Chairman Mao's inscriptions in his lifetime were numerous, and his famous inscriptions, "Study well, improve every day," are concise and powerful, and they are full of ardent expectations. It inspires hundreds of millions of young people in the republic and inspires generations of primary and secondary school students. The origin of these eight characters, which we have memorized since childhood, is little known.
Chairman Mao's early inscriptions, "Study well," are separate from "upward progress every day." It was before the founding of New China, on Children's Day on April 4, 1940, and Mao Zedong's inscription "Every Day Upward" congratulated the children in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region on a happy holiday, which was published in the New China News in Yan'an on April 12.
In September 1949, on the eve of the founding of New China, the magazine "Children of China" was launched in Beiping, and Mao Zedong splashed ink with an inscription "Study well."
So, how did the far-reaching inscription "Study well, improve every day" that spread throughout the country come about? This illuminating inscription comes from two little heroes.
The first is an 8-year-old anti-special hero in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. It was a thrilling and long-buried past. Time goes back 70 years....
On the afternoon of May 3, 1951, the teachers of Suzhou Jinchang Primary School conducted political studies and gave the students a half-day off. The school's 8-year-old child Chen Yongkang's family lives outside the ancient city of Suzhou, not far from the school, and he has nothing to do during the holidays, so he plays with his classmates by the city wall next to the school.
"While climbing the city wall, an uncle came over." The man, with shiny hair and black leather shoes, crouched down in front of him and asked kindly, "Why didn't the children go to school today?" Where to study? Chen Yongkang pointed to his own school, "Jinchang Elementary School." The man smiled, Chen Yongkang looked at him incomprehensibly, and the next thing made Chen Yongkang even more confused.
I saw the stranger take out a few pieces of candy and a dollar from his pocket and shake them in front of Chen Yongkang. "Do you want it?" The sugar is delicious, and you can use the money to buy it again after eating it. Chen Yongkang nodded and shook his head, there was sugar to eat, and he gave money back. He was a little moved..., remembering the last time he ate sugar or the New Year.
"It's all for you, put this flour on the desk of your school teacher." The stranger pulled out another bag of packaged things and kindly instructed him. Chen Yongkang's eyes blinked rapidly, his brain was constantly turning, and he became vigilant: "The class teacher has said many times that there are still some secret agents in society who always want to find opportunities to sabotage schools and factories and sabotage the happy lives of working people.
Chen Yongkang looked at the ghostly and reverent appearance of this person in front of him, and said very calmly: "Uncle, you and I should go to school together!" Today there is no one in the school, it is all off. ”
Chen Yongkang
In the early days of liberation, the ancient city was full of the figure of the People's Liberation Army. The two of them walked toward the school, and chen Yongkang, who was approaching the four PLA soldiers on patrol, suddenly hugged the man's leg and shouted, "Uncle of the PLA, come and catch the villain." ”
The bad guy panicked and was anxious to escape, and he kept pounding Chen Yongkang's head and body, and kicked him with his leather shoes. Where the 8-year-old child can withstand it, but Chen Yongkang still clings to the other party. The Pla.P.A. quickly subdued the man and took the injured Chen Yongkang to the hospital. After the test, it was a package of yellow explosives, and the man was a reactionary agent.
The news of Chen Yongkang's intelligence fighter agent spread in the school early the next morning. At that time, Suzhou had just been liberated, the secret agents were still hiding in the dark corners, and considering Chen Yongkang's safety, the school specially arranged a dormitory for him to be taken care of by the teachers for a period of time. All parties in society have also given a lot of love and honor. Chen Yongkang's glorious deeds of brave and fighting spies were later compiled into textbooks.
After the deeds of the little hero reached Beijing, Chairman Mao gladly inscribed: "Study hard, improve every day," and sent someone to make a pennant award for Chen Yongkang. However, for unknown reasons, the matter was not made public in the school, and Chen Yongkang learned of Chairman Mao's personal inscription for himself until 50 years later.
In the same year, the illuminating inscription "Study hard, go up every day" gave another 14-year-old little hero who crossed the river. On October 4, Chairman Mao inscribed in his face "Study hard, improve every day" and gave it to Ma Maojie, a "first-class meritorious hero in the Battle of crossing the River."
In September 1935, Ma Maojie was born in a fisherman's family in Makan Village, Liudu Township, Wuwei County, Anhui Province, because she was the third oldest, and everyone called her Ma Sanjie and Sanyatou.
In 1940, Ma Sanjie's father was arrested by the Kuomintang, and later the family gave everything they had and ransomed him with three stones of rice. Ma Sanjie was the only surviving girl born to her mother, and her parents, forced by life, had to tearfully sell her to a fisherman as a child bridesmaid.
Ma Sanjie, who was only 5 years old, was sent to an outsider's home, and finally one day she saw the opportunity to escape from the family.' Ma Sanjie was also afraid that the fisherman would find his parents to ask for someone, so she fled to the countryside, begging during the day, sleeping in the waste paper pile at night, and quietly returning home after a year.
Ma Sanjie began her career as a fisherman after returning home, and her brother has always been engaged in rowing, but his eyesight is not very good. In the past few years, she has become a loyal and good helmsman of her brother, and slowly practiced the good skill of steering.
In February 1949, the northern bank of the Yangtze River ushered in liberation. Ma Sanjie's family, like other poor families, felt free and bright under the warm sun of liberation. The common people picked up rice and firewood, built roads and dug rivers, requisitioned civilian boats, and enthusiastically busied themselves with the work of supporting the front.
"Fight across the Yangtze River, liberate all of China, and let the poor live a good life!" Chairman Mao's great call made ma Sanjie, who was only 14 years old, boil with blood, and she and her eldest brother ran to the Phoenix Neck Ship Station 20 miles away from home to register their names, and they wanted to support them in crossing the river when the People's Liberation Army crossed the river.
On April 20, 1949, the Chinese People's Liberation Army forcibly crossed the Yangtze River on the Qianli Front from Hukou in the west to Jiangyin in the east. The "first boat to cross the river" of the Million Heroes Division set off from Baimaozhou in Wuwei County.
At 4 p.m., the boats participating in the crossing of the river camouflaged themselves with wicker and rowed from the reeds of Wuwei Sun Island to the Yangtze River.
At night, the sky covered the earth like a black cloth, and at 20:00, the artillery fire of the Battle of the River Crossing was in full swing. Ma Sanjie and her brother rowed a boat and three other boats to form a river crossing commando team, carrying 30 PLA soldiers to the south bank of the Yangtze River, she held one rudder and the other oared. The brother had bad eyes and pulled the sails by the mast.
Battle of the River Crossing
On the night of April 22, the enemy warship arrived. Shells exploded on the river, and two of the four small boats that set out together had been sunk by enemy shells.
Ma Sanjie was full of guts at this time, and she secretly made up her mind: I just broke my leg, discounted my arm, and sent the People's Liberation Army across the Yangtze River! She wiped the droplets of water that had splashed across her face, and held the rudder tightly and steadily so that the ship could go all the way south.
After four days and nights of fierce marching, a million male divisions completed the battle of crossing the river through thousands of wooden boats. The East China Field Army awarded Ma Sanjie the title of "Hero of Crossing the River" and was awarded the first class meritorious service. Because she has no name, the bright red five-pointed star has the words "Ma Sanjie" written on it.
Of all the heroic models who crossed the river, she was the youngest. Her glorious deeds of bravery in the face of danger were reported to the Party Central Committee.
On September 20, 1951, Ma Sanjie suddenly received a letter from Beijing inviting her to attend the National Day celebrations. On the evening of September 29, in the golden autumn of Beijing, the sky was high and the stars were brilliant. Chairman Mao held a banquet at Huairen Hall, and Ma Sanjie was recommended by the Anhui delegation to toast chairman Mao.
When it was her turn to toast, she poured a full glass of wine, and when she approached Chairman Mao, only half of the full glass of wine trembled, and Ma Sanjie finally saw Chairman Mao closely, and Chairman Mao shook hands with her. Unfortunately, before she could say a word to Chairman Mao, the toasting representatives squeezed her away.
On the evening of October 3, Chairman Mao invited representatives from all over the world to watch the Beijing Opera. What Ma Sanjie never dreamed of was that her seat was actually arranged between Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou, and her heart was pounding with excitement.
Before the opening of the performance, Premier Zhou pointed at Sister Ma Mao and said to Chairman Mao: "Chairman, she is the little hero you invited to cross the river." When Chairman Mao heard this, he happily took her hand and asked her with a smile what her name was. Sister Ma Mao shyly said to Chairman Mao: "My surname is Ma, and I am the third oldest in the family, and my family calls me third sister... I don't have a formal name. Chairman Mao smiled after hearing this, turned to Premier Zhou and Chen Yi and said, "How can such a great little hero not have a name?" Chairman Mao's thick Hunan dialect had just fallen silent, and all the central leaders present were amused.
The next day, a small red car took Ma Maojie to Zhongnanhai, and the two PLA people in the car told her that they had taken her to Chairman Mao's house as a guest. When Chairman Mao saw that the little hero of the river crossing was coming, he summoned Li Min and Li Ne and introduced him to them: "This is the youngest little hero in the Battle of crossing the river, and you must learn from her well!" It's about the same age as you guys, but she's already a big hero."
Chairman Mao's kind and kind eyes looked her up and down. Chairman Mao said, "Yes, our little hero doesn't have an official name yet!" Today, I invite you to my house to give you a name. When I came back from watching the play last night, I thought about it a little.... Ma Sanjie was very excited when she heard this, and Chairman Mao looked at her, paused for a while, opened his hands and smiled: "Your surname is Ma, call ma Maojie, the first word of your name is my surname, okay?"
Chairman Mao was taking care of the country's major affairs day by day, and he was worried that a peasant girl had no name. Before Chairman Mao could finish speaking, Ma Sanjie's eyes were filled with tears of excitement, and she nodded her head happily, saying one after another: "Good, good, I will call Sister Ma Mao!" ”
Mao Zedong's association of his surname with that of a small hero is the only example. It shows that his friendship with the little hero can be said to be in the name of the family name, and the meaning is beyond words.
During the meal, Chairman Mao occasionally put vegetables in her bowl and asked her if she could read or write, and whether she wanted to study in Beijing. Ma Maojie told the chairman that she had gone to school in her hometown of Binghui Children, learned a lot of words, and could read the newspaper. Chairman Mao seemed very happy and said in unison, "Good, good, good." And reminded her: You are so brave at such a young age, not afraid of sacrifice, very remarkable, but do not be proud, do not your tail. ”
Before leaving, Chairman Mao drew a delicate notebook from the bookshelf, opened the title page and wrote:
Sister Mao: Study hard and improve every day.
Mao Zedong
October 4, 1951
Since then, "study hard, improve every day" has quickly spread throughout the country, and has become a motto to encourage young people across the country to study hard and grow up healthily. Once, Chen Yongkang's homework was to silently write "Study well and improve every day." Mom asked him, "Who said that?" He happily told his mother, "Chairman Mao, all the children in the country know it." ”
Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, several spring and summer, the two little heroes of that year also grew up and became a family, each contributing to socialist construction in ordinary posts.
On May 21, 2001, xinmin evening newspaper published a short article reporting on how the important inscription "Study hard, improve every day" came about. It mentions important information: the 46th issue of the "Revolutionary Reform Newspaper" on May 28, 1951, clearly recorded that "study hard and improve every day" was given to Chen Yongkang's children by Chairman Mao's handwritten inscription that year.
That year, Chen Yongkang finished primary school from Jinchang Primary School, and then finished 3 years of junior high school, due to family circumstances, Chen Yongkang did not continue to study, as the eldest son in the family, he willingly shared the burden of the family. In 1961, at the age of 18, Chen Yongkang became a river cleaner. In 1969, Chen Yongkang and Yu Qiqi, an employee of the Guest House of the Transportation Bureau, became a family and lived a solid and happy life.
Due to his wife's composition problems, Chen Yongkang lost the opportunity to join the party, but he still has a simple party spirit. Do one line of respect and one line, and work hard until retirement.
After the news of Chairman Mao's inscription for Chen Yongkang came out, Chen Yongkang, who was 58 years old at the time, was surprised and honored at the same time. The good deeds done for the people will never be forgotten by the people, just like Ma Maojie, who won the honor of "first-class hero who crossed the river" at the age of 14. On June 29, 2021, he was once again awarded the high honor of "July 1st Medal".
In that year, after Ma Maojie returned home from Beijing, after finishing primary school at binghui children's school, she was sent to the provincial workers' and peasants' cadre school for training. After graduation, according to the arrangement of the organization, she successively worked in Hefei Station Knitting Factory, Quilt Factory, Hefei Hardware And Sixth Factory and other units.
Whether it is on the assembly line, or in the work of the Women's Federation and the trade union, she is in the heart of a party member, down-to-earth, sincerely serving the people and the country. Sister Ma Mao said in a serious tone: "The unforgettable and glorious years of the Liberation War have passed, and it is insignificant to think of the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the revolutionary cause of the motherland. ”
Why should we remember history, we should write about heroes, because they are the weather vane we should pay attention to. Even if he is a child of a few years old, or an elderly grandmother, they are heroes, the strength of our faith, the stars we look up to. We need to consolidate heroic feelings! Remember the name that should be remembered, the years are like shuttles, may the original heart be like a rock, and the faith be eternal.
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The text is written by the author's subjective thoughts + historical objective facts.
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