Author: Wang Zhidong, former Consul General of the People's Republic of China in Manchester.
A sensational piece of news
In the first half of 1969, the Forty-first Army stationed at the Niutianyang production base was transferred out and replaced by the Fifty-fifth Army. However, the cadres of the production base and the military personnel who are in charge of education management in the "student company" have basically not moved. The change of the "Xueyi Company" was only that the camp was moved north, pasted on the outside of the second embankment, and was close to the base headquarters.
On the inner side of the embankment there is a courtyard surrounded by white walls, and there are several bungalows made of cement in the courtyard. This is the base command. The common leader in the command was a tall, burly professional soldier, who was affectionately known as Deputy Division Commander Bai. This northern man in his early forties often wore a faded military uniform, and sometimes walked alone on the second embankment, nodding when he saw people.
◎ The rainfall and strong winds of the typhoon process manually recorded by the staff of Shantou Meteorological Observatory in that year.
On July 27, 1969, The White Division commander was not so relaxed, because the weather forecast said that typhoon No. 3 in the Pacific Ocean would make landfall in the eastern part of Guangdong Province in the afternoon of July 28, with a maximum wind strength of 12...
A group of people from The White Division held an emergency meeting. Some of the participants had been stationed in the Shantou area for more than ten years and had experienced typhoons, but they had rarely seen a 12-level typhoon make landfall, and their hearts were bottomless; the comrades of the newly taken up defense of the Fifty-fifth Army had little heard of or been silent because they had not been here for a long time.
It will be very difficult to hold, mainly on the question of whether to "retreat." Evacuation, personnel, ordnance, equipment can ensure that there will be no major losses, and time will come. But determination is hard, because "withdrawing" means abandoning any defense. How does this correspond to Chairman Mao's "May 7" directive? Don't withdraw it, the risk is very high. Master Bai was worried about the more than 10,000 soldiers and students who were working in the fields, and the sweat on his forehead had already flowed down. The "collective force" came into play, and finally there was a decision: to defend the "May Seven" instructions, to guard the levee to the death, and the people were there at the levee.
On July 28, 1969, the typhoon really came and made landfall nearly 4 hours early. The wind speed of the forecast for a Category 12 typhoon is 32.7 m/s, and the typhoon on July 28 exceeded this forecast. It is fierce, lasts for a long time, and is simultaneously sinful with torrential rain and sea tides, so manpower is irresistible; also because the communication signal is disturbed by factors such as wind and rain, some troops have not received relevant instructions, blindly acting according to "people on the levee", resulting in unnecessary sacrifices. Decision-making mistakes and manpower irresistible natural disasters have caused Niu Tian Yang to encounter unimaginable disasters in the world.
On the night of the incident, the Guangzhou Military Region sent personnel to Niutianyang to organize rescue. The next day, Premier Zhou Enlai and the Central Military Commission telegraphed the military region to handle the aftermath. Immediately afterward, Vice Foreign Minister Xu Yixin led a condolence delegation to Niutianyang to offer condolences.
◎ The levee surrounding the sea after the disaster
Under the care of the central commander, the troops quickly stabilized their mood and confidently began to fight the disaster and learn lessons. However, at this very moment, some international media released news with ulterior motives and preached with schadenfreude that a large number of diplomatic cadres who had reserved themselves in the Niutianyang troop farm and intended to be sent to the United Nations were killed in the typhoon tide in Shantou, Guangdong Province.
This is purely to deceive world public opinion and is a complete fabrication.
I was one of the people who knew the specifics at the time. Not only was I ordered to rush up the sea barrage during the typhoon and tide and participated in the front-line battle, but I was also a person who participated in the comprehensive disaster relief and rescue situation afterwards and wrote about advanced deeds.
It can be said frankly that of the 183 people sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Niu Tianyang, only Xiao Huashan, who studied in Britain, Lu Hailin, and a few others who studied Russian were unfortunately killed, and the vast majority not only did not lose their lives, but after the baptism of the typhoon and the tide, the will to dedicate themselves to the diplomatic cause was even stronger. The spirit of Niu Tianyang, who is not afraid of suffering and death, and does not seek fame and profit, has inspired the growth and expansion of a generation of diplomats. It was precisely this group of people, bearing in mind premier Zhou's teachings, taking over the class of the older generation of diplomats, and continuing to add luster to the diplomatic cause of the party and the state, and many people were entrusted with heavy responsibilities.
Taking the "Xueyi Company" as an example, some have become ministers and vice ministers; some have been stationed abroad as ambassadors, consuls general, counsellors or other diplomatic positions. For example, in the posts of ambassador to the United States, ambassador to Britain, ambassador to Japan, and ambassador to the United Nations, there have been people who have "learned a company" from Udan. At the same time in the same country, there were more than two Ueda foreigners who were stationed there.
◎ Ambassador Ma Zhengang served as the squad leader of the 9th squad of the Second Company (2nd from the left in the back row). Source: "This is how diplomats are made"
For example, in britain, ambassador Ma Zhengang, political counselor Sun Benzhi, plus me, are all people who survive in distress in Niu Tianyang. Once, when Ambassador Ma visited Manchester, we quipped that thirty years ago we planted rice together, went to the sea embankment together to fight the wind and rescue, and wrote articles for newspapers together, and now we are in The United Kingdom again. This fate is not shallow! I also said, "At that time you were the leader (deputy platoon leader), and I was under your leadership." Now are you an ambassador or a leader..." When the Niutian soldiers met in a foreign country, the mood and excitement were indescribable. In particular, recalling what I experienced at that time is as clear as what happened yesterday.
Before the "Cultural Revolution", Ma Zhengang and xiao Huashan, a comrade-in-arms who died in Niu Tianyang, studied in Britain together and returned to China together... Their fate is deeper. However, when he shouldered the heavy responsibility of the country and revisited his hometown, he had an extra layer of solemnity in his feelings, and the unfinished business of his comrades-in-arms was naturally added to him. Only by redoubling his hard work, firmly shouldering heavy responsibilities, and repaying the cultivation of the motherland and the people can he appease the spirit of his comrades-in-arms in heaven.
◎ The picture shows a bullet hole left by the roof of the Chinese Embassy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia after it was hit by a NATO missile, which pierced through the top of the embassy building and down to the basement.
Among the NiuTian yang soldiers who struggled in the front line of diplomacy, there is another one worth mentioning, that is, Comrade Pan Zhanlin. When the US-led "NATO" attacked the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia with missiles, Comrade Pan Zhanlin happened to be there as The Chinese ambassador. It is said that just a few minutes before the missile hit the embassy, Ambassador Pan and others were still active in the basement, and who could have imagined that when everyone had just dispersed and returned to their rooms to rest, the drill bombs fell from the air and penetrated the floors, and one of them exploded in the basement, plunging the embassy into a sea of fire.
After the appalling incident, Pan Zhanlin immediately rushed to the scene and, desperately, together with the comrades, searched for the remains of the comrades who were killed, rescued the injured comrades, transferred important state property and secrets, and urgently reported the situation to the country. He then stuck to his post and began a series of negotiations and follow-up work. Pan Zhanlin was once a soldier of our "learning company", and at the crucial moment, he once again showed the spirit of the Niutian foreigners who were not afraid of suffering and death, and the tenacious style of continuous combat, and once again withstood the test of life and death.
I am familiar with Pan Zhanlin, a man from northeast China. He is calm, resolute, not good at showing up, and can speak fluent Russian. In his early years, he worked in Moscow and other places, silently dedicating his wisdom and strength to the diplomatic front.
Because Niu Tianyang's comrades-in-arms were attacked, and because Britain was an important member of "NATO" and a loyal helper of the United States, I was very angry and angry when I was working in Britain. I took advantage of all external occasions to ruthlessly expose the heinous crimes of the United States in violating China's sovereignty, and resolutely invited me to the broadcast room of BBC Radio to accept an interview and personally read out the Statement of the Chinese Government.
The hard work has been rewarded to a certain extent, and mainstream British social figures, including the deputy political leader in charge of foreign affairs in the Manchester government, have written to me about this incident, expressing their position or verbally expressing regret and apology to me, hoping that this will not affect the good relations that have developed between China and Britain after the return of Hong Kong.
◎ On July 19, 2003, a restoration team led by Sun Bigan (front left) inspected the destruction of the embassy.
Udan Yo is a special cradle for a generation of diplomats. The list of china's senior diplomats who have grown up through the baptism of wind and rain is really too numerous to say, and it can be said that they are all over the world.
Comrade Sun Bigan, a foreigner who studied Arabic, has worked in five or six Chinese embassies abroad, paid great hard work, and once served as China's ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Iran. After the end of the Iraq War, when the situation was unstable, the explosions were continuous, and the reconstruction task was grim, he was old and retired, obeyed the dispatch of the state, put on a military uniform, served as the head of the reopening team of the Chinese Embassy in Iraq, and began a new journey. For the sake of the progressive cause of world peace, the Udanese foreigners have long put life and death aside.
◎ Minister Li Zhaoxing studied in the office
Among the people sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Niu Tianyang for training, in addition to diplomats at the ambassadorial level, there are many diplomatic cadres who are fighting in different positions in the diplomatic system, and they have also made great contributions to the cause of diplomatic warfare.
The best of Niu Tianyang's diplomats was Comrade Li Zhaoxing. He has served as Spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Director General of the Information Department, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador to the United States, Secretary of the Party Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Communist Party of China.
◎ Everyone fights side by side
Niu Tianyang's practical training, especially the strong typhoon and tide, has washed the hearts and minds of many young intellectuals and tempered their will. This is a fact that is obvious to all, and only a very small number of them are engaged in diplomatic work. The Niutian foreigners, who are distributed in a vast field throughout the country, are all striving to contribute their talents and talents, and they shine and heat up for the development of advanced productive forces, the promotion of advanced culture, and the realization of the most fundamental interests of the masses of the people.
I have no way of knowing the truth about those comrades and recounting them here, but I am convinced that their achievements will not be worse than those of our foreign affairs system. I hope that someone will write out those people and events that are little known, and from a broader perspective and with more examples, refute the hateful news that the international media has made up about the Niu Tian Yang incident.
To be continued...
Text | "I'm the Diplomat"
Author | Wang Zhidong
Image | Source network except for labels
Edit | Diplomat says something xiao ha