In 1972, US President Richard Nixon was invited to visit China, officially breaking the decades-long "diplomatic freeze" between China and the United States.
Nixon, then US President, held a profound meeting with Chairman Mao and made immortal contributions to the establishment of new Sino-US relations.
On the eve of parting, in order to release his goodwill and convey respect for Chinese culture, Nixon specially asked the chairman for an ink treasure, and the chairman wrote down the above 12 big words after a deep groan
——" The old man sat on the stool, Chang'e ran to the moon, and walked and watched the flowers." ”
However, for these 12 words Nixon is unknown, and no one has been able to understand them in the past 50 years.
So what is the meaning of the 12-character ink treasure that Chairman Mao gave to Nixon?
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In view of the 12-character ink treasure given by Chairman Mao to Nixon, we may as well divide it into three parts to analyze one by one, and the first thing we must analyze is the "old man sitting on the stool."
Ross Trier, a well-known "Mao Zedong research expert" in the United States, once said that this "old man" refers to the United States, and the core meaning of these four words is that in that era of rapid changes in the international situation, the United States was blindly confident and had lost its correct understanding of the international situation.
From this point of view, although it is domineering and in line with Chairman Mao's consistently confident attitude, it is more or less "arrogant."
In the context of China at that time, would Chairman Mao really convey this moral? Not really.
Many people may not know what kind of situation our country faced in the 1960s and 1970s, if we want to use a word to describe it, then the most accurate word is "belly and back to the enemy".
This "enemy" includes the Kuomintang entrenched in Taiwan, India and the Soviet Union, which are eyeing the borders of China, and the United States, which is afraid that China will turn to the Soviet Union and influence the situation of the US-Soviet hegemony.
It is also in this complicated context that Chairman Mao will let Premier Zhou study the possibility of Sino-US alliance, will let Marshals Ye Jianying, Chen Yi, and other marshals study which direction the Sino-US strategy should be changed, and will specially invite the US table tennis team to visit China for friendship and begin the famous "small ball turning the big ball."
In order to fully demonstrate his goodwill toward Nixon, Chairman Mao said such a sentence at the first moment of the meeting with Nixon:
"Taiwan is a small matter, you can put it for 100 years first, the world is a big thing."
When the United States was most worried about the armed seizure of Taiwan by our mainland, Chairman Mao made such a promise, is this not enough to show our sincerity?
If anyone thinks it's not enough, we might as well take a closer look at the exchange of gifts between the two sides.
In response to this visit to China, Nixon also showed great importance, and after repeated screening, he finally chose to give Chairman Mao a porcelain swan and a crystal glass vase symbolizing peace.
However, due to some small errors during transportation, the 5th feather of the swan was broken, and it was finally made up after the glue was bonded.
Although the patch is made up, there are still more obvious glue bond marks on the feathers, which look slightly flawed.
For this reason, Nixon also specially expressed his apologies to Chairman Mao, but at that time Chairman Mao, instead of minding, said humorously,
"What does it matter if it's broken?" Can it be glued up again, and aren't Sino-US relations also glued up by you? ”
Not only did chairman Mao not mind, but Chairman Mao also deliberately took out four or two large red robes as gifts to Nixon.
At that time, Nixon still felt that Chairman Mao was a little stingy, but after Premier Zhou explained that there were only three big red-robed mother trees in all of China, and Chairman Mao only had eight or two big red robes, Nixon immediately grabbed Chairman Mao's hand.
From this, we can see that Nixon's current visit to China was relatively smooth on the whole, and Chairman Mao was quite friendly to Nixon.
The so-called "admonition to the United States of blind self-confidence and that the United States has lost the correct judgment of international cognition" is simply untenable.
Therefore, Chairman Mao's "lao sorcerer" should refer to himself, to our China, because in terms of age, Chairman Mao is much older than Nixon, and it is completely reasonable to call himself "Lao Sorcerer".
What's more, lao su sitting stool is not a bad adjective, it can fully interpret the grand atmosphere of China sitting and watching the world and the development of the international situation, so it is undoubtedly more accurate to use "lao suo" to refer to oneself and the country.
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In response to chairman Mao's middle 4 words, Ross Trier also made an interpretation.
He believes that chairman Mao is a metaphor for China's launch of Dongfanghong 1, the purpose is to highlight the development of Science and technology in China, to show that China is developing rapidly and powerfully in related fields.
This statement also has a relatively large problem, not to mention, China's Dongfanghong No. 1 artificial satellite was launched in April 1970, and Nixon's visit to China was in February 1972.
The interval between this is not even two years, and for the sake of secrecy, Chairman Mao obviously does not use such advanced technology as a metaphor, so It is clear that Rotsrier has entered a misunderstanding in understanding.
So what does this "Chang'e Running Moon" really refer to?
Through the analysis of relevant literature, we feel that we should refer to the MOON landing project of the Apollo program of the United States, and refer to the determination of China and the United States to develop together in science and technology and other aspects.
In July 1969, American astronaut Armstrong successfully reached the moon and took the famous "small step", which is a proud and proud thing for all mankind.
Chairman Mao deliberately wrote these 4 words on the ink treasure given to Nixon, which is undoubtedly a recognition and respect for the United States and Knicks himself, and also fully demonstrates the great man's broad mind and remarkable pattern.
Over the past thousand years, people have waged one war after another for territory on the ground, causing deep suffering to all peoples.
Will the successful landing of Apollo on the moon solve this dilemma?
When people gradually look at the universe and transform the struggle on the ground into an exploration of the endless universe, is this not a kind of "common progress"?
In other words, when we turn our eyes to the universe, then we are also "villagers" of the "global village", and we should no longer waste our energy in blind internal friction, but should stand together.
Of course, chairman Mao's four big words of "Chang'e Running to the Moon" written to Nixon not only contain the pattern of common progress, but also contain the determination to catch up.
In traditional Chinese culture, the legend of "Chang'e Running to the Moon" has been standing for thousands of years, but it is not Chinese who first arrived at the moon, but americans.
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If Chairman Mao wants to express his kindness to Nixon in the first two words, then the last word is slightly "dissatisfied."
In fact, this is not difficult to understand, because as far as China's national conditions at that time were concerned, Chairman Mao wanted to carry out in-depth cooperation with the United States in terms of political stance, economic construction, and so on.
However, the United States represented by Nixon does not seem to have this sincerity, so how can this not make Chairman Mao dissatisfied?
From 1949 to 1972, for more than 20 years, China has undergone earth-shaking changes, and this change cannot be explained in two words.
In just a few days, it was simply not enough to have a perfect understanding of New China, and there was no perfect understanding, so how could we talk about in-depth cooperation? Even if cooperation is achieved, it is only "superficial cooperation".
In fact, Nixon's first trip to China was tantamount to "walking around and watching the flowers", which is why Chairman Mao invited Nixon to visit China again in 1976.
Although Nixon was no longer the president of the United States at that time, he still had great influence in the United States and had an important impact on the development of Sino-US relations.
Nixon's second visit to China and Mao Zedong's meetings were short, only 1 hour and 40 minutes, but in this short period of 100 minutes, the discussion between the two was far deeper than when they first met.
Chairman Mao at that time held a notebook and wrote it down in a notebook whenever he spoke of a point he thought was important.
Although his body at that time did not support his long-term communication, he still showed great enthusiasm, and after this conversation, even Nixon had to admire Mao Zedong's will.
"No matter what others think of him, no one can deny that he has fought until the last moment."
When the conversation came to an end and the two were about to separate, Chairman Mao raised the celadon cup in his hand, looked at him with a witty speech, and said,
"Decades of old wrongdoers, don't fight and don't know each other, let's have a drink, but I won't drink, so I will replace the bar with water..."
It can be said that after this meeting, Nixon finally abandoned the attitude of "going wild and watching the flowers" and seriously considered the future development of Sino-US relations.
And when Chairman Mao passed away on September 9, 1976, Nixon said this:
"U.S.-China friendship is already indispensable to becoming in the interests of both of our countries."
However, no one knows the true meaning of the 12-character ink treasure that Chairman Mao gave to Nixon, because Chairman Mao never expounded it in any public information.
However, in light of China's national conditions and the international situation at that time, it is not difficult for us to make a more accurate judgment on it, and the more we understand it, the more we will praise the president's far-sighted political wisdom and his dedication to the country.