"When you painted the portrait of Chairman Mao for the founding ceremony, you were only 30 years old, so young, how could such a sacred and glorious task fall on you?"
"In fact, I didn't have anything outstanding about me, but I was selected by the central leadership by chance."
In April 1949, by chance, Zhou Lingzhao's portrait of Chairman Mao was favored by the central leadership, and he was selected as the general person in charge of the portrait of the founding ceremony and asked him to paint a portrait of Chairman Mao.
Zhou Lingzhao, who shouldered an important mission, spent the rest of his time contemplating the portrait in addition to eating and sleeping, which made the people of the whole country worship and yearn for it.
Since the founding ceremony, Chairman Mao's portrait has been hung on the tower of Tiananmen Square, and it will only be removed when the portrait is replaced.
In order to understand the doubts in their hearts, in 1980, the internationally renowned journalist Farage threw out this question when interviewing Deng Xiaoping, asking Deng Xiaoping: "How long will Chairman Mao's portrait hang on Tiananmen?" ”
After hearing this, Deng Xiaoping smiled slightly, did not think, and immediately gave an answer, which made everyone present awe-struck.
So, what exactly did Deng Xiaoping reply? Why does the portrait of Chairman Mao on Tiananmen Square always hang, and why don't you consider replacing it with a portrait of another leader?
By chance, he was appointed by the central leadership as a portrait painter of Chairman Mao
At the beginning of 1949, when the defeat of the Kuomintang had been decided, and Chiang Kai-shek was already secretly transferring money and other goods to Taiwan, the leaders of the major central committees put forward a proposal to hold a "founding ceremony", and at the preparatory meeting of the Political Consultative Conference in June, they voted to approve this proposal, setting the time of the "founding ceremony" to October 1.
After the time was set, the central departments immediately organized and made preparations.
Among them, one of the most troublesome questions for the central leadership is: Which painter should give the portrait of Chairman Mao to paint?
Thinking about it, several central leaders suddenly thought of a person in their discussion: Zhou Lingzhao.
Zhou Lingzhao
In fact, as early as April of this year, the central leaders took a fancy to Zhou Lingzhao's painting skills.
At that time, the Beiping Six Kingdoms Hotel held the peace talks between the two countries and the Republic, and the layout of the venue of the Six Kingdoms Hotel was the responsibility of Zhou Lingzhao, who was a painter, and he saw that the layout in the venue was somewhat monotonous, in order to alleviate the monotony of the venue layout, he specially chose a photo of Chairman Mao when he was in Yan'an, and based on this photo, he painted a portrait of Chairman Mao and hung it.
In this portrait, Chairman Mao wears an octagonal hat, the neckline is slightly open, the face is smiling, and the background of the photo is red, which makes the image of Chairman Mao fascinating, and people can feel the spiritual atmosphere on Chairman Mao's portrait from a distance.
The central leaders who came to negotiate saw the portrait as soon as they entered the venue, and after seeing the portrait, they were amazed in their hearts one after another, and they were impressed by the painter's painting skills.
In order to get acquainted with this painter, after the meeting, several central leaders found Zhou Lingzhao, who had arranged the venue: "That portrait of Chairman Mao, the painting of the true gods, which master painted it?" Can I leave a contact information? ”
Zhou Lingzhao was stunned for a moment, and lowered his head with a red face, a little embarrassed: "It's not a master, I painted it." ”
After listening to Zhou Lingzhao's words, the central leaders were shocked, because Zhou Lingzhao's age was so young, and they couldn't believe that such a young painter could paint such a vivid painting.
After that, the central leaders left Zhou Lingzhao's contact information and encouraged him to be full of hope for his painting skills and continue to struggle on the road of painting.
Founding ceremony oil painting
The time came to June, and the leaders of the major central governments began to prepare for the holding of the "Founding Ceremony" at the meeting.
The "founding ceremony" was held at Tiananmen Square, when not only the people in the city came to watch the ceremony, but also foreign journalists and friends.
First of all, so many people at home and abroad came to watch the ceremony, and the first thing they noticed was definitely Chairman Mao's portrait hanging on the upper floor of Tiananmen Square, and if the portrait was not painted well, it was bound to make an international joke.
In order to solve the problem of portraits, the central leaders began to look for painters in the country, and when they thought about it, they suddenly remembered a person, and this person was Zhou Lingzhao, a painter with whom they had a good conversation a few months ago.
The leaders felt that although Zhou Lingzhao was young, he was highly skilled in painting, and the portrait of Chairman Mao he had painted had been recognized by many people, and it was most appropriate to entrust him with the task of "Portrait Painter of Chairman Mao at the Founding Ceremony."
In this way, Zhou Lingzhao was named by the central leadership and became a painter of the founding ceremony, specializing in painting portraits of Chairman Mao.
After receiving the task, Zhou Lingzhao did not hesitate in the slightest, and immediately threw himself into the work of painting Chairman Mao's portrait.
In this portrait, Zhou Lingzhao still chose the photo of Chairman Mao wearing an octagonal hat as a reference, and at the suggestion of Zhou Enlai and others, he repeatedly revised it, eliminated the handwriting on the portrait, and closed the open neckline, which drew this kind and serious portrait of Chairman Mao.
On October 1, 1949, the day of the "founding ceremony", the people came to Tiananmen Square early, and when they found the portrait of Chairman Mao hanging on the tower of Tiananmen Square, people were attracted by the portrait and stopped to look at it.
The portrait of Chairman Mao, wearing an octagonal hat, has a sideways face and smiles kindly.
No matter from which point of view, it is like smiling at the people.
Such a kind and cordial image of Chairman Mao penetrated the hearts of every person who watched the ceremony, and also made foreign journalists and friends marvel at it.
How long will Chairman Mao's statue hang on the upper floor of Tiananmen Square?
Since the founding ceremony, Chairman Mao's portrait has become a red landscape on the Tiananmen Tower, and whenever they pass by the Tiananmen Tower, people can't help but look in the direction of the portrait, as if they just look at it and feel at ease.
Chairman Mao was the leader of the Communist Party, led the Eighth Route Army to expel the Japanese army from the country, led the People's Liberation Army to overthrow the Kuomintang reactionaries, led the people to victory in the revolution, and established New China.
Out of love for Chairman Mao, almost every family in the homes of ordinary Chinese people will hang a portrait of Chairman Mao, and whenever something goes wrong, as long as they say a few words to the portrait and look at it for a few seconds, they will be at ease.
At that time, the best-selling portrait was Chairman Mao's portrait, which shows the people's love for Chairman Mao.
After that, the portrait of Chairman Mao on the upper floor of Tiananmen Square was revised several times, changed and replaced, and what made people feel interesting was that Chairman Mao's standard was like a side image of Chairman Mao, and in 1964, out of love, the people reflected upwards that the image of Chairman Mao's portrait was not good, and there was only one ear.
The people feel that as the leader of all China, the portrait image should be solemn, and should not only show one ear, which will damage Chairman Mao's great image.
In this way, after receiving the reaction of the masses, the relevant departments quickly asked the cameraman to take a positive photo of Chairman Mao, that is, the fourth standard portrait of Chairman Mao.
Today, the portrait of Chairman Mao, which is still in use today, is the fourth standard portrait of Chairman Mao. Since New Year's Day 1967, the fourth standard portrait of Chairman Mao has been made into a portrait and hung on the tower of Tiananmen Square, but it has not been removed.
In the fourth standard portrait, Chairman Mao sits uprightly with a kind smile on his face, which makes people feel kind at a glance.
After Chairman Mao's daughter Li Ne saw the portrait, she also made this evaluation:
"The fourth standard image is really good, no matter from which point of view, the chairman is looking at you, he likes it, he personally circled it."
Deng Xiaoping
It can be said that the portrait of Chairman Mao on the upper floor of Tiananmen Square has been changed several times in the past few decades, but no matter how it is changed, it has never been replaced by the portrait of other leaders, and only the portrait of Chairman Mao has always been hung on the upper floor of Tiananmen Square.
China's Tiananmen Tower is of great political significance, and many major celebrations are held here, which is a symbol of China's external affairs.
Chairman Mao's portrait was hung in the Tiananmen Gate Tower for decades without being replaced, which naturally caused many foreigners to wonder.
Among them, the Italian journalist Farage also interviewed Deng Xiaoping in person.
Farage
At that time, Farage was a well-known journalist in the political press and interviewed many big people, which made Farage regret that many of the big people she interviewed were politicians from European and American countries, but Asian politicians interviewed very little.
To this end, Farage has set its sights on China, which occupies the third largest area in the world, and Farage is very curious about how such a vast country has changed in the decades after the war, and whether it has developed into a modern country like many European and American countries.
With this curiosity in mind, Farage traveled to China and, with the consent of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, conducted an exclusive interview with Deng Xiaoping.
In August 1980, Farage came to Zhongnanhai and was received by Deng Xiaoping.
As soon as they met, Deng Xiaoping shook her hand with a smile and greeted her: "On behalf of China, I welcome your arrival." ”
Deng Xiaoping's kind smile made Farage unload the tension in his heart, and then, Farage also smiled back and greeted Deng Xiaoping.
After a few words of greeting, the two were led into the meeting room.
Not long after sitting down in the meeting room, Farage took out the recorder he had with him, turned on the recorder switch, and began to work.
Knowing that Deng Xiaoping's schedule was busy, in order not to delay Deng Xiaoping's time, Farage went straight to the point, and the first question he asked was very sharp, so that the interpreter in the meeting room took a breath of cold air.
Farage asked:
"How long will the statue of Chairman Mao on Tiananmen be hung?" Do you want to keep it forever? ”
In the face of such a sharp question, Deng Xiaoping was not afraid of the stage at all, and he did not hesitate to say: "Always keep!" ”
After saying this, Deng Xiaoping paused and explained the reason to Farage:
"In the past, Chairman Mao's portraits were hung too much, and hanging them everywhere was not a serious matter, nor did it show respect for Chairman Mao. What Chairman Mao did for Chinese people is in the eyes of the people and remembered in their hearts, and we will always remember him! ”
After that, Farage and Deng Xiaoping continued to debate around this issue, and at the end, Deng Xiaoping summed up a sentence that made everyone awe-struck as soon as this sentence came out.
He said:
"Please write down that we must not only hang Chairman Mao's portrait on the tower of Tiananmen Square forever as a symbol of our country and commemorate Chairman Mao as the founder of our party and country, but also uphold Mao Zedong Thought."
After Deng Xiaoping uttered these words in a categorical tone, Farage smiled slightly, and completely understood Chinese's feelings for Chairman Mao's portrait, and no longer entangled himself with Deng Xiaoping on this issue, but changed the question and continued to ask questions.
Chairman Mao is the founder of the party and the state, and his portrait will always hang on the tower of Tiananmen Square!
After the first talks, Deng Xiaoping was a little unsatisfied, and then he made a second meeting with Farage, which flattered Farage.
In the face of one sharp question after another thrown by Farage, Deng Xiaoping calmly took it and answered.
And Deng Xiaoping's unhurried level of answers also made Farage marvel.
After the two rounds of talks, Farage happily held out his hand, and Deng Xiaoping immediately shook it, and at this moment, the two looked at each other and smiled, quite a sense of seeing each other and hating each other.
After returning to foreign countries, Farage sorted out the recording and handwritten materials of the interview with Deng Xiaoping, and published the interview content in the newspapers and periodicals unchanged, which caused the media of various countries to reprint it one after another, and also let the world see Deng Xiaoping's leadership style.
As Deng Xiaoping said during the talks: Chairman Mao is the founder of the party and the state, and his portrait will always hang on the tower of Tiananmen Square!
Chairman Mao was not only the leader of New China, but also the spiritual leader of the people, and in that era of war, it was Chairman Mao who led the workers' and peasants' revolution, led the people to win one victory after another, and established New China.
Although Chairman Mao is no longer there, the image of his great shore still lives in the hearts of every Chinese, we will never forget Chairman Mao, Chairman Mao's portrait will always hang on the tower of Tiananmen Square, and we will always deeply remember Chairman Mao!