On September 1, 1972, He Xiangning, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, chairman of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang, and honorary chairman of the All-China Women's Federation, died in Beijing at the age of ninety-five because of pneumonia and old age.
This is probably the most solemn funeral since the founding of New China. On the afternoon of September 5, He Xiangning's memorial service was officially held in the Great Hall of the People, and at the same time, tiananmen Square, in front of Xinhua Gate, and the flag was lowered to half-mast.
The memorial meeting was presided over by Chairman Zhu De, and Vice Chairman Song Qingling delivered a eulogy. Dong Biwu, Zhou Enlai, Ye Jianying, and others also personally attended the scene, and Chairman Mao also sent wreaths on the same day.
At the eulogy, Song Qingling made this assessment of He Xiangning's life: "Ms. He Xiangning's life is a life of revolution and a life of fighting. ”
After the memorial service, He Xiangning's coffin was escorted by a special car and transported to Nanjing, where she and her deceased husband Liao Zhongkai shared the tomb, a great woman who dedicated her life to the cause of revolution and left us forever.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > [from everyone to revolutionary fighter].</h1>
Ho Was born in Hong Kong, where his father, Ho Ping Huan, was in the tea business and came to a wealthy family. However, He Binghuan was extremely conservative in educating future generations, and for He Xiangning, he put forward two requirements, wrapping his feet and not allowing him to read.
However, he Xiangning did not achieve these two requirements. Every time she was forced to wrap her feet during the day, she would secretly cut it at night, and she also bought school textbooks behind her father's back and asked her brother for advice every day.
He Binghuan really had no choice but to rely on He Xiangning's personality. Later, after He Xiangning married Liao Zhongkai, who returned from studying in the United States, the two went to Japan to study one after another.
At that time, Liao Zhongkai was once impoverished due to his family's middle-class decline, and in order to help her husband complete his studies, He Xiangning sold all the jewelry he was marrying and sponsored her husband to study in Japan.
After coming to Japan, He Xiangning studied at the Girls' Normal School, Tokyo Meshiragi Women's University, and the Tokyo Hongo School of Fine Arts.
In September 1903, He Xiangning and her husband Liao Zhongkai attended a rally at the Chinese Student Association. To their surprise, at this rally, Dr. Sun Yat-sen suddenly appeared and delivered a speech on the revolution to save the country, calling on the young people in Japan to set up ambitions and contribute to the country.
After listening to Sun Yat-sen's speech, He Xiangning and Liao Zhongkai were greatly shocked and immediately set the goal of following Sun Yat-sen and participating in the revolution. A few days later, the couple made a special trip to dr. Sun Yat-sen's apartment to visit and were warmly received by Dr. Sun Yat-sen.
The two sides established a good friendship, and at this time, in the autumn of the country's crisis and survival, Dr. Sun Yat-sen specially entrusted the two to find people with lofty ideals among the students studying in Japan and strengthen the revolutionary forces.
On August 7, 1905, He Xiangning and his wife joined the Chinese League Association under the recommendation of Sun Yat-sen and became the first members of the Chinese League Association.
After that, Liao Zhongkai served as deputy chief accountant of the headquarters of the League, officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, deputy director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and as the first female member of the League, He Xiangning undertook the liaison and service of the revolutionaries.
The couple's home in Tokyo also became a liaison station and meeting place for revolutionaries such as Sun Yat-sen. Sneak back to China to Carry out secret activities in Tianjin and other places, engaged in contacting revolutionary volunteers, propagating revolutionary principles, and preparing for the establishment of revolutionary organs.
They started newspapers, published articles, raised military funds, and participated in the Dharma Protection Movement, which was the right and left arm of Dr. Sun Yat-sen.
In April 1921, after the war to expel the Gui warlords, Sun Yat-sen formed a revolutionary government in Guangdong, and Liao Zhongkai was appointed vice minister of finance, and subsequently, concurrently served as the director of the Department of Finance of Guangdong Province, and he worked hard to assist Sun Yat-sen in creating a new revolutionary situation in Guangdong.
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In 1921, because Chen Jiongming was dissatisfied with Sun Yat-sen's Northern Expedition, he brazenly launched the June 16 Incident in Guangdong that shocked China and foreign countries, at the same time, in order to prevent Sun Yat-sen from resisting, two days before the incident, he also urgently sent his subordinates to the Ministry of Finance to arrest He Xiangning's husband Liao Zhongkai.
Liao Zhongkai's two nights of not returning, coupled with a deafening cannon blast in the early morning of that day, He Xiangning quickly realized the urgency of the situation.
After learning the news that the city was under martial law, He Xiangning understood that this must be Chen Jiongming's rebellion. In order to understand the situation of Sun Yat-sen and Soong Ching-ling, He Xiangning could not care that he was seriously ill and ran around.
Finally, the day after the incident, she learned of Sun Yat-sen's whereabouts, which was on the Yongfeng ship, and then she immediately went to the Yongfeng ship, met with Dr. Sun Yat-sen, and provided him with a lot of important information, but in the face of Sun Yat-sen's proposal to invite her to Shanghai to temporarily avoid the front, she was rejected by He Xiangning, and she resolutely returned to Guangdong.
During this period, Chen Jiongming sent someone to find He Xiangning and told her: As long as He Xiangning is willing to take them to find Sun Yat-sen, we can release Liao Zhongkai.
However, Xiang Ning categorically refused Chen Jiongming's request and angrily rebuked Chen Jiongming for betraying the revolution in front of him.
Chen Jiongming knew He Xiangning's personality and hindered his prestige in the party, so for a long time afterwards, Chen Jiongming deliberately avoided her.
However, what he did not expect was that He Xiangning actually took the initiative to find him. On August 18, 1922, Chen Jiongming and his men held a military conference at Baiyun Mountain, and He Xiangning received the news and braved the pouring rain to go to Baiyun Mountain alone.
Halfway through the meeting, He Xiangning, who was covered in mud, suddenly broke through the door and directly rebuked Chen Jiongming in front of everyone.
Although Chen Jiongming was unwilling, he had no choice, because he had a lot of handles in He Xiangning's hands, as early as that year, when the Yue army lacked military salaries, famine was caused in Zhangzhou, and was almost about to be forcibly disbanded, if it were not for He Xiangning and Liao Zhongkai raising funds in time to save the Yue army, Chen Jiongming at this time did not know where it was.
Therefore, when He Xiangning angrily rebuked Chen Jiongming at Baiyun Mountain, Chen Jiongming was stunned by He Xiangning's words, and the other officers present bowed their heads in shame. Chen Jiongming did not want to make a big deal out of it, so as not to make the Generals of the Cantonese Army have two hearts, so they had to immediately order liao Zhongkai's release.
At 3 a.m. the next day, Liao Zhongkai and He Xiangning quietly went out, secretly went to White Swan Pond in a small boat, and then transferred to a large steamer to Hong Kong.
In 1924, Dr. Sun Yat-sen was seriously ill in Beiping, and He Xiangning immediately rushed to Beiping to visit. One afternoon in March 1925, at the last moment of his life, Dr. Sun Yat-sen held He Xiangning's hand tightly, hoping that He Xiangning would protect Soong Ching Ling in the future.
He Xiangning's eyes were full of tears, and he told Mr. Sun Yat-sen that he would adhere to the original intention and spirit of the party that Sun Yat-sen had not completed before his death, abide by all of Mr. Sun's ideas, and will certainly do his best to love and protect Soong Ching-ling.
After the death of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the right-wing extremists of the Kuomintang led by Chiang Kai-shek were plunged into a riot, and for them, this was definitely a good opportunity to seize power.
At this time, however, there was only one person left in front of them, that is, Liao Zhongkai, a core figure of the Kuomintang left who gathered important posts such as the standing committee member of the National Government, the minister of finance, the standing committee member of the Military Commission, the party representative of the Whampoa Military Academy, and the director of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Finance of Guangzhou City, who actively cooperated with the communists.
On August 20, 1925, Liao Zhongkai and He Xiangning suddenly received news that they immediately went to the Kuomintang Central Party Department, and the two hurried out.
However, just as Liao Zhongkai was just walking up the steps, a bullet roared over He Xiangning's head and hit Liao Zhongkai, and after several gunshots, Liao Zhongkai and the guards around him fell into a pool of blood.
Her husband, Liao Zhongkai, was brutally murdered, and He Xiangning, who was extremely sad and indignant, vowed to fight the Kuomintang rightists to the end. After Liao Zhongkai's death, it was logical for the kuomintang rightist figures to make Chiang Kai-shek the new leader of the Kuomintang.
At this time, Chiang Kai-shek had firmly grasped the great power of the party, government, and army within the Kuomintang, and his reputation was incomparable. However, He Xiangning never feared his power, and even though he was within the Kuomintang, he still stubbornly fought against it.
The first clash between the two broke out was when Chiang Kai-shek hunted down communists on charges of conspiracy and riot after the Zhongshan incident.
At that time, in order to prevent accidents, Chiang Kai-shek had ordered martial law in the whole city, but He Xiangning still broke through many barriers, came to Chiang Kai-shek, and scolded Chiang Kai-shek: Sun Yat-sen's bones are not cold, Liao Zhongkai's blood has not dried, you actually want to violate Sun Yat-sen's three major policies...
The leader of the Kuomintang was actually reprimanded in public by a woman, which made Chiang Kai-shek lose face.
In fact, Chiang Kai-shek did not want to win over He Xiangning, and when he married Soong Meiling, he had specially invited He Xiangning to witness the marriage, but he Xiangning refused.
Later, when He Xiangning was living in Guilin, Guangxi, Chiang Kai-shek, in order to win her over, specially sent someone to send He Xiangning a road fare of 1 million yuan, and He Xiangning not only refused the 1 million yuan travel fee, but also approved two poems on the reply: "Idle to write about the life of the painting camp, do not use the world to create evil money."
After Chiang Kai-shek created the "April 12 counter-revolution" incident, he was scolded for the second time by He Xiangning, who even delivered a speech entitled "Chiang Kai-shek is a Counter-Revolutionary" at a congress convened by the Kuomintang.
Despite this, Chiang Kai-shek still wanted to woo He Xiangning, and zeng and Soong Meiling went to visit He Xiangning successively, but they were scolded by He Xiangning and reprimanded.
In 1928, He Xiangning publicly issued a statement, broke with Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei cliques, resigned all his posts in the Kuomintang, traveled overseas, and lived in Paris to make a living by painting; in 1931, after the September 18 Incident, He Xiangning returned to the motherland to go to the country to suffer.
In March 1933, He Xiangning's beloved son Liao Chengzhi was working for the Communist Party, but due to the whistle-blowing of the traitor Wang Qiliang, he was arrested by the Kuomintang, and He Xiangning, despite his serious illness, went with Liu Yazi to the Kuomintang Shanghai Public Security Bureau to be an important person.
He Xiangning angrily rebuked Wu Tiecheng, director of the Kuomintang Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau, and scolded Chiang Kai-shek at the Public Security Bureau; Wu Tiecheng could not resist and hurriedly reported the situation to Song Ziwen, who did not dare to delay and directly asked Chiang Kai-shek for instructions.
During the Liberation War, He Xiangning established the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang to support the Liberation War behind enemy lines.
After the Communists won the civil war and founded the People's Republic of China in 1949, He Xiangning moved to Beijing and served in the government as honorary chairman of the All-China Women's Federation, vice chairman of the Second and Third National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and member of the Standing Committee of the Second and Third National People's Congresses
He Xiangning was still working until the age of 80.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="8" > [Martyr's Will: Burial with Husband].</h1>
In her later years, He Xiangning's body deteriorated sharply, on the one hand, she was more than ninety years old at this time, and her physical functions were seriously aging, on the other hand, due to years of hard work, she also contracted pneumonia, which made her breathing difficult, often coughing, and could only live in the hospital.
In the early morning of September 1, 1972, on the occasion of his death, He Xiangning remembered the vow he had made with her husband Liao Zhongkai in his early years that "life is the same, death is the same cave".
He Xiangning knew that her life expectancy was short, so when Zhou Enlai came to visit her, she made her only wish to this long-time close friend and revolutionary comrade-in-arms: Please do not cremate my body.
Since the founding of New China, in order to save land and simplify funeral procedures, an important policy is that the deceased is only allowed to be cremated, not buried as before.
However, He Xiangning told her reason, so she hoped that she would be buried with her lover Liao Zhongkai after she died.
After listening to this past, everyone present shed tears, yes, this couple has paid too much for the revolutionary cause, their merits are indelible, how can the will of the revolutionary heroes be disappointed?
After listening to He Xiangning's request, Zhou Enlai did not hesitate a bit, made up his mind on the spot, agreed to He Xiangning's request, and asked the special affairs of the relevant departments to make proper arrangements to fulfill the last wish of the zhishi.
On September 5, 1972, after He Xiangning's memorial service, she was sent to the Sun Yat-sen Cemetery cemetery in Nanjing's Purple Mountain to be buried with her husband, Mr. Liao Zhongkai.
After nearly half a century of separation, the revolutionary couple was reunited. They met in 1897, in 1925 and reunited in 1972.
They witnessed the sinking, struggling, and rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and when they met again, it also represented He Xiangning to complete his own journey.