In the middle of the Rois Valley, 100 kilometres south of Paris, there is a town dotted with small bridges and flowers. Four rivers flow through here, crossing the streets and following the Seine and Rois rivers. The criss-crossing river reflects the skylight, and there are 131 small bridges on the river. People who come to admire it come to its reputation as "Little Venice". People did not expect that more than 100 years ago, this French town with a population of only tens of thousands of people imprinted a great footprint closely related to the new Chinese revolution.
By chance, I set foot on the land of The Mondalgi.
In the Mondar period in summer, the grass is green and the trees are shady. The hustle and bustle of weekdays is gone, and the quiet river and ancient stone road seem to exude a historical atmosphere. There was no crowd in front of the city hall, and the commemorative plaque stood out: it was an ancient building built in the 16th century, and in the early 20th century it was a men's public school where hundreds of Chinese students studied, including Cai Hesen and Chen Yi. It was here that Cai and Sen sent a letter to Mao Zedong expounding his ideas for the establishment of a new society and the formation of a proletarian party...
This small French town, which had been traveling from China for nearly two months at the time, had become the habitat of the pioneers of the Chinese revolution. This is thanks to the first Chinese received by The Mondalge, who was Li Shizeng, the initiator of the work-study movement in France. The house he lived in was at 31 Gambetta Street, just as it had been. The blue doors and windows record: Li Shizeng, his father was a heavy minister at the end of the Qing Dynasty. In 1902, Li Shi came to France with Sun Baoqi, the minister of Chincha, to study, and fell in love with Mondalgi at first sight, often traveling between the town and Paris. Here, he conceived the idea of allowing Chinese students to study and work while working, and created a tofu factory, so that students studying in France had a foothold, a place to work and a source of livelihood. It was also here that he hosted Sun Yat-sen and the educator Cai Yuanpei, who were running for the Chinese League.
Today's Mondal period, perhaps not many people remember Li Shizeng. But crossing a few streets and two bridges, the stately Girodale Museum on the west bank of the Loin has put his contributions in the annals of history. At that time, this was the Mundalgi City Hall, and Li Shi had been invited to attend the municipal meeting here, and he introduced the plan to organize study in France, which was supported by the relevant people of the municipal government. Since then, a new road to study in France has begun. In 1913, the first batch of Chinese students who came to Mondalji for work-study arrived. In the years that followed, the number of Chinese students studying abroad reached several hundred.
Today's Mundalgi Town Hall
Wandering through the streets, small bridges and gardens of the Mondalgi, I seemed to see the figures of the ancestors of cai hesen, Xiang Jingyu, Cai Chang and other ancestors of the international students of that year. In their youth, they work diligently, study frugally, sometimes excitedly, sometimes deeply. Drawing on Western experience, they explore and think about China's future.
Just a year before the founding of the Communist Party of China, on a summer day in July 1920, Cai Hesen and other members of the Xinmin Society in France crossed the small bridge of the Loine River and came to Duji Park on the river to hold a plenary meeting of the xinmin society members to France. A group of enthusiastic young people had a heated discussion on the issue of "transforming China and the world", discussing the establishment of the Communist Party of China and the path of the October Revolution in Russia. The blue sky and white clouds and green grass and flowers of the Mondal period bear witness to this moment, after a century of changes, the park is still the same, and the pavilions are like umbrella pines, as if with the breeze faintly telling the history of a hundred years ago.
A sign in Duji Park shows the red footprints of China's work-study youth
Looking across the canal into the city, you can see a different scene. The former city walls have long been broken and ruined, and a tall official residence is eye-catching. It is built on the remnant wall, and the only two remaining round castles on the city wall are used as the corner towers of the official residence, showing extraordinary momentum. The Dessaumo mansion was built in the 18th century, and the first owner, Simon deschomo, was the treasurer of the Duke of Orléans. By the 20th century, it was inhabited by a scholar with chinese ties, René Dumont. He is a well-known French agronomist and ecologist and was a Candidate for the Presidency of France. As early as middle school, Professor Dumont became friends with many young Chinese, including Cai Chang. Decades later, when the two old friends reunited in Beijing, Cai Chang was already vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. Professor Dumont has visited rural China 7 times and written 4 books on rural China.
Walk down the street to Gudan Street, and at the end of the street is a T-shaped intersection. The house directly opposite the street is the current Chinese Work-study Mundal Memorial Hall in France, and the house number is 15 Raymond Street. This is a multi-studio apartment that many Chinese students have rented here. The memorial, funded by Hunan Province, also recreates the scene of Deng Xiaoping's work-study life here and the editing of the revolutionary journal "Chiguang", telling classic stories such as Cai Hesen and Xiang Jingyu's "Alliance with Cai", as well as the lives of the young people who worked hard. In those precious historical photos, the boldness and youthful brilliance of the pioneers of the Chinese revolution make people feel, revere and reverie.
Wang Peiwen, president of the Mondal Friendship Association and director of the Mondal Memorial Hall in France and work-study in France, is ready to open the door of the memorial hall.
Before walking into the memorial, I also stumbled upon a printing workshop on the street. The workshop is small, and the wooden doors and windows are somewhat low and dark. Behind the less bright glass window, an elderly couple is busy, their hands and feet slow, as if the old shots from old movies are slowly sliding by, with the rustling of film, with black and white colors that are incompatible with modern times. It suddenly occurred to me that Deng Xiaoping had also experienced it in a printing house. At that time, the picture was not much different from what I saw.
Get out of the memorial and go around to the north side of the town. Two parallel rivers part ways here. Next to the riverbank is the wide and long Mermaid Street. It is said that Deng Xiaoping rode his bicycle from here to work every day, all the way down the slope and slid to the end, without traffic lights.
"Deng Xiaoping Square" in front of The Mondalgi Railway Station
The River Lown also turned a corner outside the city, and the quiet flow of water led people to the train station. During Deng Xiaoping's reign in the Mundar period, Zhou Enlai also visited many times, and like Li Shizeng, he frequently traveled between Paris and small towns. The Mondalgi train was opened in 1860. Before that, it took more than a dozen hours to travel to Paris by horse-drawn carriage. And now from Paris, boarding the train, it takes more than an hour to reach the Mundarge. As a must-visit place for Chinese students to work and study, the railway station has also become an important historical witness. Today, the station square is named Deng Xiaoping Square, and a majestic group of figures on the square will forever remember that unforgettable chapter in history.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Huang Wei Text Editor: Luan Yinzhi
Source: Author: Huang Xiaomin