December 21, 1949, was Stalin's 70th birthday.
At this time, it was only a few months before the founding of New China.
In 1947, when the War of Liberation entered the stage of strategic counteroffensive, Mao Zedong once called Stalin to ask him about some domestic wars and some related issues after the war.
Finally, on October 1, 1949, the founding of New China, the domestic war gradually leveled, the situation was relatively stable, in order to win the Soviet Union's powerful foreign aid, Mao Zedong continued to throw out the olive branch of overseas visits. This time, no other twists and turns were interrupted, and it was calculated that December 21 was Stalin's 70th birthday, so after consultation, it was decided that Mao Zedong would visit the Soviet Union in early December 1949.
And what must be prepared before this is a "gift" to Stalin.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="224" > "luxury" gifts weighing 20,000 pounds</h1>
At that time, shortly after the founding of New China, the Central Committee began to prepare for the birthday of Stalin. In order to choose a birthday gift for Stalin, Mao Zedong and the Central Committee thought of many ways, and they all put a lot of thought into the variety and quantity of gifts.
One day, Yang Shangkun, then director of the General Office of the CENTRAL Committee, gathered a crowd of people, gathered together, brainstormed, and put forward many ideas. Some suggest giving away Hunan Xiang embroidery, some people suggest giving away Hangzhou embroidery, and some suggest sending Jingdezhen porcelain, Longjing tea, etc. These gifts have nothing more than a common feature: Chinese specialties.
A few days later, Yang Shangkun presented a gift slip to Chairman Mao and asked him to look at it.
Chairman Mao read it and waved a big pen, and added some more things to this gift list: rhubarb sprouts cabbage, green onions, large white radishes, and large pears produced in Shandong, each with five thousand catties.
Everyone was shocked to see these "luxurious" gifts, and they looked at each other, not knowing what the chairman really meant.
Chairman Mao
On December 1, Mao Zedong personally sent a telegram to the Shandong sub-bureau, which basically read:
"Comrade Stalin celebrated his seventieth birthday on December 21 this year, and the Central Committee decided to send Shandong's specialties of rhubarb sprouts cabbage, white radish, green onions, and pears as birthday gifts, each with 5,000 catties, a total of 20,000 catties, and asked to choose the best. Be sure to prepare by December 4, and the central government will send a special plane to Jinan to pick up the transportation. ”
The Shandong sub-bureau was also immediately dumbfounded, but Mao Zedong personally instructed him to choose these gifts, which naturally had his own considerations. Therefore, the Shandong branch immediately began to prepare this batch of "luxurious" gifts.
The number of gifts is much more than that. According to the first volume of the "Zhou Enlai's Manuscripts Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China", on December 8, 1949, Zhou Enlai wrote a letter to Wang Jiaxiang, the Chinese ambassador to the Soviet Union, listing the details and list of birthday gifts to Stalin, which included:
"One portrait of the Grand Marshal of Xiang embroidery; two portraits of the Great Marshal of Porcelain Burning; two portraits of Stalin in silk weaving, woven with words sent by the CPC Central Committee; ten discs with portraits fired; one set of fine porcelain Western food utensils, a total of more than one hundred and ninety pieces; a pair of copper-bottomed porcelain shou plates; two sets of special cloisonné tea sets for a total of ten pieces; a pair of Porcelain vases in the Qing Dynasty; one large ivory carving vase; one ivory carved large pagoda; one ivory carved dragon boat; three ivory carved balls in total; a pair of ivory carved heroine statues; and a set of eight ivory carved immortals A pair of crystal carved xiaoding; seventy large boxes of Keemun black tea; thirty large boxes of green tea; 1,500 catties of Longjing tea, weighing a total of about three tons of three kinds of tea; cabbage, radish, green onions, pears, and oranges weigh about 30,000 pounds in total, and are packed into two wagons; there is also a huge portrait of the Grand Marshal of Xiang embroidery, a picture of The Xiang embroidery Shou Man with Chairman Mao's inscription, Shatian grapefruit, Chaozhou orange, etc., which will not be completed after the tenth day, and it is planned to be delivered by plane. ”
These are all gifts that can show China's national conditions, most of which are agricultural products and handicrafts. It can be said that at that time, almost all the products that could be obtained in China at that time were selected.
Why, then, did Mao Zedong send the most primitive and elementary agricultural products such as cabbage, turnips, green onions, and pears? In fact, the reason is very simple. At that time, in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, when everything was in ruins and waiting to be rebuilt, in the special era and special environment at that time, under the circumstance that the basic livelihood of the Chinese people themselves could not be guaranteed, it was more in line with China's national conditions at that time.
In particular, although these grounded agricultural products look ordinary in today's abundant commodity market, fresh crops and fruits are scarce for the Soviet Union, which is located in the high latitude zone.
When these supplies were prepared, all loaded onto the train, enough to fill several carriages, and when everything was ready, the train carried Chairman Mao and his party to the Soviet Union in a mighty way.
From Beijing to Moscow, it takes 11 days.
At 12:00 noon on December 16, the special train finally arrived at Moscow North Railway Station. Due to the careful arrangement of the Soviet side, when the special train slowly entered the station, the big bell of the station rang the twelfth time.
Entrusted by Stalin, Molotov, member of the Soviet Politburo and vice chairman of the Council of Ministers, Defense Minister Bulganin, Minister of Foreign Trade Menshkov and other leaders held a grand and brief welcome ceremony at the railway station, got on the train to offer condolences, and placed Mao Zedong and his party in a villa 27 kilometers away from Moscow.
Photographs of Chairman Mao's visit to the Soviet Union
That evening, Stalin met Mao zedong in the small parlor of the Kremlin.
Under normal circumstances, Stalin did not greet foreign guests from the door, but this time, in order to show respect for the Chinese and leaders, he led all the members of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee to stand in a row at the door to greet Mao Zedong. The hands of the two great men clasped together.
After the talks officially began, only Shi Zhe was the interpreter. This is a friendly arrangement by the Soviet side and expresses its trust and respect for the Chinese comrades.
The first meeting between the two great men lasted more than two hours, and their conversation was vast, not only about the signing of treaties, the loan issue, the Taiwan issue, and even some understanding of Mao Zedong's published books. But stalin was always the only one on the Soviet side who spoke, and no one else spoke, and it was obvious that Stalin was speculating about the true intentions of Mao Zedong's visit.
Stalin repeatedly asked Mao Zedong: "You have come from afar this time, you can't go back empty-handed, do you want to do something?" ”
Mao Zedong replied cautiously: "I want something that is both beautiful and delicious." ”
This sentence has a very deep meaning, but it is difficult to understand when it is directly spoken, so Shi Zhe properly explained it when translating: good looking means that the form should be good-looking, and it should be shown to the people of the world; delicious means that there is content, taste, and real things.
But even so, Stalin failed to understand the true meaning of this sentence.
Mao Zedong
In the conversation that followed, the issue of the Sino-Soviet treaty was slowly mentioned, which was also one of the main purposes of Mao Zedong's visit, that is, to try to re-sign the new treaty to replace the old one. This is also the true meaning of his speech to Stalin that "make one that looks good and is delicious."
But as soon as he talked about this more sensitive issue, Stalin immediately said that this issue could be discussed and decided, and then said that this treaty was originally concluded on the basis of the Yalta Agreement, and that it was also agreed by Britain and the United States, and that because of this relationship, we decided not to make any changes to this treaty on a small scale, and if we made any amendments to any of them, we would give the United States and Britain a handle, and they would also make demands for the revision of the Kuril Islands, South Sakhalin Island, and so on.
Mao Zedong responded gently to Stalin's remarks: "When we discussed the treaty at home, we did not take into account the position of Britain and the United States at the Yalta Conference. The actions we take must be in the best interest of the public. This is a question that needs to be well considered. ”
Immediately after, Mao Zedong asked tentatively: "Do you need Zhou En to come to Moscow?" ”
Stalin, on the other hand, chose to recuse himself from this issue, and the talks stopped.
Stalin
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="223" > Stalin's seventieth birthday</h1>
Finally, december 21 arrived, Stalin's 70th birthday was held at the Bolshoi Theater, and the atmosphere in the venue was very warm.
The Soviet Union designated the fifteenth to twenty-first days of this month as "Stalin Week", during which many people traveled thousands of miles to Stalin's former residence to watch, cities also held cross-country, ice skating and other competitions to publicize, more than 800 colleges and universities gave speeches on Stalin, and the domestic event was unprecedentedly enthusiastic.
In addition to China, with the position of the Soviet Union in the world at that time, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and other countries were also warmly congratulating Stalin on his birthday, and their fanaticism did not diminish at all.
For example, the Workers' Party in Poland uniformly passed a resolution to celebrate Stalin's birthday and prepared an album of Stalin, calling on people to study Stalin together. Under the influence of this atmosphere, Poland, led by the Workers' Party, set up many shifts to study Stalin in many factories and villages, and workers in Poland used the performance of excess production as a way to celebrate Stalin's birthday.
Hungary held an exhibition on the theme of "The Life of a Fighter", which was attended by the local president and the Foreign Minister, and the Hungarian people selected thousands of gifts to be transported by train to the Soviet Union to celebrate Stalin.
……
This day can be described as a universal celebration.
In 1949, Mao Zedong visited the Soviet Union
On the same day, Mao Zedong got up early and wrote a birthday couplet commonly used in China: Furu Donghai, Shoubi Nanshan, as a personal birthday gift to Stalin.
At the party that day, Mao Zedong was placed in the nearest position on Stalin's right hand side, and this position was the position of the most distinguished guest. Mao Zedong also represented China at the congress, the first of the 13 countries to celebrate a happy birthday in Moscow.
In his congratulatory speech, he praised Stalin not only as a mentor and friend to the people of the world, but also as a mentor and friend to the people of the Chinese, and for his great contribution to the development of communism throughout the world.
Some of the words, words and phrases in the congratulatory speech are worth pondering, especially the sentence "Stalin was also a mentor and friend of the Chinese people", which is actually very interesting, or the whole congratulatory message is worth reading carefully and recalling. But these praises were greatly welcomed at the meeting, and the audience stood up three times in a row for a long applause, which also made Stalin very happy.
In addition, Mao Zedong also brought a three-train leather birthday gift for Stalin. These birthday gifts are displayed in several halls of the Grand Theatre,
Exhibited to the public for several days, visitors flocked to the public, praising local specialties such as Shandong Chinese cabbage and Beijing duck pear, as well as exquisite Chinese handicrafts.
The couplet that Mao Zedong gave to Stalin was placed in the most conspicuous position in the hall of the opera house, and foreign friends were full of praise when they saw what China sent.
At the end of the opera performance, more than 2,000 spectators stood up and applauded, and cheered rhythmically: "Stalin! Mao Zedong! ”
Mao Zedong sat in the box and had to get up frequently and wave in greeting.
There is no doubt that the campaign to celebrate Stalin's birthday was very successful.
All this vividly shows that Stalin and the Soviet people were sincerely pleased with the victory of the Chinese revolution.
Chairman Mao and Stalin
In fact, since 1930, Stalin has paid attention to Mao Zedong, a "young man", perceived the difference between Mao Zedong and Wang Ming, realized that Mao Zedong was rooted in the practice of the Chinese revolution, and tacitly acquiesced to Mao Zedong's leadership position in the Central Committee after the Zunyi Conference.
After the Xi'an Incident, in a telegram replying to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Stalin proposed that Chiang Kai-shek should not be killed, but should unite to form an anti-Japanese united front; after the victory of the War of Resistance, Chiang Kai-shek invited Mao Zedong to Chongqing for negotiations, and Stalin hoped that Mao Zedong would go and negotiate with him and buy time.
Stalin's decisions at these four important junctures can be said to be crucial to China's influence.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="222" > signing storm</h1>
After the banquet, there are naturally more important things than the celebration of the birthday.
After repeated applications from Mao Zedong, he finally applied for the opportunity to hold another meeting with Stalin, which lasted for more than five hours and did not end until the early hours of the morning.
This time the discussion was about the international communist movement, involving Vietnam, Japan, India, Western Europe and many other countries, but there was no mention of anything about the Sino-Soviet treaty, and when Mao Zedong asked again whether he wanted Zhou Enlai to come, Stalin said vaguely: "Don't come for the time being." ”
Obviously, Stalin still did not agree to a new treaty.
After participating in the celebration of Stalin's seventieth birthday, delegations from various countries left Moscow to return to China, and only Mao Zedong remained in Moscow for a long time. During this period, Stalin was very concerned about Mao Zedong's life, called almost every day to inquire, and even personally called Shi Zhe to understand Mao Zedong's ideas, but never mentioned the signing of the contract, and never met Mao Zedong again.
Mao Zedong's previous visit to the Soviet Union was a rush of excitement and great hopes, but he did not expect to have differences on the issue of signing the contract and was treated so coldly.
Once, when the Soviet side sent people to visit Mao Zedong, Mao Zedong was angry with them: "I have come to Moscow, not only to celebrate the birthday, but since you still want to maintain the contract with the Kuomintang, then continue to maintain it, and in a few days I will return." ”
Mao Zedong actually said these words to Stalin, conveying the anger in his stomach to Stalin through them, thus reflecting his dissatisfaction with Stalin's lack of preparation for signing a new treaty.
At this critical moment, the international situation has changed, and it has played a "god assist" for China and Mao Zedong.
The non-socialist country of Burma suddenly recognized the new China and demanded diplomatic relations with China; India subsequently recognized the status of the new China, and even Britain had this intention. These trends in the international situation prompted Stalin to reconsider Mao's proposal to sign the contract.
At this time, a message from the British News Agency instantly attracted "storms all over the city". The British released the news that Mao Zedong had been put under house arrest by Stalin.
When this news was released, the Soviet side panicked.
After the founding of New China, Mao Zedong's visit to the Soviet Union and Stalin's first direct talks were the most important foreign affairs contacts and negotiations, which naturally aroused the great attention of world public opinion. However, more than ten days have passed, and there has been no substantial progress in the negotiations between China and the Soviet Union, which has made the Western countries very puzzled and cannot help but produce all kinds of speculations and rumors.
Wang Jiaxiang, then China's ambassador to the Soviet Union, announced in the newspaper the purpose of Mao Zedong's visit to the Soviet Union.
After the agreement between the two sides, Mao Zedong answered the reporter on January 2, 1950, saying:
"The length of my stay in the USSR depends on the time required to resolve the questions of interest of the People's Republic of China. Among these problems, the first is the existing Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance, the Soviet Union's loan to the People's Republic of China, the trade and trade agreement between You and China, and other issues. ”
After this remark was published, it caused a great shock in the international community, and the rumors were self-defeating, and at the same time, it also reflected the change in Stalin's attitude toward signing a new treaty with China - and began to consider the issue of signing a new treaty with China.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="182" > peak loop rotation</h1>
Stalin finally could not hold his breath, he could not bear the charge of house arrest of Mao Zedong, and out of consideration for the sake of national interests, if he could not firmly grasp China as an ally, once Britain and the United States made overtures to China, China fell to the Western world, and Su Dalin's idea of using China as an eastern barrier was shattered, and he was powerless, which he would not allow.
After much deliberation, China and the Soviet Union signed the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance on February 14, 1950, and Zhou Enlai personally came to Moscow to discuss the contents of the treaty.
On January 20, Zhou Enlai led a delegation to Moscow. On the 23rd, Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai held talks with Stalin.
Chairman Mao and Zhou Enlai
At the meeting, Mao Zedong first made a speech and put forward his views on the cooperative relations between China and the Soviet Union and the content of the treaty. Mao Zedong said that the content of the contract should allow the two countries to be closely linked in political, economic, cultural and diplomatic cooperation, and Stalin agreed.
In addition, Stalin also proposed that he had previously thought that the original agreement was better to retain, but that the existing treaties and agreements involving Sino-Soviet relations must be amended. At the same time, it also announced that the previous contracts signed with the Kuomintang were invalidated, and even Stalin proposed to change some unequal treaties signed before, all of which surprised Mao Zedong.
In order to distinguish the new treaty from the old treaty, the Chinese side proposed to add the word "mutual assistance" on the original basis, and the Soviet side also gladly accepted it.
When everything in the contract was agreed, Mao Zedong smiled, and he was happy that he had reached a contract on this trip to the Soviet Union, and the signing of the contract undoubtedly showed that China had won in this great power game.
Mao Zedong and Stalin attended the signing ceremony of the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance
On February 26, Stalin held a banquet in the Kremlin to entertain Mao Zedong.
On February 27, Mao Zedong and others boarded a special train back to China, ending this meaningful trip to the Soviet Union.
Later, the Soviet side sent China a gift from Stalin in return: two Guiss cars.
This brand of cars was extremely rare at that time, is the industrial power of the Soviet Union produced by the "top car", there is a "car in the car in the armored car" reputation, the car is black and shiny, high-power engine, speed up to 140 kilometers per hour, double-layer structure tires, even if the bullet is shot through still does not affect the driving, the thick steel plate at the bottom, can resist the explosion of infantry mines, the whole car is installed with bulletproof glass, the safety factor is extremely high.
Stalin gave Mao Ghis a 115 car
On the way back, Mao Zedong smoked a dry cigarette, and finally told the mystery of the twenty thousand pounds of "valuable gifts" he gave: turnips and green onions, these two things are smooth, cabbage and pears can drive away the heat, I gave these to Stalin, just to let him dissipate the gas, but this time to Moscow, Stalin's attitude has been bad, the contradictions left by the two sides are also many, and they all have a stomach.
At this time, everyone suddenly realized that they knew the true intention of Mao Zedong to give these things. Gift-giving is not in the precious, but in the exquisiteness of the gift, giving people treasures is not as good as giving people emergency, just like people walking in the desert, you give him astronomical huge sums of money is not as real as a bottle of water, and this is the wisdom of great people.
When stalin was congratulated on his birthday, he did not know that five more days, that is, December 26, was Mao Zedong's own 56th birthday. But Mao Zedong has always been simple to celebrate his birthday, he just invited some of his friends to come, fried a few dishes, put on a few bottles of shochu, and talked about the development of the country at the table, never forgetting the country.