On January 26, 2008, Zhang Hanzhi left. Walk in the snowy winter, walk in the 25th year after the death of her husband Qiao Guanhua, and walk in the 73rd year of her legendary life.
After she left, the media described her this way: "The outstanding female diplomat in China in the 1970s, Mao Zedong's English teacher, the adopted daughter of the famous democrat Zhang Shizhao, and the wife of the famous diplomat Qiao Guanhua." ”
Looking back on Zhang Hanzhi's magnificent life, the most impressive thing is the proclamation she said: "I am the supreme being of love." ”
Zhang Hanzhi is Zhang Shizhao's adopted daughter, her biological father is Chen Du, the son of the warlord Chen Qiaoyuan, and her birth mother is Tan Xueqing, a famous social flower in Shanghai Beach, because Tan Xueqing has a child out of wedlock and is unwilling to be a concubine, her relationship with Chen Du is broken, Zhang Hanzhi is abandoned, and later adopted by Zhang Shizhao and becomes his adopted daughter.
Being abandoned by his biological parents is unfortunate and fortunate for Zhang Hanzhi.
Unfortunately, from an early age, she lost the love of her biological parents, which ordinary children have, but fortunately she lost the love of her biological parents but received the deep love of her adoptive father.
Zhang Shizhao regarded her as his own, and under his care and teaching, Zhang Hanzhi grew up healthy and strong, well-behaved and cute, smart and clever.
In 1953, at the age of 18, Zhang Hanzhi was admitted to the Beijing Foreign Chinese College. Four years later, Zhang Hanzhi graduated from the College of Foreign Chinese, first went to the countryside for a year of labor training, and then after two years of postgraduate study, in 1960 he stayed in the College of Foreign Chinese to teach as an English teacher.
Three years later, Zhang Hanzhi ushered in the most memorable moment of her life, and the happiest moment, she became Chairman Mao's English teacher. The reason why she was fortunate enough to become Chairman Mao's English teacher stemmed from the close relationship between her father Zhang Shizhao and Chairman Mao.
On December 26 of that year, chairman Mao's seventieth birthday, Ye Gongqi, Wang Jifan, Zhang Shizhao, and other fellow villagers who were also Hunan people with Chairman Mao were invited to Chairman Mao's birthday banquet with their children, and Zhang Hanzhi followed his father Zhang Shizhao to the banquet.
During the banquet, Chairman Mao, who was interested in learning English, learned that Zhang Hanzhi was a university English teacher, so he asked her: "Teacher Zhang, would you like to be my teacher?" I learn English with you. When Zhang Hanzhi heard that Chairman Mao wanted her to teach English, he said with some panic: "Chairman, I dare to be your teacher, you are the teacher of all of us." ”
Chairman Mao replied seriously: "I can't be a teacher when I teach English, but I still have to worship you as a teacher!" For a moment, Zhang Hanzhi did not know how to answer, and stood still on the spot.
At this time, Zhang Shizhao stood up and said, "When the chairman wants to come and tell her." ”
A week later, Chairman Mao's foreign affairs secretary called Zhang Hanzhi and hoped that she would set a time to start teaching the chairman English.
In this way, starting from the Sunday of New Year's Day in 1964, Zhang Hanzhi began to teach the chairman to learn English, which lasted for more than half an hour at a time.
During these more than half a year, in addition to learning English, Zhang Hanzhi often talked about other things with Chairman Mao, and when he talked about it, he would argue for a long time, and sometimes even Chairman Mao could not argue with her, and the chairman often praised her for being very strategic.
Zhang Hanzhi's performance made Chairman Mao discover one of her talents, that is, she was very suitable for diplomacy, she knew both foreign languages and strategies, and she was very suitable for being a diplomat.
So, in March 1971, Chairman Mao personally called Zhang Hanzhi:
"China needs female diplomats, you can write, and you have the courage to go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to work!"
In this way, under the assignment of Chairman Mao, Zhang Hanzhi left the three-foot podium where he had worked for more than ten years and stepped onto the big stage of diplomacy.
After Zhang Hanzhi joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she first did general work in the Asia Division, and then served as deputy director and deputy director.
During this period, she worked as a translator at a series of major diplomatic events such as the Sino-US diplomatic relations negotiations, Nixon's visit to China, and the Shanghai Communiqué negotiations, and became a participant and witness to these solemn and passionate moments.
At that time, Zhang Hanzhi, who performed well and achieved remarkable results, together with Wang Hairong, Tang Wensheng, Qi Zonghua and Luo Xu, was known as the "five golden flowers" of China's diplomatic circles.
As one of the "five golden flowers" in China's diplomatic circles, Zhang Hanzhi naturally has no shortage of suitors around him, and it can be said that all of them are elites among the elite, but in the end, Zhang Hanzhi chose a suitor who surprised many people at that time, he was Qiao Guanhua.
In 1973, Zhang Hanzhi and Qiao Guanhua came together, met and fell in love, and eventually married a couple.
This year, Qiao Guanhua was 60 years old, Zhang Hanzhi was 38 years old, Qiao Guanhua was 22 years older than Zhang Hanzhi, and the identities of the two were somewhat different, Qiao Guanhua was the vice minister of foreign affairs, and Zhang Hanzhi was only the deputy director.
This disparity in love made the two go particularly difficult, but because the two loved each other deeply and persevered, the two eventually came together and spent ten years happily.
The two first officially met in November 1971.
In that year, New China regained its seat in the United Nations, and the Party Central Committee immediately formed a delegation to the United Nations to participate in the United Nations General Assembly.
At the inaugural meeting of the delegation, Qiao Guanhua and Zhang Hanzhi had their first face-to-face dialogue, when Qiao Guanhua asked Zhang Hanzhi: "Are you Zhang Hanzhi?" Are you the daughter of Elder Zhang? After Zhang Hanzhi heard this, he replied softly, "Yes." ”
Then Qiao Guanhua said, "You withheld my Liu Wen Zhi? (When Zhang Hanzhi had just arrived at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as an ordinary clerk, Zhang Hanzhi rarely had the opportunity to meet Qiao Guanhua, and after Zhang Hanzhi's father, Zhang Shizhao's new book "Liu Wen Zhi" was published, Zhang Shizhao asked her to personally give Qiao Guanhua a copy.) In order to avoid being told by others that he was going through the back door, Zhang Hanzhi did not send it over. Later, Qiao Guanhua learned about this matter from Zhang Shizhao's mouth. ）”
Hearing Some jokes from Qiao Guanhua, Zhang Han was overwhelmed for a while and did not know how to answer. After Qiao Guanhua saw Zhang Hanzhi's somewhat embarrassed look, he laughed and said, "Okay! I know you today. ”
It was a brief conversation between the two when they first met formally. Years later, Zhang Hanzhi, who had become Mrs. Qiao, asked Qiao Guanhua if he had deliberately embarrassed her when he first met her! Qiao Guanhua said, "No! The first time I saw you, I just thought you were beautiful. ”
At the beginning, in the face of Qiao Guanhua's words, "I love you, will you marry me?" Although Zhang Hanzhi also fell in love with him, he did not dare to agree to him in front of the world's eyes, and could only force himself to hold back tears to reply to him: "I know, thank you, but this is impossible!"
In a letter to Qiao Guanhua, Zhang Hanzhi wrote:
"I can't deceive that I am merely a friendship with you, and I believe that the hard-won love between us is extremely sincere, but I do not have the courage to face the damage caused by the uproar of public opinion and the wave of 'fearful words' to your reputation." 」
Lovers eventually become dependents.
Two people who truly love each other and see only each other will not part ways because of a little tribulation, and will eventually be together.
In his reply to Zhang Hanzhi, Qiao Guanhua said:
"If I have to give up everything for love, I can give up everything." 」
Qiao Guanhua touched Zhang Hanzhi with sincerity, let her bravely face the true thoughts in her heart, and made up her mind to be with him.
Later, in order to be able to be with Qiao Guanhua, Zhang Hanzhi could even give up the work of ambassadors abroad.
In 1973, Chairman Mao decided to appoint Zhang Hanzhi as the first female ambassador of New China, and when Zhang Hanzhi learned about it, she did not hesitate to say to Qiao Guanhua, who had come to inform her about it:
"I can't go to work in a foreign country. Since I have made a commitment to you, I will abide by our choice. You are no longer young, and I will not leave you. If there is a need between the two of us to make a career sacrifice for love, it is certainly me. ”
After that, she resolutely asked Chairman Mao to resign as a female ambassador, and Chairman Mao did not insist on it.
35 years later, in an interview with a television station, the host asked her why she had so decisively given up such a promising position as a female ambassador, and she smiled and said: "I am a love supreme..."
On December 11, 1973, Qiao Guanhua moved into the No. 51 courtyard, and Zhang Hanzhi officially became Mrs. Qiao.
After that, they lived here for ten years, during which the two experienced happy times and encountered difficult years, but in any case, they never let go of each other's hands and crossed one difficulty after another together.
However, the happy time is only the past ten years, and unfortunate things have befallen the loving couple.
The biggest grief in life is "the loss of a young mother, a middle-aged widow, and an old man who lost his son", 48-year-old Zhang Hanzhi suffered drastic changes in middle age, and failed to escape the most sad thing in the world of "middle-aged widowhood".
In the summer of 1983, Qiao Guanhua's cancer recurred, and it came more dangerously than before.
We all know that even in the current era when medical means are very advanced, once the cancer recurs, it basically indicates that there is no medicine, life begins to enter the countdown, and the remaining time is running out.
After Qiao Guanhua's condition recurred, experts from Beijing Hospital consulted, and in terms of the medical conditions at that time, even the most advanced modern medical means could not suppress the erosion of cancer cells in his body.
The results of the experts' consultation announced that Qiao Guanhua's time was running out, and his life began to enter the countdown.
If ordinary people know that their time is short, let alone optimistic, I am afraid that they will lie in bed and wait for death like a loveless person, but Qiao Guanhua is different, in the face of a life that is destined to be short of time, his optimism and his tenacity are admirable.
While actively cooperating with expert treatment, Qiao Guanhua is still selfless and tenacious.
He is not afraid of death, but he is also afraid of death, he is not afraid that he will die, but he is afraid that he does not have much time to contribute to China's diplomatic cause, and now he wants to seize every minute and every second and do his best to fulfill his wish in life.
On July 7, the torment of illness made Qiao Guanhua's body more and more weak, and at this time he still did not forget his work, and wrote a short preface to the international review collection "From Munich to Dunkirk" in the face of illness, in which he recalled the bitterness and pleasure of writing international commentaries in the 1930s and 1940s.
Unfortunately, Qiao Guanhua did not have time to wait for the publication of the anthology, so he drove to the west of the crane.
Of course, Qiao Guanhua can face his condition positively, optimistically and tenaciously, and it is inseparable from Zhang Hanzhi's support.
Looking at her husband who has been with her for ten years to endure the suffering caused by the illness every day, Zhang Hanzhi is very distressed, often alone in tears, but she also understands that her husband cannot do without herself now, she cannot fall, and her husband needs his own support and care.
Since Qiao Guanhua's cancer recurred, Zhang Hanzhi did not leave for a moment, stayed by his side all the time, watched him work, accompanied him to chemotherapy, and took good care of him, so that he could do what he wanted to do with peace of mind.
During that time, although Qiao Guanhua's body was tormented by illness, the spiritual world was fuller and happier than anyone else, because he had a wife who loved him and a career that he loved.
It can be said that without the companionship and support of Zhang Hanzhi, Qiao Guanhua may not have so much courage to face his life that has entered the countdown with a positive and optimistic attitude.
Unfortunately, people will always have a day to die, and Qiao Guanhua's last days are coming!
On the evening of September 2, Qiao Guanhua sat on the sofa reading the newspaper as usual after dinner, when suddenly his throat was hot and hot, and a mouthful of phlegm spat into the porcelain cup at his feet, only to see that the phlegm was still bloody.
After Zhang Hanzhi saw it, he was flustered and rushed to send him to the hospital, but Qiao Guanhua refused, insisting on waiting until the next morning, she understood that her husband was a person with a subjective opinion, insisting that he must have his plan to stay at home today, so although there were thousands of worries and anxieties in his heart, he could only promise his husband.
Qiao Guanhua did not go to the hospital, not simply afraid to go to the hospital, he just knew in his heart that this time he would not be able to go back to the home that he missed so much, and he could no longer be with his favorite wife for the rest of his life, so he wanted to snuggle with his wife for the last night, and then spend the last day with his wife at home.
That night, Qiao Guanhua did not sleep all night, he let his wife Zhang Hanzhi return to the big bed (after Qiao Guanhua was seriously ill, Zhang Hanzhi built a small bed next to the bed in the bedroom in order to let him rest better at night, so that it was convenient for him to rest and take care of him), snuggled up next to him, the two leaned on the pillow behind him, Qiao Guanhua had been holding Zhang Hanzhi's hand for a long time and did not want to let go, although there was no word, but the kind of love that the two sides showed in their eyes was like a thousand words.
The last night passed quickly, Qiao Guanhua and Zhang Hanzhi hoped that time could stop at this moment, until forever, and the two snuggled up to each other for a lifetime.
However, time will not stop passing because of the nostalgia of a few people, and it will only faithfully fulfill its meaning of existence in this world without the slightest emotion, that is, to let the spring, summer, autumn and autumn seasons of this world function normally, to welcome new life and death.
Time is so merciless, Qiao Guanhua and Zhang Hanzhi finally ushered in separation.
After the day came, Qiao Guanhua, accompanied by his wife Zhang Hanzhi, was admitted to the Beijing Hospital, which was the last time.
Just 20 days have passed, and Qiao Guanhua has passed away, leaving him deeply loved by the new China and his wife.
On September 21, 1983, this was the last night Qiao Guanhua spent on earth, which happened to be the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
The Mid-Autumn Festival night is a family reunion day, which should be the happiest day for the family, but for Qiao Guanhua and Zhang Hanzhi, it is the saddest day in life. This day is a reunion for others, but for them it is separation.
On the 22nd, Qiao Guanhua was gone, gone forever!
At more than nine o'clock in the morning, Qiao Guanhua, who was dying, suddenly woke up.
He pointed to the sunlight outside the window and smiled at Zhang Hanzhi and said, "Good! Seeing Qiao Guanhua wake up, Zhang Hanzhi mistakenly thought that a miracle had come, panicked and incoherently said, "You are just right today!" You're going to be good! ”
The miracle did not happen in the end, and it was not long before Qiao Guanhua closed his eyes forever and left his wife, who loved him deeply.
At the moment when Qiao Guanhua passed away, Zhang Hanzhi's thinking fell into chaos and tended to collapse, and she lay on Qiao Guanhua and cried, with only one sentence in her mouth: "I don't want anything!" I just want you!" ”
In Zhang Hanzhi's heart, no one, nothing can replace her husband, he is her heaven, her earth.
"I don't have the strength anymore!" I can't live anymore! This is what Zhang Hanzhi said when he cried to his friend Du Xiuxian, who came to visit him.
Qiao Guanhua's departure, for her, means that the sky has collapsed and the ground has sunk, and from then on she will be alone like duckweed.
On the Qingming Festival in 1985, Zhang Hanzhi came to Suzhou with Qiao Guanhua's ashes and buried them in a cemetery.
Previously, because Zhang Hanzhi missed her husband and was reluctant to let her husband leave, Qiao Guanhua's ashes had been placed in her bedroom, guarding day and night. At the end of 1984, under the persuasion of relatives and friends, Zhang Hanzhi finally decided to bury her husband and let him be buried.
On a piece of black marble in the middle of the cemetery, the five words "Tomb of Qiao Guanhua" are engraved, and the bottom is written in gilded characters: "Whoever lives since ancient times has not died, and who has left Dan to take care of his heart." These 14 words were Qiao Guanhua's last words left in this world.
Since 1984, Zhang Hanzhi has successively published books such as "Me and Qiao Guanhua", "The Years That Drifted with the Wind", "Remembering the Chairman, Remembering Father, Remembering Guanhua", "Crossing the Thick Red Gate" and other books, remembering Qiao Guanhua.
In the following twenty years, the passage of time did not make Zhang Hanzhi forget Qiao Guanhua, until her old age, she never forgot, and she always remembered it. Whenever someone mentioned Qiao Guanhua to her, Zhang Hanzhi must have tears like a fountain, and his throat was choking.
In her later years, she repeatedly talked to people close to her about her sincere and deep feelings for Qiao Guanhua:
"After 10 years of living with him, I have learned that a person's sincerity of emotions is the most precious asset of a lifetime. In the more than 30 years before that, I had never taken care of anyone else, nor had I been carefully cared for by anyone until I fell in love with Guanhua. ”
In 2003, 20 years after her husband's death, Zhang Hanzhi accepted a rare interview invitation from Chongqing Television. In the program, she tearfully and affectionately told the unforgettable love between her and Qiao Guanhua.
When the host asked Zhang Hanzhi: "Have you considered accepting another relationship", she said: "This cannot be forced." After that period, it was hard. There can be no such opportunity as Qiao Guanhua! ”
At 8:25 a.m. on January 26, 2008, Zhang Hanzhi died of respiratory failure at the age of 73 in Beijing Chaoyang Hospital.
Her death not only made the world less of a brilliant diplomatic talent, but also took away a life-and-death love affair with diplomatic talent Qiao Guanhua and the anecdotes in the South China Sea.
The clouds and smoke of history have long been gathered and scattered with the passage of time, scattered and gathered, only deep and sincere feelings will not dissipate with the passage of time, no matter what, someone will always remember this love of life and death.
For love, ten years is so short, however, love is like ink and blue flowers, why be afraid of moments.
As Zhang Hanzhi's daughter Hong Huang said: "The deepest impression my mother left on me was her unwavering love for Uncle Joe. "Affection is heavy on righteousness, and it is most about sex, and this is the truest chapter."