Zhao Yiman, this name is very loud in China. She was a revolutionary hero who sacrificed her life for her country, and she was generous under the butcher's knife of the enemy. However, her only son, Chen Yexian, chose to hang himself at the age of 53 years after his mother's heroic death. The son of a martyr, who refused his mother's pension and lived a life of poverty, eventually came to a dead end. What is the reason behind such a shocking ending? What did Chen Yexian experience in his life that made him make such an extreme choice? I hope that by tracing the trajectory of his life, some answers can be found.
1. Origin: Orphans under the fence
In 1905, when the osmanthus was fragrant, the Li nobles of the famous Yibin family in the land of Bashu ushered in a young lady, who was the heroic martyr Zhao Yiman, who was recited by later generations. Her original name was Li Kuntai, nicknamed "Duan Nu", with family background, born in an intellectual family. Since childhood, he has shown an extraordinary personality, opposing old habits and customs, and pursuing new ideas and new lives.
She joined the Communist Party of China in 1926 and went to Moscow the following year to study, where she married her husband Chen Dabang. When Zhao Yiman was pregnant in 28, the party organization summoned her to return to China to engage in revolutionary work. With a sincere heart for the revolutionary cause, she risked her life to return to China alone and gave birth to her son Chen Yexian in a small and dilapidated room.
In order to devote himself to the revolutionary cause, Zhao Yiman entrusted Chen Yexian, who had just been born, to her husband's sister Chen Congying, who was raised by the Chen family. In this way, Chen Yexian lost his mother's arms since he was born, and he was destined to grow up under the fence in other people's homes.
When he was a child, Chen Yexian deeply felt the cold reception and alienation of being an "outsider". Although his uncle's family had children, he never really regarded him as a family, and in the daily relationship, he developed a withdrawn, introverted, and inferior character. Without the love and correct guidance of his parents, he was forced to grow up savagely in a desolate environment.
Second, the wasted years: upside down
Chen Yexian's youth was destined to be bumpy. Suffering from the cold reception under the fence, his personality is seriously distorted, and his heart is often shrouded in inferiority and loneliness. What's even more sad is that during his studies, he encountered a school violence that he will never let go of for the rest of his life.
That was when Chen Yexian was studying at Wenhua University in Shanghai. One day, a senior student suddenly broke into his dormitory and deliberately molested him. Chen Yexian was terrified, resisted desperately, and finally barely avoided this humiliation. However, the incident caused a huge scar on his self-esteem, and the shadow continued to live out into old age.
It is a pity that no one can give him the right explanation and healing, and without the love and guidance of his parents, his inner wounds cannot be healed, but become more and more intense. This experience was like a scar in his life, pushing him into an even more gloomy and withdrawn abyss.
After leaving the campus, Chen Yexian's life did not stop there. He married a wife, lived in poverty, his wife's body was full of holes, and he added a son and a daughter to the family. In order to make ends meet, he had to scrape together various jobs and move from place to place. During this period, he was also suspected of being a "counter-revolutionary" and was placed under surveillance and harassment.
All of this undoubtedly made Chen Yexian's life even worse. He was already introverted and withdrawn, coupled with the burden of his family and the embarrassment of life, his mental state deteriorated for a time, and he suffered from severe schizophrenia. But at that time, the cognition and treatment methods of mental illness were very backward, and Chen Yexian's condition could only worsen, but there was nothing to be done.
3. Refusal of bereavement benefits: the continuation of ideas and beliefs
While Chen Yexian was adrift and his family was poor, the state once provided him with a revolutionary pension for his mother Zhao Yiman. But puzzlingly, he chose to refuse the rescue money in a difficult situation.
The reason behind this seems to be found in Zhao Yiman's entrustment to his son before his death. Zhao Yiman's last words to his son before his death were: "Ning'er! Mother doesn't need to educate you in a thousand words, she will educate you with practice! It seems that she hopes that her son can follow in her footsteps and fight for lofty ideals to the end in her revolutionary practice.
Perhaps it was based on this inheritance of faith that Chen Yexian's admiration and devotion to his mother's legacy led him to reject the blessings offered by the state. He seemed to feel that such a way was not in line with the integrity of his mother's revolutionary, but that he had to rely on his own hands, no matter how hard life was.
For Zhao Yiman, the reason why she entrusted her son to others to raise and gave up the opportunity to get along with mother and son was based on her selfless dedication and persistent pursuit of the revolutionary cause. She knew that caring for her children would distract her, so she put her son in foster care and devoted herself to the revolutionary cause.
From this point of view, the mother and son's adherence to ideals and the pursuit of faith are not without similarities. Perhaps it was precisely because of his mother's revolutionary sentiments that Chen Yexian was able to refuse the country's assistance when his life was in a desperate situation, and chose a more difficult but more in line with his mother's will.
Fourth, the final choice: relief in despair
After years of hardship, in August 1982, the 53-year-old Chen Yexian was pushed to the end of his life. In August of that year, Chen Yexian did not go to work for several days, and when his colleagues felt that something was wrong, when they went to visit, they found that he had hanged himself at home.
The fact that a man who was once praised as the "son of a hero" finally chose such a deplorable way to die shows how great the torment he endured in his heart was. He has been searching for the meaning and value of existence all his life, but he has not found his own way out after all.
Having lost his parents at an early age, his childhood was destined to be sent to someone else's home. His uncle's parents treated him coldly and alienated, which made him feel inferior and withdrawn in his heart, and his personality was distorted. The violence he was subjected to during his studies left a shadow that he would never let go of for the rest of his life. After that, the road to life was even more bumpy, his wife began to weaken at a young age, and two more children were added to the family. In order to support his family, he struggled to work in society, and was even suspected of being a "counter-revolutionary" and was once subjected to surveillance and harassment.
It can be said that Chen Yexian's life is like being in prison, struggling in the dark abyss, and there is no hope for life. His refusal to receive his mother's pension may have been motivated by respect for his mother's revolutionary sentiments, but this belief was also a major burden to him in the extreme poverty and oppressive environment.
In the end, under the trouble of schizophrenia, Chen Yexian could no longer bear the weight of life, and chose the last path he had witnessed his mother embark on - ending his life by himself. Perhaps for him, self-hanging is a relief, a final indictment of the world, and the highest respect for his mother's revolutionary cause.
V. Historical Reflections: Crime and Punishment in the Times
Looking back on Chen Yexian's life, his tragic fate seems to have been doomed as early as the beginning of his birth. As the son of a revolutionary martyr, his life trajectory has had regrettable deviations and twists and turns.
To trace back to the source, we must first start with the revolutionary choice of his mother Zhao Yiman. As a staunch communist, Zhao Yiman resolutely entrusted his young children to others and devoted himself to the revolutionary cause. This kind of heroic sacrifice is undoubtedly worthy of praise, but it also planted the seeds of suffering in Chen Yexian's life.
Having lost the company of his mother since he was a child, Chen Yexian could only grow up under the fence of relatives. His uncle's parents were cold and distant from him, which made him develop an inferiority complex and introverted character. Later, he was traumatized by violence on campus, and the shadow lasted for the rest of his life. The road of life was also full of thorns, the family was poor, his wife was seriously ill at a young age, and he was once suspected of being a "counter-revolutionary...... All of this is like humiliating and punishing the son of this revolutionary martyr.
Perhaps, this is the revenge and punishment of a cruel universe for Zhao Yiman's revolutionary choice. For the sake of her career, she gave up her mother's love; And fate deprived her son of the opportunity to get a normal life, and he was destined to struggle to survive in the quagmire of suffering.
The times chose Zhao Yiman, and at the same time punished her son. In this cruel cycle of cause and effect, Chen Yexian is just a pawn sacrificed by his mother's ideals and beliefs. His life seems to have been given a tragic theme long ago at birth, and no matter how much he struggles, he will inevitably end up with a self-ending end.