On August 30, 1949, after thinking about it, Mao Zedong decided to send a telegram inviting Qiu Ao, who was far away in Hunan, to come to Beiping to attend the upcoming first session of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference to discuss the state of the country.
At that time, Qiu Ao had already returned to his hometown and did not hear anything outside the window, so he replied to Mao Zedong: "Yishan is half-lunged, old and weak, and he is willing to live in Linquan to spend the rest of the year." ”
Qiu Ao character "Yishan", "half lung" refers to his unfortunate lung cancer two years ago, underwent lobectomy surgery, and now only half of his lungs are left, so others also call him "half lung old man." The meaning of this sentence is that Qiu Ao now has only half of his lungs available, suffers from illness, and is older, walking is not good, and he only wants to return to the hidden mountains and forests to spend the rest of his life.
However, although what the cable said is true, it also has the intention of retiring and being indifferent to self-preservation.
Mao Zedong was very moved to read this reply letter, and the old man had spent his whole life running for the revolutionary cause, and now he had retired from the mountains and forests with great achievements, and this kind of open-mindedness was really touching. So the invitation was terminated.
After more than a month, Qiu Ao received a telegram from Beiping again, and unsurprisingly, it was sent by Mao Zedong. Qiu Ao quietly took the telegram and read it over and over again, and the tears of emotion kept swirling in his eyes, and at the end, he looked at the line in the letter that moved him with determination: "Mr. Zhong has no intention of holding a position, and he also invited Him to Beijing Huanshu." ”
The pillow of the fist, the meaning of the fist. Faced with the second invitation issued by Mao Zedong, Qiu Ao was deeply moved. Yes, he and Mao Zedong have been friends for decades, where is the reason for the refusal of friends to reminisce?
In the following month, Mao Zedong again personally sent a telegram, sincerely inviting Mr. Qiu Ao to come to Beijing. Mr. Qiu Yishan, Hunan Provincial Government:
Both electrics were recited in honor. Come to Beijing to teach, extremely welcome. When the day is ordered to drive, shang prays for telegraphy. Mao Zedong Shu Ji.
One day, the door of Qiu Ao's house was knocked on, and a young voice shouted outside: "Sir, sir." ”
Qiu Ao opened the door and looked at it, it turned out to be a few young soldiers, and after questioning, Qiu Ao learned that they were from the Hunan Provincial Military Region and that it was Mao Zedong's instructions. These young soldiers accompanied the elderly man and talked to him about a lot of outside affairs, which made Qiu Ao's heart more curious about the outside world. At the same time, Qiu Ao also felt mao zedong's deep affection, and he decided to go to Beiping to meet his old friend.
It is already November, you know, the winter in Peiping is very cold, considering the physical condition of Mr. Qiu Ao, Mao Zedong insisted that he come back in the spring of the next year. In early 1950, Qiu Ao brought his family to Beijing, and Mao Zedong specially set up a banquet in Zhongnanhai, which was attended by Zhang Shizhao, Lin Boqu, Fu Dingyi and others.
Mao Zedong was overjoyed by Qiu Ao's arrival, and he excitedly said to the people present: "In the early years when we were making a revolution in Changsha, Mr. Yishan sponsored the revolution the most, and he helped us a lot, when he raised thousands of oceans for us, this money was very useful, and he made great efforts for our party's cause." Friends who have done good things to us, we should not forget. ”
In fact, Qiu Ao's contributions are far more than that, as will be mentioned below.
Listening to Mao Zedong's praise, Mr. Qiu Ao smiled and then shook his head modestly. Mao Zedong then said, "If your old man insists on not being an official, then come with me to live in Beijing." That way, it will be convenient for me to find your old man's home, and it will be easy for you to see me. Your old man is a special invited member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, just come to the meeting, how? ”
Qiu Ao was very touched, so he should give this "errand".
Manuscript of Chairman Mao's telegram to Qiu Ao
In February 1950, Mao Zedong was ready to invite Qiu Ao again to serve as a member of the Central and Southern Military and Political Committee and the director of the Counselor's Office, and if Qiu Ao's usual character was followed, he would definitely shirk his old age and incompetence. Mao Zedong was well aware of Mr. Qiu Ao's temper and disposition, and decided to "prescribe the right medicine."
One day, after Mao Zedong personally came to Mr. Qiu Ao's residence in Beijing and explained his intentions to Mr. Qiu Ao, the old man who had no intention of officialdom refused without hesitation. Mao Zedong said humorously: "You go and make a name!" It is often said that the Kuomintang has more taxes and the Communist Party will have more. You just have to go to a meeting, listen if you like, get up and leave if you don't like to listen! ”
So, who is Qiu Ao? Why did Mao Zedong invite him again and again to "come out of the mountains"? What is his superior skill?
Born in 1879 in Xiangyin, Hunan Province, Qiu Ao's poor parents were farmers, and he could not afford to go to school when he was a child. He did not start school until 1895, when Qiu Ao was 14 years old, but he studied hard and soon surpassed those of his age.
In 1904, Qiu Ao went to Meiji University in Japan to study, and in line with the current situation, Qiu Ao changed from the original teacher training major to the major of political science and law. During this period, Qiu Ao met a person in Japan, and this person had a deep influence on him in the future, he was Sun Yat-sen.
Sun Yat-sen
Deeply influenced by the ideas of the democratic revolution, Qiu Ao actively participated in the Huaxing Association in Tokyo and later became a member of the Chinese League.
In 1906, Qiu Ao returned from Japan to participate in the struggle against the Qing democratic revolution, and also participated in the planning of the uprising and the launching of the war, but because Qiu Ao was hated by villains, his actions were soon learned by the Qing government, and he had to cross east to Japan again.
In 1911, with the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution, Qiu Ao received an order to return to Hunan to reorganize the League, so Qiu Ao, who had left the motherland for 5 years, returned to his hometown of Hunan again. In 1912, the League was changed to the Kuomintang, and Qiu Ao became the deputy head of the Hunan branch of the Kuomintang.
Later, Yuan Shikai stole the fruits of the victory of the Xinhai Revolution, and he also vainly wanted to restore the imperial system, which the Kuomintang and various democrats could not tolerate, after which Qiu Ao participated in the campaign against Yuan Shikai, but this movement still failed, and even Song Jiaoren was assassinated by Yuan Shikai.
In this way, Qiu Ao was once again hunted down and killed, and had to flee to Japan. It was not until 1916 that Qiu Ao returned to China on the orders of Dr. Sun Yat-sen and came to Changsha to carry out revolutionary activities, that is, it was here that Qiu Ao and Mao Zedong met.
Young Mao Zedong
At that time, some Hunan students studying in Japan were gathering at Yuelu Academy, and Mao Zedong, Qiu Ao, Cai and Sen and others all came, but at first they did not know each other, but under the introduction of Yang Changji (Mao Zedong's father-in-law), the two gradually became acquainted. Mao Zedong and others were very interested in Qiu Ao's experience of following Sun Yat-sen for more than ten years, so Yang Changji asked Qiu Ao to talk about the revolutionary events he had experienced after following Sun Yat-sen over the years.
Through this gathering, Mao Zedong was very appreciative of Qiu Ao, and in the second week after the meeting, Mao Zedong made a special trip across most of Changsha to visit Qiu Ao, hoping to continue to discuss with him about the revolutionary experience. It is as if the people of that era had great enthusiasm for studying and discussing the revolutionary road, and not only did they not feel tired, but they often forgot to sleep and eat, and Mao Zedong was such a person.
On that day, Mao Zedong set off from his home early in the morning to go in the direction of Qiu Ao's house, and when he walked for a long time to reach the Qiu family, he knocked on the door for half a day but no one responded. At this time, Qiu Ao's neighbor was going out, and he said to Mao Zedong: "Qiu Ao went out early in the morning to run errands, and he will not come back until the evening, or you should go back first." ”
Mao Zedong, who heard this, not only did not retreat, but sat on a small bench and waited for a day.
In the evening, Qiu Ao finally returned home, and when he reached the intersection, he saw Mao Zedong sitting in the distance at the door of his house, and when he approached and greeted him, he realized that Mao Zedong had been waiting for him here for a day.
Qiu Ao felt a little embarrassed, and at the same time deeply moved by Mao Zedong's approach. He quickly welcomed Mao Zedong into his home and brewed him a cup of hot tea, and then the two began to talk.
That night, Qiu Ao and Mao Zedong talked until late at night, and the two did not feel tired or sleepy at all. Later, qiu Ao saw that it was late, so he left Mao Zedong at home for the night.
Mao Zedong liked to listen to Qiu Ao's stories about the Xinhai Revolution, and he also appreciated the ideas of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, who also had a revolutionary enthusiasm and suffered from no way to release. Qiu Ao, too, admired Mao Zedong and regarded him as his confidant.
Since Mao Zedong and Qiu Ao's conversation that night, the two of them have become more revolutionaryly linked. Before Mao Zedong founded the Xiangjiang Review, he had some ideas of his own, but he did not dare to rush to implement them, and he heard that Qiu Ao had experience in running newspapers, so Mao Zedong went to Qiu Ao to discuss relevant newspaper handling matters.
Later, the official Xiangjiang Review was discontinued after a total of four issues, but Qiu Ao preserved the entire five issues of the Xiangjiang Review and will always regard them as treasures, and pile them completely in the depths of the bookcase. Originally, Mao Zedong would leave a copy for Qiu Ao every time he ran a good issue, and a total of five issues were held, but the last issue was not issued.
However, in the Ma-Ri Incident in 1927, these five issues of the Xiangjiang Review were accidentally lost, which also became Qiu Ao's regret.
Xiangjiang commented
In the second half of 1920, Mao Zedong and his party established the Marxist Theory Research Society, specially invited Qiu Ao to come and participate, and also recommended him to be the leader of the Marx Theory Research Association. Later, when Qiu Ao recalled this incident in 1951, he felt that he and Mao Zedong's many ideas coincided, and his heart was greatly encouraged by Mao Zedong's trust.
In 1920, when Mao Zedong invited him to join the Marxist Theory Research Society, Qiu Ao asked what the reason was, and Mao Zedong said: "Only because Mr. Mao's words are in line with our purpose." Qiu Ao was very moved, and specially wrote a five-law "Sword" and gave it to Mao Zedong, and the sentence in the poem, "A sword saves a confidant, and the end of the world is a thousand miles" is a classic.
In 1920, Qiu Ao became the president of the Funayama Society. In August of the following year, Mao Zedong and others had just finished a meeting of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai and immediately returned to Hunan, where they lived in the Chuanshan Society for more than a month. After living here for a while, Mao Zedong felt the importance of education, and later Mao Zedong and his party found Qiu Ao and made it clear to him that they wanted to open a self-study university.
Mao Zedong wanted to build a university modeled on the form of an ancient academy, integrating the teaching content of modern colleges, promoting national culture and exposing it to advanced science and technology. Qiu Ao was very happy to learn of Mao Zedong's idea, and he vigorously supported Mao Zedong in running such a university, because talent was too scarce.
However, while the idea is good, it is difficult to implement. The first is the problem of funds, without funds, the problem of running a school and teaching staff cannot be solved. Qiu Ao soon learned of Mao Zedong's predicament, so he specially vacated the houses of the Chuanshan Society for the use of Mao Zedong's self-study university, and not only that, Qiu Ao also gave Mao Zedong a lot of financial support.
This incident made Mao Zedong very grateful in his heart, until the founding of the People's Republic, Mao Zedong still did not forget the kindness of Qiu Ao's funding of his own school, and he has always been grateful. This is where the scene of "Chairman Mao's three invitations to Qiu Ao to Beijing" mentioned at the beginning has come to an end.
In fact, Mao Zedong ran the school not only to let more people learn knowledge, but also to better publicize Marxism and let a new generation of young people understand Marxism through education.
Qiu Ao was a gentleman by nature and was bold and optimistic; Mao Zedong was graceful and generous, and his words were witty, although the age difference between the two was more than ten years, and the conversation was compatible, and he did not tire of it. Mao Zedong once said that meeting people in your hometown, speaking your hometown dialect, drinking hometown wine, and eating hometown dishes are a great pleasure in life.
In the autumn of 1965, Mao Zedong occasionally passed by Qiu Ao's apartment, ordered him to stop, enter the house to look at the elderly, and they sat together to talk about the past and friendship for 50 years, and also talked about the current international and domestic situation. According to the granddaughter of the old man Qiu Ao, the weather was particularly sunny that day, and the jujube trees in the courtyard were also red, which was very pleasing to watch, and the two of them admired it in the courtyard for a while. After talking for a long time, when Mao Zedong resigned, he still supported Qiu Ao, who had passed the age of ancient rarity, and walked to the door of his home.
Mao Zedong regarded Qiu Ao as a "big brother", because of his rich experience, Mao Zedong would ask him many questions, and he always knew everything about Mao Zedong and said everything, always helping Mao Zedong out of the predicament at critical moments. For Qiu Ao, Mao Zedong was also an irreplaceable confidant in life. It was when they were young that the two felt sorry for each other and had similar interests, so Mao Zedong invited Qiu Ao to live in Beijing no matter what after the founding of the People's Republic of China.
At that time, some of the people who threw their heads and spilled their blood for the revolution had already made glorious sacrifices, some suffered from illness, and some simply went into hiding in the mountains and forests and did not care about the world' affairs; these people were all heroes of our country and nation, and we must always keep them in mind. No matter how long it takes, they will always be the most precious treasure of the country.