December 26, 1975, was Chairman Mao's 82nd birthday and his last birthday.
According to the custom, Chairman Mao did not celebrate his birthday publicly, nor did he accept gifts, but invited his staff and family members to eat, and then ate a bowl of longevity noodles, even if it was a birthday.
On this day, the staff around Chairman Mao all arrived at the swimming pool early, and the health doctors and nurses around Chairman Mao, such as Wu Xujun, Yu Yaju, and Li Lingshi, all received invitations from Chairman Mao, and Chairman Mao's two daughters, Li Min and Li Ne, also came to the swimming pool early.
Everyone came to the Zhongnanhai Swimming Pool and had a common purpose, that is, to accompany Chairman Mao to celebrate his birthday and make Chairman Mao happy.
Chairman Mao looked at a room full of familiar smiling faces, listened to a room full of joyful laughter, and there was joy spreading in his heart, and the corners of his eyes and eyebrows were all smiles that could not be hidden.
Perhaps it is because they are old and people are getting old, and their thirst for family affection is getting stronger and stronger, and looking at the people in front of them, Chairman Mao hopes that there will be more such birthdays.
In the previous dozens of birthdays, he has always advocated not to live long and not to receive gifts.
This is his consistent proposition, in his view, to do longevity will not make people live longer, it is better to let time sneak past, of course, such an idea is also based on a basic point, that is, he is the leader of the party and the country, he wants to play an exemplary role, leading by example is not longevity.
Chairman Mao was born on November 19, 1893, which is the record of the lunar calendar, which is changed to the Gregorian calendar is December 26, 1893, which is also the date of Chairman Mao's birthday as we know it, but for a long time, Chairman Mao lived the lunar calendar birthday.
Chairman Mao's birthday really began to be mentioned and valued in 1943.
Before that, he rarely had birthdays, perhaps every year when he was in shaoshan hometown, but after he went out of shaoshan to start the revolution, his birthday was no longer a special day, but it was no different from any day of the year, and many times, he could not remember his birthday, let alone celebrate his birthday.
Moreover, in the era of war and chaos, for the sake of the revolution, he ran around and had no time to pay attention to the so-called birthday.
But in 1943, it seemed to be particularly different, this year Mao Zedong's 50th birthday was actually a big birthday, and the Central Committee intended to use Chairman Mao's fiftieth birthday to publicize Chairman Mao, so the Central Committee sought Chairman Mao's opinion and wanted to hold a birthday party for him to celebrate.
But who was Chairman Mao? He was not willing to engage in the birthday celebration at all.
He made it clear: "Birthday decisions are not done, too many birthdays will have a negative impact." At present, it is a time of internal and external difficulties, and the timing is not good. ”
At Chairman Mao's request, his fiftieth birthday finally passed quietly.
At that time, people thought that Chairman Mao was not living long, but it was really only because at that time he was in a period of internal and external difficulties, the timing was not right, and living a long life would have a negative impact.
In fact, what people don't know is that this is just chairman Mao's reason for not living up to his birthday, and later, Chairman Mao has been looking for various reasons not to live long and not to accept gifts, which many people did not expect.
Interestingly, in the second year, people saw Chairman Mao's brilliant trick of coping with his life.
In 1944, when Chairman Mao's birthday was approaching, many comrades proposed to give Chairman Mao a supplementary fiftieth birthday, but how could Chairman Mao possibly agree?
However, Chairman Mao saw that the comrades who were too enthusiastic did not sternly refuse, but instead held a birthday party with a different face, that is, instead of celebrating individually, he came to a collective birthday celebration.
Chairman Mao's collective birthday celebration is very interesting, and it involves 56 people who wish for the birthday, from Commander-in-Chief Zhu and Chairman Mao to the brother-in-law and ma fu, and there are xu Teli, Lin Boqu, Dong Biwu and other elderly people in the middle.
That is to say, all the old comrades over the age of 50 in the Yangjialing Party Central Committee are listed here, and they are all Shougong.
No one expected Chairman Mao to make such a play, but what is certain is that this collective birthday celebration is very good, and it conveys a message to everyone: Only those who serve the masses of the people are worthy of the respect of the masses of the people.
This ingenious way of celebrating the birthday also shows many people chairman Mao's attitude of not engaging in personal birthday celebrations.
But it was like a tug-of-war, where everyone was looking for reasons to wish Chairman Mao a happy birthday, and Chairman Mao was also looking for reasons to refuse to celebrate his birthday, and this kind of birthday contest had been taking place in the years before the founding of the People's Republic of China.
For example, during the Liberation War in 1947, comrades in the Liberated Areas wanted to celebrate Chairman Mao's birthday and at the same time celebrate the victories in several wars, and Chairman Mao said: "Fight a beautiful battle for my birthday, and if you don't wish me a happy birthday, you can't fight a beautiful battle?" ”
As for why we cannot make personal birthday celebrations, Chairman Mao said very clearly:
First, there are too many bloody incidents during the war, and they should be commemorated, not personal birthday celebrations;
Second, everyone has no food to eat, so when engaging in personal birthday celebration activities is to separate from the masses;
Third, Chairman Mao thought that he was only in his fifties, still had a lot of life, and did not need to celebrate his birthday.
In short, it is not long-lived.
So, after liberation, is it okay to wish for a happy birthday at that time? Nor is it, because in Chairman Mao's view, everyone can completely focus their minds and time on the revolutionary cause of personal birthday celebrations.
Therefore, from 1947 onwards, Chairman Mao made it clear that the central organs were not allowed to invite guests to dinner for his birthday; they were not allowed to sing praises and praises to him in any form.
In Chairman Mao's view, he is a party cadre, and he should put all his thoughts on the country and the people, rather than engaging in personal birthday celebrations.
That's what he thinks, that's what he says, and that's what he does.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Chairman Mao did not forget his original intention, has been strictly self-disciplined, and has taken the lead in abiding by the party's stipulation that the birthday is not publicly celebrated, which does not mean that it is really a birthday, but it is not a public birthday, nor a gift, but just a casual meal at home with his family or staff.
Of course, Chairman Mao is not an ordinary person after all, and his position determines that many things must take into account the country and the people, not themselves.
Therefore, on Chairman Mao's birthday, when the family appeared, it was very rare, and most of the time they had a meal with the staff around them, and the meal was very simple.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Chairman Mao's birthday recipes have special records, which are really simple to the extreme, and even a little shabby, not as good as ordinary people's birthday banquets.
For example, on December 26, 1952, Chairman Mao's 59th birthday, Chairman Mao invited the health doctor Wang Hebin to a birthday feast, and the meal on the table was very simple: curd milk, pickles, chili three plates of side dishes and a plate of beef, as well as noodles, and half a glass of red wine.
Who would have thought that this would be Chairman Mao's 59th birthday?
When Chairman Mao and Wang Hebin were chatting, Ye Zilong came to ask for instructions, and when a birthday telegram from home and abroad was sent, Chairman Mao directly said: "When you accept it, you will not see the report." (This is also the consistent proposition of Chairman Mao later))
If Wang Hebin was alone on his 59th birthday, the 60th birthday was much more lively, although Chairman Mao made the stipulations at the National Financial and Economic Work Conference in August 1953:
"First, if you don't do shou, doing shou will not make people live long, the main thing is to do a good job; second, don't give gifts, at least not within the party; third, toast less, you can do it on certain occasions; fourth, you must clap less, don't prohibit, out of the enthusiasm of the masses, and don't pour cold water; fifth, don't use personal names as place names; and sixth, don't put Chinese comrades with Ma, En, Lie, and Spinglie."
But this could not stop the enthusiasm of the staff around Chairman Mao, and on December 26, 1953, the guards around Chairman Mao had long thought of celebrating chairman Mao well.
Of course, this celebration was only a small one, so Chairman Mao did not refuse, but also said that he invited all the staff around him to participate, including not only secretarial comrades, but also the workers who burned the boilers.
Everyone had a light meal with Chairman Mao, which was considered to be a celebration of Chairman Mao's birthday, but in the same way, on Chairman Mao's 60th birthday, only the staff around Chairman Mao, and his relatives were not asked to participate.
This is also the result of Chairman Mao's careful consideration, if relatives are invited, which ones will be invited? Which ones are not invited? If they are all invited, they will easily change their nature, no longer a common thing, but may become a kind of open personal birthday wish, which is not what Chairman Mao wanted.
So most of the time, on Chairman Mao's birthday, he would not invite his relatives to dinner.
But there are exceptions, such as December 26, 1963, this day is Chairman Mao's 70th birthday, according to China's tradition, the seventieth birthday is a relatively important birthday, so Chairman Mao decided to hold a small family birthday banquet.
On the day of his birthday, Chairman Mao prepared two tables of light meals at the Juxiang Bookstore, and in addition to Chairman Mao's relatives, he also specially invited four elderly people around the age of 80, namely: Zhang Shizhao, 81-year-old director of the Central Museum of Culture and History, Cheng Qian, 81-year-old vice chairman of the National People's Congress, Wang Jifan, 77 (Chairman Mao's cousin and teacher), and Ye Gongqiu, 82-year-old deputy director of the Central Museum of Culture and History.
And because they were all about eighty years old, old and inconvenient to go out, Chairman Mao specifically suggested that each of them could bring a child, so Zhang Shizhao and Cheng Qian both brought their daughters, while Wang Jifan brought his granddaughter to Chairman Mao's birthday banquet.
In addition to the above, there are chairman Mao's daughter Li Min's family, niece Mao Yuanzhi's family, the staff and guard cadres around them.
According to the recipes of the day, although the number of people on this day's birthday feast is relatively large and lively, it is not extravagant, there is no mountain treasure and sea flavor, nor is there a precious wine, that is, Chairman Mao usually likes to eat dishes, plus a few dishes with birthday significance:
Stir-fried bacon with green peppers, dried roasted fish, pot collapsed tofu, mushroom vegetable hearts, meat platters, boxed chicken noodles, and Shaoxing flower carvings.
After the meal, Chairman Mao also deliberately changed into the light gray Zhongshan suit to take a photo with everyone, which was a souvenir of his seventieth birthday, which was low-key and simple, but very warm, and very in line with Chairman Mao's consistent style.
After the birthday party, Chairman Mao also said the following passage:
"Everybody doesn't do shou! This old feudal habit needs to be reformed. Do a birthday, this birthday star will be one year older, in fact, it is one year less. It is better to let time sneak past, and by the age of eighty or ninety, I have not yet realized it, how good! ”
This shows Chairman Mao's attitude toward birthdays, he almost never invited comrades in the party to dinner on his birthday, once the mouth was opened, it is likely that the birthday banquet will become a public birthday celebration, so most of the time, Chairman Mao only invites the staff around him to dinner on the birthday day, and occasionally invites relatives to eat.
But there are exceptions to everything, such as Chairman Mao's 71st birthday.
On December 21, 1964, the first session of the Third National People's Congress was held in Beijing, coinciding with Chairman Mao's 71st birthday.
Everyone knows that the central authorities have regulations, and the central leaders do not accept gifts if they do not do birthdays, so some deputies joked that Chairman Mao invited guests on his birthday, and Chairman Mao was hesitant at first, but later, after careful consideration, Chairman Mao decided to invite everyone to dinner.
Of course, the list of people attending the birthday party was drawn up by Chairman Mao himself, and although the original purpose was to celebrate his 71st birthday, when he decided to invite everyone to dinner, he already had other ideas.
Chairman Mao once summed up this invitation: "Today is neither a guest nor a birthday celebration, but the implementation of the 'four sames', and I use my writing fee to invite everyone to a meal." My kids didn't let me come, they weren't qualified enough. There are workers, peasants, and the People's Liberation Army, and together they not only eat, but also talk! ”
Chairman Mao, at his own expense, invited three tables in the small dining room of the Great Hall of the People, a total of more than thirty people, including leading comrades of the central authorities, principal responsible comrades of the major regions, and a small number of ministers, labor models, and scientists.
Including Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Chen Yi, Deng Yingchao, Dong Jiageng, Chen Yonggui, Xing Yanzi, Wang Jinxi, Qian Xuesen and so on.
During the banquet, Chairman Mao talked a lot, which can not actually be called a birthday banquet, but a special meeting, another special time occurred on December 26, 1966, Chairman Mao also held a meeting, but compared with the scale of 1964 is much smaller, Zhou Enlai did not participate, but it is also one of the few special birthday banquets.
Soon, with the passage of time, Chairman Mao entered the eighty years of age. Attention to his birthday has also increased considerably, and on December 26, 1973, more than a hundred countries and regions sent congratulatory telegrams, letters, and even birthday gifts from leaders, but Chairman Mao always adopted the usual proposition: no reports.
The people at home also want to celebrate for Chairman Mao, but they cannot give gifts, they can only think of various ways to convey their blessings to Chairman Mao, and Chairman Mao's hometown of Shaoshan does not know when to start, and every year Chairman Mao's birthday will send longevity noodles.
This noodle is very distinctive, one is ten meters long, coiled into a circle, placed in a box, and then sent to Zhongnanhai.
Whether it was these gifts, congratulatory telegrams or congratulatory letters, Chairman Mao rarely personally inquired about them, but generally compiled them into special congratulatory receipts and presented them to him.
As for the gifts, Chairman Mao never left them, but handed them over to the departments specially responsible for gifts and handled them in a unified manner.
If it was food or fruit, Chairman Mao would send it to the kindergarten or to the guards around him, and he would not keep it himself, nor would he leave it to his children.
Although the world's attention to Chairman Mao's birthday is very high, Chairman Mao is still the same, even the eightieth birthday has quietly passed away, and the 81st birthday of the following year is the same.
Chairman Mao was in Changsha at the time, and Zhou Enlai, who had already been admitted to the 305 Hospital of the People's Liberation Army, flew to Changsha in December with his illness to discuss the affairs of the Fourth National People's Congress with Chairman Mao, and was able to accompany Chairman Mao on his 81st birthday.
In the evening, Zhou Enlai even paid for dinner at his own expense, inviting the responsible persons of the Hunan side and the reception staff to let them take good care of Chairman Mao's life and ensure Chairman Mao's rest.
Chairman Mao's 81st birthday is also very commemorative, and after dinner, Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou had a long talk on their knees, which is the famous Changsha decision.
Soon after, Premier Zhou flew back to Beijing and was admitted to the hospital, never to leave the hospital, and Chairman Mao's health deteriorated.
In 1975, chairman Mao's cataract removal surgery was successful, but this only allowed Chairman Mao to see the light again, but his problems in other aspects became more and more obvious.
For example, it is difficult to speak, the pronunciation is extremely unclear, and can only rely on the staff around him to speculate from his mouth shape and expression, and then express it, if it is correct, Chairman Mao will nod, or Chairman Mao himself wrote it with a pen.
Then there is the difficulty of walking, and without the support of the staff, Chairman Mao cannot take a single step.
He was really old, the wind and frost of the years had ravaged his body, wrinkles crawling all over the corners of his eyes.
It was under such circumstances that Chairman Mao celebrated his 82nd birthday.
The older people get, the more they long for affection and peace, and Chairman Mao is no exception, hoping that his children will often come to see him and chat with him.
The so-called joy of heaven is nothing more than that.
On the morning of December 26, Li Min and Li Ne arrived at the swimming pool, along with Chairman Mao's staff who had been waiting at the pool for a long time.
Laughter and laughter flew into Chairman Mao's ears, and although he had difficulty speaking and had difficulty moving, he was overjoyed to see that the staff and relatives around him were there.
In his lifetime, Chairman Mao always lost a lot of family affection and gained less, and even after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Chairman Mao did not enjoy much joy of family affection.
He had ten children in his lifetime, but in his later years there were only three left, and he was often unable to accompany him. More often, it should be said that all along, Chairman Mao's side was accompanied by staff, and for him, the staff were not relatives rather than relatives.
On December 26, 1975, the staff and Chairman Mao's two daughters gathered at the swimming pool, which was naturally a very happy thing for Chairman Mao.
After everyone arrived, the kitchen quickly brought today's birthday feast to the table, and there was no special dish, it was still a few dishes that Chairman Mao often ate, and a few more dishes were added, which was considered a birthday feast.
In addition to the dish, there is also an indispensable food, that is, longevity noodles.
Most of the longevity noodles on Chairman Mao's birthday were rolled out by Tian Shubin, a pastry master in Zhongnanhai. Tian Shubin has been a pastry chef all his life, with exquisite craftsmanship, and the noodles he makes are soft and delicious, which Chairman Mao likes very much.
Tian Shubin stood by the phone early in the morning, waiting for the call of the pool.
Soon, the phone rang, and Wu Liandeng, who was in charge of Chairman Mao's life affairs, called Tian Shucheng, and Tian Shubin, hearing that the other party was Wu Liandeng, said directly: "Yo, you are only calling now, today is the chairman's birthday, and I have been standing by the phone." ”
Wu Liandeng also said, "Hurry up and come here." ”
After hanging up the phone, Tian Shubin went to the kitchen of the swimming pool with the pasta tools he had prepared long ago, and quickly rolled out the longevity noodles that Chairman Mao was going to eat.
The longevity noodles of Tian Shubin are clearly rooted, the length is appropriate, the thickness is uniform, the tendon is moderate, and one of them will not break after being put into the pot.
This is a skill that Tian Shubin is proud of, and he almost never loses his hand.
After he rolled out the longevity noodles, he waited there, just waiting for Chairman Mao to get down into the pot when he said he wanted to eat.
Soon, Chairman Mao ate almost all the vegetables, he confessed to eat the noodles, Tian Shubin put the longevity noodles down into the boiling pot, just at this time, no one expected that something happened, those longevity noodles down into the pot, before waiting to stir, they were all broken, section by section, and even could not find a complete one.
Rao is that everyone is accustomed to seeing big scenes, but they did not expect such a thing to happen.
Wu Liandeng, Master Pang, Master Yu, and Master Han in the kitchen were all stunned, and they could not say a word as they stood there.
And Tian Shubin looked at the broken pot of noodles, couldn't help but burst into tears, and murmured, "No, nothing like this has ever happened, I've never made such a noodle in my life." ”
His voice was low, but it was clearly audible in the kitchen, and everyone was immersed in an atmosphere of sadness, and Later Wu Liandeng recalled: "The noodles are broken in the pot, is this providence, or is it a coincidence?" It really doesn't make sense, but it was the president's last birthday. ”
What happened in the kitchen, Chairman Mao and others did not know, he was only waiting to eat longevity noodles, but it was too late to roll out longevity noodles, so everyone packed up their mood and re-cooked the noodles.
According to Wu Liandeng, the hand-rolled noodles were replaced by noodles, which did not attract Chairman Mao's attention, and he ate very deliciously, and until his death, he did not know what kind of hand-rolled noodles it was, but only hanging noodles.
In fact, the difference between hand-rolled noodles and hanging noodles was still very large, but Chairman Mao at that time, whose physical condition was not optimistic, and whose observation and sensitivity had decreased, did not perceive this change.
It is worth mentioning that at noon on this day, Jiang Qing also entered the swimming pool, met Chairman Mao, and brought two dishes that Chairman Mao liked to eat, namely fat head fish soup and fried peppers.
Many people know that Chairman Mao loves to eat braised pork, in fact, Chairman Mao also likes to eat fish, he does not know how much fish he has eaten in his life, once, he also said to Wu Xujun, the head nurse next to him:
"I ate too much fish when I was alive, and when I died, I was cremated and scattered my ashes into the Yangtze River to feed the fish. Then you say to the fish: Fish, Mao Zedong has not paid you compensation. He ate you before he was born, and now you eat him, and you eat fat so that you can serve the people, which is called the law of material immortality. ”
Chairman Mao's humor amused Wu Xujun, of course, this is a joke, but it can also be seen from it that Chairman Mao really loves to eat fish. In many of Chairman Mao's recipes that remain, fish appear, such as fish soup, fish jelly, braised fish, steamed fish, fried fish, etc.
As for what kind of fish Chairman Mao liked to eat, when he was young, he liked to eat carp, of course, he often ate side fish, abalone, blue fish, etc., while in his later years he liked to eat bighead carp, that is, fathead fish.
Fat head fish is warm, warm stomach, has cardiovascular protection effect, nootropic anti-aging, its most delicious part in the fish head, the head is large and fat, the flesh is snow white and tender.
Chairman Mao often drank soup boiled with fathead fish, that is, fathead fish soup.
Jiang Qing still knew Chairman Mao's eating habits better, and sent Chairman Mao the fathead fish soup that he loved to drink.
Chairman Mao took a bite of fathead fish soup and couldn't help but say, "Fathead fish soup is so fragrant." To this end, Chairman Mao also insisted on scooping soup with a spoon to drink, which was unexpected by everyone, which was enough to see Chairman Mao's love for this fathead fish soup.
Seeing his relatives and eating his favorite meals, this day is very happy for Chairman Mao, such a birthday is what he likes, and he hopes that next year's birthday will still be able to live such a warm and happy birthday.
Chairman Mao, however, did not wait for his 83rd birthday.
At 00:10 on September 9, 1976, Chairman Mao closed his eyes forever and left the country and people for which he had struggled all his life.