On April 29, 1971, Li Siguang died of illness, and then at his memorial service, his wife and daughters Xu Shubin and Li Lin waited in the lounge early for the arrival of a central chief.
Although he was not sure which chief would come, Li Lin still hoped in his heart that Premier Zhou would come to his father's memorial service, after all, his father had always wanted to talk to Premier Zhou about some issues before he died.
Later, just as Li Lin expected, Premier Zhou did come, but to everyone's surprise, at his father's memorial service, Premier Zhou was rarely angry...
So, what exactly happened? And why is Premier Zhou, who has always been good-tempered, angry?
Li Siguang's growth path
As one of the first scientific workers after the founding of New China, Li Siguang's contributions to China have never been clear in a few words, and it is no exaggeration to say that without him, China's geology would have developed at least many years later.
He studied at the private school taught by his father since he was a child, and then he came to Wuhan to study in a higher primary school, and then because he went to Japan to study, he had the privilege of getting to know Song Jiaoren, accepted a lot of democratic revolutionary ideas, and embarked on the road of revolution.
At the beginning of 1905, after listening to many rallies and speeches, Li Siguang decided to follow Dr. Sun Yat-sen, and later successfully entered the League, immediately determined to save the motherland.
After the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution, the rule of the Qing government was overthrown, but after the fruits of the revolution were stolen by Yuan Shikai, in anger, Li Siguang resolutely resigned from the post of director of the Industrial Department and began to prepare for studying abroad.
In 1913, Li Siguang was admitted to the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom and began to study geology, and then after completing his studies, he received an invitation from Cai Yuanpei, the president of Peking University, and returned to China to teach.
In those years, Li Siguang, together with Zhang Hongzhao and others, founded the Geological Society of China, and he himself served as the former director of the Institute of Geology of the Academia Sinica, and later founded the National Wuhan University, and acted as the president of the present-day Nanjing University.
From 1934 onwards, Li Siguang lectured on Chinese Geology at many universities in the United Kingdom, and then he was also a professor at Chongqing University and was elected an academician of the Academia Sinica.
Premier Zhou's friendship with Li Siguang
Premier Zhou and Li Siguang had known each other since the 1940s, when Li Siguang had a heart attack when he first arrived in Chongqing with the Institute of Geology of the Academia Sinica and had to recuperate at home in a tired body.
At that time, after Zhou Enlai learned of this situation, when he came to meet Li Siguang, he knew very well in his heart that this was a rare talent, and the current Chinese revolution really needed many intellectuals to inject new blood.
In dialogue after dialogue, Zhou Enlai told Li Siguang about the beliefs of the Chinese Communist Party and our political views, and analyzed a lot of the current situation.... After coming and going, Li Siguang began to firmly believe that the Communist Party of China is the hope of the motherland and the hope of the people.
Of course, we do not rule out that there is a reflection of Zhou Enlai's personality and charm, but in the final analysis, Li Siguang himself is a patriot, and he is indeed very willing to contribute his own efforts to the construction of new China.
Although the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression had been won, the civil war continued at that time, such as Li Siguang, who was also a staunch anti-Chiang Kai-shek person, and therefore his situation was naturally very dangerous.
At the suggestion of Zhou Enlai, Li Siguang decided to take refuge abroad for the time being, just in 1948, the 18th International Geological Society was about to be held in London, and he took this opportunity to take his wife Xu Shubin with him.
In those days abroad, Li Siguang was still very concerned about the war situation at home, and with the defeat of the Kuomintang, the general trend of China had been determined, it was time to return to China, Li Siguang was silently thinking in his heart at that time....
In March 1949, Guo Moruo led a Chinese delegation to the World Peace Support Conference, and before leaving, Zhou Enlai specially asked him to bring Li Siguang a letter.
Since receiving the letter, Li Siguang began to prepare for his return to China, but although he applied for visas for France, Switzerland and many other countries, due to the influence of objective factors, the return trip was postponed again and again.
However, despite this, when the Chinese Political Consultative Conference was held in China, Zhou Enlai nominated Li Siguang as a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and based on this alone, we can know how much Premier Zhou really values such patriotic intellectuals.
At any time, contradictions always exist, just like the matter of Li Siguang's return to China, which the Kuomintang side vigorously rejected, and even issued secret orders.
His friend Chen Lun told Li Siguang that Zheng Tianci, the Kuomintang ambassador to Britain, had received orders from above to publicly refuse to serve as a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and that if he did not make such a statement, there was a great possibility that he would be detained by the British authorities and sent to Taiwan, asking him to quickly try to escape britain.
Hearing this, Li Siguang did not hesitate at all, that night with his more important documents, he was ready to go to France by cargo ship, of course, she did not forget to tell his wife to let her go to her daughter who was studying at Cambridge University....
Chen Lun's phone call was timely, and when the embassy in Britain came to see Li Siguang the next day, Mr. Li had already left, leaving only a letter rejecting the Kuomintang and making it clear that he had returned to China.
Two weeks later, Mrs. Li received a letter from Li Siguang, saying that she was going to Switzerland to meet and then return home together.
In this way, the news that Li Siguang was about to return to China was passed back, and after Premier Zhou learned of this news, he made a lot of convenient preparations for him in advance even in the international community....
However, because of the travel to many countries, and constantly change various modes of transportation, later everyone and Li Siguang are still missing, or perhaps the so-called fearsome words are so, after the disconnection, many people began to doubt and discuss whether Li Siguang and his wife returned to Taiwan...
Premier Zhou has always been a very intelligent and keen person, he is very accurate in his ability to recognize people, and he is also very talented, and when everyone was hesitating, the premier just said, "I believe him, and he has not returned now, he must have been delayed, and it is absolutely impossible to return to Taiwan..."
Li Siguang's contribution after his return to China
In early 1950, after experiencing many difficulties, Li Siguang and his wife finally arrived in Hong Kong as they wished, and then after meeting with Ye Jianying, after taking a short rest, they began to drive into Beijing.
On May 6, after arriving in Beijing, the couple was first arranged to live in the Beijing Hotel, and then the next day Premier Zhou came directly to visit them in person.
As soon as he saw Li Siguang, Premier Zhou smiled and said, "Coming back, coming back, our motherland needs you..." Seeing this, Li Siguang also said excitedly, "Premier is good, I am very happy to come back, you are in good spirits..."
When the two met, it always took a time to talk, and after a brief greeting, Li Siguang made a report on his work over the years, and made a new preset idea, intending to return to Nanjing to continue geological research.
However, Premier Zhou did not think so, at that time, China, which had experienced many years of war, urgently needed development, and the premier hoped that Li Siguang could take this as a starting point to help Guo Moruo do a good job in the relevant work of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and accelerate the construction of the motherland.
Later, as arranged by Premier Zhou, Li Siguang served as vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and began to contribute to his own strength in his post.
Earlier, Li Siguang had founded geomechanics, and then brought back a gamma instrument from Britain, which provided assistance for the successful development of China's atomic and hydrogen bombs, and later when China implemented the first five-year plan, he did a good job of oil exploration and development, and finally in the early 1960s, he made some predictive suggestions on earthquakes.
Many times, just a few strokes can simply bring the achievements of a person's life, but we must know that those who have made great contributions to the motherland, those scientific researchers, do not know how much effort is spent behind them....
Not only that, because he personally presided over the research work of the two geological colleges in Beijing and Changchun, under the efforts of Li Siguang alone, many geology colleges and geological technical schools have been built, and this has also sent a lot of technical backbones for the survey work throughout the country....
Because there was no eulogy, Premier Zhou was furious
In 1957, Li Siguang, who was nearly seventy years old, had to go to Hangzhou to recuperate due to kidney disease, and then stayed until 1965, when he was diagnosed with a left hip common aneurysm...
Maybe when he was older, all kinds of diseases followed, and at that time, in order to avoid the heavy work and make Li Siguang tired, Premier Zhou deliberately exempted him from many of his jobs....
On the evening of April 28, 1971, Li Siguang, who was thinking a lot, lay on the bed and turned over and couldn't sleep, so he called his daughter Li Lin to him.
Probably because the limit was approaching, he had already foreseen his physical condition, so he wanted to tell his daughter a few words while he was still sober-minded:
"Geothermal work has now been taken seriously, and I am very relieved about this, but earthquake forecasting is not enough, foreigners' paths are not enough, my suggestions have not been adopted, I can't rest assured...."
The next morning, Li Siguang was unwell again, and this time, although it was the top doctor sent by Premier Zhou to treat him, he also failed to save Mr. Li's life.
On May 2, it was Li Siguang's memorial service, early to deal with his own work, Premier Zhou rushed to Babao Mountain, after arriving here, Liu Xiyao handed over a letter that Li Lin handed over to him, after reading it, the premier was very emotional, because it was Li Siguang's concern for geological work before his death, and his expectations for earthquake forecasting....
Carefully folding the letter, putting it in his pocket, brewing his emotions a little, Premier Zhou began to continue to ask about the work related to the memorial service, but he never expected that the occurrence of an incident at this time would make him so angry....
Earlier, some staff members said that the central government decided not to give eulogies at the memorial service, and Liu Xiyao thought that Premier Zhou acquiesced to this matter, so he did not ask Premier Zhou and did not prepare a eulogy for Mr. Li Siguang.
But now the time is too late, Premier Zhou did not think about what to do, and then suddenly thought of Li Lin's letter, so he showed it to the leaders present and asked whether it could be used as a eulogy, and then he got the unanimous consent of everyone.
After the memorial service began, Guo Moruo presided over it, and then when Premier Zhou made a speech, he said, "Our State Council has not done a good job in the work, and we did not prepare a eulogy for Mr. Li Siguang today, but I received a letter from his daughter Li Lin..."
"Did you all hear that?" Is this Li Siguang's expectation for the geological comrades? Now the task is left to you. ”
Life is merciless, like flowing water, but despite this, some people can live in people's hearts for a long time even if they are gone, just like the old Mr. Li Siguang that we admire...
Don't you dare to mention Premier Zhou here, he has always been a good prime minister who Chinese the people, he has served the party and the country all his life, he uses his personality charm, I don't know how many high-level intellectuals have been recruited for China....