen Duxiu was unwilling to join chiang kai-shek!
The morning after Chen Duxiu was released from prison, Chen Duxiu had just opened the newspaper after he got up, and the contents of the above made chen Duxiu furious, "patriotic feelings, deep remorse."
Chen Duxiu immediately picked up a pen and wrote a letter to the editorial department of the "Declaration": "The contemptible people have been in prison for five years. I read the government's explicit decree that I am 'patriotic and deeply remorseful, patriotic sincerity does not dare to boast of myself, and repentance does not know what it means.' He pointed out in particular: "I am innocent, repentance has lost its object, and luo weaving's repentance should belong to others."
Chen Duxiu had just finished writing his letter when Hu Shi, an old friend who had set off a wave of new cultural movements with Chen Duxiu during the May Fourth period, came to visit.
Chen Duxiu and Hu Shi
At this time, Hu Shi and the Kuomintang party and government officials were secretly said to be serving as government officials, so Hu Shi persuaded Chen Duxiu to enter the Kuomintang 's National Defense Council" and said that Chiang Kai-shek intended to invite him to be the minister of labor.
When Chen Duxiu heard this, he was immediately indignant and said, "Chiang Kai-shek killed my comrade and killed my two sons. Now that the great enemy is cooperating with the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, the country needs to cooperate with him to resist Japan, and I have no objection to him. It was a whimsical idea to ask me to join the government. ”
Second, it is difficult to escape into the mountains, and the survival of the nation is brave enough to speak out.
On July 2, 1938, Chen Duxiu left Han and arrived in Chongqing. At that time, Chongqing was the capital of China, and famous people from all walks of life gathered in Chongqing. Feeling frustrated, Chen Duxiu wanted to stay away from the political center, and the hot weather in Chongqing was not good for his high blood pressure, so in 1940 Chen Duxiu moved from Chongqing to the remote Jiangjin County in Sichuan. After several turns, Chen Duxiu lived in hejiaping, a remote mountain village more than 30 miles west of the county seat, and spent the last 3 years of his life in the former residence of Yang Lucheng in the stone wall courtyard.
Chen Duxiu lived peacefully in this remote mountain village, and he tried his best to forget politics, but how could politics ever be forgotten? At this time, Japanese imperialism had occupied most of China, and Chen Duxiu, as a Chinese, was concerned about the unfolding of the war situation and the fate of the country at a time when the national crisis was imminent. He constantly published articles expressing his attitude toward the war.
Chen Duxiu insisted that it was necessary to resist the war to the end: Japan was interested in flying artillery against China, making a quick decision, and trying not to expand the scope of the war as much as possible; In China's war against Japan, the people of the whole country rose up to participate in the war and protracted the war of resistance, expanding the scope of the war as much as possible in order to deplete the enemy's strength and financial resources.
There are only two prospects for this war of resistance, compromise in the middle of the way, surrender to Japan, or launch a popular war of resistance to the end. Everyone who professes to espouse the interests of the nation must adopt the latter future.
Although Chen Duxiu was poor and destitute in his later years and had no political status, he still did something for the propaganda of the War of Resistance within his ability.
Chen Duxiu's brightness and honesty and honesty made many people respect him, and Deng Xiaoping later said: Chen Duxiu "is not engaged in conspiracies and tricks"
Third, escape into the wilderness of poverty, and die in a foreign land!
Although the life of a crane is full of poetry, it corresponds to poverty and suffering. Chen Duxiu's later years were very sloppy, and there were three sources of livelihood. One is to rely on the help of the Peking University Alumni Association, the second is to rely on old friends to receive help, and the third is the manuscript fee obtained from publishing articles.
At the time of the War of Resistance, the price was expensive and the situation was turbulent, Chen Duxiu's family was often not enough to make ends meet, at this time Chen Xiu's hypertension was already very serious, and then caused heart disease, but there was no money to see a doctor and grab medicine, resulting in a more serious illness. His home is full of dilapidated furniture, and even the pen and ink and manuscript paper envelopes for writing are sent by friends from time to time.
Once Chen Duxiu's old friend Zhu Yunshan came to visit and brought two ducks to improve his life, Chen Duxiu was deeply moved, looking at these two ducks, he could not speak for a long time. When Zhu Yunshan was leaving, he took a pen and paper, wrote a poem, and gave it to Zhu Yunshan as a souvenir. Zhu Yunshan took the paper and saw that it read:
"The Shu people are only bottle bowls, the mountains are sick and life-threatening, the family is full of dolphins and ducks in the late years, and the old man eats the Wu Rong Monument alone."
Under the strong handwriting, it is difficult to hide the desolation and pessimism of bitterness and poverty.
Snowflakes are blowing, falling bigger and bigger. After the guests left, Chen Duxiu's wife Pan Lanzhen came over and asked if she wanted to kill the ducks to eat, Chen Duxiu shook her head and said, "I don't want to eat, you go and eat!"
Chen Duxiu felt a lot of taste in his heart when he looked at his wife's sallow face. Chen Duxiu's wife was an ordinary female worker, and when she first met Chen Duxiu, she did not know what kind of celebrity he was, and it was not until he was arrested by the Kuomintang that she learned the truth.
But it was this female worker, who had little culture, who insisted on sending Chen Duxiu a prison meal for 5 years, and followed him all the way after he was released from prison, taking on household chores such as cooking and laundry in this remote mountain village.
In order to solve the difficulties of life, Chen Duxiu, with the help of local farmers, picked up a hoe himself and planted potatoes in a small piece of land in the yard. He used his leisure time to hoe grass and fertilize in the field, and after a few months, he actually had a harvest. He held the tender potatoes that had just been dug out of the ground, and a smile appeared on his haggard face for the first time.
At 9:40 p.m. on May 27, 1942, Chen Duxiu, who was bedridden, suddenly suffered a heart attack and ended his legendary life in the remote mountain village of Heshanping in Jiangjin, Sichuan.