In the early morning of January 10, 1949, Du Yuming, with more than a dozen adjutants and guards, broke through alone in Zhanglaozhuang Village, Zhangzhuangzhai Town, Xiao County, Anhui Province, and was captured by PLA fighters. When the news came out, his wife Cao Xiuqing shouted all the way from Shanghai to Nanjing. At that time, Cao Xiuqing also brought 3,000 US dollars, which was given by Chiang Ching-kuo a few days ago on the seventieth birthday of Du Yuming's mother, and she made a fuss to return the 3,000 US dollars to Chiang Kai-shek and let Chiang Kai-shek return her husband. Newspapers at that time even published her "big trouble in the presidential palace", but no matter how much trouble she made, she never saw Chiang Kai-shek.
Do you make a fuss or stop? Just when Cao Xiuqing hesitated, she heard rumors that Du Yuming had been executed. After that, some people began to persuade her that she must live to live, and there were only three roads in front of her: one was to return to her hometown of northern Shaanxi; second, to Hong Kong; and third, to go to Taiwan with Chiang Kai-shek. Although she did not meet Chiang Kai-shek, after her husband was "executed," she had no choice but to have illusions about Chiang Kai-shek, and like many important members of the Kuomintang at that time, she chose Taiwan.
In addition to Du Yuming's status as his wife, Cao Xiuqing also had this upbringing: a native of Mizhi County, Shaanxi Province, was born in a place called Caojiagou (now under the jurisdiction of Zizhou County). Cao Jiagou lived in people surnamed Cao, Cao Xiuqing's father was called Cao Wanzi, the ancestors used our words today is to go to the west mouth, with dozens of camels to Ningxia, inner Mongolia, Benhetao, shanxi to do business, to Cao Wanzi's generation, with some savings, he moved his family to the county seat of Mizhi County, bought some real estate, started a local business, and soon became a well-known businessman in Mizhi County.
Cao Wanzi was particularly fond of her daughter Cao Xiuqing, so that she could read and read at an early age, and later learned poetry and painting. Daughter Cao Xiuqing also admired her father Cao Wanzi, believing that he was a person who had walked through the west, seen the world, had an open mind and was bold, and all of this also affected his daughter and became an example for her daughter to learn and emulate. In August 1923, Cao Xiuqing married Du Yuming.
When Cao Xiuqing was young
This year, Cao Xiuqing was 21 years old, Du Yuming was only 19 years old, and Cao Xiuqing was two years old, just graduated from Yulin Middle School. But because both of them had gone to school, and they were a local person, and their feelings were very good after marriage, with the support of Du Yuming, Cao Xiuqing went to Yulin Women's Normal School for two years after attending the Mizhi Girls' School, and both of them wanted to seek progress through reading. In May 1924, Du Yuming went to guangdong to study at the first phase of the Whampoa Military Academy and joined the Kuomintang, while Cao Xiuqing joined the Communist Party in Yulin.
Originally, the open-minded Cao Xiuqing still wanted to make a difference, but in Chiang Kai-shek's "April 12" Qing Party was purged, she could only come to Nanjing to reunite with her husband Du Yuming, and thus became a housewife, and Du Yuming had three men and three daughters: the eldest daughter Du Zhili, the second daughter Du Zhiyi, the third daughter Du Zhilian, the eldest son Du Zhiren, the second son Du Zhiyong, and the third son Du Zhiyan. Du Yuming was fighting outside and rising all the way; she was at home with her children, always worried about the sound of gunfire. In 1949, when she was captured by Du Yuming, she was 47 years old and still very young, so she also had a big fuss in the presidential palace, but she was a woman after all, after hearing that her husband was "executed", she suddenly felt that her life was lost, and she could only go to Taiwan with the current.
In Taiwan, because Du Yuming was "killed", Cao Xiuqing's family was left out in the cold and had a difficult livelihood, although through Du Yuming's old colleagues interceded, the authorities gave Cao Xiuqing and his children some living expenses, but because there were many children and they had to go to school one by one, the cost could only be a drop in the bucket. After 1956, Du Zhiren, who was studying at Harvard University in the United States, wrote to his mother Cao Xiuqing, hoping that Cao Xiuqing would give him another 3,000 US dollars to help him survive the graduation period of one year. Cao Xiuqing could not come up with the money, so she had to borrow money from the Bank of Taiwan, but Chiang Kai-shek only let the bank lend her $1,000, and paid it in two years. That is to say, Cao Xiuqing only got 500 US dollars at that time, and she sent this money to Du Zhiren, but Du Zhiren committed suicide because he could not stand this kind of "charity".
The suicide of his son made Cao Xiuqing completely disappointed in Chiang Kai-shek. At that time, her eldest daughter Du Zhili had been married to Yang Zhenning for five or six years, and the two were married in Princeton in August 1950, but they did not seem to be able to help Du Zhiren at that time, so that Du Zhiren finally fell into a suicide due to money. But in 1957, after Du Zhiren's suicide, the situation was different— the year Yang Zhenning and Li Zhengdao won the Nobel Prize in Physics for co-proposing the theory of cosmological non-conservation. Also in this year, Du Yuming's mother, who went to Taiwan with Cao Xiuqing, died, and the Taiwanese side gave a high standard to this funeral.
Du Zhili and Yang Zhenning
Why? Cao Xiuqing had a son-in-law who won the Nobel Prize in Physics, and Chiang Kai-shek wanted to use Cao Xiuqing to persuade Yang Zhenning to come to Taiwan and use it for him. Cao Xiuqing, who had experienced too much of the world's heat, had the same heart as Spiegel, and when Chiang Kai-shek expressed this meaning to her, she decided to put the plan into account and said to Chiang Kai-shek: "I am willing to persuade Yang Zhenning to help Taiwan, but I can't understand it for a while when I write a letter." If you could get me to go to the United States and visit my daughter, it would be better if I brought it up in person. Then he said, "If you are not at ease, you can send someone with me." Chiang Kai-shek believed Cao Xiuqing, and Cao Xiuqing asked Xiao Yisu to vouch for himself.
Before leaving, Chiang Kai-shek said: "Yang Zhenning and Li Zhengdao won the Nobel Prize in Physics and won glory for the country. Li Zhengdao's mother is in Taiwan, and Yang Zhenning's parents are in Shanghai. When you go to the United States this time, with the relationship of your mother-in-law, you must win Over Dr. Yang Zhenning to serve the party-state. Cao Xiuqing said: "Yang Zhenning has never been to Taiwan, and he does not know anything about the situation in Taiwan. After I met him, I gave him a good briefing on the situation in Taiwan. Taiwan is a treasure island, rich in products and beautiful environment, and he wants to come back to see and contribute to the construction of treasure island. Chiang Kai-shek also believed it to be true, smiled and said, "Very good, very good!" I didn't expect Cao Xiuqing to say a set in his mouth and a set in his heart.
After arriving in the United States, Cao Xiuqing not only met her daughter and son-in-law, but also inquired about the news of her husband Du Yuming - Du Yuming is still alive! In this way, she did not want to leave when she stayed in the United States, and she was bent on returning to the mainland to reunite with her husband, while the Taiwan side urged her to "work" through various channels, and she ignored it. She was advised not to do so hastily, otherwise she would lose more than she gained. But she thought that her husband Du Yuming could live in Beijing, why couldn't she? On December 4, 1959, Du Yuming was pardoned; in March 1961, he was appointed as the commissioner of literature and history of the Literature and History Research Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and began a new life. In June 1963, with the help of her daughter, son-in-law and relevant departments, she returned to the mainland from the United States via Switzerland and was finally reunited with her husband Du Yuming.
At this time, Cao Xiuqing was already 61 years old, and Du Yuming, who was two years younger than her, was also 59 years old. From being captured in 1949, to being later "executed", and then to being alive, they have not been seen for nearly 15 years, and they have become young adults with full of vigor and old men with white hair, and they can't help but hug and cry. At the welcome meeting, Cao Xiuqing emotionally told her colleagues of CPPCC member Du Yuming about her difficult journey of more than ten years and sincerely thanked the Communist Party for reuniting her husband and wife. Subsequently, together with Du Yuming, she visited Nanjing, Wuxi, Suzhou, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Huangshan, Nanchang, Jinggangshan, Shaoshan, Changsha, Hankou, Xi'an, Yan'an, Luoyang, Zhengzhou and other places, which made her deeply educated, and the changes and achievements of the motherland in those years made her marvel.
On May 7, 1981, Du Yuming died of illness, and Cao Xiuqing took care of her husband's affairs with extreme grief. Daughter Du Zhili and son-in-law Yang Zhenning both returned to China to mourn, but the other sons and daughters remained in Taiwan. By this time, it had been 24 years since Cao Xiuqing left Taiwan in 1957 — a full 24 years since she had left his children in Taiwan to reunite with her husband! Chiang Kai-shek, who had been "put to chance" by her, also died on April 5, 1975. The grieving Cao Xiuqing could not help but send a telegram like this to Chiang Ching-kuo:
"I am sad to say that my husband Du Yuming died of illness in Beijing at 7:27 a.m. on May 7. Please know that my second daughter Du Zhiyi, son-in-law Xu Bingsen, second son Du Zhiyong, daughter-in-law Wang Guihua, third son Du Zhiyan, third daughter Du Zhilian, son-in-law Xing Tiancai and other 7 people came to Beijing before the 21st of this month to attend the memorial service. Reunite flesh and blood, see the funeral with your own eyes, and fulfill your filial piety, and return as soon as the funeral rites are completed. We kindly ask for convenience and hope to visit and mourn. ”
Chiang Kai-shek and Du Yuming
However, at that time, due to the barrier between the two sides of the strait, Cao Xiuqing's sons and daughters in Taiwan were only allowed to set up a spiritual hall in Taiwan to pay homage. Although she was deeply sad and regretful because of this, Du Yuming became one of the hundreds of huangpu generals who were also mourned by both sides of the strait (the other was Zheng Dongguo). In the second year of Mr. Du's death, Cao Xiuqing finally met his three sons and daughters in Taiwan in Hong Kong. This was the first time she met her children after more than 20 years of separation, when she saw that she was about to turn 80 years old, and her children returned to Taiwan to spend their old age, but she gave up this natural happiness and never left the mainland of the motherland until her death. This is because, before Du Yuming's death, he once left such a last word for her:
"After I die, you should not go anywhere, not to the United States, still less to Taiwan, and settle down on the mainland." Although the mainland has no children, the government will take care of you. The Communist Party treats me badly, and we must not be ungrateful..."
Du Yuming's former residence in Beijing
Settling on the mainland, the Taiwan Strait has become an endless nostalgia in the hearts of Cao Xiuqing's sons and daughters, just like the poet Yu Guangzhong said, nostalgia is a shallow strait, Taiwan is at this end, the mainland is at that end; nostalgia is a short grave, they are outside, and their mother is inside. In 1984, Cao Xiuqing died of illness a few days before her death, and also donated books to her hometown Caojiagou Primary School, and people say that she has not forgotten to nurture her hometown land, but several of her children have been left behind in Taiwan.
Thinking back to that year, Du Yuming galloped on the battlefield, fighting east and west, and clearly had a mentality of repaying Chiang Kai-shek, and in this kind of thing, men are more in the front, but they leave their wives and children behind. One before and one after, the two seem to have no substantial connection, but here in Cao Xiuqing, the comfort of the front makes the back head always cry silently. Today, the greatest consolation for people is nothing more than to let all this become a thing of the past as soon as possible.
The pictures in this article are from the network, thanks to the original author!