It was painted on November 18, 1945 in Yan'an, Shaanxi Province
Overseas Chinese Flag;
National brilliance.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Chen Jiageng returned from abroad to actively support the Communist Party's anti-Japanese ideas and donated money and materials to support the War of Resistance. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, on November 18, 1945, Tan Kah Kee broke through many obstacles and returned to Singapore safely. Ten groups, including the Tangmei Alumni Association and the Xiamen University Alumni Association in Chongqing, held the "Chen Jiageng Safety Celebration Conference" and Mao Zedong sent a single article entitled "Overseas Chinese Banner, National Glory", which is a historical evaluation of Chen Jiageng.
This joint recording is from the Dictionary of the Chinese Couplet Congress edited by Gu Pingdan, Chang Jiang and Zeng Baoquan, China Friendship Publishing Company, February 1991, p. 527.
Mao Zedong and Chen Jiageng
exegesis
[Chen Jiageng] (1874-1961), a native of Jimei Village,Tong'an County, Fujian Province (now part of Xiamen City). Famous patriotic overseas Chinese leader. In 1910, he joined the League, and in 1911 he became the president of the Fujian Security Association. From 1913 to 1920, he successively founded primary and secondary schools and schools in Jimei, such as teachers' training, aquatic products, navigation, agriculture and forestry, and business. In 1918, nanyang huaqiao middle school was founded in Singapore. In 1921, he founded Xiamen University. After the "9.18" incident, he actively carried out national salvation activities. In 1938, he initiated the establishment of the "Nanyang Overseas Chinese Relief Association for Refugees in the Motherland" in Singapore and served as its chairman. Later, he went to Yan comfort the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians in the Lao border area and supported the anti-Japanese national united front led by the Communist Party of China. In 1949, he attended the first plenary session of the Chinese Political Consultative Conference. After liberation, he successively served as a member of the Central People's Government, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese Political Consultative Conference, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, a member of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Committee, and the chairman of the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese. He died in Beijing on August 12, 1961. He is the author of "Memoirs of Southern Overseas Chinese", "Housing and Health" and so on.
Mao Zedong with Chen Jiageng and Zhuang Mingli in Zhongnanhai
Appreciation
Chen Jiageng introduced rubber, operated in the manufacturing industry, shipping industry, etc. for more than 30 years in his lifetime, and made significant contributions to the prosperity of overseas Chinese settlements. He is enthusiastic about cultural and educational undertakings, and since 1913, he has founded and sponsored many schools in Jimei, Xiamen, Minnan and Singapore. For example, in Jimei, there are primary schools for boys and girls, kindergartens, teachers' training, middle schools, aquatic products, navigation, commerce, rural areas, traditional Chinese studies and aquatic products and commercial aviation colleges. Libraries, science halls, gymnasiums, hospitals, rural testing grounds and the Ministry of Education Extension were also created. There is Xiamen University in Xiamen. In southern Fujian, two middle schools and more than 70 primary schools were initiated and subsidized. In Singapore, there are Daonan Primary School, Nanyang Huaqiao Secondary School, Nanyang Normal School and Aquatic Navigation School. Chen Jiageng was frugal in his life, regardless of personal interests, and for the prosperity of the nation, he used his personal income to run a school for more than 10 million yuan.
Chen Jiageng in Chongqing in Chongqing
In the spring of 1940, Chen Jiageng, with the entrustment of the vast number of overseas Chinese in Nanyang, led a delegation back to the motherland to comfort the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians, and the first stop was of course the wartime capital Chongqing. Chiang Kai-shek attached great importance to it and ordered that the reception work should be done at all costs and that Chen Jiageng must be satisfied. There is a reason why Chiang Kai-shek attaches so much importance to Chen Jiageng.
Chen Jiageng was a patriotic old overseas Chinese from the League, and after the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he served as the chairman of the "Nanyang Overseas Chinese Association" and was responsible for the work of overseas Chinese in the entire Southeast Asian region in supporting the motherland's War of Resistance. Under the leadership of his organization, the vast number of overseas Chinese compatriots donated money and materials to the country every month. In the past three years, the vast number of overseas Chinese have raised about 400 million yuan of "national currency" for the motherland through the Federation, and countless materials, and Chiang Kai-shek regarded Chen Jiageng as the god of wealth.
After the completion of the Burma Road, the lifeline of the War of Resistance, there was a shortage of drivers and repairmen. Chen Jiageng ascended to a high call, and more than 3,000 overseas Chinese youth waved goodbye to their relatives and braved enemy artillery fire to rush day and night on the Yunnan Burma Highway to rush to transport military supplies. It can be said that without Chen Jiageng and the vast number of overseas Chinese, the victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression might have been postponed for some time.
In accordance with the spirit of Chiang Kai-shek's instructions, the National Government set up a welcome committee with a huge lineup, composed of more than 20 important departments of the party, government, and army, including the Central Propaganda Department, the Ministry of Finance, and the Overseas Chinese Committee, to welcome Chen Jiageng's arrival. Under the extremely tight financial situation of the Kuomintang, Chiang Kai-shek specially approved the expenditure of sufficient reception funds, of which the cost of the banquet alone amounted to 80,000 yuan. According to Chinese price history data, this money could buy 800 head of cattle at that time! According to the current price, it can reach 10 million yuan, which is eye-popping.
Mr. Chen Jiageng was welcomed by people from all walks of life in Yan'an
As a result, Chen Jiageng spent more than 60 days in Chongqing, did not have time to do business, and was forced to exhaust himself at various banquets every day. But no matter what kind of mountain treasures and seafood taste, Chen Jiageng still can't eat it, and he can't swallow a mouthful, he knows how short the enemy's current China is. However, he did not expect that "eating tight in the front" and "eating tight in the rear" were the norm for officials of the capital during the war, which made Chen Jiageng extremely disgusted and bitter: Can such a government lead the whole people to go to the country together? Is there any hope for national rejuvenation?
Helplessly, Chen Jiageng published a statement of strike in the Kuomintang's "Central Daily" for three consecutive days, which is also rare in the world, the statement said:
"In this difficult and difficult period of the War of Resistance, I hope that the government and the people will practice economy and do not consume material resources!"
Chongqing made him feel suffocated, and after visiting the children of overseas Chinese on the Burma Highway, although Chiang Kai-shek was not happy, Chen Jiageng decided to go to the legendary Yan'an, where he wanted to breathe fresh air.
Seeing the sun shining in Yan'an, Chen Jiageng "saw the blue sky like a cloud and fog", and his mood suddenly became bright.
On the evening of June 1, 1940, Mao Zedong hosted a banquet to entertain Chen Jiageng. Yan'an is inferior to Chongqing, where there is no golden banquet hall, nor is there a valuable mountain treasure and seafood. The banquet was held in the open air, just outside Mao's cave. The dining table is even more special, a large table is set on a small, dilapidated square table, and the table top is potholed, and several old newspapers are laid out to cover up the ugliness. Eating Chinese cabbage and beans grown in Mao Zedong's own vegetable garden, the most exquisite thing is only a bowl of chicken soup per person, or soup more meat and less meat.
Mao Zedong implored the guests to forgive, saying that they really could not come up with anything good. As for the chicken soup, Mao Zedong explained: "This is the only chicken in the neighbor's mother's house, laying eggs, and she heard that my distinguished guest came to the door and quietly slaughtered it." ”
When Chen Jiageng heard this, he almost burst into tears. The simple and incorruptible Communist Party living in a ravine, the blending of official-people relations, and the full and upward mental state of the upper and lower levels are completely different from the decay and degeneration of Chongqing, which is in stark contrast.
As soon as he returned to Chongqing, Chen Jiageng, who was refreshed, immediately held a press conference and told the people of the whole country bluntly: Yan'an let me "see the blue sky like a cloud and fog", And China's hope is in Yan'an, "Rejoicing for my great Chinese nation!" Since then, Chen Jiageng has parted ways with the Kuomintang. Later, the huge donations of overseas Chinese in Nanyang were no longer given to the Kuomintang, but flowed endlessly to the anti-Japanese base areas under the leadership of the CCP, including the Ford cars used by the central leadership.
Previously, because the Kuomintang was "orthodox" and was now a great enemy, Chen Jiageng had always been a staunch pro-Chiang Kai-shek faction. Chen Jiageng's transformation severely damaged the legitimacy of the Kuomintang, and Chiang Kai-shek was greatly shocked, annoyed, and deeply humiliated. He couldn't figure it out for the rest of his life: I was so good to him, why did he punch me in the face? Why did you go to Yan'an and change a person? What exactly did the Communist Party use to "buy" Chen Jiageng?
As a representative figure of the big landlords and the big bourgeoisie, Chiang Kai-shek certainly did not understand how a peasant meal cobbled together from the east could have such an effect. He did not know or understand that the Communist Party's invincible heirloom weapon was actually a style of arduous struggle. The arduous struggle contains rich spiritual treasures, contains the code of people's hearts and minds, and cannot be measured by money and materials at all.
Chiang Kai-shek's 80,000-strong feast was not worth Mao Zedong's table of peasant dishes. The common people have a scale in their hearts, and Chongqing's squandering of gold has exposed their stupidity and stubbornness, twilight, and decline; Yan'an firmly stands on the side of the people, conforms to and leads the trend of the times, and the youthful vitality and spiritual charm of the Communist Party shine brightly. Compared with the two, Chen Jiageng, like all the Chinese people, could not have a second choice.
Chen Jiageng spoke at the Political Consultative Conference
Chen Jiageng has a valuable national integrity. Sweeping away the weakness and compromise of the national capitalists, he waged an indomitable struggle against the monopoly capital cliques with the spirit of hard bones. From 1923, when he founded the Nanyang Shang Bao and advocated boycotting Japanese goods until the japanese imperialists surrendered, he has been actively engaged in anti-Japanese national salvation activities, raising huge sums of money to aid the motherland in the War of Resistance, and waged a resolute struggle against the Japanese Kou and traitors and capitulationists.
Chen Jiageng has firm political confidence and political foresight. In his youth, he deeply resented the corruption and incompetence of the Qing court, and did his duty as a citizen to actively support Sun Yat-sen's struggle to overthrow the Qing court. In March 1940, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he disregarded Chiang Kai-shek's praise, co-optation, threats, rumors, and attacks, personally went to Yan'an to investigate, distinguish between right and wrong, and concluded that "China's hope is in Yan'an" and "Chairman Mao is the great savior of the Chinese nation", and firmly followed the Communist Party of China.
Chen Jiageng
After the founding of New China, Chen Jiageng threw himself into the cause of socialist revolution and construction in the motherland until the last breath. He made an important contribution to the revolutionary victory of the Chinese people. His life reflects in a concentrated way the strong desire of overseas Chinese to oppose imperialism and colonialism, safeguard the independence of the motherland, and strive for national prosperity. Its great deeds will forever be remembered in history, its brilliance will forever shine in the autumn, and its high winds and bright festivals will always remain in the world, which is an unfailing banner for all patriotic overseas Chinese.
Chen Jiageng's great cause, national integrity, and political foresight are indeed models for us to study, and can be called "the banner of overseas Chinese and the glory of the nation." Mao Zedong gave him such a high evaluation, and he deserved it.