If there is a feudal vice soaked with women's blood and tears, then "child brides" must be one of them.
Looking at Chinese history, "child brides" with tragic fates abound, a bad habit that still exists in modern times and was slowly eradicated only after liberation. There are countless women who have been poisoned by this bad habit, including many celebrities.
The protagonist Liu Aiqin I want to talk about today is one of them. She is Liu Shaoqi's eldest daughter, but she was sold to a family as a child bride when she was young, and she has been separated for eleven years.
Until her death in 2020, Liu Aiqin had not seen her biological mother.
However, it is such a woman who has suffered a lot, but still retains a soft and selfless kind heart. The will she left before her death was deeply moving.
What is the sad story of this great woman? And what was her will?
Liu Aiqin
Difficult choices in the situation
1927, Hankou, Hubei. A woman knocks on the door of a family with her infant in her arms. This woman is He Baozhen, director of the Hankou Women's Association. She came here to entrust her daughter Liu Aiqin to this family.
At that time, the vigorous Great Revolution failed, the reactionary forces wantonly hunted down and killed revolutionaries, white terror prevailed, and revolutionaries were in danger.
In this case, Liu Aiqin will undoubtedly face life danger if she continues to follow He Baozhen.
In that era full of resistance and justice, He Baozhen's behavior was not unusual, not to mention that he was the descendant of revolutionary heroes, so even though it was difficult for the family to raise another child, the family still agreed to He Baozhen's request for foster care.
Since then, this ordinary worker family has had an unidentified adopted daughter.
He Baozhen
Time flew by, and Liu Aiqin gradually grew up and became an eight-year-old girl. In the past eight years, Liu Aiqin's life has not been good, but it is definitely not bad.
Since childhood, Liu Aiqin knew that she was not the biological child of the owner of this family, and her parents had someone else, but who it was, her adoptive father and adoptive mother insisted on not saying. Fortunately, they did not treat Liu Aiqin harshly because she was fostered.
Although the family's life is poor, they can barely survive, which is also one of the few peaceful days in Liu Aiqin's life.
But the good times did not last long. The continuous deterioration of the social situation has made the lives of the people at the bottom more and more difficult, and the already poor family, because the three children are too poor to open the pot, really can't afford to support Liu Aiqin, who is not a relative.
Forced by life, the family "sent" Liu Aiqin to a relative's house. Saying that it was a gift, in fact, it was a sale, and they sold Liu Aiqin to others as a child bride.
Liu Aiqin (first from left)
Young Liu Aiqin does not know what a child bride is, she only knows that she is very tired. Every day before dawn, Liu Aiqin would get up to chop firewood. After chopping firewood, she also sweeps the floor, goes to the well to fetch water, and cooks on the fire.
The young Liu Aiqin's body is very thin and weak, and she can't withstand such high-intensity labor, but as long as she slacks a little, she will be severely beaten, and her small body is full of bruises and purple scars.
During that time, Liu Aiqin couldn't even eat enough, starvation was a common thing, and he almost starved to death twice. The malnutrition at a young age made Liu Aiqin shorter than her peers.
This kind of dark life, Liu Aiqin has lived for three years. For more than a thousand days and nights, Liu Aiqin thought of her biological parents countless times. She felt like a stray child, like a duckweed without roots, not knowing where her parents were, let alone where her home was.
It was not until 1938, when Zhou Enlai asked people to find Liu Aiqin, that she first learned about her biological parents.
Zhou Enlai
Descendants of ill-fated heroes
Her mother, He Baozhen, was born in 1902 in Dao County, Hunan Province. At that time, China had just experienced the Xinhai Revolution and was in a period of alternation between the old and the new, and some poor and backward places still retained some feudal customs.
At the age of 10, He Baozhen was sold to a landlord's maid as a child bride. In order to break free from this cannibalistic shackle, He Baozhen was admitted to Hengyang Third Women's Normal College at the age of 16 and successfully escaped the demon cave.
Now it seems that He Baozhen and Liu Aiqin's childhood experiences are similar.
The difference is that He Baozhen broke free with her own strength, while Liu Aiqin struggled in the quagmire of a child bride for three years.
In 1922, He Baozhen found Mao Zedong, who renamed her "He Baozhen", which means "forever maintain revolutionary chastity." He Baozhen is very satisfied with the name, which is also her new life.
revolution
In the spring of 1923, He Baozhen joined the Communist Party of China. In April of the same year, she married Liu Shaoqi, a like-minded revolutionary partner. After that, the revolutionary couple rushed day and night on the front line, working with many progressives to secretly promote changes in Chinese society.
In 1927, He Baozhen and Liu Shaoqi's second child, Liu Aiqin, was born. At that time, the Great Revolution failed and the revolutionary situation became increasingly tense. He Baozhen lacked skills and worried about her daughter's safety, so she could only foster her in a worker's family and wait for the situation to ease up before taking her back the child.
I never thought that the difference between mother and daughter would never see each other again.
In 1934, because of the betrayal of a traitor, He Baozhen's identity was exposed, and he was sentenced to death by the enemy, and heroically died at the age of 32.
And this year later, Liu Aiqin's adoptive parents sold her in desperation. When Liu Aiqin was severely beaten and enslaved, missing her parents, she had no idea that her mother had been separated from her yin and yang, and she was buried under the nine springs.
Liu Aiqin (first from left)
In 1938, the domestic form became stable, and Liu Shaoqi began to entrust Zhou Enlai to find Liu Aiqin's whereabouts.
After several rounds, the party organization found the family of the worker who had fostered Liu Aiqin, learned that Liu Aiqin had been sold to a well-off family in Hankou, and the party organization went to pick up people non-stop, and finally saw Liu Aiqin in the yard.
In the cold winter weather, the skinny girl wore singlets and pants, and her little hands were frozen red. She was standing by the well, struggling to pick up the barrel. The barrel was half as tall as her, and she picked it up tremblingly, and the water in the bucket kept swaying, wetting the little girl's trouser legs.
The descendants of revolutionary heroes actually suffer here! The people sent by the party organization were angry and distressed. After consulting Zhou Enlai, Liu Aiqin was taken to the office of the Eighth Route Army in Wuhan.
Liu Aiqin
Here, Liu Aiqin met the amiable "Father Zhou" and learned about her mother's heroic deeds. It turned out that she was not a stray child, her mother was the hero He Baozhen, and her father was Liu Shaoqi, secretary of the Central Plains Bureau of the Communist Party of China.
She also has two brothers, her brother is called Liu Yunbin, and her younger brother is called Liu Yunruo, Liu Yunbin was fostered in her hometown, Liu Yunruo was lost in the chaotic world, and has not been found.
After a few days in Wuhan, Liu Aiqin was sent to Yan'an. After eleven years, she finally met her father.
Liu Aiqin didn't stay in Yan'an for long. In 1939, Liu Shaoqi was appointed political commissar of the New Fourth Army and was about to go to the front, and 12-year-old Liu Aiqin and his brother Liu Yunbin were sent to the Soviet Union to study at the Monino International Children's Institute in Moscow.
Liu Shaoqi
This International Children's Home is a special school established by the Soviet Union for the descendants of communists all over the world. Liu Aiqin thrived in this big family and became a young girl in the flower season.
In 1941, the Great Patriotic War broke out in the Soviet Union, and the International Children's Home was affected, and it was very difficult to survive. In order to survive, Liu Aiqin, her teachers and friends went to the woods to cut trees, develop cultivated land, and grow potatoes, cabbage and carrots to eat.
The difficult days did not break Liu Aiqin, and she seriously moved towards her ideals while working hard to live.
In 1946, Liu Aiqin was admitted to the Moscow University of Communication Technology and became a freshman in the Department of Economics. It was here that she met the love of her life: Fernando.
Liu Aiqin
Fernando studied at the Radio Department of the Moscow Technical University of Communication Technology. He is the general secretary of the Spanish Communist Party and the nephew of Ibaruli, the leader of the Spanish working class, and the two are a match made in heaven.
The same revolutionary beliefs made Liu Aiqin and Fernando quickly fall in love, and the two developed a sweet exotic relationship and married before graduation. It seems that this is a beautiful relationship with a talented woman, but in fact it is not.
After learning that his sister was married and her husband was still a Spaniard, Liu Yunbin immediately objected to the two being together.
Let's not say that the nationality of the two is different and the culture is different, let's say where should the two go after graduation? Going to Spain or returning home? If she returns to China, can Liu Aiqin afford the life and study of the two?
Liu Yunbin
Liu Shaoqi also had the same attitude as Liu Yunbin, he let Liu Aiqin and Fernando separate, and after returning to China, he looked for another one, currently focusing on study, but Liu Aiqin did not agree. For a while, neither father nor daughter could convince anyone.
In 1949, Liu Shaoqi secretly visited the Soviet Union and met his daughter, who had been separated for ten years. At this time, Liu Aiqin was already pregnant, and when her father asked her to put the interests of the party and the country first, Liu Aiqin gave in pain. She chose to divorce Fernando and returned to China with their unborn child.
After returning to China, Liu Aiqin gave birth to her and Fernando's son. She took the character "So" from Fernando's surname and named her son "Soso". Then, Liu Aiqin plunged into learning as her father expected.
In 1950, Liu Aiqin was admitted to the planning department of Chinese Minmin University, and after graduation, he was assigned to the General Bureau of the State Planning Commission, where he took root for eight years.
Liu Aiqin
Eight years, enough to bury a romantic love. At first, Liu Aiqin and Fernando kept in contact with letters, the two sent photos to each other, and Fernando would also send some gifts to the children. Even knowing that Liu Aiqin could not return to him, this man insisted on waiting for her for six or seven years.
Later, however, Sino-Soviet relations broke down, communications between the two countries were severed, and contact between Liu Aiqin and Fernando was also cut off. They married separately on the days without each other, and the relationship came to an abrupt end.
In 1958, Liu Aiqin took the initiative to request decentralization to Inner Mongolia in response to the call of the state, which was considered by many to be an unworthy act. After all, Inner Mongolia is no better than Beijing, and the conditions are very difficult. However, Liu Aiqin still went, and never looked back.
During those days in Inner Mongolia, Liu Aiqin lived in an adobe house and ate wowotou and cornmeal. In the event of a bad rainstorm, the house will be flooded, and there will be no place to live.
Liu Aiqin et al
Liu Aiqin also asked her father Liu Shaoqi for this reason, hoping that Liu Shaoqi could say hello to the relevant departments and solve her housing problem. Liu Shaoqi solemnly refused, and warned her not to engage in special, a house where the masses can live, why can't the chairman's daughter live?
Since then, Liu Aiqin has remembered her father's teachings, and has never shouted tiredness no matter how hard it is. In order to have a deeper understanding of the lives of ordinary people, she participated in an investigation team and traveled between the grassroots to truly feel the most real Chinese rural society.
Liu Aiqin stayed in Inner Mongolia for 20 years. During this period, she successfully joined the Communist Party of China, took over the baton of her father's generation, and became an excellent party member.
However, before she could be happy for long, the storm of the times swept in, catching her off guard.
Liu Aiqin et al
A touching last wish
On July 30, 1966, Liu Aiqin was sent by the branch to deliver documents to her father Liu Shaoqi, which was the last time she saw her father. The following days were nightmares that Liu Aiqin did not want to recall.
Along the way, she lost her father, her brother, her brother, and even her second husband divorced her under pressure. After the wind and waves calmed down, Liu Aiqin only felt like a world away. She held her three children, sad and dazed inside.
In 1979, Liu Aiqin, who was teaching at Hebei Normal University, was restored to party membership and public office, and his father Liu Shaoqi was also successfully rehabilitated and restored his reputation.
Four years later, Liu Aiqin was transferred to the Beijing Chinese Police University as a Russian teacher and associate professor.
Liu Aiqin (left)
Because she has lived in the Soviet Union for ten years, Liu Aiqin is very good at Russian, and can even write her own teaching materials, and the students like her.
In 1989, Liu Aiqin and her third husband formed a new family. After the end of Qianfan, Liu Aiqin finally had someone to accompany her.
At the age of 71, Liu Aiqin went to Moscow, intending to end her relationship that ended without success. Feeling guilty, she looked forward to seeing Fernando, but received news that Fernando had died in a car accident as early as 1963. Liu Aiqin cried on the spot after listening to it.
After returning from the Soviet Union, Liu Aiqin's life became dull. But after retirement, she is not idle at all, and has something to do every day.
Influenced by his father Liu Shaoqi, Liu Aiqin maintained the habit of reading and exercising until he was old. In her eighties, she not only has ears and eyes, but also has an active thinking that is not inferior to young people, and her whole state is very young.
Liu Aiqin
Liu Aiqin goes to Nanjing Yuhuatai every year to commemorate her mother He Baozhen. Although she and her mother have never met, her mother has always been her spiritual support. In addition, she also misses her adoptive father and adoptive mother. Although they sold her, Liu Aiqin never resented them.
"If it wasn't for my adoptive parents giving me a home, it would be difficult for me to live." Liu Aiqin said. At this time, she was 90 years old, and this time she returned to Hankou in Wuhan to find her adoptive parents and their children, but the final result was nothing, which has become one of Liu Aiqin's lifelong regrets.
On June 7, 2020, Liu Aiqin passed away at the age of 92. Before dying, Liu Aiqin did not forget her father's teachings, earnestly advised her children to keep everything simple in the funeral, and donated her body for medical education and research.
With her selflessness, this woman contributed the last ray of light and heat to the beloved country and people.
Liu Aiqin
Throughout Liu Aiqin's life, it can be described as ups and downs.
Childhood is turbulent, youth is enterprising, and old age returns to dullness. There are abyss troughs, rapids and waves, and years of safety.
Perhaps, Liu Aiqin can't be as vigorous as her parents, but she has contributed everything she has to the country and society within her ability, which is probably the secret and ordinary greatness.
Reference information
Chinese Communist Party News Network: Zhou Enlai rescued Liu Aiqin, the daughter of Liu Shaoqi
"Lu Yu Has an Appointment: Famous Gate": Liu Aiqin, daughter of Liu Shaoqi: Her father is a tragic great man
Renmin University Alumni Network: Liu Aiqin, the eldest daughter of Liu Shaoqi, has experienced twists and turns and lives calmly
Chutiandu Daily: Liu Shaoqi's daughter returned to Hankou's birthplace to look for relatives to find the descendants of her benefactor who adopted her
Xinhuanet: Liu Shaoqi's eldest daughter recalls the past: She was severely criticized by her father for asking people to buy velvet clothes
The Paper: Liu Aiqin, the eldest daughter of Comrade Liu Shaoqi, passed away at the age of 92