Source: Xinhua Net
Xinhua News Agency, Wuhan, June 18 Title: Mountains and Rivers Will Not Forget You -- A Reply to Father Chen Tanqiu
Reporters Tang Weibin, Li Pengxiang and Xu Haibo
"Daddy, Daddy, when will we be able to get together?"
In an apartment next to Beijing's lotus pond, a tragic melody of "On the Songhua River" lingers in the corridor.
An elderly man held a letter in his hand, closed his eyes and hummed, his voice choked, and his eyes moist.
The 93-year-old man, named Chen Hu, was the eldest son of Chen Tanqiu, a major representative of the Communist Party of China, and xu Quanzhi, a martyr. When he was 5 years old, a letter from his father entrusted him to his grandmother in his hometown in Hubei Province, and since then he has been looking forward to "his father's voice" day and night.
Today, 88 years later, Chen Hu wrote a reply letter to his father that spanned time and space: The country that you looked forward to all night is rich and the people are strong, and now the mountains and rivers are still there, the country is safe, the people live and work in peace and contentment, and it is thriving. This is a prosperous world, as you wish. The mountains and rivers will not forget you, and the earth will not forget you, because you have sprinkled a piece of affection here.
Imposition photo: The picture above shows that in 1927, the reactionaries burned down the house of Chen Tanqiu's huanggang hometown, leaving only a stone door frame (file photo); the picture below is the memorial hall of Chen Tanqiu's former residence in Huanggang, Hubei Province (taken in 2021). Xinhua News Agency
"Bitter man" Chen Tanqiu, licking the lonely letter with deep affection
"I have always been a person who has been wandering and uncertain, running north and south for several years for my life, and I don't know where tomorrow is today. In such a life, the children eventually became tired, so they decided to send their two children to the nursery to raise them. ”
Chen Tanqiu is one of the founders of the Communist Party of China. In February 1933, due to the increasingly tight situation, the Provisional Politburo of the CPC Central Committee was forced to move from Shanghai to the Central Soviet Region. Chen Tanqiu was then secretary general of the Jiangsu Provincial CPC Committee and was arranged by the organization to work in the Central Soviet Region. Before leaving, he wrote a letter to the third and sixth brothers in his hometown in Hubei.
Since this letter, Chen Hu had never seen his father Chen Tanqiu again. "At that time, the children of communists had no way to bring their own, but to give them to others to raise. It is good to give it to your relatives, many of them are given to their fellow villagers, and they have not been found in their lifetime. Chen Hu said that someone always asked me if my parents were giving up their small family for everyone. In my mind, they have not abandoned us at all, and this is the most appropriate arrangement.
On February 26, Chen Hu, the son of Chen Tanqiu, was at his apartment in Beijing. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Yu Guoqing
Chen Tanqiu married Xu Quanzhi in 1925 and gave birth to Chen Hu in 1928. The couple traveled from Wuhan to Jiangxi, from Jiangxi to Shanghai, from Shanghai to Tianjin, from Tianjin to the northeast, and from the northeast to Shanghai.
"Before I was 5 years old, they took me to the north and south for the cause of the party." Chen Hu said that as an indomitable and determined revolutionary, his father was often called a "bitter man". When he was not yet 3 years old, his father was arrested and imprisoned in Harbin for nearly two years. His mother, Xu Quanzhi, took him to hide in Tibet and lived a life of fear, but still insisted on revolutionary work. Since then, his young mind has felt the greatness of his parents.
It was a difficult time and a warm memory. When Chen Hu was 5 years old, he left his parents and returned to Hubei to live with his grandmother. Whenever he missed his parents, he would take out a yellowed photo. It was a photo of him when he was 1 and a half years old, and it had his father's handwritten payment - Qiu Zhi.
"Qiu is Chen Tanqiu; straight, is Xu Quanzhi." My father wrote the names of both of them on my photograph, indicating that they liked me very much. Chen Hu choked and said that every time he saw this photo with the information of his parents, it seemed that he could touch them.
When Chen Tanqiu wrote this letter, it was the coldest season of the year. In his letter, he wrote in a pleading tone: "I hope that the two brothers can help from time to time to make a little cloth for the two children to make single-clip clothes (that is, the foreign cloth or tape woven at home). ”
In fact, at that time, Chen Tanqiu's family in Huanggang was also suffering misfortune. Chen Yinlin, the eighth brother who graduated from Peking University, was guided by Chen Tanqiu to join the Communist Party and participated in the Nanchang Uprising, but died on the way south. When the reactionary government could not catch them, it burned down their houses, leaving only a stone door frame standing alone.
"After seven or eight years of exile, I can still communicate with you today, which is finally a blessing." Chen Tanqiu wrote in this letter, "I have already heard the news of the old mother's death, and I have not mourned much, but the poor old man died a few years late, if it is a few years earlier, I will be spared a lot of suffering!" ”
As the letter said, all Chen Tanqiu had in mind was "now living in hardship, and determination is not a problem of one person and one family, but has become the problem of the majority of mankind." This family letter is the best testimony of a Communist Party member's selfless ideals and convictions.
Chen Hu said that at that time, everyone was very difficult, but they could not bear to plead with their brothers to make a piece of warm clothing for their two children, and this complicated feeling I slowly realized after becoming a parent. "As I get older, my understanding of my parents becomes clearer."
Death sentence, mother's "epitaph"
"Refusal to confess and rehabilitate, insulting public officials, hindering the self-renewal of others, poor quality, incomprehensible."
This is the death sentence of Xu Quanzhi, the reactionary party's mother, Chen Hu.
When Chen Tanqiu wrote the letter, Xu Quanzhi was already pregnant with Liujia. Chen Tanqiu wrote in the letter: "The two children are lively and lovely, and the straight sister is not willing to leave them, but there is no way." Now it's about to be produced again. After this birth, we also decided not to raise it, ready to send a child, I don't know if the sixth sister-in-law has added a child? If not, can I take it back and raise it? ”
What people did not expect was that after this letter was sent, the family was forever separated, and they did not know whether they would live or die.
In June 1933, not long after Xu Quanzhi gave birth, he went to the party's secret contact point to contact the Central Soviet Region. However, the contact point had long been informed by the traitors, and she was arrested on the spot and subsequently taken to Nanjing Prison.
Xu Quanzhi, born in 1903, actively participated in the student movement when he was studying at the Hubei Provincial Girls' Normal School, and joined the party in 1924. Her father joined the League in his early years, and the family found important people of the Kuomintang authorities through some connections, hoping to rescue her. The enemy's condition was that Xu Quanzhi be sent to the Reflection Institute first, and then released on bail after reflection. Xu Quanzhi firmly stated: "I would rather die for the revolution than go to the introspection house." ”
In prison, the enemy used 3 children to blackmail Xu Quanzhi, asking her to "repent and rehabilitate", go out to take care of the children as soon as possible, and even questioned her: "Also consider for the children, where is your maternal love?" Xu Quan felt very ridiculous after listening to it, and scolded the enemy: "What qualifications do you people have to talk about maternal love?" ”
"Later, an old comrade told me that my mother's heart was very painful at that time, and she had never seen her shed tears before this, let alone heard her cry, but this time she really cried." Speaking of this, Chen Hu's eye sockets were also moist.
This is a portrait of Chen Tanqiu (file photo). Xinhua News Agency (Courtesy of Chen Tanqiu Former Residence Memorial Hall)
In the early morning of February 1, 1934, Xu Quanzhi was escorted to Yuhuatai, and in the face of the muzzle of the gun, she held her head high, her face was not afraid, and she shouted "Long live the Communist Party of China" in the cold wind. The verdict reads: Refusal to confess and rehabilitate, insulting public officials, obstructing the self-renewal of others, poor quality, incomprehensible.
"Of course it's incomprehensible, how can you listen to them?" Of these 5 sentences, 4 are very correct, and poor quality is slander. Chen Hu said that he had always wanted to engrave these sentences on the tombstone of the martyr Xu Quanzhi as her "epitaph".
Chen Hu's younger brother, who later became a professor of history at Nankai University, named himself Zhiyuan. "It is to inherit the aspirations of parents and continue to contribute to the cause of the party." Chen Hu said that his mother was sacrificed at the Yuhuatai, and his younger brother Chen Zhiyuan had been putting a yuhua stone at the head of the bed, saying that he could see his mother every day.
"Mom and Dad", a call after 88 years
"On the Songhua River" is a song that Chen Hu has sung all his life.
Facing the reporter, the old man's eyes were full of tears. "It's a song I've been humming all my life, especially the last lyric, which sings the call of my heart."
"Daddy, when will we be able to get together?"
This is a portrait of Chen Tanqiu's wife Xu Quanzhi (file photo). Xinhua News Agency (Courtesy of Chen Tanqiu Former Residence Memorial Hall)
After chen hu, who was only 5 years old, went to his grandmother's house in Hubei Province, his thoughts for his parents increased day by day. He and his sister invented a game called "Mom and Dad." They imagined living with their parents and devised plots that were self-absorbed and enjoyed.
"We enjoy the illusions we make ourselves, but keep it strictly confidential to our families. Now it seems that this game is very childish and unreal, but it is our mood at that time, soaked with inner bitterness! Recalling the events of more than 80 years ago, Chen Hu is still immersed in it.
This game did not last long, and Chen Hu vaguely learned from his grandmother that his mother had died. "Mom can't come back, so we look forward to Dad even more." Chen Hu said that after the fall of Wuhan in 1938, he took refuge in Enshi, Hubei Province, with his relatives, and later went to Chongqing with his uncle to study.
Chen Tanqiu in Xinjiang (file photo). Xinhua News Agency (Courtesy of Chen Tanqiu Former Residence Memorial Hall)
In 1942, Chen Hu, who was in middle school, wanted to go to Yan'an to find his father. Therefore, his uncle took him to find Chen Tanqiu's old comrade-in-arms Dong Biwu. "This is the first time I have met Elder Dong, and he said that Tan Qiu should not be in Yan'an, but it is not clear where it is now. Your task now is to study hard, and in the future when the revolution is victorious, the country needs talents! Chen Hu said, "Listening to Elder Dong's teachings, I have been studying in Chongqing until the liberation of Chongqing." ”
After the liberation of Chongqing, Chen Hu was even more eager to see his father, fantasizing that his father would one day appear in front of him. However, time passed day by day, and there was not a single bit of news. Finally, one day, he plucked up the courage to inquire about the newly established people's government.
"They told me to notify me as soon as there was news. Two or three days later, I saw a message in the newspaper on the school bulletin board that said, "The criminal who killed Chen Tanqiu and other martyrs is fufa." Chen Hu said that at that time, he suddenly realized that the last glimmer of hope was completely shattered, and the pain was indescribable.
Chen Hu and his mother Xu Quanzhi (center) in Shanghai (file photo). Xinhua News Agency (Courtesy of Chen Tanqiu Former Residence Memorial Hall)
Originally, after Chen Tanqiu finished his work on the CPC delegation to the Comintern in 1939, he returned to China to serve as the representative of the CPC Central Committee in Xinjiang and the head of the Eighth Route Army's office in Xinjiang. After the Xinjiang warlord Sheng Shicai embarked on the anti-Soviet and anti-communist road, the Party Central Committee agreed to evacuate all Communists working in Xinjiang. Chen Tanqiu included himself in the last batch and said, "As long as there is still one comrade, I cannot leave."
On September 17, 1942, Chen Tanqiu was arrested. The enemy tortured him and forced him to "leave the party", but he refused to give in. On September 27, 1943, Chen Tanqiu was secretly murdered in prison at the age of 47.
The news of Chen Tanqiu's sacrifice has been unknown. At the Seventh National Congress of the Party in 1945, Chen Tanqiu was also elected a member of the Central Committee. The deputies did not expect that Chen Tanqiu had already devoted himself to the revolutionary cause.
In the summer of 1932, Chen Tanqiu's wife Xu Quanzhi (second from left) and Chen Tanqiu's sister-in-law and nephew were in Shanghai (remake of the file photo). Xinhua News Agency
After losing his parents at an early age, Chen Hu often missed them for more than 80 years, especially after he became an adult, and gradually knew and understood them, knowing that they were people who were particularly worth remembering. Chen Hu said that in his brief and intimate contact with his parents, he left a childish and faint memory. "Although these memories are trivial, they are warm memories for my life, soothing and inexhaustible motivation for my soul to move forward."
Chen Hu has always adhered to the principle of "being a useful person to society", and after retiring from the National Development and Reform Commission, he served as a consultant on the expert committee of China International Engineering Consulting Co., Ltd. He said: Over the past 100 years, the CPC has united and led the people of all ethnic groups throughout the country to carry out a sustained and great struggle, created one miracle after another, and fundamentally changed the future and destiny of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, and my father is also a major representative of the party. At this special moment, Chen Hu decided to write a reply letter to his father who was 88 years late, reporting to him on the unfinished business of that year and the great motherland of today.
Chen Hu's childhood photo, with Chen Tanqiu's autograph inscription (remake of the file photo). Xinhua News Agency
Dear Dad,
"Daddy" and "Mommy," these two noble, warm, intoxicating, heartbreaking titles, I haven't used and enjoyed them directly and effectively in 88 years.
After my sister and I arrived at my grandmother's house, the whole family was very protective of us, and my grandmother gave full play to her "maternal love" for us, and we both became the darlings of the family. But we still miss you very much.
In Chen Celou Village, Huangzhou District, Huanggang City, Hubei Province, the villagers regard you as a good son of the Huanggang people and the pride of the Huanggang people. The fathers and elders of your hometown still relish the fact that the first party branch in the eastern Hubei region, which you personally founded in your hometown in the early 1920s, sowed the seeds of revolution.
……
This is the original handwritten letter written by Chen Tanqiu to his family in Shanghai in February 1933 (photographed on March 26) from the Hubei Provincial Museum. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Yu Guoqing
At that time, you longed for the prosperity of the country and the people, and now the mountains and rivers are still there, the country is safe, the people live and work in peace and contentment, and it is thriving. This is a prosperous world, as you wish. The small mountain village where you once lived has now become a well-known happy village, and the fathers and villagers who once suffered have also lived a happy and well-off new life.
In 1927, your former home was burned down by the reactionaries, leaving only a lonely door frame made of three strips of stone. The villagers of Chen Celou Village have protected this door frame, and for more than 30 years, it has been standing there and has become a special symbol, which not only pins the nostalgia of the villagers for you and your mother, as well as the three martyrs of the eighth uncle, but also becomes the ironclad evidence of exposing the crimes of the reactionary regime. Now the former residence has been restored at the original site, the door frame is still the original three stones, and with the former residence as the center, it has formed a red scenic spot integrating the Former Residence Memorial Hall of Chen Tanqiu, the Exhibition Hall of Important Deeds of Life, the Bronze Statue Square, the Oath Square, etc., and more than 200,000 people come to visit and pay tribute to you every year.
The mountains and rivers will not forget you, and the earth will not forget you, because you have sprinkled a piece of affection here. Dad, you are now buried in the Urumqi Martyrs' Cemetery, because the road is far away, your children can not often go to pay homage and visit the grave, but you can rest assured, although your children have different growth trajectories, none of them have complained that their parents have "abandoned" us. We all understand your loyalty to the party and will pass on this loyalty forever!
Your son is flat