As a great man of a generation, Mao Zedong had a lofty realm, an open mind, a jump in thinking, and there was no shortage of whimsical actions in every word and deed, plus he was knowledgeable, funny and humorous, good at using classics, and some seemingly relaxed and ordinary speech and demeanor, often full of deep meaning, so he left a lot of interesting "unsolved mysteries" and was talked about.
In February 1972, US President Richard Nixon visited China and was cordially received by Chairman Mao Zedong, and the two had more than an hour of conversation, thus beginning an "ice-breaking journey" of Sino-US relations.
During his visit to China, Nixon brought some ingenious gifts to Mao Zedong, and our side also returned gifts with Chinese characteristics to Nixon out of diplomatic etiquette, but Nixon was not satisfied, he heard that Mao Zedong was a super-first-class calligrapher, so he personally asked Mao Zedong for a pair of ink treasures.
Mao Zedong gladly agreed, splashed ink, and gave Nixon 12 words - "the old man sits on the stool, Chang'e runs to the moon, and walks to see the flowers", Nixon looks at it and gets the treasure, but what is the connotation of these 12 words, he is confused and shakes his head.
In fact, not only Nixon, but also many Chinese and foreign scholars have also analyzed and studied the connotation of these 12 words, but it has been nearly 50 years since Mao Zedong gave the poem Nixon, and these 12 words are still a mystery.
Mao shook hands with Nixon
Nixon's visit to China in February 1972 shocked the world, but this scene was not a whim between China and the United States, but after a long period of preparation, especially Chairman Mao Zedong, who painstakingly made a series of mysterious and dramatic preparations.
In the more than 20 years since the founding of New China, the United States has always been China's greatest enemy, and it can even be said that it is not the same day, and when the time entered the late 1960s, there were subtle changes in Sino-US relations.
At the end of the 1960s, Sino-Soviet relations broke down, and after armed conflict broke out on Zhenbao Island, the former Soviet "big brother" completely tore off the veil of warm pulse, displayed millions of soldiers on the Sino-Soviet border to "show muscles", and even claimed to carry out a "surgical nuclear strike" against China, which was already a naked threat of war and nuclear intimidation.
Of course, the old rival, the United States, is not willing to be lonely, constantly escalating its aggression against Vietnam, and US aircraft and warships frequently "rub the edges" and invade China's territorial waters and airspace from time to time, seriously threatening the security of China's southern region. It can be said that China is "attacked by the enemy from the belly and back" and "angered at both ends," and the national security situation has reached the most serious point since the founding of New China.
The top level felt great pressure, how to compete with the two superpowers of the United States and the Soviet Union?
In this case, the first thing is that the United States has conveyed a message of overtures.
After Nixon became president of the United States, he cleverly informed China through the Washington Star that the Soviet Union was going to carry out a "surgical nuclear strike" against China. After that, Nixon made frequent overtures, expressing his good feelings for China in various public occasions, and even said in a meeting with a reporter from Time magazine in the United States: "If there is anything I want to do before I die, it is to go to China." ”
Nixon
Who was Mao Zedong? Always insightful of the global situation, he keenly captured the Americans' initiative to show favor to China through this incident, and began to explore the possibility of Sino-US joint confrontation with the Soviet Union.
Once, Mao Zedong said to Zhou En: "The two hegemons of the United States and the Soviet Union, we must always strive for one hegemony, and we cannot fight on both sides."
Mao Zedong fought all his life, deeply understood Tao Strategy, and of course knew that he could not suffer from the enemy on his stomach and back, and the truth of fighting on both sides, after all, even if it was a one-on-one single challenge, China was still slightly inferior to the United States and the Soviet Union in terms of national strength, let alone fighting on both sides.
Having said that, Mao Zedong gave Zhou Enlai a special task: to study the possibility of Sino-AMERICAN alliance.
At the same time, the old man directly instructed chen Yi, Ye Jianying, Xu Xiangqian, and Nie Rongzhen to be specifically responsible for studying the international situation and strategic issues, especially China's strategic orientation toward the Soviet Union and the United States, and forming written opinions for the reference of the central government's decision-making.
Under mao zedong's order, 72-year-old Ye Jianying, 70-year-old Nie Rongzhen, 68-year-old Chen Yi and Xu Xiangqian, just like those who fought in the war, immediately entered the role, and the four old marshals slept and forgot to eat, and after 6 discussions for a total of 19 hours, they quickly formed a "Preliminary Estimate of the War Situation" and reported it to Mao Zedong and the Party Central Committee.
The final conclusion of this material is that it is strategically possible to play the American card.
Ye Jianying borrowed a vivid analogy from a historical story: China, the United States, and the Soviet Union are equivalent to the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu, and Wu, and China should learn from Zhuge Liang's strategic principle of "joining forces with Sun Wu in the east and resisting Cao Wei in the north" to unite the United States and resist the Soviet Union!
This proposal was exactly in the heart of Mao Zedong, who repaid the favor and arranged a series of actions to show his overtures to the United States, including inviting Snow to climb the Tiananmen Tower and deciding to invite the US table tennis team to visit China, especially the ping-pong diplomacy of "turning a small ball and turning a big ball," which completely made the Americans understand the "true intentions" of the Chinese government and opened the door to friendly exchanges between the two peoples.
Nixon shook hands with Zhou Enlai
On February 21, 1972, Nixon stepped on the land of Chinese mainland, and on the plane ramp, he saw Zhou Enlai standing like a green pine, and extended his right hand to Zhou Enlai from a distance. When the hands of the two were clasped tightly, Zhou Enlai said with emotion: "Mr. President, you have reached across the world's most vast ocean to shake my hand." I haven't been in a relationship for 25 years! ”
In the afternoon, Mao Zedong met with Nixon at the Juxiang Bookstore in Fortress Garden for a world-changing meeting.
For more than an hour, Mao Conquered Nixon with his wisdom, alertness, humor, humor, insight into the overall situation, philosophical thinking and conversation, and gave Nixon a unique Chinese leader.
During his visit to China, Nixon carefully prepared some gifts.
For the sake of gifts, the White House is very nervous, they do not understand China, neither Chinese history and culture, nor China's present, they do not know what Chinese will send, nor do they know what to send to Chinese.
In 1971, Kissinger secretly visited China and gave China a piece of rock and soil brought back from the moon, but China did not seem to be cold to this piece of lunar rock and soil that was regarded as a treasure by the Americans, and the White House once considered sending a medallion made of Lucet (a transparent or translucent synthetic resin), and later felt that this synthetic material could not be on the table, so it had to give up.
In the end, the Chinese presented three gifts: a detailed longitude and latitude map of the sinking of the Japanese "Awa Maru" and a list of treasures on the ship, a pair of musk cattle, and two towering American fir trees from California.
American Sequoia
The Awa Maru was a Japanese ocean-going vessel filled with treasures looted by Japan from China and Southeast Asian countries, as well as the skulls of "Peking people" stolen from China. On April 1, 1945, the Awa Maru was sunk by a U.S. submarine while traveling to the waters east of Niushan Island in Pingtan, Fujian Province, China, and all the treasures on board sank to the bottom of the sea.
It should be noted that musk cattle and fir trees are alive.
The two musk cows, named "Milton" and "Matilda", arrived at the Beijing Zoo on April 9, 1972, but the two guests who came from afar seemed to be a little unsatisfactory and did not live long, including "Milton" who died of illness in February 1975 and "Matilda" in 1980.
As for the two huge American sequoia trees, one of which has withered due to insect pests when it first arrived in China, and the other has been planted in Hangzhou, known as the "paradise on earth", and has been growing luxuriantly, becoming a witness to Sino-US relations for decades.
In addition, Nixon also prepared 4 personal gifts for Mao Zedong, namely:
Porcelain swans, crystal glass vases, Nixon's business cards and goblets.
The porcelain swan is fired by the Bohm Ceramic Art Center in New Jersey, usa, and the shape is very exquisite, but the United States accidentally broke the fifth feather of the swan during transportation, so it had to be connected with glue, but the traces of bonding can still be seen, so Nixon was embarrassed and apologized when giving gifts.
Mao Zedong smiled slightly, and said with a pun: "Didn't Sino-US relations also let you connect?" ”
After listening to it, Nixon suddenly relaxed and admired Mao Zedong's generosity and humor even more.
A porcelain swan presented by Nixon
Nixon gave Mao Zedong a gift, and Mao Zedong also wanted to return the gift.
Mao Zedong's gift in return was simple - 4 two tea leaves, "Big Red Robe".
Nixon knew that Chinese tea was well-known in the world, but 4 or two teas were too few, and the look at the moment was a little strange, Zhou Enlai saw Nixon's displeasure, smiled and explained: "This is half of the country that Chairman Mao gave you." ”
Nixon was even more confused, just 4 two tea leaves, how can it be half of the country?
Zhou Enlai further explained,
Nixon suddenly realized that things are rare and expensive, and I have to put away these 4 tea leaves to taste carefully.
After nixon collected the tea leaves, he asked Mao Zedong for ink treasures, and before he visited China, he did his homework, not only specialized in studying Mao Zedong's growth and revolutionary history, but also read some Mao Zedong's works and poems, knowing that Mao Zedong was a great contemporary Chinese poet and calligrapher, he frankly opened his mouth to Mao Zedong.
Mao Zedong gladly agreed, splashed ink, and gave Nixon 12 ink treasures.
These 12 words are not complicated, they are 3 four-word idioms: Lao Shu sits on a stool, Chang'e runs to the moon, and walks and watches flowers.
Nixon was very precious to the 12 words inscribed by Mao Zedong, but because Mao Zedong did not give a direct explanation, Nixon never understood what these four idioms meant, and the members of the American delegation accompanying him, including translators and some so-called "China Passes", were also confused and confused.
Mao Zedong inscribed 12 characters
After Nixon returned to the United States, Mao Zedong's gifts triggered strong interest from all walks of life in the United States, especially experts who studied Mao Zedong and Chinese culture have interpreted these 12-character ink treasures, but most of them are like looking at flowers in the fog, looking at the moon in the water, and being confused, everyone can't understand what mystery this oriental great man wants to express.
Ross Trier, under the tutelage of US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and the famous American historian, Expert on China Issues, and International Sinologist Fairbank, has written and published works such as "Biography of Mao Zedong" and "The Second Half of Mao Zedong's Life", and his works have great influence and can be called the number one expert on Mao Zedong abroad.
Rose Trier, drawing on his own research on Mao Zedong, gave his own interpretation of this 12-character calligraphic work:
1, "The old man sits on the stool", about an old man sitting on a stool, the metaphor of the old man is the United States, is arrogantly looking at the whole world, do not know that the world is quietly changing, the United States imperialism has been unable to keep up with the situation, there is a suspicion of sitting in the well and watching the sky.
2, "Chang'e Benyue", Chang'e Benyue is an ancient legend, telling the story of a woman who flew to the moon with feathered dengxian, alluding to the artificial satellite "Dongfanghong I" launched by China, indicating the strength of China's scientific and technological strength.
3, "walking around and watching flowers", originally meant to roughly browse and observe things, Mao Zedong used this idiom to imply that Nixon's visit to China was very brief, like a sloppy flower.
Overall, these 12 words fully demonstrate Mao Zedong's self-confidence in China's national strength and his contempt for US imperialism.
Zhou Enlai with the Nixons
So, what is the true connotation of the 12 words that Mao Zedong gave to Nixon?
Since Mao Zedong never explained the true connotation of these 12 words to anyone, there is no authoritative statement at present, and we can only speculate on one or two based on the historical background at that time and Mao Zedong's own consistent style. The author believes that Ross Trier's interpretation of Mao Zedong's 12 words did not fit the historical situation at that time.
1, the old man in the stool, the author believes that it does not refer to Nixon, but to Mao Zedong.
Nixon was born in 1913 at the age of 59, and Mao Zedong was born in 1893 at the age of 79, a full 20 years older than Nixon, and in 1972 he was in his twilight years. Mao Zedong has always been optimistic, likes to be modest and self-deprecating, and calling himself an "old man" is in line with Mao Zedong's positioning of himself at that time, which should be the self-metaphor, self-deprecation and modesty of his old man.
As mentioned earlier, when Nixon visited China, the international situation was turbulent, the world was very unstable, and the "old man sitting on the stool" meant that he was square and square, flat and stable, and Mao Zedong should have used this idiom to allude to his own cloud waves in the face of the world situation.
2, Chang'e Running Moon, the author believes that it should refer to the Apollo program, not to China's artificial satellites.
China's first artificial satellite "Dongfanghong I" was successfully launched on April 24, 1970, and Nixon's visit to China was in February 1970, because "Dongfanghong I" was previously China's top secret, it is impossible to disclose to the outside world, Mao Zedong should not use it as a metaphor, not to mention that "Dongfanghong I" is only a satellite, not a lunar landing project.
The "Apollo Program", the United States manned lunar landing project, began in May 1961, the cause of the United States and the Soviet Union space hegemony, in July 1969, astronauts Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the lunar surface for 2 and a half hours of lunar ground walking, successfully achieved "a big step for mankind.".
Mao Zedong's poems often have images about space and the universe, and the poem "Sending the Plague God" has the famous sentence "Sit on the ground and travel eighty thousand miles a day, survey the sky and look at a thousand rivers"; the Qigu "Sending Zhongyu Ichiro to the East" has the words "What is the husband's heart, he wants to see the universe to see the rice"; in the words "Butterfly Love Flower Answer Li Shuyi", Mao Zedong expressed his chest directly, "Ask Wu Ganghe everything, Wu Gang held out osmanthus wine." Lonely Chang'e Shu wide sleeves, lonely Chang'e Shu wide sleeves, long sky and dance for loyal souls. ”
All these show that Mao Zedong, as a great man of a generation, is open-minded and transcends the world, and his old man has always had a close insight into the global situation; although the "Apollo Plan" was a success for the Americans, it was also a major progress in mankind's exploration of the universe.
In addition, the author believes that Mao Zedong's use of the term "Chang'e Running Moon" also implies another meaning, that is, although the "Apollo Program" of the United States is powerful, we China is not far behind, we have a story of "Chang'e Running Moon" thousands of years ago, and we will definitely land on the moon in the future.
3, looking at the flowers, the author believes that it should be a pun, alluding to the political situation at that time.
Nixon's visit, which lasted from February 21 to February 28, 1972, and lasted only eight days, was undoubtedly a short, hasty visit for China and the United States, who had been isolated for decades and knew very little about each other, and although the two sides jointly issued the Shanghai Joint Communiqué, which announced the normalization of Sino-US relations, there was no in-depth communication on many specific matters.
Mao Zedong was obviously not satisfied with Nixon's visit to China, after all, China has a long history, profound culture, and long history. Nixon, an American, walked around just a sloppy way, how can he really understand it? Because of this, Mao Zedong invited the outgoing Nixon to visit China in February 1976.
Mao Zedong's use of the idiom of "sloppy and flower-watching" on the one hand refers to Nixon's hasty visit to China, the water is wet, some of it is formal, not deep enough, and it is impossible to truly understand China; on the other hand, it is a satire on the hypocrisy of the two parties in the United States, the Republican Party and the Democratic Party alternately govern, take turns to sit in the throne, you sing and I appear, like a marquee.
References: Communist Party of China News Network, People's Network, China Youth Network, Jiefang Daily, Beijing Morning Post, etc.
The author adds that some people have raised objections to whether Mao Zedong's return of Nixon's 12-character ink treasure is true or false, arguing that the "Mao Zedong Chronicle" published in 2013 does not record the fact that Mao Zedong gave Nixon 12 words when Nixon visited China in 1972, and Nixon's own memoirs do not mention this matter, so the authenticity of this matter is doubtful.
The authors argue that this does not work.
Although the "Mao Zedong Chronicle" is a relatively comprehensive record of Mao Zedong's life deeds and activities, and is an important reference for the study of Mao Zedong's life, it is impossible to ensure that no material is missing, exhaust all facts, and cannot deny the existence of this matter because the "Mao Zedong Chronicle" and Nixon's memoirs do not mention it.
Zhou Enlai greeted Nixon
In fact, the official media such as the Communist Party of China News Network, the People's Network, the China Youth Network, the Jiefang Daily, and the Beijing Morning Post have all publicly published Nixon's visit to China, all of which mention Mao Zedong's gift of Nixon's 12-character ink treasure, and this incident is indeed very much in line with Mao Zedong's consistent style, humorous and funny, wise and wise, and important.