On January 1, 1979, China and the United States, two great powers representing the civilizations of the East and the West, finally broke the three-decade-long confrontation and isolation and established diplomatic relations.
In the early morning of January 29, 1979, the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, Deng Xiaoping, then vice premier of the State Council, led a large Chinese government delegation to visit the United States.
This was an epoch-making moment, and he was not only shouldering the heavy responsibility of the new era, but also to complete the unfinished business of his two old comrades-in-arms, Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai.
Deng Xiaoping visited the United States
At that time, US President Carter warmly entertained this friend from across the ocean, and the WHITE House hosted an unprecedented dinner party that night, and major Politicians, entrepreneurs and celebrities in the United States attended.
Deng Xiaoping also demonstrated his superb diplomatic skills, and Deng Xiaoping talked with people from all walks of life with ease.
At this time, a white-haired old man came to Deng Xiaoping, and she looked at Deng Xiaoping, and tears of excitement could not help but flow from her eyes.
In a voice of vicissitudes, she said excitedly, "I have finally seen you, you are really hard to find!" ”
From her expression and words, it can be seen that she must have an extremely deep relationship with Deng Xiaoping.
However, Deng Xiaoping was not at all impressed with the old man.
The old man continued, "You may not know me, but you must know the handwriting on this letter. ”
With that, the old man took out a yellowed letter from her pocket with her trembling hand.
Deng Xiaoping took the letter from the old man's hand and opened it, which read in familiar handwriting:
After reading the letter, Deng Xiaoping could not hide his excitement and shed tears, saying: "It turns out that you are Mrs. Snow, and you are a well-known journalist. Unfortunately, we didn't meet until today. ”
Mrs. Snow choked up and said, "This is a letter of introduction from Chairman Mao for me, which was 42 years late and has finally been handed over to you by hand today." ”
Edgar Snow is a world-famous journalist, and his famous work "Red Star Shines on China" (also known as "Journey to the West") for the first time tells the world a true story about the Situation of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army and many Red Army leaders, and shows in many ways the hard struggle and sacrifice of the Communist Party of China for the national liberation movement.
Her wife, Helen Foster Snow, was also an old friend of Chinese, and in 1937 she visited Yan'an alone and interviewed more than 40 Chinese Communist Party leaders, including Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Zhou Enlai, and Zhang Wentian.
Mrs. Snow
After that, she wrote "The Inside Story of Red China" (also known as "Continuing to travel west"), introducing the Chinese Communist Party and the Liberated Areas to the world.
During her interview, Ren Bishi and Deng Xiaoping were not in Yan'an, but led their troops to the town of Yunyang, where they prepared to assemble their troops and then march to the anti-Japanese front.
Not interviewing Ren Bi and Deng Xiaoping became Mrs. Snow's biggest regret on the trip, because when she went to Yan'an, she promised her husband: "I will definitely interview back the people you did not interview!" ”
In order to fulfill her promise, Mrs. Snow begged Chairman Mao bitterly, hoping that she could go to Yunyang Town with her troops.
So Chairman Mao wrote this letter of introduction for her, but by the time she arrived in Yunyang, Ren Bishi and Deng Xiaoping had already led the troops.
What Mrs. Snow did not expect was that this miss actually made her wait for 42 years!
When the news of Deng Xiaoping's visit to the United States came, Mrs. Snow, who was far away in Corne dizhou, disregarded her body, which was already in the wind and candles, and rushed thousands of miles to Washington to meet Deng Xiaoping.
This time, she finally did not miss it, she finally met the person she had been waiting for 42 years, and handed over the introduction letter that had been kept for 42 years.
Unfortunately, when the two met, they were already things and people, Chairman Mao and Ren Bishi had already passed away, and Edgar Snow was no longer in the world, leaving only Deng Xiaoping and Mrs. Snow, two old men.
In 1936, at the risk of his life, Edgar Snow broke through the blockade of the Kuomintang reactionaries and became the first journalist to visit the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region.
Since then, he has forged an inseparable friendship with the Chinese Communist Party, and until the last few years of his life, he was still running for the friendship between China and the United States.
Snow died of cancer in Geneva, Switzerland, on February 15, 1972.
During his serious illness, he left his last words: "I love China, and I would like to leave a part of me there after I die, just as I did when I was alive..."
Mr. and Mrs. Snow
On October 19, 1973, with the consent of the Chinese government, part of Snow's ashes were buried on the shores of the unnamed lake of Peking University.
Mrs. Snow inherited her husband's legacy after Snow's death and has always been committed to showing the beauty of China to the world.
And interviewing back all the characters that her husband did not interview was Mrs. Snow's last wish. At the moment of meeting Deng Xiaoping, this promise that spanned 42 years was finally fulfilled, and the handwritten letter of Chairman Mao, which had been preserved for 42 years, was the best witness of this moment.
On January 11, 1997, when Mrs. Snow died, the British magazine The Economist said in her obituary: "Mrs. Snow's study of China has concluded that socialism shows a beautiful future for China, because what leads this socialism is China's historical high moral concepts. ”