On May 27, 1994, Lei Jieqiong, who was already 90 years old, followed others to Shaoshan to visit Chairman Mao's former residence. I saw the chairman of a pajama with 73 patches, patched up and patched, the upper of the shoe was cracked, sewn many times, the sole of the shoe was open with a big mouth, but still reluctant to throw the leather slippers. As Lei Jieqiong, who grew up under the ideological education of the chairman, when she saw this item that accompanied the chairman day and night, all kinds of emotions surged into her heart, and it also made her feel as if she had returned to the day when she saw the chairman.
During the break, the director of the Shaoshan Administration Bureau expressed the wish that Lei Jieqiong could put forward a word for the chairman's relic exhibition. To this end, Lei Jieqiong, who was full of thoughts, solemnly left 8 words after several thoughts. So what exactly do these 8 words say?
With the outbreak of the May Fourth Movement and the brave leading students to take to the streets, the situation in China has changed, making Lei Jieqiong feel more and more the difficulties facing China. She rejected her father's advice on studying medicine, art, and law, and quietly made a decision in her mind. "In my heart, patriotism is supreme, I hope our country will never be bullied again, we must be strong," she said. To this end, Lei Jieqiong obtained her parents' consent and embarked on the road to the United States to find the answer to save the country.
In 1924, at the age of 19, Lei Jieqiong came to the United States with her brother, and after studying chemistry at the University of California for a period of time, Lei Jieqiong saved China's answer, which could not be found in this small laboratory. After several thoughts, Lei Jieqiong realized that today's China is poor and weak, and there are a large number of ills in society, so if you want to find a cure for social ills, you may need to look for it from sociology.
Therefore, despite the opposition of others, Lei Jieqiong resolutely entered Stanford University with her own ideal of national salvation, studied Far Eastern Studies, and after graduation, she went to the University of Southern California to pursue a master's degree in sociology.
In 1931, Lei Jieqiong, who returned to China after completing her studies, opened a course in applied sociology at Yenching University, and at the same time, Lei Jieqiong was also actively looking for a way to save the country. However, in this year, the Japanese, who were already eager to move, extended their black hand to China and brazenly launched the "918". When the land fell in front of him again, countless innocent compatriots cried and fled and were brutally killed by the Japanese, this scene made Lei Jieqiong sad.
To this end, together with many professors, she formed the Anti-Japanese Salvation Congress, collected materials for frontline soldiers, and actively gave speeches and donations in the society. Soon after, however, the "July 7 Incident" broke out, and Chiang Kai-shek's policy of non-resistance led to the loss of a large part of the territory in the northeast, and a large number of people in the northeast became slaves to the country.
At this time, Lei Jieqiong, who was in Guangzhou, was invited by the Jiangxi government to participate in the anti-Japanese rescue work and organize a women's movement. Among them, in order to encourage everyone to participate in the anti-Japanese rescue, Lei Jieqiong successively presided over the establishment of advanced books such as the "Jiangxi Women' Weekly", the "Rural Women's Monthly Magazine", and the "Women's Group Training Series", which made great contributions to encouraging women's work and organizing anti-Japanese salvation.
It was during this period that Lei Jieqiong had contact with our Party and became a close friend of the Communist Party of China.
In 1946, with the surrender of the Japanese emperor, ethnic class contradictions also escalated, but by this time the Chinese people had been devastated by 14 years of war. The outbreak of the Northeast Civil War and the U.S. Secretary of State's proposal to the U.S. Senate the "Military Aid to China Act" all mean that China will be drawn into war again.
Therefore, in order to call for peace and let Chiang Kai-shek dispel the idea of civil war, tens of thousands of Shanghainese people, led by underground party comrades, launched a vast peace petition operation. At the same time, ta kung pao, Zhonghua Bao, and other newspapers successively published statements entitled "Appeal for The Liberation of the National Fortune and the Settlement of the Nation is to Lay a Permanent Peace."
On June 23, Lei Jieqiong, Ma Sulun and 11 other deputies, under the farewell of tens of thousands of people, embarked on the train to Nanjing to petition. However, in order to stop them, the Kuomintang agents who knew about this matter early on got on the train and pestered them when they were traveling through Changzhou, Suzhou and other places.
Soon, the train arrived at Nanjing's Xiaguan Station, where it ambushed hundreds of Kuomintang agents disguised as refugees. At the first time, the watches, bags, and glasses in the hands of the 11 deputies were all snatched away, and they were beaten for up to four or five hours, forcing them to kneel, and insulting them. At this point, Lei Jieqiong and others were finally severely injured under the atrocities committed by the Kuomintang and fell in a pool of blood.
On this night, Premier Zhou, Dong Biwu and others rushed to the hospital to comfort them, and when they saw these scarred deputies, Premier Zhou was heartbroken, and he said, "Your blood will not be shed in vain!" Premier Zhou's loud voice and loud words gave Lei Jieqiong great encouragement. At the same time, Chairman Mao, President Zhu, and other CPC delegations who were far away in Yan'an also sent telegrams of condolences to Lei Jieqiong.
As China is about to enter the dawn, the occurrence of this conflict has given Lei Jieqiong a clearer understanding of the dark face of the Kuomintang and made her more determined to continue to walk with the Chinese Communist Party.
In the winter of 1948, the Liaoshen Campaign and the Huaihai Campaign had ended, and the Pingjin Campaign had also begun, and the chaotic situation that was originally placed in front of China had become clear. At this time, Lei Jieqiong, who was teaching in Beiping, joined everyone in looking forward to the early arrival of peace.
In December of that year, Ma Sulun wrote a letter entrusting Lei Jieqiong to attend Chairman Mao's invitation on the northwest slope instead of a member of the Association for the Promotion of Democracy. Seeing this news, Lei Jieqiong was excited, but at that time Beijing still did not announce liberation, the city was filled with a large number of spies and old-fashioned bureaucrats, making Beiping City full of crises, Lei Jieqiong and her husband suppressed the joy in their hearts, pretended to visit relatives and quietly left Beiping City, and then together with other democratic party figures, escorted by the People's Liberation Army, took a truck, passed through mountain villages, and bumped all the way to Xibaipo.
After everyone got off the bus, the guards welcomed everyone into the house, and Chairman Mao, Liu Shaoqi, Zhu Laozong, and other central leaders who had been waiting early in the morning stood at the door to greet them, and under the introduction of Premier Zhou one by one, warmly shook hands with Lei Jieqiong and the deputies. After a simple settlement, the Central Committee invited the delegates to dinner together in the evening to discuss the current national situation and the issue of preparing for the establishment of a new China.
Among them, everyone is enthusiastically conceiving about China's future, while Lei Jieqiong, as a woman, is listening to the crowd at the same time. Chairman Mao also discovered this situation, and for this reason, the chairman encouraged her to join the discussion with his eyes several times.
After the meal, the crowd followed Chairman Mao into his office, which, though it was said to be, was actually a house made of ordinary peasants, with simplified furniture and a map of China on the wall. Everyone sat down around the desk and continued to discuss the topic at the dinner table, and Lei Jieqiong, who gradually integrated into it, raised a question that the chairman was very concerned about today, "Today, the United States and the Soviet Union are very much in favor of 'ruling by the river', and there are many supporters at home. How do you see the social basis of 'crossing the river and ruling'? ”
Hearing Lei Jieqiong's question, the chairman laughed loudly. The United States and Britain play tricks, the chairman has long been through the phenomenon, caught the ambition behind them.
Thus, the Chairman stated that "although the Positions of the United States and the Soviet Union are different, in essence, they put pressure on us from the standpoint of their own interests." To this end, they also formed public opinion at home and abroad through military and political power, but this is only a symptom, and the "peace" pursued at all costs by the United States and the Soviet Union is built, whether it is long-lasting or not. ”
After saying this, the chairman paused, and then said, "Every time there is a split in China's history, it will take a long time to reunify again, and the people will pay several times the price." Therefore, for the sake of a unified China, we Communists must stand on the stand of the people, consider the long-term and fundamental interests, overthrow the 'three mountains' that are pressing on the people, and carry the revolution through to the end. ”
Among them, the chairman also used the analogy of a farmer and a snake to tell the people that they must not pity the wicked, let alone go against the will of the people, so that they have the opportunity to return China to the dark world. The chairman's insight into history gave Lei Jieqiong a great shock, and even in the years that followed, whenever a series of major events occurred in the world, she would think of the chairman's meaningful words again and again.
After leaving Xibaipo, Lei Jieqiong and others rushed to Lijiazhuang, the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, where they joined Lu Dingyi, Lin Boqu, and patriotic democrats from all over the world to discuss Chairman Mao's 1949 New Year's message for xinhua news agencies, "Carrying the Revolution through to the End."
Soon, with the joint efforts of the underground party comrades, Peiping was peacefully liberated, and at this time the problem of the fixed capital of new China was also solved. On March 25, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China relocated from Xibaipo to Beijing, and Lei Jieqiong and others held a welcoming ceremony at Xiyuan Airport for the arrival of Chairman Mao, Premier Zhou, Liu Shaoqi and other central leaders.
At this time, as the situation on the battlefield has become fully clear, on June 15, the Preparatory Committee for the New CPPCC Consultative Conference was officially established in Huairen Hall in Zhongnanhai, and the question of the way out of saving the country and governing the country that has plagued Lei Jieqiong since his youth has been answered at this time, and here Lei Jieqiong participated in the drafting of the "Organic Law of the Central People's Government". Among them, Lei Jieqiong, together with many democrats, met Chairman Mao again. At this time, the new chapter of new China is gradually approaching people.
On October 1, 1949, the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China was held as scheduled under the preparation of everyone day and night, and at 3 p.m., Lei Jieqiong, together with other democrats, ascended the Tiananmen Tower, where she saw with her own eyes and heard Chairman Mao solemnly announce to the people of the Chinese and to the people of the world with a loud voice that "the People's Republic of China and the Central People's Government have been established today!" ”
In this short sentence, countless Chinese people have struggled for hundreds of years, and when the five-star red flag was slowly raised with the press of the electric button, everyone shed tears of excitement.
After that, Lei Jieqiong actively participated in the construction of the country, and in the following decades, she used what she learned to actively contribute to the causes of children, women, marriage, social welfare, etc., and made selfless contributions to the development of education in New China and the improvement of the rule of law system on many occasions.
During this period, Lei Jieqiong successively served as vice mayor of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, vice mayor of Beijing Municipality, deputy to the First, Second and Third National People's Congress, member of the Standing Committee of the Fifth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, vice chairman of the Sixth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and chairman of the Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Central Committees.
In May 1994, Lei Jieqiong, who was already 90 years old, was arranged by the Central Committee of the China Association for Promoting Democracy and drove to Shaoshan by car with the vice chairman of the Central Committee of the China Association for Promoting Democracy and others. Accompanied by the staff, Lei Jieqiong first presented a flower basket to the bronze statue of the chairman.
Subsequently, Lei Jieqiong came to the chairman's former residence with awe. In the hut, she looked at every object very carefully. When he came to Chairman Mao's bedroom, he carefully studied the photos of the chairman's parents, and then touched the futon on the bed, and involuntarily said, "It turns out that the great man was born here."
After leaving the Chairman's former residence, Lei Jieqiong came to the exhibition hall again, and when she saw the six relatives of the Chairman who sacrificed for the revolution, Lei Jieqiong and the crowd were sad. Then, the crowd saw that the chairman had used and used pajamas and slippers for many years but was still reluctant to throw away, and there was a receipt of no detail.
In these objects, the people were able to understand the living conditions of Chairman Mao's family, and even more felt the valuable personality charm of the chairman who strictly performed the state system and did not seek any special interests for himself or his family.
While talking in the lounge, the director of the Shaoshan Management Bureau made a wish to ask Mr. Lei Jieqiong to write an inscription for the Chairman's relic exhibition. So far, after a long period of thinking, comparison, and under the suggestions of others, Lei Jieqiong has left 8 big characters of "the public is eternal, and the private is a moment".
As in the message book that year, Lei Jieqiong left a message "Who has the most power?" Comrade Mao Zedong. But he exercised his power to the fullest extent in his life—dedication. He dedicated his life to six relatives. He never asked the people for it, and he asked his relatives and friends not to reach out to the people. His answer to the request was to serve the people wholeheartedly. If every Communist Party member and every leading cadre of the Party can take Comrade Mao Zedong as a mirror, the country will be very fortunate and our party will be very fortunate! ”