December 26 is the anniversary of Chairman Mao's birth, and his elderly family was born on December 26, 1893 in Shaoshanchong, Xiangtan, Hunan. To this day, on the anniversary of Chairman Mao's birth every year, the people of Shaoshan commemorate Chairman Mao by eating "Fushou noodles."
Everyone calls this bowl of noodles "Fushou noodles", which is precisely to pin Chinese's good wishes for life on it, and also to pin their thoughts and feelings for Chairman Mao in it.
What everyone may not know is that before his death, Chairman Mao also liked to eat noodles on his birthday. Throughout his life, Chairman Mao advocated frugality and opposed extravagance and waste, so his birthday was either a simple one, even a bowl of noodles.
Photo of Chairman Mao eating in Yan'an
But on the day of his 82nd birthday in 1975, when the chef of the gang room was cooking noodles for Chairman Mao, the good longevity noodles were all crushed in the pot...
In the era of Chairman Mao's birth, it was still the late Qing Dynasty, and as the children of peasant families, the life of Chairman Mao's family was not rich. Therefore, on the issue of birthdays, although parents will celebrate for him, it is also very simple.
It may be precisely the influence of these experiences in his youth, coupled with Chairman Mao's simple and pragmatic style, that made him neglect his birthday in the days to come, let alone celebrate.
After joining the revolution, Chairman Mao traveled around with the large troops for many years, and there were no conditions for a birthday, and he and the team of leading cadres at that time also had the same idea - but a birthday.
The people of Yan'an presented Chairman Mao with a plaque
When Chairman Mao first encountered the question of his birthday, he was fifty years old. It was 1943, and Chairman Mao was still in Yan'an, during the War of Resistance.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in Yan'an, the social environment was relatively safe and stable, and with the recovery and development of social production, people's living standards gradually improved.
At this time, a group of leading cadres thought that it would soon be Chairman Mao's birthday, that Chairman Mao had never celebrated this matter for so many years, and that now that there were conditions, chairman Mao should be made happy for a day, so he should give everyone a holiday.
The Central Committee's decision to wish Chairman Mao a happy birthday also has the purpose of propagating Chairman Mao's thoughts and inspiring enthusiasm for the ensuing work of the War of Resistance.
Therefore, when the comrades in the Party put forward this opinion, it was quickly recognized by everyone, and Kaifeng, then deputy director of the Central Propaganda Department, reported this suggestion to Chairman Mao.
Kaifeng
Chairman Mao's first reaction, of course, was to refuse; how can we engage in such activities now when the country is in trouble? Chairman Mao immediately replied: "If you decide not to do it on your birthday, it will have a negative impact, and now the timing is not good." ”
Comrades explained that this birthday feast was also for the purpose of propagating Chairman Mao's thought, which is of practical significance.
Chairman Mao also said: "My thinking is not yet mature, and it is still a time to study, not a time to preach." At this point, Chairman Mao completely rejected everyone's proposal, and the plan to celebrate the fiftieth birthday was also gone.
It was not until December 16 of the following year that the General Office of the Central Committee celebrated the birthday of fifty-six comrades over the age of fifty, including Chairman Mao, in the form of a collective birthday celebration.
At that time, the contingent that was blessed with birthdays included central leaders like Chairman Mao, soldiers and men in the army, and labor heroes, in short, including people from all walks of life.
On that day, the central auditorium was full of lights and was very lively. However, it is regrettable that Chairman Mao did not come to the scene that night because he was on official business, and even the speech was read by Li Fuchun. Therefore, in fact, this collective birthday celebration, Chairman Mao only received the blessing from afar.
Chairman Mao attended Zhu De's 60th birthday
Although Chairman Mao did not allow others to celebrate his birthday, even many people did not know what day Chairman Mao's birthday was.
However, Chairman Mao remembered other people's birthdays very clearly, and when Wu Yuzhang, Lin Boqu, Zhu De, Xu Teli, and others celebrated their birthdays, Chairman Mao would send special letters or inscriptions of congratulations to them.
In addition to these central leaders, Chairman Mao was also very concerned about the masses of the people, and he invited twenty-four elderly people over sixty years old to his residence to celebrate their collective birthday. These things also embody Chairman Mao's spirit of putting others first in everything.
Chairman Mao first took the initiative to celebrate his birthday in 1952, when he was fifty-nine years old. On the morning of his birthday, Chairman Mao woke up and remembered today's day.
Chairman Mao pondered for a moment and ordered the guards to go to Wang Hebin, a health doctor, and invite him to come and accompany him to dinner. Wang Hebin was Chairman Mao's health doctor and administrative secretary, who was usually in charge of Chairman Mao's life and was very close to Chairman Mao.
Today, Chairman Mao's birthday only thought of inviting him over for dinner, both because the two had a good relationship and because Chairman Mao did not want to celebrate this birthday with great fanfare.
By the time Wang Hebin came to Ziyunxuan's hall, Chairman Mao had already prepared a meal on a table of eight immortals, with chili peppers, pickles, curd milk, and beef sauce, all of which were Chairman Mao's favorite home-cooked dishes.
After all, Chairman Mao was a Hunan native, and his diet had Hunan characteristics, but this meal did not prepare rice, but a pot of white noodles in clear soup, and two glasses of wine.
Chairman Mao and Wang Hebin took a group photo
Wang Hebin knew that Chairman Mao had invited him to dinner, but he did not expect that the combination of this table of meals would be so special, and it was not clear for a while.
When Chairman Mao also came to Ziyunxuan, he warmly greeted Wang Hebin to sit down, then raised his wine glass and said happily: "Dr. Wang, come, cheers, today is my birthday." ”
Wang Hebin suddenly realized this, so he raised a glass with Chairman Mao and congratulated him: "I wish the chairman good health and long life." ”
Chairman Mao did not think so, he said: "Dr. Wang, if we do not wish for a long life, we will eat clear soup noodles, and wishing for a long life will not make people live a long life. ”
Wang Hebin also smiled, and he took the noodles that Chairman Mao had given him and ate them happily.
Chairman Mao's fifty-ninth birthday was spent in this way, with an ordinary staff member, without the congratulations of the leader, nor the liveliness of the family, but such an atmosphere is exactly what Chairman Mao demanded of himself.
Compared with this birthday, the sixtieth birthday of the following year is more lively, and fraternal political parties, friendly organizations, and social elites at home and abroad have sent congratulatory messages or letters to Chairman Mao.
Qi Gong painted on Chairman Mao's 60th birthday
At that time, Chairman Mao refused to publish these congratulatory telegrams and letters. As is customary, these are to be published in the newspapers, but Chairman Mao does not want his private affairs to interfere with public affairs. Chairman Mao also said that if others asked, they would say that this is a rule within our Party.
The external socializing was solved by Chairman Mao, but the staff around him still couldn't help but feel uneasy, after all, this was Chairman Mao's "flower armor" birthday, and everyone could not bear to let Chairman Mao spend it so lonely.
Therefore, Shen Hucheng, the head of the security section, came to ask Chairman Mao to wish him a happy birthday. Chairman Mao did not want to dampen the enthusiasm of the comrades, so he ordered the kitchen to make four dishes and a soup, and invited the staff around him to eat a meal together.
This time, no outsiders or relatives were invited to participate, only these staff members who usually worked hard day and night for Chairman Mao.
After eating on the same day, Chairman Mao went to Hangzhou to draft the Constitution of the People's Republic of China. After Chairman Mao arrived in Hangzhou, the local leaders considered Chairman Mao's birthday and wanted to celebrate him.
Chairman Mao inspected by car
But everyone also knows Chairman Mao's temper and directly wishes him a happy birthday, and Chairman Mao certainly does not agree. At this time, someone made a suggestion to invite Chairman Mao to dinner in the name of celebrating New Year's Day, which was equivalent to giving him a birthday.
This opinion was recognized by everyone, so the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee invited Chairman Mao to a banquet on the evening of December 30 in the name of celebrating New Year's Day, and Chairman Mao gladly agreed.
On that day's table, unlike the ordinary New Year's meal, there were peanuts, dates and noodles to express his wishes for Chairman Mao's health and longevity.
Chairman Mao that night was still quite cheerful, he usually did not drink much, and when there was a happy event, he drank a little red wine, but he drank several glasses of white wine that day.
Chairman Mao at a banquet
Chairman Mao also liked the Hangzhou cuisine on the dinner table. Chairman Mao has a lot of affection for Hangzhou, and he has come to Hangzhou more than forty times in his life, second only to Beijing.
For Chairman Mao, Hangzhou was like his hometown. This time, taking advantage of the joy of the New Year, not only his sixtieth birthday, but also in his favorite Hangzhou, Chairman Mao was also rarely happy.
In the next few years, Chairman Mao, as always, focused on his work and still regarded birthdays very lightly.
On his sixty-sixth birthday in 1959, Chairman Mao spent it in Hangzhou, where he and some comrades studied the Soviet Union's "Textbook of Political Economy" and read in a bungalow in Dingjiashan every afternoon.
On the afternoon of December 26, after the reading activity, Chairman Mao stood up from his chair and said to the crowd happily: "Let's stay and have a meal, today is my birthday." ”
In addition to the comrades present, Chairman Mao also invited Jiang Hua and his wife, secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial CPC Committee, who were all old friends of Chairman Mao during his time at Jinggangshan.
The birthday party that day was very simple: just dried fried peppers, shredded beans, brine radish and dried bamboo shoot slices, plus the indispensable longevity noodles.
Longevity noodles
Regarding this meal, Chairman Mao also joked: "All of you are great talents, and today's meal is not a tribute, please also ask Haihan." Everyone laughed and then had dinner with Chairman Mao.
The following year, in 1960, Chairman Mao's sixty-seventh birthday. The situation in that year was not very good, there were natural disasters in the localities, the people's life was very difficult, and under the circumstances of previous years, Chairman Mao did not advocate birthdays, and this year there was no interest.
The staff around them all knew Chairman Mao's temper, but every day they would remind Chairman Mao. When the staff reminded Chairman Mao again, Chairman Mao thought for a moment, so he ordered the kitchen to make a light meal, and then had Ye Zilong, Wang Dongxing, Li Yinqiao, and seven other people called over to eat together.
On that day's dinner table, as usual, there were a few vegetarian dishes and a pot of soup, and the noodles were cooked while the rice was prepared. While greeting everyone for dinner, Chairman Mao talked about the recent situation, saying: "Today I am sixty-seven years old. Please come and have a meal together. But the common people suffered a disaster, and I felt bad in my heart..."
Immediately afterward, Chairman Mao talked to them about some things in the revolutionary years and about the works of Marxism-Leninism. Finally, Chairman Mao told them: "We still lack experience in socialist construction, and we must often go down to the grass-roots level and go deep into reality." ”
Chairman Mao glanced at everyone and then said, "Which of you is willing to go down?" ”
Chairman Mao and the staff around him
Originally, Chairman Mao invited everyone to eat this meal to make a mobilization and mobilize the people around him to go down to the grass-roots level, understand the situation at the grass-roots level, and reflect the situation to him.
At the instigation of Chairman Mao, all seven comrades present signed up, and Chairman Mao then arranged for them to go to the locality. Most of them have been doing things with Chairman Mao for many years, and after this birthday party, some comrades left Chairman Mao, whom they loved, and went to work in local areas.
This bowl of longevity noodles in 1960 is fragrant in the mouth, but it is a little sad to the stomach. Chairman Mao was sixty-seven years old, but the burden of the state weighed heavily on his heart, making it impossible for him to spend a birthday happily.
After two years, the country's economic situation has improved, the people's lives have improved, and Chairman Mao's mood has also become cheerful. Therefore, on his sixty-ninth birthday, he decided to hold a birthday feast.
In fact, Chairman Mao intended to treat this birthday as the seventieth birthday, and he wanted to use it as a stage starting point for his life in this way.
At that day's birthday banquet, Chairman Mao bought two tables of light meals and invited some relatives and friends, including four eighty-year-old people, namely Zhang Shizhao, Cheng Qian, Wang Jifan and Ye Gongqi.
Chairman Mao on the left, Wang Jifan on the right, and Cheng Qian on the second on the right
Except for Ye Gongqi, everyone else was Chairman Mao's hometown, and Wang Jifan was also Chairman Mao's cousin, and they were all old acquaintances of Chairman Mao and had also made outstanding contributions to the revolutionary cause.
Chairman Mao was very happy that day, and he also wrote a poem called "Seven Laws of Winter Clouds", in which one of the sentences said: "Plum blossoms like to be full of snow, and it is not strange to freeze to death flies", which clearly shows Chairman Mao's mood at that time.
In the following two years, Chairman Mao also celebrated his birthday. On his seventieth birthday, Chairman Mao spent money to set up several banquets at the Yinian Hall and invited more than thirty people, including his children's relatives and friends, to eat together.
Coinciding with the economic recovery and the initial victory of the Sino-Soviet controversy, Chairman Mao was in a very happy mood, and he personally participated in the planning of the specifications of the banquet, from what dishes to what wine to drink, he gave advice. Although it was still Chairman Mao's favorite home-cooked dish, he was particularly happy that day.
The seventy-first birthday of the following year was held in a small restaurant in the Great Hall of the People, and no children attended, and all the leading cadres came. A few days before the birthday banquet, Tao Zhu found Chairman Mao and said that he would let Chairman Mao invite them to a birthday party.
Chairman Mao replied to him: "There was a stipulation before that the central leaders did not make a birthday. ”
Tao Zhu replied, "Either I want you to live a long life, or I want you to be a guest." ”
Chairman Mao smiled and agreed, and then asked people to take a sum of money from his manuscript fee, and on his birthday, he held a few tables of wine banquets in the small restaurant of the Great Hall of the People.
In addition to Zhou Enlai, Zhu De and other leaders, there were also some labor models and scientists invited on the day. However, the birthday banquet on that day was not so much a dinner party as a change of place for a meeting, and Chairman Mao talked a lot of things during the banquet, which made the banquet have a sense of seriousness in addition to the brisk atmosphere.
The same was true for his seventy-third birthday two years later, when the birthday feast took place at Chairman Mao's residence in Zhongnanhai. Chairman Mao invited everyone to eat four dishes and a soup, in addition to roasted sweet potatoes and boiled corn, as well as the long-term protagonist clear soup noodles.
In the following years, Chairman Mao rarely celebrated birthdays until Chairman Mao's eighty-first birthday in 1974, when Chairman Mao was still in Changsha, Hunan.
On December 23 of that year, Comrade Zhou Enlai came to Building 2 of rongyuan, the guest house of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee where Chairman Mao was staying, to report to Chairman Mao on his work.
During that meeting between the two men, Chairman Mao, taking into account that Premier Zhou's health was also weakening day by day, said to him with concern: "You are not in good health, and after the Fourth National People's Congress, you can rest assured that you will recover from your illness." ”
On the 26th, Premier Zhou knew that today was Chairman Mao's birthday, and specially instructed the leaders of Hunan Province: "Celebrate the chairman's birthday in Building 2 at night, eat noodles for dinner, and make the dishes simple." ”
In the morning, the staff prepared a Hunan-style fruit plate for Chairman Mao in his bedroom, and Chairman Mao had always opposed others from sending him something, but this time he gladly accepted it precisely because this fruit plate contained the nostalgia of the hometown people.
Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou shook hands for the last time
That night, some military and political leaders came, and everyone sat at two tables. Premier Zhou's mood was high that night, and although he had just undergone surgery before, he still raised a glass several times to celebrate Chairman Mao's birthday, and he insisted on drinking the first cup and letting the attaché drink it for him.
Chairman Mao that night was also very happy, he has not been in good health all along, this time back to Hunan is also to recuperate, perhaps it is because of the comfortable relationship back to his hometown, Chairman Mao recovered well during that time. Seeing that everyone wished him a happy birthday, he was in a good mood, and he also deliberately watched the fireworks set off for him by the staff.
The atmosphere of the whole banquet was very warm and cheerful, and Premier Zhou also had the happiest day since he fell ill. At midnight that day, Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou also had a four-hour long meeting in their bedroom, which was also the longest meeting between them in a long time, and it was also their last long talk.
It was December 26, 1975, Chairman Mao's eighty-second birthday, and his last birthday. That morning, Chairman Mao's two daughters, Li Ne and Li Min, came to visit Chairman Mao, along with Wu Xujun, the head nurse, and Zhang Yufeng, the secretary.
Chairman Mao's arrival made Chairman Mao very happy, and Chairman Mao, who was already ill at the time, did not lie in bed too much that day, and asked Zhang Yufeng to carry him to sit in the hall.
Zhang Yufeng hugged Chairman Mao
Meng Jinyun said: "Today is your birthday, according to the custom of our hometown, children should kowtow to the elderly." ”
Chairman Mao listened and said happily: "You mean to kowtow to me, I don't dare to be, I can't afford it!" ”
Meng Jinyun listened and said politely: "You don't dare to be, and who else dares to be, I will give you a bump first." ”
As soon as her voice fell, before everyone could react, Meng Jinyun solemnly gave Chairman Mao three heads, of course, this is also the right thing to do, as a junior they feel chairman Mao's long-term concern for them as an elder.
Seeing that Meng Jinyun had performed such a great gift, Chairman Mao also stood up from time to time to express his respect. Seeing that Meng Jinyun prostrated his head, Wu Xujun, Li Lingshi, and Zhang Yufeng also went to kowtow one after another.
In the face of the respect of the younger generations for themselves, Chairman Mao was very pleased and quipped: "I remember when I was a child, in my hometown, my mother often took me to the temple to burn incense and worship the bodhisattva. At that time, I was much younger than you are now, and I believed in God. While prostrating to the bodhisattva, he chanted in his mouth for the bodhisattva's blessing. You kowtow to me today, I'm not a god!" ”
"Of course, we also wanted to bless you, but we didn't say it." Zhang Yufeng rushed to say.
"Now it is not I who bless you, but you bless me!" Chairman Mao said humorously.
Hearing Chairman Mao say this, several girls laughed, and Zhang Yufeng also joked with a straight heart: "Let's all bless each other." For a moment, the whole room was filled with laughter.
Chairman Mao and the staff around him took a group photo
It was too late, it was fast, and it was almost time to eat, and the kitchen continued to cook noodles for Chairman Mao. At that time, the person in charge of cooking noodles was Tian Shubin, a pastry chef, who had made noodles all his life, which was his specialty, Chairman Mao's longevity noodles, and he cooked them almost every time.
After receiving a call from Wu Liandeng to make noodles for Chairman Mao, Tian Shubin quickly moved his hands and put the rolled noodles into the pot. But at this moment, an unexpected thing happened, and the noodles that had just come down to the pot were broken into sections, and none of them were complete.
This scene frightened the teacher, And Tian Shubin cried out in a hurry, saying, "Hell, there has never been such a thing, I have never made such noodles in my life." ”
Wu Liandeng, who was waiting for the dish to be served, also felt Tian Shubin's panic and sad emotions, and his heart was also full of worry. But at this time, Chairman Mao was waiting to eat the noodles and rolling them out again.
There was really no way out, Wu Liandeng immediately decided: "Hanging noodles", Tian Shubin had to give Chairman Mao a bowl of noodles.
Chairman Mao and Wu Liandeng
When this bowl of noodles was delivered, Chairman Mao ate it very deliciously, and did not realize that he was eating noodles today, not hand-rolled noodles.
After eating the noodles, Chairman Mao also drank a bowl of fat head fish soup, he insisted on scooping the soup himself, and said with a satisfied face: "Fat head fish soup is so fragrant!" ”
On that day, North Korean leader Kim Il Sung also sent Chairman Mao an apple, which was the big apple of North Korea, and the red was very attractive. On the fruit basket, there are also two ribbons with Kim Il Sung's autograph inscription: "Wish Chairman Mao Zedong a long life." ”
Chairman Mao took an apple from the fruit basket, looked at the gift given to Chairman Mao by his old friend, he was very happy, and commanded: "Leave two, and you will eat the rest." ”
This last birthday did not have a particularly lively atmosphere, but for Chairman Mao, it was also warm. However, for the staff at that time, their hearts were full of sad emotions, and the longevity noodles were all broken in the pot, which made people have a very bad premonition. At that time, Chairman Mao's body was indeed extremely weak, and people had to worry.
And on September 9, more than half a year later, Chairman Mao's life was forever stuck on that day.
Chairman Mao is dead
Chairman Mao's life has always been a hard and simple life, and this can be reflected in his birthday. In the revolutionary years, he paid little attention to his birthday, and after the founding of the country, although there were conditions to celebrate, he also spent it either or with people close to him, and the few solemn celebrations were almost inseparable from the right thing.
Chairman Mao is not unkind, nor is he without the breath of life, and enjoying the happy moments of being together is everyone's wish. But Chairman Mao did not do this because he could not let go of the burden in his heart, and he knew the sense of responsibility that he should maintain as chairman.
As the leader of the country, Chairman Mao has always played a leading and exemplary role in influencing the spirit of hard struggle of communists on more people, and this is what is more important in Chairman Mao's view.