On September 30, 1949, the first meeting of the Chinese Political Consultative Conference elected Chairman Mao as the Chairman of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China, and Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi, Song Qingling, Li Jishen, Zhang Lan and Gao Gang as vice chairmen.
The Central People's Government is the highest organ of state power in the People's Republic of China.
At the founding ceremony on October 1, 1949, the first row behind Chairman Mao stood these six vice chairmen of the Central People's Government.
Few people know that two of these 6 are teacher-student relationships, and they are Zhang Lan and Zhu De.
Zhu De is a native of Yilong County, Nanchong, Sichuan, born in 1886. In 1906, at the age of 20, Zhu De enrolled in the Shunqingfu Middle School in Sichuan. At this time, the supervisor (principal) of Shunqingfu Middle School was Zhang Lan. Zhang Lan was 14 years older than Zhu De, born in 1872, a native of Xichong County, Nanchong, Sichuan, who was a late Qing Dynasty Xiucai who had studied in Japan.
Zhang Lan personally taught the "Gezhi Lesson", combining the natural science knowledge he learned when he stayed in Japan, combined with the specimens, wall charts, instruments, materials, etc. he brought back from Japan, and elaborated in detail, intuitively and concretely, in-depth and simple, which aroused great interest from students including Zhu De.
Zhu De studied at Shunqingfu Middle School for only one year, but Zhang Lan's words and deeds and meticulous care for Zhu De played an important role in Zhu De's later embarkation on the revolutionary road, and Zhu De never forgot this period of teacher-student friendship. After that, Zhu De was admitted to the Sichuan Higher Normal School, and soon left Kunming to study in the 3rd Infantry Section of the Yunnan DaowuTang, and eventually became a great military expert with outstanding achievements.
Luo Ruiqing, commander-in-chief of guard work and minister of public security at the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China, was also a student of Zhang Lan, who joined the patriotic student movement and embarked on the revolutionary road in 1924 while studying at nanchong middle school founded by Zhang Lan.
Luo Ruiqing was a founding general, and he was also a native of Nanchong, Sichuan.
On the eve of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zhu De hosted a banquet at home to entertain his mentor Zhang Lan and invited Luo Ruiqing to accompany him. During the banquet, Zhu De and Luo Ruiqing repeatedly thanked their mentor Zhang Lan for his cultivation that year, and the three teachers and students chatted happily.
From 1911 to 1918, Zhang Lan served as a magistrate in Sichuan for 8 years, from Xuanwei Shi of Northern Sichuan and Daoyin of Jialing to the governor of Sichuan Province, with remarkable political achievements, but his family was destitute, and he was known as the "Saint of Northern Sichuan". As the governor of Sichuan Province, he sponsored more than 200 young people from the southwest to study in France, many of whom later became outstanding leaders of our party, and one of whom later became a founding marshal named Chen Yi.
In 1926, Zhang Lan became the president of Chengdu University, turning Chengdu University into a well-known institution of higher learning, creating a miracle in the history of education. Zhang Lan allowed the three factions on campus (the Communists' Social Science Research Society, the Three People's Activists' Hiking Society, and the Nationalist Ti Society) to exist at the same time, and freedoms competed. Such a mind, too broad!
After the "918" incident, Zhang Lan was extremely dissatisfied with Chiang Kai-shek's policy of "taking care of the outside world before inside the country", so he leaned toward the CCP's anti-Japanese policy.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1937, Zhang Lan was employed as a member of the National People's Political Consultative Conference and frequently participated in the anti-Japanese democracy movement. In January 1939, the Fifth Plenary Session of the Fifth Central Committee of the Kuomintang established the four principles of dissolving the Communists, defending against communism, restricting communism, and opposing communism, and set up a special committee for the defense of communism. For this reason, Zhang Lan confronted Chiang Kai-shek and asked Chiang Kai-shek: The Communist Party's resistance to Japan is a very good thing, so why should we oppose it and limit it?
In November 1939, Zhang Lan, Huang Yanpei, Zhang Bojun and others established the Comrades' Association for the Founding of the People's Republic of China in Chongqing. In March 1941, the Chinese Democratic Political League was established, with Zhang Lan as its chairman. In 1944, the Chinese Democratic Political League League was changed to the China Democratic League, and Zhang Lan continued to serve as its chairman. He led the NLD to always support the Communist Party of China, persist in the War of Resistance and oppose surrender; uphold unity and oppose separatism; persist in progress and oppose retrogression.
In 1944, Zhang Lan personally dispatched long yun, Liu Wenhui, and Pan Wenhua, key Kuomintang members in Sichuan and Yunnan, to become secret members of the Democratic League. Five years later, when the War of Liberation was at its final stage, the uprising of these people reduced the losses in all aspects.
Because Zhang Lande was highly respected, there was a saying at that time that "to get Sichuan must first get Zhang Lan". When Chiang Kai-shek entered Sichuan, Chen Lifu repeatedly mobilized Zhang Lan to go forward to greet him, but Zhang Lan insisted on not going. On August 28, 1945, when Chairman Mao, the leader of the Communist Party of China who was shouldering the mission of negotiations in Chongqing, and the chinese communist delegation arrived in Chongqing, Zhang Lan personally arrived at the airport to greet him, and Chairman Mao was greatly moved.
This was chairman Mao's first meeting with Zhang Lan, but they had been friends for a long time.
In Chongqing, Zhang Lan borrowed the residence of his friend Xian Ying, a special garden known as the "House of Democracy". On August 30, after meeting with Chiang Kai-shek in the morning, Chairman Mao came to the Special Garden in the afternoon to visit Zhang Lan.
After arriving at the special garden, Chairman Mao began to shake hands with the hired workers one by one from the bottom of the stairs, and among the workers were those who had just finished burning the fire and their hands were very dirty. Zhang Lan was stunned at that time. Later, he sighed and said: "I am also from a poor background, I have been high for decades, and I have been infected with the temperament of a scholar." I am not as equal to my subordinates as Chairman Mao is. ”
Chairman Mao and Zhang Lan talked a lot about the future of the country, and the two heroes saw the same thing.
Zhang Lan's granddaughter, Zhang Meiying, who was once vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said when talking about the situation at that time: After watching Chairman Mao leave the special garden, Zhang Lan, who had always been cautious in his words and deeds, sighed to the people present: Mao Runzhi, who has won the world.
This was Zhang Lan's second meeting with Chairman Mao.
While in Chongqing, Chairman Mao later visited Zhang Lan twice in the Special Garden.
During the third visit, Chairman Mao briefed Zhang Lan on the peace talks and said that the Communists were willing to make great concessions, but the Kuomintang was still deploying troops, and civil war could break out at any time. He asked Zhang Lan to exert his influence and mobilize the powerful factions in Kawauchi to cooperate with the Communists once the civil war broke out.
Zhang Lan nodded solemnly. After this secret conversation, Zhang Lan immediately strengthened his ties with Liu Wenhui, Deng Xihou and other powerful factions in Sichuan.
In 1949, Zhang Lan was 77 years old. In September of that year, during the People's Political Consultative Conference, Chairman Mao personally visited Zhang Lan's residence and asked him to serve as vice chairman of the upcoming Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China.
Zhang Lan said, "I'm almost eighty, I'm old, I can't do it." I don't have anything..." Chairman Mao didn't wait for him to finish speaking, and then he smiled heartily and said, "You have virtue, please come out no matter what!" ”
After becoming vice chairman of the Central People's Government, Zhang Lan had to move his wife and children from Sichuan to Beijing for the needs of his work. At that time, the state assigned him a set of high-standard courtyards, but Zhang Lan refused, too big. Later, he personally chose and finally reunited with his family in a small old and ugly house. His little-footed wife, Liu Huizheng, worked herself and grew some home-cooked vegetables.
In his later years, Zhang Lan once composed "Four Mian and One Precept": "People cannot fail to love themselves, they cannot fail to cultivate themselves, they cannot fail to respect themselves, they must not fail to strengthen themselves, and they must not deceive themselves." ”
It's a touching read!
When making a decision to resist US aggression and aid Korea, Zhang Lan once proposed that China had just finished many years of war and chaos and should rest and recuperate against China's sending troops. Later, Zhu De came to do work for Zhang Lan and mobilized him to obey the overall situation. Zhang Lan said: If the central authorities decide, then I will lead the Democratic League to resolutely resist us aggression and aid Korea. Zhang Lan has stopped eating meat since then, and all the money he saved has been used to buy donated aircraft cannons.
What a nice old man!
In 1954, Zhang Lan was elected vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the First National People's Congress. At the first meeting of the Second National Committee of the Chinese Political Consultative Conference held in the same year, he was elected vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
On February 9, 1955, Zhang Lan died of illness in Beijing at the age of 84. Chairman Mao personally went to Zhang Lan's lingyin at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Zhongshan Park to guard the spirit for 1 hour and expressed his deep condolences. (Liu Jixing)