In early March 2021, Chairman Mao's son-in-law Wang Jingqing died of illness, and after the news came out, it attracted a lot of attention, and at Wang Jingqing's farewell ceremony, the people who came to send farewell lined up in a long line.
Why is Wang Jingqing so beloved, what is his relationship with Chairman Mao, and how did he become Chairman Mao's son-in-law?
There was a long line to give him his last ride
On March 1, 2021, Wang Jingqing passed away at the age of 94. The news of the death of Chairman Mao's son-in-law and Li Ne's husband, Wang Jingqing, has attracted attention.
Many of Wang Jingqing's old comrades-in-arms and colleagues expressed their condolences to Li Ne, and many people said that they would go to the farewell ceremony to send Wang Jingqing on his last journey.
On March 3, 2021, the farewell ceremony of Wang Jingqing's body was officially held in the BabaoShan Bamboo Hall in Beijing. On the morning of March 3, Li Ne and his son Wang Xiaozhi came to the farewell hall early.
When Li Ne's mother and son arrived at the Babaoshan Funeral Home, they found that there was a long queue outside the door, and there were many reporters in the crowd conducting interviews.
Although her husband has just passed away, Li Ne, who has always been strong, did not show too much sadness in front of her relatives and friends, and she always calmly thanked the guests for their condolences.
After expressing concern to the family, the guests began to walk into the bamboo hall of the funeral home. In the center of the bamboo hall is the body of Wang Jingqing, who lies peacefully in the middle of flowers and covered with a sacred party flag.
Countless people
Most of the guests who came were those who admired Chairman Mao, as well as Wang Jingqing's former comrades-in-arms and colleagues. In addition, many descendants of revolutionary leaders, such as Chairman Mao's niece Mao Xiaoqing and Li Xiaolin, son of General Li Renlin, came to attend the farewell ceremony.
In addition, the staff around Chairman Mao and his descendants also came to attend the farewell ceremony. Yin Yuelin, Ma Quan, Hou Guizhen, Zhao Tongjiang, and others, as well as Li Xiaoling, Qin Lisheng, Li Zhuowei, son of Li Yinqiao, and others also attended the scene. After attending the farewell ceremony, they took a group photo with Wang Xiaozhi.
The famous calligrapher and poet Wang Zhi was also invited to mourn, Wang Zhi wrote a long poem for Wang Jingqing, and also specially wrote the four characters of "Haoqi Longevity", which is vigorous and powerful, and is a rare calligraphy masterpiece, and this calligraphy work will be collected by Wang Xiaozhi.
Li Changdong, known as the "King of Military Products", even set off from home at 6:30 a.m. and arrived at Babaoshan Cemetery at only 8:00 a.m. Li Changdong and Wang Jingqing have known each other for a long time, and when Wang Jingqing created "The Red Army Guerrillas in the Divine Palace", the two had many exchanges.
Li Changdong told reporters that Wang Jingqing told him many times before his death about his standing guard for Chairman Mao. Although Elder Wang has passed away, he will still pass on those revolutionary spirits and revolutionary stories.
The whole farewell ceremony was solemn and warm, and after the farewell ceremony, Wang Jingqing's body was sent to be cremated, and after cremation, the ashes were sent to babaoshan Cemetery.
Wang Jingqing's revolutionary experience
Although Wang Jingqing's life has come to an end, his revolutionary experience, as well as his stories with Chairman Mao, have always been talked about by many people.
In 1927, Wang Jingqing was born into a poor family in Wayao Fort in northern Shaanxi. In that turbulent and difficult era, Wang Jingqing has been living a hard life of eating and eating. But when he was 9 years old, the Central Red Army came to northern Shaanxi.
After the Central Red Army came to northern Shaanxi, the revolutionary movement in northern Shaanxi developed rapidly, and Wang Jingqing also joined the children's regiment in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region and officially embarked on the revolutionary road.
At the age of 13, Wang Jingqing resolutely left home to join the Red Army in Yan'an because he could not bear the bullying of his mother by the landlords.
Although Wang Jingqing always wanted to kill the enemy and make meritorious contributions, due to his young age, he could only serve as a hygienist in the rear health center at first.
After entering the Red Army, Wang Jingqing gradually became a soldier due to his active and hard work, and in the battle to defend the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, he showed a brave and good fighting side.
Especially during the large-scale production campaign in Nanniwan, in order to reclaim the wasteland, he took the lead in cleaning up the thorns many times, and he was injured many times, and because of his outstanding performance, Wang Jingqing became a celebrity in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, and even Chairman Mao knew his name.
In 1944, due to his outstanding performance, Wang Jingqing, who was only 17 years old, became a glorious Communist Party member after the approval of the party organization inspection.
After the outbreak of the Liberation War, Wang Jingqing's troops followed the actions of the Party Central Committee and followed Chairman Mao all the way from northern Shaanxi to Xibaipo. In the battle along the way, Wang Jingqing bravely dared to fight and was one of the pacesetters of the combat troops.
Gloriously become Chairman Mao's bodyguard
After the Party Central Committee arrived in Xibaipo, due to the serious shortage of guard forces, Wang Jingqing was recruited by Wang Zhen into the guard division responsible for defending the central leadership, and then when Chairman Mao needed to change the guards, Chairman Mao's guard captain Li Yinqiao took a fancy to Wang Jingqing and then told Chairman Mao about the matter.
After learning that Wang Jingqing would become his own guard, Chairman Mao said happily: "This man is a pioneer in Nanniwan, and I am very satisfied that he has come to be a guard." ”
In this way, Wang Jingqing came to Chairman Mao's side on the recommendation of Li Yinqiao, and his story with Chairman Mao's family began from then on.
During his two years as Chairman Mao's bodyguard, Wang Jingqing found that Chairman Mao did not have any shelf at all, and his concern for the people around him was from the heart, which made him respect Chairman Mao even more.
Li Ne was still young at the time and often walked around Chairman Mao, while Wang Jingqing and the other guards liked this cute little girl, and he also carried Li Ne around with a basket. At that time, Wang Jingqing could not have imagined that he would become the person who spent his old age with Li Ne.
Wang Jingqing was not in the mood to start a family at that time, he only wanted to contribute to the revolutionary cause. After the outbreak of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, Wang Jingqing offered to go to the battlefield, and Chairman Mao was very happy with his request and approved his request.
Li Ne had an unfortunate marriage history
After returning from North Korea, Wang Jingqing chose to work in the grass-roots troops, and later worked in the Nujiang Military Subdistrict of the Yunnan Military Region, and also got married in the 1950s. However, after marriage, because of his wife's strong personality and the influence of turmoil, his marriage with his wife did not last long.
After the divorce, Wang Jingqing's ex-wife lived with her children, and he has been single. In early 1983, Wang Jingqing went to Beijing to attend the funeral of his old comrade-in-arms. At the funeral, Wang Jingqing met Li Yinqiao, whom he had not seen for many years. In the conversation with Li Yinqiao and his wife, Wang Jingqing learned about Li Ne's situation.
As the daughter of a great man, Li Ne followed Chairman Mao's teachings, and she considered herself an ordinary citizen, so she never used her power for her own personal gain after work.
Because of the influence of Chairman Mao, Li Ne liked literature and history, and she loved to read, and she was admitted to Peking University at the age of 19. After graduating from college, she enrolled in the military. Because of his weak physique, Li Ne did not become a PLA soldier and could only enter the newspaper office.
A few years later, Chairman Mao decided to let Li Ne go to the "May Seventh Cadre School" in Jinggangshan to work, and Li Ne immediately complied with his father's request. However, the family is very worried about Li Ne's marriage, because when he went to the "May Seventh Cadre School", Li Ne was almost 30 years old.
During the cadre school, due to his special status and introverted personality, Li Ne did not make a few friends. In addition, Chairman Mao said that you should not be a "high-ranking cadre", so even if someone wants to introduce her to someone, there is no follow-up.
Just when the family was worried about Li Ne's marriage, a man named Xiao Xu entered Li Ne's world. Xiao Xu was a waiter at the Beidaihe Management Office of the Central General Office at that time, and was also arranged to study at the cadre school at that time.
Although the level of education is not high, But the handsome-looking, good at talking Xiao Xu, quickly opened Li Ne's heart, the feelings of the two quickly ignited like wildfire.
Xiao Xu's father is an ordinary wrench, he and Li Ne are completely different in terms of knowledge, personality, background, and interests, so many people think that the relationship between the two is only a whim, and will soon be separated by various trivialities.
However, to everyone's surprise, Li Ne and Xiao Xu made a marriage report to their superiors shortly after they met. The unit attached great importance to this report and asked people to take it to Beijing and personally hand it over to Chairman Mao.
Because Li Ne and Xiao Xu's progress was too fast, some people in the family did not approve of the marriage, and Chairman Mao was also quite hesitant after seeing Li Ne's marriage report. He summoned the cadres and school personnel who came to deliver the report, and after learning about Xiao Xu's family lineage and the specific circumstances of the two people's interactions, Chairman Mao agreed to the matter.
The marriage soon came to an end
Although the family all agreed to Li Ne's marriage, when she got married, her parents only sent gifts to express their blessings, but neither attended the wedding.
At first, Li Ne's marriage was still happy, and after a year of marriage, Li Ne gave birth to a son, Xu Xiaoning. After starting a family, due to the gradual disappearance of love, the marriage between the two also appeared a rift.
Li Ne is a good reader, and once he gets a good book, he will love it. Xiao Xu is a person who loves to move, and he is not highly educated, he cannot understand Li Ne's spiritual world, and the two can be said to be in opposite directions in terms of outlook on life and values.
In this case, the marriage of Li Ne and Xiao Xu soon cracked, and the two became strangers. After Chairman Mao's death, the marriage officially came to an end.
Li Yinqiao once again became a guide
After the divorce, Li Ne returned to Beijing with his children. After all, Li Ne was just a woman, living alone with children, and soon experienced the hardships of life. During that time, Li Ne often took the children to line up to buy cabbage, and then took it home to pickle the cabbage himself. Due to her poor income, she could only buy a little bit of meat every time.
Li Yinqiao and his wife grew up watching Li Ne grow up, and they were very distressed about Li Ne's situation, so they often helped Li Ne. But they understand that outsiders help Li Ne only for a while, and letting Li Ne find a good family is the best help for Li Ne.
After learning about Wang Jingqing's situation, Li Yinqiao decided to tie the knot between him and Li Ne, but he did not directly propose this idea to Wang Jingqing, but held a party, asking him and Li Ne to meet at the party first to see how the two communicated.
For Li Ne's situation, Wang Jingqing was also quite sympathetic. Therefore, when they met, Wang Jingqing and Li Ne chatted fiercely, and the two talked from northern Shaanxi to Xibaipo, sometimes recalling various past events during the revolutionary period, and sometimes recalling Chairman Mao together.
Seeing that the two were chatting so hotly, Li Yinqiao proposed to Li Ne the idea of matching her and Wang Jingqing. Li Ne actually had a good impression of Wang Jingqing, because Wang Jingqing had lived in the military camp for a long time and had a masculine atmosphere on his body. In terms of culture, Wang Jingqing is also quite accomplished, he has read a lot of books after his work, has his own views on culture, and can also write a good calligraphy.
But for marrying Wang Jingqing, Li Ne initially refused, because she felt that she had a child and did not want to drag others down.
He took the initiative to take care of Li Ne's mother and son
After Wang Jingqing learned of Li Ne's idea, he first returned to Yunnan to go through the handover procedures, and then transferred his working relationship to Beijing at the end of 1983. After coming to Beijing, Wang Jingqing took the initiative to take care of the life of Li Ne's mother and son.
Li Ne originally had a good feeling for Wang Jingqing, and Wang Jingqing worked very diligently, he could not only repair doors and windows, but also make a good dish. The appearance of Wang Jingqing made Li Ne's life pressure a lot less. The two spent some time together, and their feelings for each other became deeper and deeper.
A year later, Li Ne and Wang Jingqing were officially married. On the wedding day, comrades who had previously worked at Chairman Mao's side came to congratulate them. Li Yinqiao and his wife were even happier, because they felt that they had completed the task entrusted to them by Chairman Mao.
After Yang Shangkun learned of this, he also specially sent a quilt and a few pounds of chocolates to Li Ne, and also wrote a congratulatory letter to Li Ne and his wife in the name of the whole family. When Liu Shaoqi's wife, Wang Guangmei, learned of this, she took Li Yinqiao and his wife's hand and said, "You have done a good thing!" ”
After marriage, Wang Jingqing and Li Ne still lived a simple life. Like the people at that time, they often pushed the scooter to their homes to pull briquettes in the cold winter, or went to the queue early to buy vegetables. Although with Wang Jingqing's salary, Li Ne can buy more meat, they still have to calculate the amount of meat.
The two spent a warm and fulfilling old age
In addition to taking care of Li Ne, Wang Jingqing was even more concerned about Xu Xiaoning. In addition to taking care of Xu Xiaoning's life, he often cares about Xu Xiaoning's studies. Seeing that Wang Jingqing cared so much about her son, Li Ne was deeply moved, and she changed Xu Xiaoning's name to Wang Xiaozhi, because she believed that Wang Jingqing was the son's real father compared to her ex-husband.
Although life is not rich, Li Ne and Wang Jingqing have a good life, and the family of three is full of joy and laughter. And his son Wang Xiaozhi also successfully became a talent under the care of Wang Jingqing, although Wang Xiaozhi did not engage in politics, but he broke through the business world by relying on a fluent English.
In their later years, Wang Jingqing and Li Ne regarded the promotion of red culture as their own career, and they often participated in propaganda meetings to publicize revolutionary deeds.
Moreover, after the age of 70, Wang Jingqing collected a large number of materials and wrote "Shenfu Red Army Guerrillas", which became an important basis for studying the revolutionary history of northern Shaanxi.
Wang Jingqing has always been at the forefront of promoting red culture, and until his death, he was still fighting for it. Wang Jingqing's faithful belief in the revolution makes people feel that his simple spirit of struggle and revolutionary enthusiasm are worth learning from our descendants.
Resources:
Mao Zedong's son-in-law Wang Jingqing entered Sichuan in a military outfit to follow the footsteps of the Red Army China News Network
Mao Zedong's daughter and son-in-law visited the Jiaxing May Fourth Cultural Museum China News Network
Wang Jingqing, Zhou Yushu, Mao Hongting, and other leaders participated in the activities marking the 70th anniversary of the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression xinhuanet
The works of Mao Zedong's daughter and son-in-law were selected for the "Red Second Generation" Calligraphy and Painting Film Exhibition Yangcheng Evening News
Wang Jingqing and Li Ne have gone through nearly 30 years: Wind and rain hand in hand with a simple life Hainan Daily
The marriage of Mao Zedong's youngest daughter, Li Ne, was published in the Digest newspaper