On his way back to China, Qian Xuesen received a telegram telling him that he must not get off the ship along the way, and it was only after 50 years that he found out who the sender was. Qian Xuesen is the pioneer and founder of China's aerospace industry. In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, he resolutely left the high-paying life in the United States and returned to the motherland to contribute his strength to the aerospace industry. However, this decision was not without its challenges. On the voyage back to China, Qian Xuesen received a mysterious telegram advising him not to disembark on the way. And the identity of the sender, it was not until 50 years later that Qian Xuesen finally unveiled this layer of mystery. Who sent this telegram exactly? Why be so cautious? What kind of twists and turns and hardships did Qian Xuesen experience when he returned to China? Let's find out.
1. Qian Xuesen's life and status in the United States
Back in the 20s of the last century, Qian Xuesen, a child from a poor peasant family, left his hometown for Shanghai with a long-cherished wish to serve the motherland and a strong interest in aviation flight. There, with his extraordinary wisdom and studious qualities, he was amazed as a genius by the Americans and obtained the opportunity to go to the United States for further study. Since then, Qian Xuesen has embarked on the journey to science.
After arriving at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Qian Xuesen worked tirelessly in the field of aerospace. With his outstanding mathematical aptitude and keen insight, Qian Xuesen quickly became a widely acclaimed scholar among teachers and students. Many of his published papers not only won high praise from his peers, but also opened up new horizons for aerospace science at that time because of his unique insights and forward-looking thinking.
After graduating, Qian Xuesen has undoubtedly become a popular candidate in the U.S. government and the business community. Eventually, he chose to teach at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and work in research in the defense industry. Qian Xuesen has participated in many major scientific research projects, such as rocket booster design, aerodynamics, etc., which are his main directions. At that time, some commentators pointed out that without Qian Xuesen's contribution, the US space industry would have lagged behind by as long as 10 years.
With his outstanding achievements, Qian Xuesen became famous in the American technology industry, and his annual salary was as high as an eye-popping $9,000 at the time. It can be said that Qian Xuesen has been full of ambition in the American scientific community, has made small achievements, and lives a prosperous life without worrying about food and clothing. However, his motherland has just emerged from the smoke of war, and everything is in ruins. Qian Xuesen, who has always had the ambition to serve the country in his heart, is inevitably proud of this.
2. The reasons why Qian Xuesen decided to return to China and the difficult journey
Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, it is 1949. This year, applause broke out in the far east, and New China finally moved towards the road of rejuvenation. Qian Xuesen is extremely excited and proud of this. Although he has taken root in the United States and lived a prosperous life, the call of the motherland has always beckoned his pure heart.
Just as Qian Xuesen was asking himself whether he should return to China to contribute, the Chinese government sent a handwritten letter, eagerly hoping that he would return to his alma mater, Tsinghua University, to teach and preside over a national key aviation project. Qian Xuesen readily agreed, decisively gave up his high-paying life in the United States, and his career achievements over the years, and was ready to return to his motherland with great ambition.
However, things were far from going as smoothly as Qian Xuesen expected. The U.S. government was obsessed with Qian Xuesen's decision and deliberately set up many obstacles. First, they detained Qian Xuesen's entire family, who had been under inhumane house arrest for years. Qian Xuesen and his family were deprived of freedom of movement, subjected to torture and humiliation, and were in an environment of extreme terror and unease.
Despite this, Qian Xuesen's determination remains unwavering. In exchange for Qian Xuesen's freedom, the Chinese government had to make a painful sacrifice by freeing 15 American military personnel captured in the Korean War. Under the efforts of the Chinese and American governments, Qian Xuesen's family was finally allowed to return to China in 1955 and boarded a ship bound for the motherland.
On the way to leave the United States, Qian Xuesen received an unexpected and mysterious telegram. The telegram was to the effect that he should never leave the ship on the way, and promised that someone would be there to meet him at his destination. The sender gave people a warm and familiar feeling, as if he knew what happened to Qian Xuesen's family and their whereabouts.
Despite his misgivings, Qian Xuesen still strictly followed the instructions on the telegram. To ensure safety, he stayed in the cabin with his family as much as possible, avoiding all the risks of going out and docking. In this way, Qian Xuesen's family spent more than 20 long days at sea before finally seeing China's coastline.
3. The contents of the mysterious telegram and its possible source
That mysterious telegram was undoubtedly a mystery to Qian Xuesen. Its content warned him not to disembark on the way home, and although the wording was simple, it exuded an indescribable kindness and care. It seems that the sender has an extraordinary relationship with Qian Xuesen and knows his situation well.
After thinking about it carefully, Qian Xuesen guessed that the sender was likely to be his father. As Qian Xuesen's only surviving immediate family member in the world, his father is naturally well aware of the hardships his son has suffered in the United States. The mother and son have not been able to get in touch for many years, and Qian Xuesen doesn't even know if his father is still alive.
At this juncture, the father suddenly learned the news that his son could finally return to China, and he was afraid that his son would encounter accidents on the way, so he specially sent this telegram to remind him to be careful in everything and not to give up halfway. Looking at the tone of earnest teaching in the telegram, Qian Xuesen could almost imagine that it was the father's expression of joy and tears when he finally saw his son after a lot of hardship.
Looking back on the ordeal experienced by Qian Xuesen's family during their time in the United States, it is indeed thrilling. In order to prevent him from returning home, the US government carried out a frenzied persecution of them for 5 years. Qian Xuesen was placed under house arrest in his room and lost almost all his personal freedom, while his wife and children were even more devastated and insulted, and lived in dire straits. They are always on the lookout for brutal reprisals.
In such a dangerous environment, Qian Xuesen will naturally attach great importance to receiving this telegram before leaving. After all, China and the United States have been at odds for a long time over his whereabouts, and the United States has enough motives to plot against him. In case they kill people halfway and disguise themselves as accidents again, then Qian Xuesen's family will completely cut off the way back to China.
Out of prudence, Qian Xuesen acted strictly according to the instructions in the telegram. Along the way, they stayed in the cabin, desperately betting, avoiding all possible dangers. In this way, Qian Xuesen's family finally arrived safely on the Chinese coastline more than 20 days later.
4. The true identity of the sender of the mysterious telegram
In this way, Qian Xuesen's family finally returned to the embrace of the motherland in the midst of difficulties and twists and turns. And that mysterious telegram has become an unrelenting mystery in their experience. Qian Xuesen has always believed that the sender is likely to be his biological father.
However, the truth is far from what Qian Xuesen expected. It wasn't until 50 years later that he learned from a reliable source that the telegram was actually written by the supreme leader of New China. It turned out that at the critical moment when he was returning to China with difficulty, Chairman Mao Zedong personally ordered this telegram to be sent out, which cleared all kinds of obstacles that Qian Xuesen might encounter along the way.
It all started with that turbulent era. On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China was finally officially established. However, at that time, the national strength was weak, the economy was poor, and the science and technology were backward, and it was simply unable to meet the needs of the country's modernization drive. Therefore, Chairman Mao Zedong attached great importance to attracting scientific and technological talents who studied abroad to return to China, hoping that they could make suggestions and contribute wisdom to New China.
As an internationally renowned aerospace expert, Qian Xuesen has naturally become the object of a lot of attention and key introduction by the chairman. In that year, the central government set up a "leading group for the return of overseas students", whose main function was to find ways to persuade Qian Xuesen to return to China to take up his post. The panelists included Zhou Enlai, then Premier of the State Council, as well as the mayor and vice mayor of Beijing.
However, under the guise that "Qian Xuesen has nuclear secrets," the U.S. government imposed a five-year house arrest on his family, which caused Zhou to be tortured a lot. In order to win Qian Xuesen's return to China, the Chinese government had to painstakingly release 15 American military personnel captured in the Korean War in exchange with the United States.
Under the mediation of his might, Qian Xuesen was finally allowed to return to China. When Mao Zedong learned that he was about to set off, he immediately realized that the stakes were high. He was worried that the US government would use despicable tricks on Qian Xuesen's return to China, and would stop him at all costs. In order to ensure that Qian Xuesen was foolproof, Chairman Mao Zedong made a decisive decision and personally sent the mysterious telegram, instructing Qian Xuesen never to leave the ship on the way, thus resolving all kinds of potential crises.
5. Qian Xuesen's contribution after returning to China
After some hardships and twists and turns, Qian Xuesen finally arrived safely in the motherland in 1955. At that time, he was over half a hundred years old, and immediately devoted himself to the construction of the national aerospace industry, giving full play to his expertise and attainments in this field.
As soon as he landed, Qian Xuesen was sent to the northwest region to serve as the vice president of the China Academy of Aeronautics. There, he not only presided over several aircraft design projects, but also trained and reserved a large number of aerospace talents for the country. It is worth mentioning that during his tenure, Qian Xuesen vigorously advocated the educational concept of "attaching equal importance to two styles", attaching importance to both theoretical study and practical practice, so that the students received all-round training.
In 1958, Qian Xuesen was appointed president of the Fifth Research Institute, taking overall responsibility for the development of China's missile weapons. Under his leadership, China's first missile was born in 1960, marking that New China had initially possessed the basic capabilities in this field. In the following years, Qian Xuesen has presided over and participated in many major scientific research projects, involving many cutting-edge fields such as space shuttles, rocket boosters, and artificial satellites.
It is worth mentioning that at the critical stage of missile and aerospace development, Qian Xuesen withstood tremendous pressure from his superiors on many occasions. For example, in one case, due to a deviation in the test data, the superior immediately ordered the study to be stopped and demanded a complete restart. Qian Xuesen immediately consulted the original data and found that the deviation came from the influence of the measurement environment, insisted on implementing it according to the original plan, and finally succeeded in the development. It is precisely with the extraordinary courage and determination of scientists that New China has been able to make breakthroughs in these cutting-edge fields.
In addition to scientific research, Qian Xuesen also contributed his valuable experience and wisdom to the development of the aerospace industry. For example, he put forward the strategic idea of "subduing what is near, and destroying it if it is far away," and advocated concentrating superior forces to strike first and defeat the opponent's satellite system in near-earth orbit, so as to win the initiative in spaceflight. This strategic thinking played a significant role in later practice.
In general, Qian Xuesen is undoubtedly the founder and pioneer of New China's aerospace industry. It is precisely because of the paving stones of his time that the motherland's aerospace industry has been able to catch up with the latecomers and continue to develop rapidly, making outstanding contributions to the peaceful use of outer space by mankind.