Former President Liu Shaoqi, as one of the important members of the first generation of our party's leadership collective, played an extremely important role in the revolutionary war years and the construction of new China, and behind him was a wife Wang Guangmei, who had always encouraged and supported him.
On October 13, 2006, the 85-year-old Wang Guangmei died of illness in Beijing, and on the day when his children held a funeral for him, many leaders and old friends of Liu Shaoqi and his wife went to mourn, and more than a thousand people spontaneously came to see them off.
Among these people, there were two very special people, who slowly stepped forward with a sad mood, and then cried bitterly, and the people who attended the funeral could not help but shed tears when they saw it, and the scene was once very moving.
Wang Guangmei
It turned out that these two special characters were the special actors Guo Fazeng and Liu Guijie who played Liu Shaoqi and Wang Guangmei in the film and television drama, because their appearance was too similar to Liu Shaoqi and his wife, and the people at the scene once thought that they seemed to have seen the two great men with their own eyes, and some of the masses even took the initiative to take photos with Guo Fazeng and Liu Zhijie after the funeral, and left them as a souvenir.
Under the aura of Comrade Liu Shaoqi, his wife Wang Guangmei is inevitably little known, this article will briefly introduce Wang Guangmei's "ordinary" experience, and then take everyone to understand the story between the two special actors and Wang Guangmei, so as to feel the style of this great woman.
Liu Shaoqi
Regarding the beginning of the story, we must start from before Wang Guangmei and Liu Shaoqi met.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="7" > after marriage, willing to be ordinary</h1>
Wang Guangmei was born on September 26, 1921 in Beijing to an intellectual family, his ancestral home is Tianjin, his father Wang Zhichang had passed the Shangke Examination, and his mother Dong Jieru was a high-achieving student of the Beiyang Women's Normal School, and the Wang family was a well-known family in Tianjin.
Wang Guangmei's parents are very clear, which makes her receive a good new education from an early age, and Wang Guangmei has not lived up to her parents' expectations, showing amazing talent from an early age, especially interested in mathematics and physics.
At the age of 22, she graduated from Fu Jen University in Beijing with a bachelor's degree in physics, but her talent went far beyond that, and just two years later, she received a master's degree in atomic physics from the school, becoming the first woman in China to receive this degree.
Not only that, Wang Guangmei was also admitted to stanford university and the university of Chicago in the United States for doctoral degrees in atomic physics, and both universities are willing to provide her with full scholarships, and the Dutch library still keeps her academic transcripts of that year, which read "Queen of Mathematics".
According to this development, Wang Guangmei will most likely leave a place in the future physics community, but a conversation in the Spring Festival of 1946 changed the trajectory of her life.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Chiang Kai-shek, in order to delay time, transferred troops to the front and took the initiative to invite Chairman Mao to Chongqing for peace talks; at the same time, representatives of the communist party, the Kuomintang, and the US military also established a military mediation group in Beiping to negotiate on the resulting military friction.
At this time, our delegation urgently needed a reliable candidate to serve as an English translator, and the organization thought of Wang Guangmei, who was working as a temporary teaching assistant at Fu Jen University.
The reason for choosing Wang Guangmei was not accidental, when Wang Guangmei was the seventh of eleven children in the family, with six older brothers in front, and most of his brothers joined the revolution during the revolutionary war.
Among them, the fourth brother Wang Guangjie was the first person in his family to join our party, he risked his life many times during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression to purchase medicines for the Eighth Route Army, and personally sent them to the base areas, and was also a well-known radio expert in the party at that time.
After investigating Wang Guangmei's family, the organization found that almost all of the Wang family was patriotic, but they could not be forced to be difficult, so they sent people to seek Wang Guangmei's opinion.
The visitor said to Wang Guangmei: "The organization now needs a translator who is proficient in English, and after careful consideration, we think you are the most suitable candidate, and I hope you can seriously consider it." ”
At this time, Wang Guangmei was less than half a year away from studying in the United States, her parents had already completed the relevant procedures for her, and Wang Guangmei also had a great interest in physics, which was a difficult choice for her, but after some thought, she still agreed to the invitation of our party.
It turned out that as early as when Wang Guangmei was studying at Fu Jen University, she often participated in some patriotic student movements, and during this period she got to know a group of people in our party, and Wang Guangmei found through exchanges with them that the Communist Party is a political party that truly fights for the people, so it is naturally incumbent upon her to do her part for our party and for peace.
Ye Jianying
In this way, Wang Guangmei served as an interpreter for Ye Jianying, Li Kenong, and other representatives of our side, and did a very good job, but in June of that year, Chiang Kai-shek openly tore up the "Double Tenth Agreement" and launched a civil war, and military mediation was useless.
For the sake of the safety of our representatives, Ye Jianying urgently instructed all our personnel involved in the negotiations to withdraw from Beiping immediately, and At this time, Wang Guangmei was not yet a member of our party, but Ye Jianying, considering her contribution, also consulted her before leaving, asking her where to go.
After witnessing the efforts of the Communists for peace, Wang Guangmei did not hesitate to choose to go to Yan'an and decisively gave up the idea of studying in the United States, and her parents supported her decision.
After Wang Guangmei came to Yan'an, she was assigned to work in the foreign affairs group of the Central Military Commission under the leadership of Zhu De, and Zhu De's wife, Kang Keqing, knew that she had been born into a famous family before, and was accustomed to a life of fine clothes and food, and felt that she might not be very comfortable with the poverty of Yan'an, so he often went to her residence to talk to her, and sometimes invited her to participate in the dances held by the central organs.
Kang Keqing
Wang Guangmei was infected by everyone's enthusiasm, she liked life here more and more, and her first encounter with Liu Shaoqi took place at a dance party.
That day, he was personable and she was graceful, and he offered to invite her to dance a song, and she readily agreed.
"Liu Shaoqi danced, with a kind of scientific accuracy, one board at a glance, like 2 + 2 = 4. But sometimes there will be a few exciting and unrestrained dance steps, just like the articles he wrote, and the young and beautiful Wang Guangmei cooperates with him quite tacitly. Anna Louis Strong, an American female journalist who was watching at the time, said.
Soon, the two began to fall in love, although life is still poor, but in front of two hot hearts, everything becomes less important, on August 21, 1948, Liu Shaoqi and Wang Guangmei officially married in a cave in Yan'an.
Wang Guangmei has always admired Liu Shaoqi, and after marriage, her admiration for him has become more intense, at this time she completely forgot the glory of the past, concentrated on the housework, and became a good wife and mother.
Wang Guangmei (left), Liu Shaoqi (right)
As the revolution progressed, Liu Shaoqi, as an important leader of our party, became busier and busier, and the time spent with Wang Guangmei became more and more limited, but Wang Guangmei never complained, she has always silently supported her husband's cause, and when Liu Shaoqi returned home, she always tried her best to let him relax, and she firmly supported any decision made by Liu Shaoqi.
Until Liu Shaoqi's death, Wang Guangmei followed his last wishes and scattered his ashes to the sea, and she has been taking care of her children ever since.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="32" > self-improvement, thick moral carrier</h1>
Liu Shaoqi left a total of 9 children, five of which were born to him and his ex-wife, and the eldest son, Liu Yunbin, was even only four years younger than Wang Guangmei, and Wang Guangmei did not care at all, but did his best to take care of their lives.
Treating these five children who are not her own children, Wang Guangmei tolerates them as much as possible, comforts them, takes care of their emotions, and helps them solve problems, and she also has strict requirements for her own four children.
Under the upbringing and education of Wang Guangmei, all nine children were of noble character and contributed to the construction of new China in their respective posts.
After Liu Shaoqi's death, Wang Guangmei's life also experienced a short period of hardship, but she never gave up hope, and was extremely tolerant, she not only took care of the children left by Liu Shaoqi, but also often went to Liu Shaoqi's hometown to visit the graves of his parents, and always cared about the development of his relatives in his hometown.
Not only that, Wang Guangmei also brought an optimistic and open-minded attitude in life to his work, and always exerted his residual enthusiasm for the construction of the motherland with high enthusiasm.
In February 1995, the "Happiness Project" with the theme of helping poor mothers was officially established, and after learning the news, wang Guangmei, who was 74 years old, gladly accepted the invitation of the relevant departments and took the initiative to serve as the director of the first organizing committee of the "Happiness Project".
At the beginning, the family thought that she was just a name, so they didn't care, after all, Wang Guangmei was already very old at this time, but Wang Guangmei's actual actions really surprised the children.
In the last eleven years of Wang Guangmei's life, in addition to being hospitalized because of serious illness and unable to work, she had to work for eight to ten hours every day for the promotion of the "happiness project", and often went deep into the front-line poor areas to understand the situation and care about the lives of some poor mothers.
Sometimes, the elderly Wang Guangmei has been working until the middle of the night and has not rested, and the children have been persuaded to resign after hearing about it, because at this time she has long been far beyond the retirement age, but the elderly Wang Guangmei said: "While I still have the strength, let's do something for the country, I think this is also what Comrade Shaoqi is willing to see." ”
In addition to practicing what she preached, the elderly Wang Guangmei also auctioned all the valuable things in the family, and the money obtained was donated to the "Happiness Project", including several of her mother Dong Jieru's favorite antiques in the family collection.
At that time, a reporter asked the elderly Wang Guangmei: "Aren't you sad that you sold all your mother's things?" ”
Wang Guangmei said firmly, "How can I not be distressed, but I am also doing this to help more mothers, and I think my mother will agree in the Spirit of Heaven." ”
According to Aunt Zhao, the nanny at home, "In the first few years of the happiness project, everything that could be carried out at home was donated by her (Wang Guangmei). ”
However, due to long-term fatigue and advanced age, in 2006, the elderly Wang Guangmei was admitted to the hospital due to a serious illness, and although she was still thinking about those who needed help, her body was powerless.
But even when she was bedridden, Wang Guangmei still did not let the children come to take care of herself, because she felt that doing so would affect their service to the country, but the children still discussed privately and took turns to take care of their mothers.
In July of this year, the daughter Liu Tingting, who accompanied her, looked at the emaciated body of her mother Wang Guangmei, and her heart was very sad, she knew that her mother was still thinking about the happiness project at this time, in order to comfort her mother, she firmly said to her mother: "Mother rest assured, 'Happiness project' I will help you do it." ”
The old man Wang Guangmei, who was lying on the hospital bed, laughed out, at this time she could not speak, but she raised her fist hard and swung at her daughter, Liu Tingting's tears flowed instantly, and she admired her mother even more.
Liu Tingting
At 3:00 a.m. on October 13 of that year, the elderly Wang Guangmei passed away peacefully in the hospital at the age of 85, and on her deathbed, she once again told her children around her to "love your country at all times and be a useful person to the country."
There were many people at the funeral site, including the children of the elderly Wang Guangmei, some leaders in the government and units, the poor mothers she had helped, and more than a thousand ordinary people who spontaneously came.
Of course, there are also two special actors Guo Fazeng and Liu Zhijie, who have always followed her and Liu Shaoqi's example, who rushed to Beijing immediately after receiving the news, because they were not only playing two great people, but also impressed by the noble character of the great man.
On this day, Guo Fazeng and Liu Guijie cried bitterly at the funeral for a long time, and everyone on the side could not help but cry, because it was too similar, some of Wang Guangmei's old friends still pulled Liu Guijie's shirt and did not let go.
Guo FaZeng
And Guo Fazeng and Liu Guijie not only play Liu Shaoqi and Wang Guangmei in film and television dramas, but they also have a great fate with Wang Guangmei in their daily lives.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="55" > spiritual inheritance and continues from generation to generation</h1>
Guo Fazeng, born in 1945 in Tianjin to an ordinary worker family, has been very talented in acting since he was a child, but his father is very resistant to acting because his thinking is more traditional, and Guo Fazeng has completed primary and secondary school normally since he was a child.
But after graduating from middle school, Guo Fa, as a dream youth, did not give up the pursuit of acting, and after graduating from high school, he was admitted to the acting department of the Central Academy of Drama with excellent results, and at that time, he did not avoid his father's anger, and he also lied to his father that he was taking the Tsinghua examination.
However, it was not long before his father learned that Guo Fazeng was studying acting, which made him furious, and immediately cut off his financial support for Guo Fazeng, forcing him to give up, but Guo Fazeng was still insisting, he began to work to support himself, fortunately, his brother also secretly sent him 50 yuan of living expenses every month.
That is, during his college years, Guo Fa had contact with Liu Shaoqi for the first time, that is, in the summer of 1965, the school organized a group of students to go to Yan'an to participate in a social education activity, and Guo Fazeng was also among them.
After the event, a group of people took a group photo in front of the Wangjiaping cave where Liu Shaoqi had stayed, and when everyone was circulating the photos, a classmate suddenly pointed at Guo Fazeng and exclaimed: "This is not Chairman Liu!" It's so much like that! ”
The students on the side looked at Guo Fazeng one after another, and everyone found that he and Liu Shaoqi looked very similar indeed, and one of the classmates who had a good relationship with Guo Fa smiled and said to him: "In the future, the actor who plays Chairman Liu is none other than you!" ”
Guo Fa once thought that Liu Shaoqi was a great national leader, and he didn't care if he was qualified to play this great man.
After graduating from university, limited by the market and environment at that time, Guo Fa did not receive drama in the first few years after graduation, but played a humble role in several dramas.
Until 1989, director Wang Baohua was ready to shoot the TV series "Comrade Shaoqi in the Northeast", because this was the first time that Liu Shaoqi's image appeared in film and television dramas, so the selection of Liu Shaoqi's actors must be cautious.
"Comrade Shaoqi in the Northeast"
After several twists and turns, Wang Baohua found Guo Fazeng, and when the two first met, Wang Baohua said very happily: "It's you!" It's you! ”
At that time, there were five candidates who played Liu Shaoqi, although the director and the film crew were unanimously optimistic about Guo Fazeng, but in order to restore Liu Shaoqi's character image as much as possible, Wang Baohua still handed over the information of the five candidates to the elderly Wang Guangmei and asked her to confirm.
The elderly Wang Guangmei has always been serious and responsible in his work, and after he saw the photos of several candidates, he also felt that Guo Fazeng was the most similar, but in order to be foolproof, she still proposed to meet Guo Fazeng first to draw the final conclusion.
A few days later, Guo Fa Zeng came to Wang Guangmei's home, when Wang Guangmei first saw Guo Fa Zeng, she was also momentarily stunned, she did not expect to be so similar, in order to prevent it from being her own delusion, she called Aunt Zhao, who had been a nanny in Liu Shaoqi's home for decades, to identify, and it turned out that Aunt Zhao also felt that he was like.
Therefore, Wang Guangmei actively encouraged Guo Fa to play the role of Liu Shaoqi, and Guo Fa was also very excited in his heart, in order to play Liu Shaoqi, a great man, he would often go to Wang Guangmei's home to ask her about some details of Liu Shaoqi's life, and Wang Guangmei enthusiastically provided him with advice every time.
Because they are both from Tianjin, the two are also relatively compatible in conversation, and gradually establish a deep friendship.
At that time, Guo Fa had learned from Wang Guangmei that Liu Shaoqi was thinner than himself, and in order to achieve as much restoration as possible, he immediately began to diet, eating only a very small amount of fruits and vegetables every day, and miraculously reduced the weight of 20 kilograms in less than a month.
Compared with Guo Fa Zeng, Liu Guijie is more able to have a direct dialogue with Wang Guangmei, and she often goes to Wang Guangmei's home to listen to Wang Guangmei's teachings, try her best to learn her voice and smile, and imitate her every move in life.
In his later years, the elderly Wang Guangmei was very interested in photography and Peking Opera, so Liu Guijie also began to specialize in these two arts from scratch, in her words: "Elder Wang is my example of progress, and since I am fortunate to be able to play her on the screen, I must not live up to everyone's expectations." ”
Liu Guijie
As expected, as soon as "Comrade Shaoqi in the Northeast" was staged, it instantly spread all over the country, and the people all expressed their recognition of Guo Fazeng's acting skills, and in the later film and television dramas, Wang Guangmei, played by Liu Guijie, was also greatly praised.
But after becoming famous, the two did not forget their original intentions, and tried to achieve the best interpretation of the role in every act.
For example, in the following twenty years, Guo Fa has played the role of Liu Shaoqi many times, and each time his acting skills are convincing, but after he has long become famous, he has always adhered to the principle of never bargaining in acting.
When filming the TV series "Comrade Shaoqi in the Northeast", Guo Fa once said to the director at the beginning, "You see how much is worth, give it casually, you give more, I dare to receive, you give less, I don't care, even if I don't give a penny, I will act with my heart." ”
Guo Fazeng (right)
Guo Fa has always said that he must do what he wants, in the next six months of filming process, he did not mention anything about the remuneration, not even signed the contract, just played Liu Shaoqi with heart, but his hard work was seen by the director, and finally the director made an exception to give him 3,000 yuan of remuneration.
The friendship between Guo Fazeng, Liu Guijie and the elderly Wang Guangmei has also become deeper, and they will visit Wang Guangmei's old man's house even when they are not acting, until the old man Wang Guangmei dies of illness.
At the funeral, the reason why Guo Fazeng and Liu Guijie's cries resonated with everyone present was that in addition to the looks of the two, it was more the expression of their heartfelt emotions.
They know that their role as Liu Shaoqi and Wang Guangmei is not only to show the shape of these two roles to the audience, but more importantly, to pass on their spirit of striving for the construction of new China and for the people to live a better life forever.
Wang Guangmei's funeral
Just with this article, I would like to pay tribute to Liu Shaoqi and Wang Guangmei, two great people, and thank you to the two actors who played them, Guo Fazeng and Liu Guijie!