On August 21, 1980, Deng Xiaoping, the second-generation core leader of our Party, gave an interview to a female journalist from Italy at the Great Hall of the People in order to let the world know about the Chinese Communist Party.
This female reporter is not an ordinary person, her name is Olyana Farage, she has interviewed nearly a hundred heads of state, archbishops and influential figures in world politics as a journalist, and her questioning style has caused headaches for many big people, often turning interviews into "quarrels".
After being interviewed by Farage, US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said with annoyance: "Accepting her interview is one of the stupidest things in my life." ”
In the face of Deng Xiaoping, Farage, as always, maintained her very sharp interview style, and came up and asked: "Mr. Deng, do you want to keep the portrait of Chairman Mao on Tiananmen Square forever?" ”
Deng Xiaoping
Faced with the aggressive question of foreign media reporters, how did Deng Xiaoping answer it?
About this story, we must start from the life experience of Farage, a legendary female journalist.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > legendary female journalist</h1>
Oriana Farage was without a doubt one of the most famous female journalists of the 20th century.
She was born in Italy in June 1929, during a period of rising power in Mussolini. Farage's father, a liberal, had always opposed Mussolini's rise to power and had been imprisoned for it. Under the influence of his father, Farage joined the anti-Nazi and anti-Mussolini organizations as a teenager.
After the end of World War II, Farage became interested in power and became very keen to dig into the inner world of big people and explore their true motives. So Farage chose to become a journalist.
At the age of 21, Farage became a reporter for The European magazine, initially being regularly assigned to interview Hollywood stars, and later becoming a war correspondent, going wherever there was war.
Farage
Farage is undoubtedly very "maverick" compared to her peers. Whether in Vietnam or the Middle East, latin America or South Africa, she wears mascara and nail polish and paints her eyeliner black and heavy.
But that doesn't mean Farage isn't dedicated, as a journalist she's had many escapes. For example, when she went to Mexico in 1968, just in time for the Mexican government to suppress protesters, Farage was shot three times by Mexican soldiers in the chaos and then thrown into the morgue, and farage did not die, but stubbornly survived.
The experience of being a war correspondent has given Farage a lot of popularity. And the aggressive attitude she showed in interviews with political leaders around the world made her famous all over the world.
Khomeini
When Farage traveled to Iran to interview the country's religious leader, Khomeini, he disregarded Islamic customs and regulations and took off the veil from his face and threw it to the ground. This move of Angry Khomeini left on the spot, Farage still did not restrain, directly chased up and asked: "Are you going to be convenient?" ”
Khomeini was furious and said on the spot that he would not give her any more interviews. As a result, Farage played a rogue on the spot, lying in the chair and refusing to leave, even Khomeini's son begged her, until Khomeini agreed to give her an interview the next day before getting up and leaving.
In Farage's interview with Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, she asked Selassie: "Your Majesty, have you never lamented your fate as king?" Have you never dreamed of living like a normal person? ”
Selassie
Selassie doesn't get in, and no matter how Farage asks questions, he can always give a plausible answer. However, it was such a person, who was finally asked by Farage to lose his attitude on the spot, and beat people on the spot: "Who is this woman?" Where did she come from and what was she doing? Drive her away! ”
During an interview with boxing champion Muhammad Ali, Ali burped while eating watermelon during the interview, and after Farage endured him twice, he threw the tape recorder in his hand directly into his face during Ali's third hiccup.
Of course, Farage's most famous "achievement" is the interview with Henry Kissinger.
Although Kissinger was the U.S. secretary of state at the time, Farage was not "merciful", asking him: "If I turn my pistol at your temple and order you to choose between Nguyen Van Sau (former president of South Vietnam) and Le Duc Tho (leader of the Viet Cong, who won the Nobel Peace Prize with Kissinger in 1993), who do you choose?" ”
Kissinger
As a political veteran, Kissinger chose to avoid the real and the virtual in the way of "playing tai chi", and did not answer her questions head-on. However, in the face of Farage's pressing questions, Rao Kissinger could not help but be a little overwhelmed, saying that he was "like a western cowboy, riding a horse alone to fight the world". At the same time, when talking a lot about domestic and foreign affairs, Kissinger said "how do I solve it", not "how do I and the president solve it".
So much so that after the interview, Farage gave Kissinger a comment such as "You are Nixon's spiritual wet nurse."
When Farage made this interview public, it immediately caused dissatisfaction from the White House. Because according to the meaning of this interview, it is as if the White House is not Nixon as president, but Kissinger as president. An enraged Nixon refused to answer kissinger's calls, even when Kissinger visited him.
Kissinger had to find a way to apologize to Nixon while demanding a congressional hearing accusing Farage of misrepresenting his words. What Kissinger did not expect was that Farage was so "tough" that he wrote directly to several major television stations in Britain and the United States, asking for the disclosure of all the recordings, and she promised that every word she wrote was on the interview tape.
Later, Kissinger struggled to get back together with Nixon. The interview also left a deep impression on him, bluntly saying that it was the "stupidest thing" he had ever done in his life.
Nixon and Kissinger
You know, Kissinger can be said to be a prominent figure in capitalist society, recognized by the press as the most difficult government official at that time, and Farage once called him "an eel that is smoother than ice", but he was eventually "gray-headed" by Farage, which shows that Farage's interview skills are indeed extraordinary.
In the early 1980s, such a female journalist, who was invincible in the interview, set her sights on China, which was just reforming and opening up, and decided to interview Deng Xiaoping, the leader of China at the time.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Farage in China</h1>
Farage has always had a deep curiosity about China. When she was eight or nine years old, she dreamed of becoming a writer. Wrote a novel called "Personal Adventures.") The novel is mainly about an adventurous little Chinese girl named "Kiss" who escapes from an unknown small village and ventures into the two big cities of Beijing and Shanghai.
Although the young Farage did not know what Beijing and Shanghai really looked like, not even where China was. But this did not prevent her from being full of illusions about the unknown ancient country of the East.
However, for various reasons, Farage has not been able to get the opportunity to enter China. In order to come to China, she even interceded with Prince Sihanouk of Cambodia, who promised to intercede with Premier Zhou Enlai for her in exchange for a kilogram of French cream foie gras, but in the end there was no news.
Prince Sihanoukville
After the reform and opening up, Farage applied to come to China for two consecutive interviews with Deng Xiaoping, but because of her sharp interview characteristics, she has never been approved. It wasn't until 1980, when Italian President Pertini decided to visit China in September, that she saw an opportunity.
Farage took the initiative to find Pertini, asked him to help him "go through the back door", recommended her to the Chinese government, and asked her to conduct an "exclusive interview" with the Chinese leader, not to let other Italian journalists know. Pertini and Farage's father were close friends, and Farage himself had a lot of fame in the world, so Pertini did not hesitate and happily agreed.
Pertini
It didn't take long for Pertini to call the Chinese ambassador and say that a journalist named Olyana Farage admired China's views on international issues and wanted an exclusive interview with Mr. Deng. She is a very "serious" journalist who is friendly to China and hopes that the Chinese government will agree.
The president of a country personally calls to recommend, which is certainly not a trivial matter. Soon, the Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a report to Deng Xiaoping asking for instructions. Deng Xiaoping knew that at this time, public opinion at home and abroad had a lot of speculation about China's policy adjustment, and if he was interviewed, he would be able to let the world understand the purpose of our reforms, and also help Western countries understand China and the Chinese Communist Party. So Deng Xiaoping agreed to Farage's request for an interview.
Soon after, Farage received an invitation from the Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and to her delight, she signed a contract with the New York Times, Italy's Corriere della Sera, Britain's Times, Yugoslavia's Politique and other major newspapers, agreeing to serialize the transcripts of her conversations with Deng Xiaoping in these newspapers.
National Hotel
On August 18, 1980, Farage arrived in Beijing and was arranged to stay in the Minzu Hotel, which was still being remodeled at the time. Beijing in August was undoubtedly very hot, but Farage deliberately chose a small room with only one standing electric fan and no air conditioning.
This is not Farage's "fear of the cold", mainly because many foreign journalists at that time lived in air-conditioned rooms in the National Hotel, and in order not to expose the purpose of the trip, she preferred to live in a remote room without air conditioning.
Before coming to China, Farage had specifically investigated a lot of information about China's politics and history. As a result, after coming to China, she found that the China at this time was not the same as the China she imagined, whether it was the mental outlook or other things.
China in the early 1980s
< H1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > interview with Deng Xiaoping</h1>
On August 21, 1980, Farage and the Chinese side signed a "gentleman's agreement", stipulating that her interview with Deng Xiaoping must be reported truthfully and should not be taken out of context and distorted. Farage was then taken to Hall 118 of the Great Hall of the People and saw Deng Xiaoping sitting behind the coffee table.
In the past, when Deng Xiaoping would meet with foreign journalists, the average Chinese journalist had a certain "privilege" of being present to photograph and record the whole process, and even publish the interview before the foreign reporter. But this time, because Farage specifically proposed to "exclusive interview", the Chinese side made an exception for her, and the Chinese reporter took a few photos in the field and left.
At that time, only Deng Xiaoping, Qian Qichen, director of the Information Department, Farage, Shi Yanhua, a famous translation expert in China who served as a translator for Farage, and a recorder were left in the venue.
As an experienced "old reporter", Farage immediately put the tape recorder on the coffee table after sitting down. Because most Westerners can understand English, Farage said to Deng Xiaoping in English: "Mr. Deng, tomorrow is your birthday, I wish you a happy birthday!" ”
After listening, Deng Xiaoping smiled and asked, "Is tomorrow my birthday?" ”
"Yes!"
Farage was confident because she had studied Deng's biography before and was quite sure that August 22 was indeed the birthday of the old man in front of her.
Deng Xiaoping admired the confident lady and said, "You say yes, that is." In fact, I never cared what day my birthday was. However, even if tomorrow is my birthday, you should not congratulate me, because it means that tomorrow I will be 76 years old, and I have reached the age of decline. ”
Farage laughed and told Deng Xiaoping that her father was also 76 years old this year, and if he told him that "76 years old is the age of decline", he would definitely be slapped twice.
After Listening to Farage, Deng Xiaoping quickly said, "He did a good job!" I'm sure you wouldn't say that to your father, would you? ”
Before the official start of the interview, Deng Xiaoping and Farage had a good chat, and the atmosphere was very relaxed and pleasant. In view of Farage's past "glorious record", the others present could not help but secretly breathe a sigh of relief, fortunately, Farage did not play her "specialty" and turned this interview into a "quarrel".
However, it turns out that they relaxed a little early.
After officially starting the interview, Farage directly asked a rather sharp question: "Mr. Deng, do you want to keep the portrait of Chairman Mao on Tiananmen Square forever?" ”
Portrait of Chairman Mao on Tiananmen Square
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the portrait of the president at Tiananmen Square</h1>
The earliest history of the leader hanging on the tiananmen tower can be traced back to 1945, when China had just won the War of Resistance Against Japan, and Chiang Kai-shek's huge leader photo climbed the Tiananmen Tower. However, as far as Chiang's eyes can see, it is a decaying, decaying, and cannibalistic old society.
On the eve of the founding of New China in 1949, a portrait of Chairman Mao, the founder of the People's Republic, was hung in the center of Tiananmen Square. Since then, the statue of Chairman Mao on the upper floor of Tiananmen Square has been replaced once a year. In the decades that followed, this portrait of Chairman Mao witnessed China's transformation from an agrarian country with nothing to be rebuilt to a world power with a complete industrial system.
The first version of chairman Mao's portrait on the upper floor of Tiananmen Square
In July 1980, a month before Farage formally interviewed Deng Xiaoping, the Party Central Committee issued an important directive calling: "The excessive hanging of Chairman Mao's portraits, quotations and poems in public places is a manifestation of political disrespect, an obstacle to international viewing, and should be gradually reduced to the necessary limits in the future."
Demand: In the future, we should give more publicity to Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, and the superiority of socialism.
After the instructions were issued, the common quotation plates and statues of Chairman Mao in major cities in China were removed, which immediately aroused the discussion of the masses at home and the attention of foreign media.
Therefore, Farage would come up and ask whether the statue of Chairman Mao on the upper floor of Tiananmen Square should be preserved forever.
Deng Xiaoping knew that Farage's question was an opportunity to show the whole world our Party's attitude toward Chairman Mao, and therefore said bluntly:
"Always keep it. In the past, chairman Mao's portraits were hung too much, basically everywhere, without highlighting seriousness or showing respect for Chairman Mao. He is the main founder of our Communist Party of China and the People's Republic of China, and his merits cannot be erased, and we will always commemorate Chairman Mao as the founder of our party and country. ”
For Farage, Deng Xiaoping's answer was something she hadn't expected. Because in Western countries, it is common for former leaders to go to tea and cool immediately after leaving office, and even if the successor does not give the predecessor "small shoes" to wear, it is impossible to have much respect for the predecessor.
Deng Xiaoping and Farage
However, Deng Xiaoping told her bluntly that Chinese would always respect and miss Chairman Mao, which Farage could never understand. She cannot be blamed for this, after all, Farage is also a bourgeois journalist, and although she "claims to take history seriously", it is inevitable that prejudice will arise in the face of socialist countries with very different ideologies.
For example, when Farage interviewed Walesa, the chairman of the Polish trade union, who was highly sought after by the West at the time, he instinctively felt that he was "arrogant, ignorant, full of aggression, and a puppet of the church", but out of the consideration of defending bourgeois "democracy" and not being able to help the Soviets and the Polish Communist Party, Farage wrote in the interview transcript that Walesa was a "good man" who bowed to the "democratization" of Poland.
Walesa
In the following interview, Farage asked Several sharp questions about Deng Xiaoping, which were all resolved by Deng Xiaoping. After that, Farage turned the topic of the interview to the issue of four modernizations and private investments. Deng Xiaoping told her:
Our construction policy is still the policy of "self-reliance as the mainstay and foreign aid as a supplement" formulated by Chairman Mao; no matter how much we open up and how much foreign capital comes in, it will never affect our socialist public ownership system. ”
The interview began at ten o'clock and ended at twelve o'clock, lasting two hours and ten minutes. Before, when Deng Xiaoping met with foreign guests, he would generally pinch the time very accurately and end it before the meal arrived, but this time he "overtimed" for ten minutes, which shows that he and Farage are still very "speculative".
This "wonderful" interview with Deng Xiaoping left an extremely deep impression on Farage. After all, it is rare in the world to be able to be a politician like Deng Xiaoping who can not retreat under her aggressive "offensive", and after interviewing Deng Xiaoping, Farage frankly said: "I was fascinated by him during the interview, and the interview with Deng Xiaoping was the best work." ”
In October 1993, Farage was invited to China again and gave a speech at 3 p.m. on October 14 at the Academic Lecture Hall of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. In his speech, Farage recounted the scene when she saw Deng Xiaoping again two days after her first interview.
On that day, the 51-year-old Farage lost his self-control after seeing Deng Xiaoping and suddenly shouted: "Mr. Deng, I love you, I love you!" ”
Farage's enthusiastic words surprised several leaders around Deng Xiaoping. To ease the atmosphere, Deng Xiaoping told them, "She speaks like an American." ”
To this day, the statue of Chairman Mao on the upper floor of Tiananmen Square is still replaced once a year. The portrait of Chairman Mao will live on forever, watching our Chinese nation move toward rejuvenation step by step.