Text/Wang Lihua
How to fight a strong opponent requires courage, will, and wisdom, which is an art. In this regard, New China has accumulated rich experience in the past 70 years.
60 years ago, China faced an unprecedented difficult situation, the international environment is dangerous, it is difficult to imagine today, the Soviet Union and the United States, the two most powerful countries in the world once looked at China. How did Chairman Mao respond to this situation?
Looking back at this history today is of particular significance.
<h1>01Why do you say ghosts?
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At that time, there were two major camps in the world. One is the camp of imperialist countries headed by the United States and the other is the camp of socialist countries headed by the Soviet Union.
At the beginning of the founding of New China, the Western camp led by the United States became enemies of us, especially after the Korean battlefield was retreated by the volunteer army to the south of the 38th Line, and it intensified to isolate and blockade us. The socialist camp led by the Soviet Union gave us strong support, and the Soviet Big Brother alone assisted 156 industrial construction projects.
But around 1959, the political line of the Soviet Union gradually changed, and Khrushchev's differences with us gradually became public in order to please the United States in controlling China, and later developed to suddenly withdraw experts to aid China, tear up contracts, and stop all aid to China.
For a time, the two major camps in the world have become our opposites, which can be said to be "snow pressing winter clouds white flying, and flowers are rare for a while." In the face of such a grim situation, many people are pessimistic and afraid, and it is in this context that Chairman Mao often talks about the stories described in ancient Chinese novels that Chinese are not afraid of ghosts, in order to inspire everyone's ambition.
In order to educate the whole party and the people of the whole country not to be afraid of ghosts, Chairman Mao instructed the Secretariat of the Central Committee to organize forces to select a pamphlet from various ancient Chinese notebook novels, and the title of the book was "The Story of Not Being Afraid of Ghosts." This task was entrusted to the Institute of Literature of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, under the specific responsibility of Director He Qifang, chairman Mao personally led and guided from beginning to end, and was the actual editor-in-chief of the book.
In the second half of 1959, before the pamphlet was published, Chairman Mao selected a part of the stories from them and printed them to the leading comrades attending the Central Work Conference for study. He said, I'm also in my 60s, I just don't fear ghosts, and we're going to publish a book about ghosts soon.
The stories that Chairman Mao guided and compiled without fear of ghosts, as well as those ideas that are not afraid of ghosts, are not simply a matter of looking at things. In the past, present and future, this pamphlet shines with the light of wisdom and is our sharp ideological weapon to overcome all enemies and difficulties.
<h1>02 Ghosts are not to be feared
There are people in this world who are afraid of ghosts, and there are people who are not afraid of ghosts. Is the ghost afraid of its good, or is it not afraid of its good?
In Chairman Mao's view, all enemies, opponents, and difficulties belong to "ghosts," and only by not being afraid of them can we overcome them and overcome them.
Chairman Mao once told you a story of "Crazy Night Sitting":
"One night, Madman sat in the house. There was a ghost standing outside the window, sticking his head into the window, it was ugly, sticking his tongue out, the head was so big, the tongue was so long. What about the madman? He put ink on his face, painted it like a ghost, and also stuck out his tongue and looked at the ghost, for an hour, two hours, three hours, looking at the ghost, and then the ghost ran away. ”
In "The Story of Not Being Afraid of Ghosts", it is basically the story of such people who are not afraid of ghosts, ghosts are afraid of people, and finally people defeat ghosts. For example, in "Chen Pengnian Blowing Air and Retreating from the Ghost", it is said:
One autumn night, Chen Pengnian went to a friend's house to play. While he was waiting for his friend alone, a female hanger with a disheveled head came and blew air at him with her shoulders open. He suddenly felt a cold wind, like ice, blown his hair straight up, his teeth bumping up and down, the lamp on the table glowing blue, and it seemed that it was going to be extinguished.
Faced with such a terrible situation, Chen secretly thought, "Ghosts are still angry, but I am alone?" So he puffed up enough energy to blow the hanging ghost of the woman. I actually found that wherever my qi was blown into the ghost, it was blown into a hole. Soon, the ghost's belly was blown through by him, his chest was blown through by him, and the ghost's head was also blown away by him, and in an instant the ghost was like light smoke, gone.
Ghosts can blow ghost qi to harm people, people can also blow people to destroy ghosts, and popularity can overwhelm ghost qi. Such a story is really the ambition of the elders and the majesty of exterminating ghosts.
When Chairman Mao revised the preface, he spoke of all things that were superficially terrible but were not terrible in practice, and added such a wonderful passage:
"Do they have qi, but we don't have qi?" Is it not that they are afraid of us, but that we are afraid of them, according to the actual situation? Is it true that the more we are afraid of the 'ghost', the more the 'ghost' likes us, sends out compassion, does not harm us, and our cause will suddenly become smooth, everything will be prosperous and beautiful, and spring will blossom? ”
Chairman Mao told us that it is useless to be afraid of ghosts, and as long as people are not afraid of ghosts, dare to despise them, and struggle against them, ghosts will be afraid of people. All terrible things, which seem terrible, are actually not so terrible, and if we break the superstition and the fear, we will be able to defeat the ghost completely.
Today, those capitulators, and those pessimists, are fundamentally intimidated by American hegemonism. Although the power of the United States is still very strong, this ghost is still very threatening, and it has been preached for many years to be terrible, but the question is, even if you surrender to the ghost, can the ghost spare you? That is impossible, that can only lose power and humiliate the country, lose the hearts and minds of the people and morale, and exchange for the devil's gain.
The lessons of history cannot be forgotten. We must understand this truth: it is useless to be afraid of ghosts, it is even more useless to rely on prostrating one's head and begging for forgiveness to say good things, eating people is the nature and instinct of ghosts, if you want to make ghosts not eat people, or let ghosts be honest, you must be firm and confident not to be afraid of ghosts, unite and fight with ghosts to the end, let it do nothing to you, and never dare to act rashly against you.
<h1>03 Tactically, we must pay attention to ghosts
Chairman Mao particularly stressed that it is not only strategically necessary not to fear ghosts and despise ghosts, but also to attach importance to ghosts in tactics in order to finally defeat ghosts. That is to say, for each specific ghost, for every specific occasion of circling with ghosts, not only dare to struggle, but also adopt a cautious attitude and fight wits and courage in order to truly defeat ghosts and achieve victory.
Chairman Mao used the story of "Song Dingbo Catching Ghosts" to illustrate the idea of attaching importance to ghosts in tactics. This story is the first in the book and is roughly as follows:
There is a Henan man named Song Dingbo, who encounters a ghost on the road at night. He asked the ghost: Who? The ghost replied: I am a ghost. The ghost asked: Who are you? Song lied and said: I am also a ghost. The ghost asked: Where are you going? Song said: Go to Wanshi. The ghost said: I am also going to Wanshi. So the two went all the way.
After walking out of the number of miles, the ghost suggested: Walking slowly and tired like this, how about taking turns carrying it? Song said: Good! The ghost walked a few miles behind Song's back and asked suspiciously: Your body is so heavy, isn't it? Song said: I am a new ghost who has just died, so it is a little heavier. When Song backed the ghost, there was really no weight.
I exchanged my back two or three times. Song xiang ghost said: I am a new ghost, I don't know what ghosts should be afraid of? The ghost said to him, "I'm afraid that people will spit on him."
When crossing the river, the ghosts have no sound, and Song is noisy and chaotic. The ghost asked incredulously: How can you make a noise? Song said: There is nothing strange about the newly dead, who have not yet learned to swim in the water.
When it was almost time to arrive in Wanshi, it was the turn of the Song Back Ghost. He grabbed the ghost with all his might, and the ghost screamed on his shoulder to come down, but he ignored it until Wanshi didn't put it down. The ghost on his shoulder landed on the ground and turned into a sheep. He was afraid that the ghost would change again, so he spat on it in a hurry. He sold the ghost sheep on the spot and got 1500 yuan.
Chairman Mao praised Song Dingbo and said, "He knew from the ghost that the ghost was afraid of something, so he used that thing to cure it, and he cured the ghost." ”
Ghosts are terrible, they want to eat people, but in front of Song Dingbo, who is bold and careful and completely active in spirit, not only has he not been eaten by ghosts, he has also repeatedly deceived ghosts, explored the weaknesses of ghosts from the mouths of ghosts, and the final result of the struggle between people and ghosts, the opposite is that people sell ghosts and get 1500 yuan.
These stories show that there is nothing terrible about ghosts, and that man is perfectly capable of defeating it. But it is not a simple and reckless response, we must carefully understand the situation of the ghost, seriously study the characteristics of the ghost, identify the fear and weak links of the ghost, and use clever methods and strategies to fight, in order to defeat and subdue the ghost.
From this, it is conceivable that the United States is now also dancing with teeth and claws against China, which seems terrible. To defeat it, we must first overcome the idea of fear, not let capitulationism be arrogant, but also avoid simple and reckless, attach great importance to the opponent in tactics, study the characteristics of the opponent, adopt ingenious strategies to clean it up, and even return its body in its own way.
<h1>04 Struggle with ghosts to transform
In the preface to "The Story of Not Being Afraid of Ghosts" approved by Chairman Mao, there is this passage:
"All difficulties and setbacks in revolutionary work are only temporary phenomena, only obstacles and twists and turns on the way forward, all can be overcome and reversed, and things always exchange positions with their opponents under certain conditions through struggle, and transform themselves into the status of their others."
The last two sentences were added by Chairman Mao himself after repeated deliberation.
These words are full of philosophical meaning, full of faith in the victory of truth and justice, and highlight the spirit of struggle. It is necessary to realize the transformation from being afraid of ghosts to being afraid of ghosts to being afraid of ghosts through the struggle of not being afraid of ghosts and despising ghosts; we must look at the weaknesses of ghosts and fight ghosts, so that we can bring down ghosts and realize the transformation of their status with each other.
In "The Story of Not Afraid of Ghosts", there is a story of "AiZi":
Ai Zi saw a small temple on the road, there was a ditch in front of the temple, and a person who could not cross it when he walked here took the statue of the great king from the temple and put it on the ditch, and then stepped on it.
Another man came to this place and sighed at the sight of this: How can you be so disrespectful to the idols of god? He lifted up the idol, cleaned it up and down with his own clothes, carried it into the temple, placed it on the throne, and prostrated his head respectfully before leaving.
After a while, Ai Zi heard the little ghost in the temple say: The great king is a god here, suffering from an incense, but now he is insulted, why not punish him to show retribution? The king said, "If you want to show retribution, do the evil on the man who came after you."
The little devil didn't know why. The king explained: How can the man in front of him repay him if he no longer believes in God?
It can be seen that even the ghost knows that if you believe in it and fear it, it can control you, intimidate you, and make you submit. On the other hand, if you don't believe in it and don't fear it, it won't help you. The loss of eating ghosts, and even the loss of constantly eating ghosts, is more because I believe in ghosts too much, and even have ghosts in my heart.
There is also a story called "Witchcraft", which reads as follows:
There was Mr. Yu, and the servant was sick and could not get out of bed, and he asked a man in the city who was very clever. The seller said to him: Your servant is nothing, but you yourself are very dangerous, you will die in 3 days, as long as you give me 10 taels of silver, I can pray to you to avoid disaster.
Mr. Yu ignored the words of the seller, stood up and left. The seller said to him: You don't want to regret the money. Mr. Yu's friend also advised him to take out the money and beg the one who sold it, but he ignored it.
Fast forward to day 3 and nothing happened. At night, Mr. Yu closed the door and lit the lamp, waiting with a sword. One more is over, and there is no sign of dying.
When Mr. Yu was about to go to bed, he suddenly heard a sound in the window crack. I saw a small man carrying a go in, and after landing on the ground, he became like an adult. Yu used his sword to cut it, but it suddenly became smaller and wanted to drill out of the window, and Yu made up another sword to cut it down. Looking at it with a lamp, it turned out to be a paper man with a severed waist.
Mr. Yu did not dare to sleep and sat there waiting. Half an hour later, another ugly ghost-like thing burrowed into the window. Just landed, it was cut into two pieces by Mr. Yu's sword, each section was squirming like a bug, afraid that it would rise again, Mr. Yu even slashed several swords, each time it made a very hard sound, looking closely at the original is a clay puppet, has been cut into pieces.
Mr. Yu moved to sit in front of the window, staring at the window slit. After a long time, I heard the sound outside the window like a cow panting, and there was something pushing the window sash, pushing even the walls were vibrating, and the house was about to collapse. Yu thought, so suppressed by the house, it is better to go out and duel with it, so he opened the door and went out. I saw a giant ghost, as tall as the eaves, standing in the dim moonlight, with a face as black as charcoal, eyes shining yellow, shirtless and barefoot, holding a bow in his hand and an arrow in his waist.
When Mr. Yu was in horror, the ghost had already shot the arrow over. He hurriedly used his sword to pull down the arrows that came from him, and was about to slash the ghost with his sword, when the ghost shot another arrow, and he jumped to avoid it, and the arrow hit the wall, and it still trembled and made a noise. The ghost did not shoot Mr. Yu, and angrily pulled out his saber, slashed it like the wind, and Quickly flashed away, and the knife slashed at the stone in the courtyard, cutting the stone.
At this time, Mr. Yu swooped between the ghost's legs and stabbed the ghost's ankle with his sword. The ghost was even angrier, roaring like thunder, turning around and chopping with a knife. Mr. Yu bent over and was cut off by the ghost's knife, but he had already come to the ghost's coercion, swung his sword violently at the ghost, and with the sound of the ghost, the ghost fell to the ground and froze. Mr. Yu slashed one after another, and the sound was like knocking on a wooden pole. Illuminated by a lamp, it turned out to be a puppeteer, depicting a vicious and vicious depiction, and there was blood flowing out of the place where the knife was cut.
At this time, Mr. Yu understood that those ghosts and monsters were all sent by the fortune tellers, that is, they wanted to kill him. The next day, he told his best friend about it, and together they caught the reckoner and sent him to the yamen to be sentenced to death.
From this story, we can see that the struggle between ghosts and people is changing patterns, there are all kinds of ghosts, some ghosts fight relatively easily, and may be able to defeat the enemy with one move, while some ghosts are relatively large in size and strength, and need to seize its fatal weakness to strike.
What a blessing
It is not entirely a bad thing to have ghosts do evil, because in turn it can make people no longer believe in ghosts, no longer have illusions about ghosts, so that those who play for ghosts no longer have a market, so that everyone can unify their will and understand, strengthen themselves, improve their abilities, and accelerate development. Positive persuasion is often difficult to achieve such an effect, and in this sense, people should be grateful for the presence and madness of ghosts.
This story also tells us that in reality, some of them are "half-human, half-ghost", just like the fortune tellers in the market. For various reasons, although they have human form, they are the manipulators and collaborators behind the ghosts, and they are actually in the same group as those evil spirits, and they sometimes harm people more viciously than ghosts.
What about these half-human, half-ghosts? Chairman Mao told He Qifang that in the preface to "The Story of Not Being Afraid of Ghosts," a few more sentences of "half-man, half-ghost" can be added. The final version of the preamble reads as follows:
"There is also a kind of 'half-human, half-ghost' person, who is not transformed into a complete person, who will go to become a complete 'ghost'. When they are still 'half-human, half-ghost', their reactionary side, like other 'ghosts', always has to do harm and always make trouble. ”
Chairman Mao's stories of not being afraid of ghosts can not only inspire people's ambition to fight ghosts and provide methods for people to fight ghosts, but also transform those "half-people and half-ghosts" and try their best to turn them into people and no longer play tricks for ghosts. In the face of today's situation, it will be of great benefit to read "The Story of Not Afraid of Ghosts" and taste the characters and meanings from those strange ghost stories.
This article was edited by Hu Yidao
The picture comes from the Internet, invaded and deleted.