Li Min was the daughter of Chairman Mao and He Zizhen.
preface
In 1981, the central authorities sent someone to find Li Min, saying that Chairman Mao had left him a legacy, and Li Min was very puzzled, he knew best about his own affairs, and where his father could leave any "inheritance".
When the staff handed over the so-called "inheritance" to her, Li Min looked at these three things and couldn't help crying.
So, what is Chairman Mao's legacy to his daughter?
First, Li Min's experience
Li Min was born in northern Shaanxi but lived with Chairman Mao very little, and when interviewed by reporters in her later years, she cried that her father was not in good health when she was a child, but she could not even accompany the chairman.
Li Min has followed his mother abroad since he was a child, and his impression of his father is only a few sides and a yellowed photo, even if he returns to China later, the mother and daughter only settled in Harbin and did not live with the chairman.
Li Min, who lacked her father's love, had a hard life since she was a child, and her mother and daughter depended on each other, and she helped her share the household chores at a very young age, and this situation continued until 1949, when the domestic situation was stable, and Chairman Mao brought her back to live with her.
She was 13 years old at the time, but her father seemed like a "stranger" to her, and in her later years, she recalled that she was very restrained in the beginning, as if she was a "guest" in someone else's house.
Moreover, because the chairman was very busy at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, his parents could not see each other several times a month, and it took a long time to gradually adapt.
Chairman Mao demanded that his children should not regard themselves as "Chairman Mao's children," and he felt that they could never be allowed to be overshadowed by the merits of their ancestors, but would never be able to enjoy the "privileges" of their fathers.
In 1959, Li Min met Kong Linghua, who did not know until he got married that Li Min was the daughter of the chairman, and the chairman also did not give the son-in-law the slightest preferential treatment, and soon after the marriage they moved out and lived in a small alley in Beijing.
"It's too difficult to see my father, not only do you need documents to enter Zhongnanhai, but you also have to make a report when you get to the door, sometimes when my father is busy, it takes half a day to wait!"
Since moving out of Zhongnanhai, Li Min and Chairman Mao have seen each other less and less, but even in such a short time together, Chairman Mao still deeply influenced Li Min, "I will never forget many things I experienced with my father." ”
Li Min once revealed a small incident, in the sixties of last century, when there was also a famine in China, disasters were repeated, and many people could not afford to eat food, Chairman Mao took the lead in cutting back on food and clothing, setting an example for party cadres and asking everyone to donate food to refugees in the disaster area.
And several of the chairman's children also "suffered", can you imagine? In the compound of Zhongnanhai, several children drank mush, gnawed nests and nests, and could not eat enough every day, because nutrition could not keep up, and they all developed serious edema.
The chairman's guards couldn't stand it, and found some milk and bread, and a few children hesitated but did not hold back their hunger, opened it and ate it, and when the chairman found out, he rushed back that night to hold a family meeting about it.
"The whole country is starving, we as an example, we should lead by example, I know you are all bitter, persevere, the difficulties will soon pass!"
This is just a small matter, but Chairman Mao attaches great importance to it, and this matter has always been deeply imprinted in Li Min's heart, so what kind of "legacy" can such a thrifty chairman leave to his children?
II. Three "legacies"
Chairman Mao's "legacy" was only three things, a color TV, a refrigerator and 8,000 yuan, which were indeed somewhat valuable in 1981, but this did not make Li Min "cry".
Could it be that these three things can have any special meaning? This has to start with a storm that year.
As a well-known literary figure, Chairman Mao often submitted articles to newspapers during the revolutionary period, and even founded a revolutionary newspaper in Changsha, Hunan Province, Xiangjiang Review, where he was both editor-in-chief and contributor.
Submissions must have manuscript fees, which were initially handed over to the organization, after all, at that time the revolution urgently needed money, even a penny had to be spent on the blade, but after the founding of the People's Republic of China, those manuscript fees belonged to the chairman himself.
Everyone knows Chairman Mao's prestige, great ideas spread all over the world, not only in China, but even abroad there are many "fans" touted, his articles are naturally popular all over the world, and to this day many people collect his handwriting.
This raises the question, "How much money has Chairman Mao saved over the years?" "Everyone has speculated, some say tens of millions, some say hundreds of millions, and some people give a specific number - 131.2 million.
I still don't know how this figure came about, anyway, everyone generally accepted this statement, and the chairman did not refute it, but some people did not believe it, after all, what was the concept of 100 million yuan at that time?
Until someone went to ask Chairman Mao's "financial steward" Wu Liandeng, the other party directly laughed: "How is this possible, let alone the chairman, the money of the entire central leadership combined is less than one-tenth of this amount." ”
Wu Liandeng took care of the chairman for 12 years, and the big and small flows in the family had to go through his records, so his words naturally had a high degree of credibility, and then Wu Liandeng revealed that the chairman's manuscript fee over the years was actually only 1.57 million.
Although this number is not low, but thinking that the chairman has so many loyal "readers", think about it can be accepted, but since the chairman is so "rich", why is he living so poorly, even the inheritance to his daughter is only 8,000 yuan?
3. Inheritance of 8,000 yuan
Wu Liandeng revealed that the chairman's income is 600 yuan a month, minus 10 yuan of party fees and the money for his two daughters' schooling, as well as some miscellaneous expenses, which is about 300 yuan a month.
Who would have thought that this is the expense of the chairman's family, I am afraid that an ordinary worker's family is only this amount, and the chairman usually eats all grains and grains, and it does not cost much money.
Basically, it is usually a fixed expense to buy some cigarettes and books, and even after that, in order to save money, the chairman does not buy books, and every day he finds the premier, Duke Deng and others to borrow them, and then returns them after reading, so that Premier Zhou often jokes to the chairman "Come to me to fight the autumn wind again?" ”
Because the salary is always inexhaustible, the chairman took the initiative to apply for a salary reduction, from 600 to more than 400, usually what big expenses, Wu Liandeng has to ask the chairman, the chairman will let him "save a little" every time, and then let him transfer a little writing fee.
In 1972, the chairman's youngest daughter, Li Ne, gave birth to a son, and her already poor life was even more difficult, and after buying milk powder, the family could not even afford to eat.
It's okay to be hungry, but the newborn child needs nutrition, Li Ne's income is not enough, and the family finally can't afford the child's milk powder money, so he really has no choice but to ask for help from Zhang Yaoci.
Zhang Yaoci borrowed her some money, and then reported Li Ne's plight to the chairman truthfully: "Chairman, after all, now is not before, I think I will support Li Ne with some money, besides, no one can suffer the child!" ”
Chairman Mao was also very sad in his heart after hearing this, he did not expect that his daughter was living so hard now, and turned to Wu Liandeng: "Ne'er is not easy, but you still can't use public funds, in this way, Liandeng you take 8,000 yuan from my manuscript fee, no need for instructions!" ”
This money allowed Li Ne's family to spend the most difficult days, and then the chairman considered that he could not favor one over the other, and heard that Li Min's life was not satisfactory, and took out 8,000 yuan to send Li Min.
This money should have been delivered to Li Min long ago, but in the 70s there were new problems in the party, Wu Liandeng was also implicated, and then the chairman fell ill in bed until he died.
After the death of the chairman, at his request, all the manuscript fees he earned were deposited into the state treasury as party fees, leaving no penny for his children, but Li Min's 8,000 yuan was approved caused controversy, and finally everyone decided to approve Li Min after discussion.
epilogue
The money left by the chairman to Li Min was only 8,000 yuan, and the color TV and refrigerator were specially given by the Party Central Committee when they saw Li Min's hard life.