In 1972, a sensational event occurred when U.S. President Richard Nixon paid a week-long visit to China. Chairman Mao personally received Nixon during his serious illness, and this meeting of great significance was recorded throughout the meeting, and the handshake between the two was called the handshake of the century by the world media, which shows the great significance of this incident.
During the week of his visit to China, Nixon had in-depth exchanges with Chinese leaders on the current international situation and gained a new understanding of China's current appearance. Before Nixon left China, Chairman Mao specially gave Nixon a calligraphy written in his own handwriting, knowing that Chairman Mao was not only a famous military figure and politician in our country, but also a very great poet and calligrapher.
So Nixon was overjoyed when he got the word, but the few twelve words on the text made Nixon unable to understand the meaning of it. Chairman Mao inscribed on the paper "Old Man Sits on a Stool, Chang'e Runs to the Moon, and Walks Around and Watches the Flowers," and Nixon returned to the United States with this painting and questions.
Later, Chairman Mao revealed to people in public that Nixon did not understand the meaning of my words. So what is the meaning behind Chairman Mao's twelve words? What is the far-reaching significance behind Nixon's visit to China? What kind of wonderful story did the Knicks have during his visit to China?
As is known to all, before Nixon's visit to China, the relations between China and the United States and between China and Europe had already fallen to a freezing point for many years, and this began with the initial period of the War of Liberation, when the United States supported the Kuomintang reactionaries with Chiang Kai-shek as the mainstay, while our Party and our army were pro-Soviet communists.
After the Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan, it was always ready to counterattack the mainland with the support of the United States, resulting in constant friction on the southeast coast after the founding of New China, and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea that occurred in 1951 directly pushed China and the United States into hostile relations.
After the end of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, China's border friction with India continued, and there was also a shadow of the United States behind it, and in the following decades, New China was in hostile relations with the United States and most European countries, and there was no exchange between China and the United States, let alone trade exchanges like now.
By the time Sino-Soviet relations broke down in the 1960s, by the time China had developed its own atomic and hydrogen bombs, and by 1971, when China became one of the five permanent members of the United Nations, China's rise had become an unstoppable fact. At that time, the world situation was also very grim, the United States and the Soviet Union were in the midst of a fierce Cold War, and China became the most important game stage for the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.
It was under such a complicated situation that the United States began to try to ease relations with China, after all, in the eyes of the United States and other countries, there is no immutable friendship between countries, only eternal and unchanging interests. At that time, China also needed to improve the relationship between China and the United States because of the Taiwan issue and the actual needs of domestic economic development.
So both sides intentionally facilitated this interview, but it was very difficult to take this step, because the two countries did not have basic trust, and could not even complete the basic dialogue, so there must be a good medium for both sides to ease the relationship.
Against this backdrop, the famous ping-pong diplomacy incident occurred, when the U.S. table tennis team visited China between invitations from China, breaking the history of no American entering China since 1949, and also playing a good start for the relaxation of Sino-US relations.
Another reporter named Snow played a positive role in promoting the nixon visit to China, and this one you remember, Snow, is an old friend of our party; he began in 1928 to conduct on-the-spot interviews in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, and then published a series of truthful and fair reports, showing the world an objective and fair image of the Communist Party. After the founding of New China, Snow has always been a very good friend of the Chinese people.
As an American Snow had a natural advantage, in 1970 Snow ascended the Tiananmen Tower as a distinguished guest and was personally received by Chairman Mao, and then the two met many times, and Chairman Mao wanted Snow to become a bridge to promote Nixon's coming to China.
After Snow returned to the United States, he published an article in the famous American magazine "Life", reporting on Chairman Mao's invitation to Nixon to visit China, and telling what he saw and heard in China. After that, the US government led by Nixon put the visit to China on the agenda.
Nixon made a lot of preparations for this visit to China, not only carefully read the "Selected Works of Mao Zedong", but also carefully read the "Red Star Shines on China" translated by Snow, and after a period of understanding, Nixon thought that he had a more detailed understanding of Mao Zedong.
Kissinger's secret visit to China eventually led to the century-long meeting that would change Sino-US relations. When the time was fully ripe, Nixon arrived in Beijing by special plane on February 27, 1972, and the week-long visit officially began.
After Nixon arrived in Beijing, he learned of a situation that worried them very much, in the previous month Chairman Mao's physical condition was not good, and occasionally felt that the wind and cold caused Chairman Mao to have a high fever and cause hypoxia, and even for a time he was in shock. For a month Chairman Mao was in urgent medical care, and Nixon even found it difficult to meet with Mao during the visit.
But what he did not expect was that Chairman Mao had to endure his illness and held a meeting with him, which took place as scheduled on the afternoon of Nixon's arrival in China. Nixon once described the meeting in his memoirs, and after he met Chairman Mao, Chairman Mao's body was still very weak, but his eyes were very sharp.
When the assistant slowly lifted Chairman Mao up, the two shook each other's hands, and this time the handshake lasted for a minute. Chairman Mao looked at Nixon with a smile and said, I can't speak very sharply. The two are like two old friends who have not seen each other for a long time, and the verbal conversation is very enthusiastic. Chairman Mao's first words after sitting down were those of our old friend, Chairman Jiang, who may not be very happy now.
Chairman Mao talked to Nixon about the current world pattern and the dispute between the Democratic and Republican parties in the United States. The conversation between the two was very relaxed and harmonious, far less serious or even tense than everyone imagined.
When Nixon was about to lead the conversation to the key question, Mao Zedong pointed to Zhou Enlai behind him and smiled, saying that this is what he talked to you about. This world-renowned meeting ended in such a relaxed and harmonious environment. At that time, the People's Daily distributed seven pictures on two entire pages to report on the meeting, and the TV station also reported on the incident in almost ten minutes, and Nixon's visit to China became the most concerned event of the Chinese people during that period along with the media coverage.
Chairman Mao also met nixon on the first day of friendly meetings, which made a very good start for Nixon's visit to China. In the next few days, China and the United States held talks on some sensitive issues, and although the whole process was not smooth, both sides were controlled under the premise of harmony and friendship. By February 27, Nixon's week-long visit to China had come to an end, and the world in the famous Sino-US Joint Communiqué was shocked to learn of this news.
Nixon was particularly excited at the farewell dinner in China that night, in which he delivered a passionate speech with a glass of wine, in which he said that the twenty-five years of hostile relations between China and the United States may end here, and said that the week of his visit to China is a week to change the world pattern.
Chairman Mao's assessment of this is that it is not that he has changed the world, but that the world has changed him. Otherwise, Nixon has scolded us across the sea in the United States for so many years, and now why did he fly to China? These few words suddenly explained the current world situation thoroughly, and also analyzed Nixon's heart very accurately.
Early the next morning, Nixon returned to the United States by special plane, and before leaving, Chairman Mao personally inscribed a picture for him, and twelve large characters of dragons flying and phoenix dancing on well-framed rice paper were presented in front of him--the old man sat on a stool, Chang'e ran to the moon, and walked and watched the flowers.
As we said earlier, Nixon learned in detail about Chairman Mao's various deeds through various aspects before his visit to China, and thought that he also had a meticulous study of Chinese culture, but when faced with these 12 big characters, Nixon did not know why. Nixon's visit to China ended with his return to the United States with great doubts.
A famous American scholar Rose. Trier had written a book called "The Biography of Mao Zedong", in which he had given a special chapter to interpret nixon's visit to China, and even specifically explained the twelve words sent by Chairman Mao when he was parting, and Trier believed that these seemingly simple twelve words were Chairman Mao's summary of Nixon's visit to China.
First of all, the paper meaning of the old Song bench is very simple, that is, an old man who is about to die is sitting on a stool, And Trier believes that Chairman Mao is using the old man to allude to US imperialism, and he believes that Chairman Mao is using this to satirize those imperialist officials in the United States, who are only willing to sit on the stool and fantasize about the glory of imperialism, but are unwilling to look at the current real world, and even allude to the fact that the world pattern of the United States is the only one that has become the past.
The second sentence of Chang'e running to the moon on paper means that Chang'e runs to the moon, and Chang'e here alludes to artificial satellites, because in 1970, China's first artificial satellite was launched, and Chairman Mao wanted this word to tell Nixon that now China's science and technology is developing rapidly, indirectly announcing China's rise to the world.
The third sentence is a summary of Nixon's visit to China, Trier believes that Chairman Mao can not understand China's breadth and depth at all during Nixon's weekly visit to China, and how to look at this visit to China is a bit sloppy, this sentence is actually a kind but friendly ridicule of Nixon. Moreover, compared with the first sentence of the old man sitting on the stool Chairman Mao, this sloppy view of the flowers even has the meaning of praise in it.
Of course, for the interpretation of American scholars, some Chinese researchers have also put forward different views, they think that this understanding is too extreme, the main differences between the two sides mainly come from the interpretation of the first two sentences, the first sentence of the old man sitting on the stool, the Chinese side of the interpretation as this is a kind of humility of the old chairman, the old man here refers to Chairman Mao himself, and the stool is equivalent to sitting and waiting, which is Chairman Mao's expectation and welcome for this meeting.
And the Chinese interpretation of Chang'e's moon is not the speculation of the United States to highlight its own technology and announce its rise. Chinese scholars believe that Chairman Mao wants to reflect the difficulties of this meeting through Chang'e's moon run, to describe the difficulties that this meeting made like Chang'e run to the moon, and also to show that the importance of this meeting is as significant as the US moon landing.
Finally, there is the interpretation of the sloppy viewing of flowers, and the unexpected unification of the opinions of scholars on both sides of the United States this time is that Chairman Mao's four words describe the week of Nixon's visit to China is too short, and some people feel that this sloppy viewing of flowers is a new beginning in Sino-US relations that Chairman Mao believes is a new beginning in Sino-US relations, and the expectation of a longer-term and profound exchange between China and the United States.
So many people have repeatedly interpreted differently, so what do these twelve words really mean? When Chairman Mao returned to his hometown in Hunan to recuperate, someone once asked Chairman Mao the meaning of these twelve words, and at that time Chairman Mao did not make a specific explanation but said: Nixon did not understand my meaning.
Nearly 50 years have passed since Nixon's visit to China, the national strength of China and the United States has undergone tremendous changes, and the world situation is completely different, but the meaning of these 12 words is still an unsolved mystery, no matter what Chairman Mao originally meant when he sent the words, but this word represents that Sino-US relations have changed from the original hostility to dialogue.
In 1979, China and the United States formally established diplomatic relations, and Sino-US relations opened a brand-new chapter, and since then China and the United States have begun to carry out comprehensive exchanges in the cultural, political, and economic fields; the two greatest countries in the world have undergone earth-shaking changes as a result of the establishment of diplomatic relations, but no one can forget the historic handshake between Chairman Mao and Nixon in 1972.
At present, the situation in Taiwan has led to tension between China and the United States, and China has always been working hard to defend China's territory by upholding the one-China principle.