At 19:44 on April 6, 2018, Ms. Song Yulin, the widow of Chen Yonggui, former vice premier of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, died at the age of 92 at her home in Xiyang Dazhai, Jinzhong City, Shanxi Province. Her farewell ceremony and funeral were also arranged three days later at her home in Xiyang Dazhai. Guo Fenglian, secretary of the general party branch of Dazhai Village, revealed the news to the media and attended the memorial service three days later and delivered an affectionate speech.
Young friends may suddenly feel strange when they see this name, and then they may have many questions. For example: who is Chen Yonggui and how he has not heard of it. Another example: the widow of the vice premier of the State Council has passed away, and according to the custom, the funeral should be arranged in Beijing, so how can it be done in the village?
Then you may wish to take these questions with me to understand the story of Chen Yonggui and Song Yulin, and go back to the surging years together.
Song Yulin
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > emotional origin</h1>
We have pulled back the time to the 1960s, when New China had been exploring socialism for more than a decade and had achieved many substantive results.
A series of exciting news, such as the completion of the three major transformations, the victory in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and the smooth operation of the Daqing oil field, have inspired the confidence of the party Central Committee and the people of the whole country, and all people believe that New China is about to enter a brand-new stage and usher in tremendous glory.
In 1965, Chen Yonggui at that time had gone from a poor child who fled to Dazhai Village because he had no food to eat, and struggled to become the secretary of the commune in Xiyang Dazhai Village, Jinzhong City, Shanxi Province, and everything was developing in a good direction. In the unfortunate weather, his hair-tied wife Li Huni died of illness in this year.
At this time, Chen Yonggui had just turned 50 years old, and he was not only famous in Dazhai Village, but also rated as a model worker in the province. It is said that it is the time when he is full of vigor and great achievements, but the death of his wife has brought him a huge blow, and his busy work coupled with his already rough and heroic personality has made him busy and even has no time to take care of his personal life.
The county leaders and colleagues around them saw that such a hard-working and excellent person did not have a caring person to take care of his life, so they had the idea of finding a partner for him again. At this time, 38-year-old Song Yulin was living alone with his children in Chengguan Commune, five kilometers away from Dazhai.
Because the People's Daily published the article "The Road to Dazhai" in 1964, which caused a violent response from all walks of life, Chen Yonggui became a great public figure in the country that year. As long as Chen Yonggui's name is mentioned, no one in the eight townships knows it.
Chen Yonggui's deeds of leading the People of Dazhai to rely on themselves and work hard to create one after another impressive achievements in mu were cordially praised by Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou, and even Chairman Mao, after learning about Chen Yonggui's deeds, issued a call for "Daqing of Industrial Science, Dazhai of Agricultural Science" at a conference.
So when someone introduced Chen Yonggui to Song Yulin, she didn't hesitate too much. However, out of the woman's reservedness, Song Yulin did not immediately agree as soon as he heard that it was Chen Yonggui. Instead, she waited for the person who introduced her to mention it several times in front of her before she agreed to go to Dazhai to have a look. After the two met, the matchmaker looked at the two of them and couldn't help but say, "You two are really a match made in heaven." ”
After several meetings and exchanges, Song Yulin finally decided to marry Chen Yonggui. She brought her son to Chen Yonggui's home and formed a new, happy and hopeful family with Chen Yonggui's son and daughter.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="25" > Song Yulin, is the wife of the vice premier of the State Council and a national labor model</h1>
In fact, Song Yulin was also a remarkable figure before marrying Chen Yonggui, she became a women's director at the age of 18, or a model worker in the county, and almost every year she was invited to participate in the labor model commendation conference organized by the county. The first time she met Chen Yonggui was at the labor model commendation meeting that year.
After Song Yulin married Chen Yonggui, she concentrated on being Chen Yonggui's inner helper and became a veritable housewife, washing and cooking, handling housework, sewing and mending, everything she did well, often cleaning the house up and down clean and tidy spotlessly.
Old Chen's whole person also began to become energetic, and whenever he went out, others would jokingly say, "Old Chen is several years younger after marrying Song Yulin!" "The family's life was flourishing.
It was also from then on that Chen Yonggui's political career began a new "speed" model. As Dazhai's reputation grew, Chen Yonggui's officials also became bigger and bigger, from the village to the county, from the county to the province. In 1969, the two had a son, named Chen Mingliang.
That year was really a double happiness for Chen Yonggui, who not only had a son in his later years, but was also elected as a member of the Central Committee in the same year. At the Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 1973, Chen Yonggui was once again elected as a member of the Central Committee and entered the Politburo of the Central Committee, becoming a core figure in the true sense.
At this time, Chen Yonggui handed over the burden of the secretary of the party branch of the Dazhai brigade, which he was most proud of and most reluctantly, to Guo Fenglian, who was known as the Iron Maiden at that time, and entrusted all the affairs of the family to Song Yulin, and went to Beijing alone to take up his post.
In 1975, Chen Yonggui's political career reached its peak, and after Chairman Mao's personal instructions, Chen Yonggui was elected vice premier of the State Council at the Fourth National People's Congress, focusing on agricultural production. But when he learned that he had been elected vice premier of the State Council, Chen Yonggui was not excited, but instead felt afraid and uneasy in his heart.
You know, Chen Yonggui was born into a poor family, and when he was 5 years old, his father had to sell his wife, daughter and young son because he could not afford to raise his children. He fled to Dazhai with his eldest son, Chen Yonggui, and when he was 6 years old, his father hanged himself due to guilt. Therefore, the orphan Chen Yonggui did not go to school for a day, but after attending the literacy class, he simply recognized a few words. It can be said that he is almost semi-illiterate.
And such a semi-illiterate person who could not read a large number of characters was now elected vice premier of the State Council, and Song Yulin, who was also almost illiterate, followed up with a veritable vice premier's wife.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > struggle in Dazhai, funeral in Dazhai</h1>
In this way, Chen Yonggui went from being illiterate to vice premier of the State Council of the Republic, and he felt that his level of knowledge and culture was not enough to bear such a lofty position as vice premier, so he resigned many times. In the end, Premier Zhou, who has always cared for Chen Yonggui, talked with him, did his ideological work, and gave him confidence in himself.
Premier Zhou said: "The election of you as vice premier of the State Council is the party's arrangement, and as a party member, you should unconditionally obey the party's decision." ”
In the end, Chen Yonggui reluctantly agreed. However, although he was in the State Council, he was determined not to take a penny of salary.
At that time, Chen Yonggui had many positions, but he always adhered to the principle of holding office but not getting a salary. So until he was elected vice premier of the State Council, he was just a farmer holding the centimeters of Dazhai.
Therefore, although Song Yulin, who is the wife of the vice premier, is happy for her husband's promotion, at the same time, she is also worried that the family's money is always insufficient, Chen Yonggui is in a high position, as long as he returns to Dazhai from Beijing, the family must have continuous guests, which is difficult to spoil Song Yulin, because the cost of people coming and going is too large, and Chen Yonggui is not willing to ask for wages, and the two have mixed their mouths several times because of this matter.
Although Chen Yonggui became vice premier, he worked in Beijing. But his heart has never been at ease with Dazhai, which is the starting point of his struggle, the place where he has devoted his heart and soul, and there are also his loves.
So he asked Chairman Mao that he would spend one-third of his time working in the Central Committee, one-third of his time going to local inspections, and the other one-third of his time in Dazhai. The central authorities quickly approved his request.
In 1980, chen Yonggui resigned as vice premier of the State Council after his five-year term expired, and he was already a 67-year-old man with a flower armor, and Song Yulin moved to Beijing with his son to take care of Chen Yonggui's life. Chen Yonggui died of lung cancer in Beijing in 1985 at the age of 71. At that time, Song Yulin was 59 years old and was about to enter the year of Hua Jia.
In her later years, Song Yulin lived in a small apartment in Beijing, living a quiet and fulfilling life, although far away from Dazhai, but the old man always remembered the place where she and Chen Yonggui had struggled, and every night, Song Yulin had to look for news about Dazhai on TV, listening little by little, looking carefully.
Sometimes Guo Fenglian, the secretary of the party branch of Dazhai, would come to Beijing to visit Song Yulin, and she could not suppress her happiness, sitting side by side with Guo Fenglian, learning about Dazhai. Although she is in Beijing, her heart is forever deeply rooted in the hard loess soil of Dazhai, where she has lived for decades.
On April 6, 2018, the elderly Song Yulin passed away peacefully in Dazhai Village, Dazhai Town, Xiyang, Shanxi Province, more than 30 years after she and her husband Chen Yonggui were separated. In accordance with the old man's last wishes, the funeral of Song Yulin, the widow of the vice premier of the State Council, was held in her dazhai home.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="30" guo Fenglian delivered a speech > the funeral scene</h1>
On April 10, 2018, three days after the death of the elderly Song Yulin, the farewell ceremony of the body of Ms. Song Yulin, the widow of former Vice Premier Chen Yonggui, was held at the home of Dazhai, and a burial ceremony was made for Song Yulin in accordance with the local customs of Dazhai Village. The farewell-style spiritual hall is located in the courtyard of her small home in Dazhai, which is very simple and low-key, and also conforms to the old man's consistent style before his death.
Accompanied by solemn mourning, Guo Fenglian, who was once the iron maiden of Dazhai and now the general secretary of the party branch of Dazhai Village, walked into the spirit hall with a sad look, she walked to the statue of Song Yulin with tears in her eyes and a solemn expression, respectfully presented flowers to this old man who had dedicated her life to the people and worked for the family, and bowed for a long time.
She may be recalling the old man's voice and smile before he died, or maybe she remembers the old man's repeated attachment and reluctance to Dazhai in her ear when she went to Beijing to visit Song Yulin, or perhaps she remembered the more distant 1973, remembering the old secretary Chen Yonggui's thousand instructions when he handed over Dazhai to himself before he went to Beijing to take office. I remembered her deep friendship with Chen Yonggui and Song Yulin over the past few decades.
Thinking of this, she couldn't help but feel hot in her heart and shed tears.
At the funeral scene, the atmosphere was extremely sad, although Song Yulin was a high-life expectancy, he also knew that people always had to live and die, and the laws of nature were irresistible. But people still can't suppress their sad emotions, and one by one the tone is choked up, and their eyes are red.
Only because they deeply respect and love Song Yulin and Chen Yonggui. They dedicated their lives to the construction of Dazhai and New China, walked out of Dazhai Village, did not forget their original intentions, and returned to Dazhai again. They are the soul of Dazhai, the spiritual backbone of Dazhai, the fire in the hearts of the people of Dazhai, and the light in front of them.
Guo Fenglian's speech at the farewell ceremony was sincere and full of respect and nostalgia for the elderly.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="29" > the whole village mourned the death, and the scene was crowded</h1>
At the funeral site, the small spiritual hall was crowded with people, which can be said to be a sea of people. When the villagers heard the news of Song Yulin's death, the whole village, men, women and children, came to Song Yulin's home with flowers to mourn, hoping to send the old man on his last journey.
Early in the morning of the 10th, the door of Song Yulin's house in Dazhai Village was crowded with people who came to participate in the farewell ceremony, and there was a long queue outside the door, and many people were on their way.
Some of them are villagers from the village of Dazhai, some are old friends and colleagues of the old man, and many of them are unknown to the old man, but they are touched by her and Chen Yonggui's deeds, and spontaneously come from other cities thousands of miles away to participate in the old man's memorial service. The small courtyard was crowded with people, and the surrounding courtyard walls were filled with wreaths sent by people from all walks of life.
Chen Yonggui was in a high position before his death, an official to the vice premier of the State Council, and his widow would naturally receive care and help from the organization, the state and all sectors of society, but the people who came to mourn found that the house where the old man lived in Dazhai was so simple, only two small courtyards were cleaned, and the furniture display in the house was extremely simple and simple.
Old-fashioned televisions, old tables and chairs, peeled walls, and old electric fans all reveal the simple life of the elderly before they were born. Only a large portrait of Chen Yonggui on the wall is particularly conspicuous, which can see Song Yulin's nostalgia for Chen Yonggui. This halfway fate made her wait for a lifetime.
In addition to Guo Fenglian, who had close contacts with Song Yulin and Chen Yonggui, to attend the funeral, many local government officials spontaneously came to mourn and give speeches. All the villagers of Dazhai Village stood under the spiritual hall, looking at the old man affectionately, accompanied by a bow of mourning.
They had a solemn expression, listening to Guo Fenglian's affectionate speech on the stage, as if they had returned to that exciting and surging years, as if the old secretary Chen Yonggui had not left, he still wrapped a white turban and led everyone to fight for a better life in the field and for a better future for China.
After the ceremony, the crowd could not disperse for a long time, they were not willing to leave so rashly, they wanted to see the old man more, wanted to accompany the old man to walk a little longer, because without their struggle and dedication, there would be no good life today.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="10" > Conclusion:</h1>
From homeless orphans to vice premiers of the State Council, Chen Yonggui's life cannot be described as brilliant, and his achievements are certainly factored by the times, but also inseparable from personal talent and hard work. But what we can't ignore is that there should always be a sage who pays silently behind his back, regardless of gains and losses, and works hard to help Song Yulin.
It was Song Yulin who gave Chen Yonggui a complete and happy family, and it was Song Yulin who made Chen Yonggui have hot food to eat and warm clothes to wear when he returned home, no matter how busy he was in the commune. It was Song Yulin who made him feel at ease in Beijing without worries.
Looking back at history, behind most great figures, there is a woman who is willing to give and dedicate silently. It is they who have achieved this greatness, or they are also part of the greatness. In them, there is a noble character of our traditional Chinese national women who are gentle and frugal, tolerant and implicit.
Maybe these women didn't achieve much, or maybe they just lived their lives plainly. But they still deserve to be remembered as much as the great men.
Song Yulin is a typical representative of the outstanding traditional women of our Chinese nation, she can be diligent and thrifty in running the family, can bear hardships and stand hard work, can filial piety and love for the elderly, know etiquette and righteousness, and understand the general body. Her good character deserves to be preached and should be preached. Her and Chen Yonggui's love makes people yearn, and the story of their staying together for half a life and achieving each other should be known and learned by more young people.
Party members, doctors, secretaries, judges, pilots... For 100 years, party members from all walks of life have begun to appear, and they shine in their positions.
At every major time node, they are also the backbone. For example, the doctors and nurses who rushed to the front line during the epidemic period in 2020, the construction of Vulcan Mountain and Leishen Mountain, party members are not a minority!
The original intention does not change, and the towel is responsible. Mango TV's "Daughter of the Party" is like a group portrait of the growth of Chinese women, looking back at the past and immortal will, and people standing in the present see that someone is coming.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="4" > resources:</h1>
[1] Editor. Dazhai Village, Xiyang County, Shanxi Province, "Secondary Entrepreneurship" of Rural Banner[J].Rural Work Newsletter, 2021(Z1):63.
Yuan Baolin. Chen Yonggui's work in Beijing[J].Jin Qiu, 2020(09):52-53.
LIU Xingyu. From Dazhai to Xiaogang: A Turning Point in the Era of Socialist Practice And Exploration[J].Journal of Liaocheng University (Social Science Edition), 2019(06):20-27.
HU Xinmin. Why Mao Zedong advocated the spirit of Dazhai[J].Party History Bocai (Part 1), 2019(08):9-14.