<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="4" > preface</h1>
"There are pictures of Shaoqi hanging in my room, and sometimes I feel as if he is still by my side, still working tirelessly. His words and deeds, voice and smile are still vividly remembered to this day. ”
In her later years, Wang Guangmei had a long affection for her husband Liu Shaoqi and often missed her. They have lived together for more than twenty years, hand in hand through all the years of happiness, frustration, struggle, and sadness...
Picture | Wang Guangmei and Liu Shaoqi
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="99" > Wang Guangmei accompanied Liu Shaoqi back to his hometown and sacrificed his mother's grave</h1>
Before May Day in 1961, when Chairman Mao was in Shanghai, Premier Zhou Enlai was inspecting work in Handan and other places, while Liu Shaoqi took his wife Wang Guangmei back to his hometown of Ningxiang County, Hunan Province.
Liu Shaoqi and Wang Guangmei and their party arrived in Ningxiang on May 2, and both of them were dressed in cloth and very simple. Near noon, they arrived at the compound of the Ningxiang County Party Committee and walked in the direction of the office building, when several secretaries of the county government were already waiting outside, but they did not recognize Liu Shaoqi, who was dressed in cloth, but thought it was an old comrade dressed in simple clothes.
When Liu Shaoqi saw that no one was talking to him, he walked down the steps in the courtyard, and it happened that a comrade next to him recognized Wang Guangmei, who was walking with Liu Shaoqi, and hurriedly turned around and asked, "Isn't this Comrade Guangmei?" What about Chairman Liu? Wang Guangmei still maintained her elegance, pointed to Liu Shaoqi in front of her, smiled and replied: "Oh, isn't it!" ”
Picture | Liu Shaoqi
When they first returned to Ningxiang, such an interesting situation occurred, Liu Shaoqi and his wife Wang Guangmei did not rush back to their hometown, but first threw themselves into work, held meetings, listened to reports, and did not leave for Huaminglou Tanzichong until after dinner, where Liu Shaoqi was born, this time, Wang Guangmei could more deeply understand the environment in which her lover grew up, which made her very much expectant and excited.
Tan Zichong's old house is very simple, the first thing to enter the door is a hall house, there is almost no decoration; the second is Liu Shaoqi's brother Liu Yunting lived before, after Liu Yunting's death in 1949, Liu Shaoqi wrote for him to retain "You are the first helper of my childhood learning and activities", this painting has been placed in this room; the other rooms, almost no arrangement, long no one lived, it seems a little deserted.
That night, the couple lived in the room where Liu Shaoqi had lived with his mother when he was a child. In his spare time, Liu Shaoqi would introduce wang Guangmei to the story of each room and the situation at home when he was a child, which made Wang Guangmei know more about him.
When he is not working, Liu Shaoqi likes to walk around, recalling those past times, he will think of his family, his father died early, his mother has been accompanying him, but then his mother died, Liu Shaoqi could not wait by his side, plus he did not go home for many years, so he did not know where his mother's grave was. With the help of a comrade named Li Qiang, Liu Shaoqi successfully found his mother's grave. It is worth mentioning that this comrade Li Qiang, when Chairman Mao returned to his hometown of Shaoshan to pay homage to the graves of his parents, was also accompanied by him.
Liu Shaoqi's mother's grave is located in a mountain depression, the surrounding environment is dilapidated, there are not many trees, the grave is not large, in front of it stands a stone tombstone, the stone stele is engraved with the five words "Liu Lu's Tomb", there are also the titles of the children's books at the bottom, the stele was erected by Liu Shaoqi's brothers, and the stone stele was also specially signed with the name "Shaoxuan" that Liu Shaoqi used when he was a child.
Picture | Liu Shaoqi and Wang Guangmei
When they went to worship their mother, Liu Shaoqi and Wang Guangmei and their party did not make any special preparations, and when they walked to Liu Lu's grave, Comrade Li Qiang found a handful of branches and handed them to Wang Guangmei, who instantly understood his intentions and handed the branches to Liu Shaoqi. Liu Shaoqi bent down and placed the branches upright on his mother's grave, and the couple bowed three times in front of their mother's grave.
Probably thinking that Liu Lu's tomb is indeed a little too simple, Comrade Li Qiang on the side took the initiative to ask: "Is it necessary to repair the tomb?" Liu Shaoqi replied almost without the slightest hesitation: "Don't repair." This is a barren slope, and in the future, it is possible to do greening and plant trees in the mountains. If there are any public facilities to pass through here in the future, it does not matter if they go. On the issue of how to deal with his mother's grave, Liu Shaoqi's attitude is clear and firm: there is no need to rebuild, do not affect the construction.
Wang Guangmei understands that her lover Liu Shaoqi is a staunch materialist, and she can pay respect and miss her relatives without too much attention and embellishment.
Later, in November 1997, the Central Literature Research Office and CCTV jointly produced the documentary "Liu Shaoqi", and in order to cooperate with the shooting, Wang Guangmei, accompanied by other comrades, once again came to Ningxiang, Hunan Province, to see the grave of Liu Shaoqi's mother, Liu Lushi. In an interview with Huang Zheng, Wang Guangmei mentioned that the tomb she saw at that time had been renovated, looking larger than when she went with Liu Shaoqi, surrounded by cement, and the trees were becoming more and more prosperous, which was reported to be repaired by the descendants of Liu Shaoqi's hometown.
On the day after the sacrifice swept away his mother's grave, Liu Shaoqi and Wang Guangmei went to visit his sister Liu Shaode again, because she ranked sixth among the children, Liu Shaoqi was accustomed to suffering from her as the "sixth sister", Liu Shaode's husband was surnamed Lu, and they had a daughter Lu Xinxiu. When Liu Shaode got married, he was still a relative sent by Liu Shaoqi, and in his memory, he still had an impression of the section of the road he walked when he was young.
Comrade Li Qiang proposed that the road was not easy to walk, it was better to take Liu Shaode to meet, and Liu Shaoqi disagreed, he said: "Let's walk, it will be more than ten miles, and Quan should be walking." But what Liu Shaoqi remembers is that it was the road many years ago, in fact, Liu Shaode's family later relocated, so it is not easy to walk forward.
Originally, before Liu Shaoqi went to his sister's house, nothing was prepared, Comrade Li Qiang and the local reception department specially prepared some gifts for them, to bring to his sister Liu Shaode, and later Wang Guangmei recalled that those gifts were more affordable, there were seven or eight pounds of rice, a few salted eggs, two pounds of candy, two pounds of biscuits, in terms of life, these gifts are very practical.
After arriving home, Liu Shaoqi affectionately called Liu Shaode's sister, Wang Guangmei called her sister along with her, Liu Shaode's daughter Lu Xinxiu was a warm and cheerful girl, pulling Liu Shaoqi Wang Guangmei into the house, telling them about a plain life, Liu Shaode's family life is not easy, Liu Shaode is getting older, his health is not good, her husband has passed away, these years fortunately have the occasional help of Liu Shaoqi's family, and the days are living day by day.
Lu Xinxiu said that part of the money Wang Guangmei sent to them before was used to do the aftermath for his father, and part of it was reserved for his mother Liu Shaode to treat his illness. Knowing the living conditions of Liu Shaoqi's sister's family, Wang Guangmei was extremely sad, and they thought, how many ordinary families like Liu Shaode's family must have! Therefore, Liu Shaoqi and Wang Guangmei not only visited their sister, but also cared about the daily life of many people around them.
Pictured| Liu Shaoqi and Wang Guangmei visit their sister Liu Shaode
After the end of the visit, it was getting late, and Comrade Li Qiang, considering that everyone was very hard, proposed: "Don't go anymore, go back." Liu Shaoqi Wang Guangmei and his party took a car back to Tanzichong. After Liu Shaoqi left their hometown, Liu Shaoqi's sister Liu Shaode was also taken to Changsha, Hunan Province, for treatment.
During the days when he lived in Liu Shaoqi's hometown of Tanzichong, Wang Guangmei was placed in the environment of nurturing his lover's growth, feeling the character and spirit he had cultivated since childhood, so that the couple knew each other more and more deeply.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="101" > Liu Shaoqi was cared for by Zhou Enlai and cared for by Wang Guangmei</h1>
She carefully understands her lover's past, and she is also extremely concerned about her lover's body, and the health of her husband Liu Shaoqi has always been an extremely important thing in Wang Guangmei's heart.
I still remember that in November 1965, Wang Guangmei was in Baoding, Hebei Province, and she and Liu Shaoqi were separated from each other, and one day Wang Guangmei suddenly received a call from Li Taihe, the commander of Liu Shaoqi's guards, in which Li Taihe told Wang Guangmei: "Comrade Shaoqi has a high fever, and Premier Zhou asked us to inform you, please come back." ”
This year, Liu Shaoqi was 67 years old, old, Wang Guangmei was out of the house, and the most worrying thing was his body. Therefore, as soon as he heard Li Taihe's words on the phone, Wang Guangmei's head instantly "buzzed", and his heart couldn't help but tense up, especially Liu Shaoqi's physical discomfort also alarmed Premier Zhou Enlai, it can be imagined that this time is by no means an ordinary small problem, thinking of this, Wang Guangmei has long been like an arrow.
Pictured | Wang Guangmei
Wang Guangmei, who was in Baoding, Hebei Province, quickly packed up her things and explained the work at hand, Li Taihe told Wang Guangmei before that he would send a car to pick her up, but Wang Guangmei waited for the left and right, the car has not come, there is no road where she works, there is no car. Anxious in her heart, she could not wait any longer, and ran directly to the nearby air force airport to explain her emergency to them, and the comrade in charge of the airport immediately sent a jeep to send Wang Guangmei back to Beijing overnight.
When Wang Guangmei returned home, she knew the reason for Liu Shaoqi's illness. On November 17 and 18, Liu Shaoqi presided over the enlarged meeting of the Politburo of the CENTRAL Committee and listened to the comrades' work reports; the meeting ended on the night of the 18th, the weather was severe, Liu Shaoqi finished the meeting, walked out of the Great Hall of the People and accidentally got cold, and that night he began to have a fever, taking medicine and injections did not work, Liu Shaoqi's health was not good, coupled with the hard work of several days, this disease was very serious.
So why did Liu Shaoqi's illness alarm Premier Zhou Enlai? At first, Liu Shaoqi did not want to let the news of his illness be known to others, but only let the health care doctors around him treat him, and he asked the people around him to keep it secret: "No one can say to the outside world that I am sick", originally he calmed down to treat the disease at home.
One day, Premier Zhou Enlai gave instructions on a document, according to Premier Zhou's arrangement, Liu Shaoqi was about to receive foreign guests, but according to his physical condition at this time, it was difficult to receive foreign guests in the best physical condition, and seeing that he could no longer hide it, the secretary had to report Liu Shaoqi's physical condition to Zhou Enlai.
Zhou Enlai was worried about Liu Shaoqi, and soon came to his home to care about his condition, and Zhou Enlai asked why he did not hurry to let Liu Shaoqi's wife, Wang Guangmei, come home to see that Liu Shaoqi was seriously ill and could not get rid of the fever for a long time. ”
Therefore, at the behest of Premier Zhou Enlai, Li Taihe called Wang Guangmei and also solved the doubts in Wang Guangmei's heart.
Pictured| Zhou Enlai
The day after Wang Guangmei hurried back, Zhou Enlai personally called and asked Secretary Liu, who answered the phone: "Has Wang Guangmei returned?" Comrade Shaoqi has no fever? Knowing that Wang Guangmei had rushed home, Zhou Enlai chatted with Wang Guangmei again, and Zhou Enlai on the other end of the phone seriously instructed her: "Comrade Shaoqi will not recover his health, you cannot leave." ”
For Liu Shaoqi's condition, Wang Guangmei did not have a delay, she returned home, immediately contacted the medical staff, with everyone's rescue and treatment work, under the careful treatment of doctors and nurses, as well as Wang Guangmei's intimate care, Liu Shaoqi's fever slowly receded, and the condition gradually improved. In order to make his body recover better, Wang Guangmei accompanied him to Yuquan Mountain to rest and recuperate.
During his stay in Yuquan Mountain, Wang Guangmei always accompanied Liu Shaoqi's side, took care of his life, and accompanied him to do a lot of self-cultivation things, during that time, Liu Shaoqi, who has always been busy, was also able to have time to stay with his family and live a life of heaven. Wrapped in silver in winter, Liu Shaoqi and Wang Guangmei called the children and the staff around them to spend a happy and warm time together.
When they got together with everyone, Liu Shaoqi said with emotion: "It seems that my life is not much, and I must seize the time to do more things..." He told everyone with great interest about some of his ideas, which benefited his children a lot.
After recuperating in Yuquan Mountain for a period of time, Liu Shaoqi and Wang Guangmei returned to each other's posts, and when they were together, they were life partners who cared about each other, and when they were not together, they were excellent comrades who did their best for the cause of the motherland.
Picture | Liu Shaoqi with his family and staff
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="100" wang Guangmei applied to scatter Liu Shaoqi's ashes into the sea >, and the central government issued a directive: agree</h1>
From falling in love to getting married, and then from getting married to getting along, Wang Guangmei has a deep friendship with her husband Liu Shaoqi, and she always supports her husband's work and moves forward hand in hand with her husband Liu Shaoqi. Therefore, when Liu Shaoqi died on November 12, 1969, Wang Guangmei's heart was full of sadness and sorrow.
On May 13, 1980, escorted by the central plane, Wang Guangmei and the children went to Henan together to receive Liu Shaoqi's ashes, and the relatives came to the place where Liu Shaoqi died, and just after entering the house, Wang Guangmei saw the pillow used by Liu Shaoqi at a glance, which was given to them by Prince Sihanouk when she accompanied Liu Shaoqi to Cambodia in 1963. She ran forward at once, wrapped the pillow tightly in her arms, as if she was wantonly feeling the temperature of her lover, and at that moment, Wang Guangmei missed breaking the embankment and could not cry.
Pictured| Wang Guangmei and the children wept in front of the pillow Liu Shaoqi used on his deathbed
The next day, Liu Shaoqi's ashes were sent away ceremony in the Great Hall of the People in Zhengzhou, Wang Guangmei officially took Liu Shaoqi's ashes, she had mixed feelings, bowed her head, and pressed her face tightly to Liu Shaoqi's urn, which was their long-distance closeness, and thoughts sprouted little by little in time.
Subsequently, Wang Guangmei returned to Beijing with Liu Shaoqi's ashes. On May 17, 11 years after Liu Shaoqi's death, his memorial service was held in the Great Hall of the People, attended by tens of thousands of people, and there were sobs at the meeting, and everyone expressed their remembrance of Liu Shaoqi with tears, Wang Guangmei recalled in an interview with Huang Zheng that she saw that Xu Xiangqian's clothes had long been soaked with tears, and there were not a few people who were crying like Xu Xiangqian.
At the meeting, Deng Xiaoping said:
"Comrade Liu Shaoqi is loved by the whole Party and the people of all nationalities throughout the country, has been tested for a long time, and is an outstanding party and state leader... Like Comrade Mao Zedong, Comrade Zhou Enlai, and Comrade Zhu De, Comrade Liu Shaoqi will always live in the hearts of the people of all nationalities in our country. ”
Pictured| Wang Guangmei on the plane that greeted Liu Shaoqi's ashes
Those past events with Liu Shaoqi hauntEd Wang Guangmei's heart, but at this time, there was one more thing that bothered her, that is, how to deal with Liu Shaoqi's ashes? The Museum of the Chinese Revolution came to her, hoping to give Liu Shaoqi's ashes to them for safekeeping, but Wang Guangmei did not agree to their request.
When Liu Shaoqi was alive, he actively signed the "Proposal" organized to promote cremation, and Wang Guangmei knew that her husband Liu Shaoqi hoped that his ashes would not be retained, but would be buried in the mountains, rivers, lakes and seas, and she understood the heart of her lover and would also fulfill her lover's long-cherished wish. Therefore, Wang Guangmei proposed to the comrades of the Central Committee and the Funeral Committee to scatter Liu Shaoqi's ashes into the sea, and her request was quickly approved by the Central Committee: yes.
Pictured| Wang Guangmei and his children on a warship preparing to scatter Liu Shaoqi's ashes to the sea
On May 19, accompanied by the relevant responsible comrades, Wang Guangmei and his party set off from Beijing and arrived at the Qingdao Naval Harbor by special plane, and after arriving in Qingdao, Wang Guangmei deeply felt the sadness of the people, and the vehicle they were riding in was tightly surrounded by everyone, and the people outside the car had tears in their eyes, kept waving their hands, and their eyes seemed to tell endless reluctance.
The comrades of the People's Liberation Army Navy were ordered to carry out the task of scattering ashes, a destroyer and four frigate gunboats set off together, and five warships marched toward the waters of the Yellow Sea, and in the mourning and the sound of twenty-one salutes, Wang Guangmei scattered the ashes of his lover Liu Shaoqi to the endless sea...
She finally fulfilled what he wanted, and then hid infinite thoughts and sorrows in his heart.
Picture | Wang Guangmei personally scattered Liu Shaoqi's ashes into the sea
The only thing that could leave Wang Guangmei's thoughts was the red cloth used to wrap the ashes, and with the help of a master named Hao Miao, Wang Guangmei took the red cloth home and treasured it carefully.
Jun is in the sea of stars, and she has been in the same boat with Jun all her life, wind and rain without regret...
Resources:
"No Regrets in Wind and Rain: Dialogue with Wang Guangmei", People's Literature Publishing House, Huang Zheng/Author, Beijing, June 2015, 1st Edition