In 1973, an Italian journalist lied about the Italian ambassador to China, and then stole the guards of the Great Hall of the People, and finally created one of the most classic photos of Premier Zhou Enlai's life. Why did Premier Zhou Enlai agree to the filming request? Why did Chinese people not blame the Italian journalist for his actions, but instead shed tears of great emotion? What was the timing of this photo? In this article, we will reveal the story of the most classic photo of Zhou Enlai's life.
On January 6, 1973, Italian Foreign Minister Giuseppe Medici led a delegation to visit China. A man named Giorggio Loti requested to accompany the group to Visit China. As a photojournalist for Time magazine, Lotti especially wanted to meet Premier Zhou Enlai. Premier Zhou Enlai enjoys a high reputation internationally and has always been an idol in Lotti's heart. On this trip to China, he also had a dream, that is, to take a close-up photo of Premier Zhou.
The Italian delegation's plane landed in Beijing, China, and Lotti was informed that Premier Zhou was going to meet with the Italian delegation in the evening. He immediately approached the Italian ambassador to China and told the ambassador to China that he wanted to attend the meeting at the Great Hall of the People. The Italian ambassador to China understood Lotti's intentions, and he clearly told Lotti: "The Chinese Foreign Ministry has regulations that all delegation reporters are not allowed to take pictures of Zhou Enlai. ”
Lottie agreed to the ambassador's request. In fact, Lotti decided to take a close-up picture of Premier Zhou on this trip anyway, even at the risk of violating discipline. There has never been a single photo in the world that Lotti thinks can show the brilliance of Premier Zhou, which is a regret in Lotti's heart. That evening, according to the procedure of the meeting, Premier Zhou received the Italian delegation immediately after receiving the French delegation.
Loti followed the Italian delegation to the hall. Lottie followed the ambassador and asked excitedly, "When I see Premier Zhou next time, what language should I use to speak to him?" The ambassador said: "Premier Zhou knows French, and you can communicate with him in French." Lottie rubbed her palms excitedly, for he was familiar with French. When Lottie walked into the Great Hall of the People, she began to look around the environment and light in the hall, and how to make good photos.
The meeting proceeded in an orderly manner as planned, and it was immediately Premier Zhou's turn to shake hands with the Italian delegation one by one. More than thirty members of the delegation lined up with reporters to shake hands with Premier Zhou. Lottie was standing in the middle of the line, and at the moment he was a little anxious, at this rate of the crowd, everyone's handshake time was extremely limited, and he simply did not have time to take pictures of Premier Zhou. He suddenly had a stroke of genius and came to the end of the line.
Soon, the penultimate man shook hands with Premier Zhou in a friendly manner. Premier Zhou's kind face was facing Upper Lottie. Lottie immediately said respectfully in French: "Dear Premier Zhou, when I came, I promised not to take pictures of you, but I think the opportunity to meet you is very rare, and I really want to take a picture of you." Can you grant me this request? Premier Zhou smiled and nodded.
Lottie was even more excited. He immediately asked Premier Zhou to sit down on a sofa. He pressed the shutter, but found that the photo he had just taken was not ideal, and it did not make him feel very suitable from either the angle or from the prime minister's sitting position. He hurriedly adjusted his posture and looked at it from a different angle, but he still couldn't find the feeling of shooting. Time was pressing, and Fine beads of sweat oozed from Lottie's forehead. Just when he was anxious about not taking the ideal photo, an opportunity appeared at the right time.
Premier Zhou's secretary called out to the premier at the entrance of the hall, as if there was something to say to Premier Zhou. Premier Zhou looked at the secretary in response, his upper body turned slightly to the left, his eyes relaxed slightly, but he seemed to be contemplating something because he was looking into the distance. From Lottie's camera point of view, the prime minister's state of affairs is very natural. With great excitement, he pressed the shutter in an instant. After filming, Lottie, as if in a dream, bowed to the Prime Minister and then turned to leave.
Lottie once recalled: After filming, she was very excited and excited, as if she had completed an important event in her life. But apparently Lottie wasn't quite through yet. A guard from the hall came toward him. Before the meeting, the superiors made a request to each guard: it is strictly forbidden for any foreign guests to take pictures of the prime minister. The guard noticed Lotty's behavior and walked toward him. Lottie also observed the guards' movements, like a frightened fawn, eagerly looking for a solution.
Lottie came up with the idea of stealing beams and changing columns. He quickly placed the camera under the table and pulled out a new film. The film that contained Premier Zhou's photograph in the camera was taken out and replaced with new film. The resourceful Lottie deliberately took two photos with new film to make the plan work perfectly. After a while, the guard came over and asked politely, "Are you Mr. Lotti?" ”
Lottie replied nonchalantly, "Yes." The guard explained: "You have just taken a photo of Premier Zhou, which violates our regulations and your commitment not to take pictures, please return the negatives immediately." Lottie pretended to have a lot of trouble with the guards, and pretended to be very reluctant, took out the film in the camera, exposed it, and handed it to the guard. Later, I was asked why the film was exposed at that time.
Lottie replied: If they had found out that I had given them a blank film, they might have guessed that I was giving fake film and would have come to me for trouble. In this way, Lottie successfully brought out this classic photo. The whole picture is warm and warm, which looks very warm. Premier Zhou's left arm supported his hair, his right arm was slightly bent, his face was relaxed, and his eyes were firm and deep in the distance, which was simply integrated with the surrounding environment.
In the upper left pocket of Premier Zhou's Zhongshan suit, a red badge of "serving the people" is pinned, showing the greatness of the faith and personality in Premier Zhou's heart. This picture seems to be intentional but unintentional, there is no deliberate trace, there is no hard photographic trace, can be called a work of art. As soon as this photo was published, it won the favor of the vast number of international media. Many publishers have published this image on the cover of their magazines, attracting many readers to watch.
In the winter of 1974, Comrade Wang Chuanbin, political counselor in Italy, received a special gift on the night before returning to China. This gift was given to him by Comrade Gao Zhufeng, Commercial Counsellor in Italy. Gao Zhufeng carefully took out a white paper wrapped item from his arms and whispered to Wang Chuanbin: "This is a souvenir given to me by an Italian reporter after returning from China, and now I will share this thing with you." ”
Wang Chuanbin opened the white paper and found that it was a photo of Premier Zhou. This is the one lot Lotti took. Wang Chuanbin felt that this photo was very precious. He re-wrapped it up and took great pains to bring it back to his homeland. Wang Chuanbin's friend, Li Shangzhi, who is the head of the Xinhua News Agency, witnessed the photo and decided to remake the photo and reprint it for printing, making it widely circulated in China. Wang Chuanbin immediately nodded his head in praise.
Subsequently, the photo was widely circulated in thousands of households in China. The photograph was eventually made into a huge photograph and included in the main hall of the Zhou Enlai Memorial Hall in Huai'an, Jiangsu Province, where many visitors visit every day to stop and watch this classic photograph. The title of the work was determined to be "Contemplating Zhou Enlai" by the Italian photographer Giorgio Loti. Because of this photo, Lotti became a foreign friend that Chinese people liked. Many Chinese departments have invited Lotti to visit China many times.
In the 21st century, at the first International Photography Expo held in Guizhou, Mr. Lotti also attended the expo, and the prime minister's photo was also exhibited at the meeting. Mr. Lotti expressed great joy at this photography fair in Guizhou, China. He did not expect to be able to hold such a huge international photography event here. At this expo, Lotti unreservedly explained the knowledge of the field of photography to Chinese photographers.
At the end of the expo, Mr. Lotti left his original photograph of Premier Zhou in China. Lottie said, "I will always be a friend of the Chinese people. After seeing Lottie, Deng Yingchao praised in person: "This is the best photo in the prime minister's life." "The prime minister's life is the least fond of individualism, refusing photographers to take pictures of him. As a result, Premier Zhou often lacked some formal photographs when he was young.
But in the 1970s, the prime minister himself broke the rule of not allowing photographers to take pictures of him, allowing videographers to take pictures of themselves. Why is that? One day, Premier Zhou approached the photographer and said a request in his heart, he wanted to ask the photographer to take a group photo of him and Deng Yingchao. Premier Zhou and Deng Yingchao were married in the revolutionary era, and because of the restrictions at that time, they only held a simple wedding in a hasty manner, and there was not a single decent wedding photo.
Therefore, Premier Zhou decided to obtain a replacement wedding photo with Deng Yingchao. In 1970, Premier Zhou took the time to get a replacement wedding photo with Deng Yingchao. This wedding photo also became the only wedding photo during Premier Zhou's healthy period. Beginning in 1972, Premier Zhou was diagnosed with heart disease and terrible bladder cancer. When Premier Zhou learned of this news, he quietly left the hospital and told the doctors to conceal the news, especially not to let Chairman Mao know. The Prime Minister insisted on taking him to the hospital after everyone knew so that he could no longer continue his work.
Since then, Premier Zhou has been busy with work every day, often with less than three hours of rest and no time to eat. Coupled with the infestation of the disease, the prime minister's weight loss was very bad, and the whole person was emaciated. Bladder cancer causes blood in the urine, blood clots block the urethral opening, and the prime minister is quite painful every time he goes to the toilet. The staff around the prime minister recalled: Whenever the blood clots were discharged, the prime minister's relaxed demeanor made him feel extremely distressed.
Premier Zhou is concerned about state affairs and is reluctant to spend his working time treating diseases. China during this period faced the test of a huge political turmoil, and Premier Zhou had to deal with huge external pressure while handling state affairs. Premier Zhou intends to use the last shred of his life to save China. Perhaps realizing that he was going on like this, his body would not be able to withstand the burden sooner or later, and Premier Zhou agreed to allow photographers to take pictures of him.
Premier Zhou's reason is simple, that is, he wants to leave some memories for his wife Deng Yingchao and the people around him. On this day, photojournalist Du Xiuxian suddenly received a notice: the prime minister wanted to take a group photo with them. This notice made Du Xiuxian and everyone feel excited and surprised, before the prime minister resolutely refused to shoot, why did he suddenly agree to shoot this time? Du Xiuxian took many photos of the premier and everyone in the week.
In a sad atmosphere, he gradually understood the reason why Premier Zhou was willing to accept filming. The group photo is to leave precious memories for everyone. After 1974, Premier Zhou's condition began to deteriorate, and Premier Zhou was deeply affected by illness and could not stand to complete his work. From 1975 onwards, Premier Zhou was finally admitted to the hospital and began to undergo chemotherapy. But the cancer has spread so badly that Premier Zhou's body can drag on day by day.
Even so, Premier Zhou still did not forget to worry about major national affairs and maintained the habit of reading newspapers and documents. When it was so uncomfortable that he couldn't read the newspaper, he would ask the secretary to read the news to him. In the mid-to-late 1970s, China established diplomatic relations with many countries around the world. On July 1, 1975, Premier Zhou signed the "Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between China and Thailand" on his sickbed, which showed that the premier was in a very good mood.
Li Xiannian and Qiao Guanhua, who came to the handover work, put forward the idea of taking a group photo with Premier Zhou. Although Premier Zhou was very badly affected by the disease, he was still very happy to accept this request. Premier Zhou came down to the middle of the two with the help of the nurse, and the surrounding staff also excitedly gathered around and took a group photo together. While Premier Zhou was happy, he said a very heart-wrenching sentence: "This is the last time I will take a picture with you..."
Before the words could be heard, many comrades had shed tears, and the crowd felt a large stone blocked in their hearts, which was extremely uncomfortable. On September 7, Premier Zhou braced himself again and met with the Romanian delegation. The prime minister said calmly: "I have received Marx's 'invitation'. "After that, the frequency of the prime minister's coma became higher and higher, it was very difficult to eat, and he was already skinny and bone-thin. On January 8, 1976, the great Premier Zhou Enlai died in Beijing. A large number of party members, workers, and the masses spontaneously came to Tiananmen Square to mourn Premier Zhou.
After the death of Premier Zhou, those photos became the people's most cherished memories. A few years later, the Zhou Enlai Memorial Hall in Huai'an, Jiangsu Province, was completed, and tens of thousands of tourists came every day to pay tribute to the deeds of the premier. Greetings to the great Founding Prime Minister Zhou Enlai!