130th Anniversary Festival.
What if China didn't have ***?
December 26, 1893.
The hour is from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.
In a farmhouse in Shaoshan Chong, a boy's cry resounded through the world.
He's ***
Although in ancient history, whenever a big man was born, there would often be unreliable legends such as swallowing the moon in a dream, filling the room with red light, and falling down a few miles of glory.
But there is nothing special about this moment of ***'s birth.
His father, Mao Shunsheng, waited all night, and when the baby's first cry came from the house, accompanied by a huge red sun rising from the east, the name "Zedong" probably popped up in his mind unconsciously.
Of course, it is more reliable to say that the name was chosen by his father, who had not read anything, according to the family tree.
In the second year of Qianlong (1737), when the Mao family created and revised the "Genealogy", from the seventh generation, a fixed pedigree was formulated, which was just a five-character poem: Lixian Rong Dynasty, Wenfang Yunjixiang, Zuen Yi Zeyuan, generation Yongchengchang, filial piety and family heirloom, loyalty and goodness to Zhenguoguang, Qiyuan Dun Shengxue, Feng Ya Lie Ming Zhang. Zu En Yi Ze is far away, and he happens to be Zezi. Mao's younger brother, ** Ze Tan, and adopted sister Ze Jian, all came here in this way. As for the "east" at the end of the name, it is not mysterious. The ancients used the southeast and northwest to correspond to spring, summer, autumn and winter, Bo Zhong Shu Ji, and east, which is the meaning of the boss. Although nominally "the third-in-line", his two older brothers have died, and he has become the de facto boss.
This is a bit like the name of Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang's name is Liu Ji, although he is ranked fourth, but because the third child died, he automatically entered one, and Liu Ji's name is translated into the vernacular as "Liu Laosan".
Therefore, "* three words, if we translate him, he is the boss of the 20th generation of the Mao family."
In addition, to clarify, the other statement about the origin of the name *** above is not "deification", but a reasonable inference under materialism.
Because, in the winter in the south, the sunrise time will be a little later, just between 7 and 9 o'clock, and the former residence of Shaoshan sits in the south and faces north, with the mountain behind it, and the sun rises from the east, which will not be blocked. Now, more than 100 years have passed, and we can only restore the scene of the day *** was born through imagination.
The ordinary birth of a great man, the rising sun in winter, is actually linked to the rise of the ancient oriental country over the years, which is the most incredible "myth".
Someone in later generations wrote such a couplet:
Ze and China, one billion people have been moistened. The red sun rises in the east, and the miasma of 5,000 years is harvested.
In this couplet, the name and character of *** are embedded at the beginning and end, which is very ingenious.
Back then, when the Mao family wrote a family tree for the first time, they invited a person surnamed Dai to write it, and this person didn't know whether he often wrote more of this kind of thing and accumulated a lot of "clichés", or whether he really had the insight to foresee something, and wrote these words in the preface of the first volume: "The husband is beautiful, and there will be a genius!."For the glory of the country, the hope of the state, so that people and the land are spread!”
200 years later, when the Anti-Japanese War entered the most difficult period, Mr. Tan Kah Kee, the leader of overseas Chinese, led a team to Yan'an for 7 days. After leaving Yan'an, he told his friend Zhuang Mingli, a patriotic overseas Chinese leader in Malaysia: "Before I visited Yan'an, I was very pessimistic about China's future. I thought that the savior had not yet been born, or was still in school. In fact, this person is forty or fifty years old, and he has done many great things, this person is now in Yan'an, he is ***
At this time, let's take a look at the six big characters written by the person surnamed Dai in the Mao family's "Family Tree" 200 years ago:
The flower of the country, the hope of the state.
How accurate!
But on this special day, I will have a deep question with you.
Dongfang Hong" is a song that we are all familiar with, and the beginning is such a lyric: Dongfang Hong, the sun rises, and China has a ***
I don't know if you have ever thought about such a question: what would happen if China did not have ***?
The reason why I thought of this question originated from a question in Zhihu. "As far as China is concerned, who is the greatest man from modern times to the present?".”
This question had been locked down before, and now it seems to have been hidden.
But before it was locked, this question had been viewed 86.43 million times, with 170,000 people wrote the answer, and tens of thousands more praised the question's proposer as a "good question."
Although Zhihu does not engage in rankings, based on my long-term experience of mixing with Zhihu, this is likely to be the most concerned and answered question in the history of Zhihu. Not one of them.
And then, it's time to witness the miracle.
In this Q&A community where young people account for the vast majority, under the tens of thousands of answered questions, someone carefully made a statistic and found that about 70% of the answers (the later proportion may have exceeded this number, and it is likely that this is also the reason why the question was locked) The answers all point to the same person:**
I think you can think of this person, but what I really can't imagine is why now, young people's answer will be him?
Because just a few years ago, it wasn't like that at all. When I write about him on Zhihu or WeChat, I will be sarcastically ridiculed.
But after a few years of writing in solitude, I suddenly noticed that all of a sudden there were many young people who liked to read his articles and quote him.
And under another question from Zhihu, "Who is the historical figure you have ever misunderstood the most?"”
Most people's answer is also him.
After so many years, many people found out that when they were young, they were influenced by some foreign books and the elders around them, and their understanding of him was half-understood, half-clawed, either mythical or scandalous.
But no matter what, it feels far, far away from us.
As a result, after really entering the society and experiencing the cruel reality, I found that he had been standing there, waiting for us to get to know him and understand him.
I once said that no thirty-year-old man could not understand him.
Especially our generation, born under the red flag, grew up in the spring breeze, has not suffered in the real sense since childhood, was scolded by teachers when I was a child, and parents felt that they had experienced setbacks when they bought a new dress.
I still think that everything I have now is naturally owned, and that a life with food, clothing, and a bed is at my fingertips, and that the Western powers are so amiable, romantic, and rich ......
If you haven't experienced the tempering of society, the friction of reality, and haven't really realized how those high-sounding Westerners play hooligans, how can you wake up?
At this time, when you look at what *** has said and written, you will find that his perspective has always been rooted in the bottom and concerned about the bottom.
You will understand that the dream he worked hard for back then is the life you are pursuing now.
As a result, many people suddenly felt that they understood him and felt that he was actually a person with themselves.
But I'm sorry, you didn't get it at all.
His real intention was not that he became one of our fellow travelers.
Rather, he could have been a fellow traveler with us.
From the founding of the party in 1921 to the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, it took only 28 years for our party to establish national power from a small party with only a few dozen people.
This is a miracle in the history of entrepreneurship in the world.
Many times, we have this illusion, as if the *** who led the team to create this miracle was born a great man.
But when I went to seriously check the history, I found that the real life experience was not at all what we imagined. When he was a child, he needed to work and sleep with Changgong, and his father did not pay enough attention to his education, he was still in primary school in Dongshan School at the age of seventeen, and went to Changsha to study junior high school at the age of eighteen, and entered the Hunan No. 1 Normal School at the age of twenty until he graduated from secondary school at the age of twenty-five.
Compared with many intellectual elites at that time, the starting point was very late and the starting point was very low.
In 1911, the dusty *** took a ship to Changsha for the first time.
Because he had only attended private schools and elementary schools before, he was already 18 years old, and as a country boy who entered the city for the first time, he could only go to middle school.
Although compared to many poor people who couldn't afford to read at that time, ** was already considered lucky. But if you compare his old opponents Zhang Guotao and Wang Ming, or Liu Renjing, the youngest representative, you will find that his start is really late, and his starting point is really low.
For example, Zhang Guotao, who was admitted to Peking University at the age of 19, served as the president of the student union, and when the Communist Party of China was at the First National Congress, he was a representative of Chen Duxiu, the host of the conference, sitting on the rostrum and talking eloquently;And *** sits on the side in a low-key manner, working as a recorder.
He went to school at the age of 6, graduated from an agricultural school at the age of 16, studied abroad in his early 20s, went to Sun Yat-sen University in Moscow for further study, and became the actual leader of the party at the age of 25 with the support of the Communist InternationalAnd it was not until the Zunyi Conference in his 40s that he was elected as a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Party for the first time.
Liu Renjing is even more talented than the above three, he was admitted to the High School Affiliated to Wuchang Zhonghua University at the age of 14, and was admitted to the Department of Physics of Peking University at the age of 16.
I calculated, when he was studying physics at Peking University, he should have been at Peking University, as an inconspicuous librarian, it is estimated that Liu Renjing does not think highly of him.
Many years later, *** himself said that at that time, no one wanted to communicate with him, a librarian with a strong foreign accent.
When she participated in the first year, Liu Renjing was only 19 years old, and she had just entered middle school at this ageWhen I attended the first year with Liu Renjing, ** was almost 30 years old.
Compared with many talented, young and early "characters" of that era, the *** when he was young had no advantage.
Chiang Kai-shek is one of the biggest opponents in his life.
He is not a few years older than ***, but his upbringing experience is far better than ***
**At the age of 19, he had just entered junior high school, and Chiang Kai-shek had already moved east to Japan at the age of 19 to study at Tsinghua School in Tokyo
** He joined the party at the age of almost 30, and Chiang Kai-shek joined the League (the predecessor of the Kuomintang) in his early 20s
The 25-year-old *** was still working as an inconspicuous administrator in the library of Peking University, and Chiang Kai-shek had already become the head of the regiment at that age.
The First National Congress of the Kuomintang in 1924 was the first official meeting between Chiang Kai-shek and *** in his life, and at this time Chiang Kai-shek was already a hot celebrity in the Kuomintang, the incoming principal of the Whampoa Military Academy.
And *** does not have a soldier in his hand, and he is not valued in the party, and the various reports he made during this period are often directly ignored by party leader Chen Duxiu and others.
It is estimated that Chiang Kai-shek at that time would not have thought that he would finally lose in the hands of this "scholar" who seemed to not be able to lead troops to fight at all.
Just after Chiang Kai-shek's death in 1975, American writer Brian Crozier published a book "The Man Who Lost China".
The literal translation of the title of the book is "The Man Who Lost China". It's very straightforward, and it's a very regretful look.
The book speaks highly of Chiang Kai-shek:
To summarize the life of Chiang Kai-shek, Chiang Kai-shek, with his own courage, energy and leadership qualities, was not only a deeply flawed figure, but also a tragic figure in the sense of Greek tragedy. ”
As for the so-called "great defects", the book came to an unbelievable conclusion after half a day of study: "Chiang Kai-shek lacked the precondition for those generals and statesmen to be famous for centuries - luck." His luck was terrible." I beg to differ on this point.
A man who has held power in his thirties, a man who has nominally unified China for the first time in modern times, a man who has had millions of troops and American support, and a man who dares to do anything to achieve his goals.
You told me that he was defeated by a group of people in rags, who couldn't eat enough, millet and rifles, mainly because of bad luck?
Chiang Kai-shek's life is a perfect illustration of how to play a good hand of cards.
I thought about it, if Chiang Kai-shek's defeat must be attributed to luck, then his greatest misfortune is that his opponent is ***
Around 1918, in my application letter for admission to the Juvenile China Society, I wrote that my career plan was in the field of education, saying that I would regard education as "the academic study of lifelong desire", education as "a lifelong career", and the monthly salary and manuscript fee for education as "the way to maintain my life for the rest of my life". In the "Preparation" column, it is also carefully filled in: "After only one or four years of preparation, the individual will go abroad to study abroad for at least five years, in Russia, and then return to China to engage in the career he wants." (Quoted from the May Fourth Period Society (1).)Sanlian Press, 1979, pp. 422-423. ）
But in the end, he was not satisfied with just being an educator and did not go abroad, but stayed at home and continued to explore his own way to save the country and save the people.
Probably at the same time, Chiang Kai-shek, the old opponent of **, was also thinking about this problem.
In July 1924, Chiang Kai-shek said in a speech to the first class of students of the Huangfu Military Academy: How can the danger of our China be lifted?How exactly is our country built?We are desperately going to the revolution, starting from the **, thinking about it like this, we are almost going to have a nervous breakdown. (Quoted from Jin Yinan: "Suffering and Glory", Writers Publishing House, August 2020 edition, p. 89).
He had been thinking about this question for 24 years.
In 1948, it was not until he was about to be driven out of the island that he suddenly seemed to understand, and he finally said with bitter regret: "Our National Revolutionary Army is no longer the Northern Expeditionary Army supported by the masses, but has become a dog leg for the landlords and squires to take care of their homes." ”
But at the time, he couldn't and wouldn't really figure it out. His views of the country and the people were no different from those of the Western-style elite of the time.
Internal and external troubles, the people's wisdom has not been opened, corruption and degeneration, ignorance and backwardness.
Troubled times, despair. This was the true thought of countless people at the time.
To what extent is it desperate?
Many celebrities, elites, and intellectuals have completely fallen into the value system of the West, feeling that our nation is hopeless, and even the extreme idea of abolishing Chinese characters and self-destructive culture has come out of their mouths.
Even, Chiang Kai-shek wrote in his diary after the September 18 Incident: "Civil strife continues, rebellion has no remorse, the people have no patriotism, the society is unorganized, and the society is not sound. (quoted in Chiang Kai-shek's Diary, September 19, 1931).
At that time, Chiang Kai-shek was already the nominal leader of the country, and the leader of a country actually came to the conclusion that "there is no way to exist in today's world with theory" to this country
Especially after Japan came to fight, many people at that time were so desperate in the face of Japan's crushing military power that they only pursued to preserve the seeds of Chinese civilization and pinned their hopes on the restoration of the country in the future.
In the midst of this despair, how many people have chosen to give up?They either protect themselves and survive in the world, or they are drunk and dream of death, and they can get by, or they simply sell themselves into slavery and help them to abuse.
But *** never thought of giving up.
If the internal troubles are not eliminated, they will be eliminated, if the external troubles are not resolved, they will be solved, and if the people's wisdom is not opened, they will be opened.
These things, these problems, always need someone to do them bit by bit.
The water becomes a sea, the soil becomes a mountain, and if you go a little further, you will always be a little closer to the goal.
Many people don't know that the first step towards revolution is to "manually turn yourself into a proletariat".
In February 1921, ** took his younger brother Mao Zetan back to Shaoshan for the Spring Festival.
At this time, **'s parents had died, and he became the eldest brother. The family is run by the eldest brother Mao**.
On the night of the thirtieth day of the Chinese New Year's Eve, ** and his two younger brothers Mao **, Mao Zeqin, and sister Mao Zejian guarded the New Year around the fire pond.
Mao ** told his brother that there was a fire at home before, it took a lot of money to repair the house, and he continued to encounter the extortion of defeated soldiers and the robbery of bad guys, and the situation of the family has been worse year by year. Mao**'s meaning was originally to let *** think of a way, at least to find some money to subsidize a little family.
But after listening to it, he took the opportunity to enlighten them and said that the country is in turmoil and the people are not happy, so they must give up their families for the country and go out to do something.
** I also discussed with my younger siblings, and the family house was given to someone else, and the land was planted for someone else. Calculate the family's accounts, and pay off the debts to other people's families once, and the debts of others will be calculated directly. Even the few cows and some grain left in the family were all given away.
After the Spring Festival, the three brothers of the Mao family and their younger sister really abandoned their families and businesses and embarked on the road of revolution.
Since then, the people closest to him have never cared about money. On the contrary, their first step on the revolutionary road was to write off the debts owed by others and to give away all their possessions.
**'s ancestral house has been lived by others since then, until after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the local ** found a way to take it back, and we now go to Shaoshan to see the "** former residence".
After his death, there were still more than 1 million manuscript fees. He did not leave any inheritance to his family and children, and all the money was handed over to the state treasury.
And *** this man who could have had a huge fortune. After his death, all the cash property left behind was only seven renminbi issued in the early days of the founding of New China found by the staff, which totaled less than 10 yuan today.
There is not a penny in the bank account. He has a pile of yellowed ledgers that distinguish between public and private, and was identified as a national first-class cultural relic in 1994. This is ***'s personality and mind!
He did not think about money or profit, but devoted everything he had in his life to the cause of emancipating the poor people.
In January 1927, he returned to Shaoshan to inspect the development of agriculture. He once said to his fathers and fellow villagers in his hometown, he said: "I am engaged in revolution for the cause of the proletariat, and the friends I love and make are poor people who wear straw sandals and have no money. Our revolution has only just begun, and it will take thirty or forty years to completely eliminate the feudal landlords and gentry, overthrow the warlords, and drive out imperialism. If the revolution is not successful, I will not return to Shaoshan. ”
After that, he really never returned to Shaoshan.
It was not until after the founding of the People's Republic of China that in 1959, at the age of 66, he returned to Shaoshan and felt a lot of emotion. He wrote "Seven Laws: To Shaoshan", and there are two sentences in the poem, which are a true portrayal of his life experience: "For the sake of sacrifice and ambition, dare to change the sun and the moon into a new sky." ”
Someone once left a message under my article asking:
Can't figure out why *** wants to save the Chinese?With his ability, it is not difficult to learn from Chiang Kai-shek to be a warlord, marry a few aunts, and have fun. Lu Xun's inferior Chinese people, he didn't meet them, and he didn't suffer from these people, but why did he choose to save these people?
The question is very real.
That's why there are so many people who don't understand him and slander him.
Because they can't believe that there are such people in this world, and they don't want to admit that there are such people in this world.
Later, when I was reading the information, I got the answer from a conversation between *** and his elementary school classmate Zhou Shizhao.
In 1951, ***, who had become ***, talked to his old classmate Zhou Shizhao and others about the scene when he saw the world map in the library when he was young
On the wall of the Hunan Library, there is a large map of the world, and I always stand and look at it every day when I pass by it.
Judging from the situation in Shaoshan Chong, most of the people there lived a miserable life, either starving or freezing. There is no money for treatment and watching the sick die;There are those who can't afford to pay the rent and grain and are put in prison and tortured to death;There are also families and neighbors, for large and small disputes, quarrels, fights, and make chickens and dogs restless, and even make them throw themselves into ponds and hang their necks;As for those who don't have books to read, there are even more who are blind for the rest of their lives. In Shaoshan Chongli, I didn't see a few people living happily.
The situation in Shaoshan Chong is like this, and the situation in Xiangtan County, Hunan Province, China, and the whole world is probably similar!”
I really doubt that life in the world is destined to live a miserable life?......
Since then, I have been determined to contribute all my strength to the suffering people of China and the world. ”
Quoted from Yao Yongming, "The Human Feelings of Marxists", Study Times, October 17, 2018).
Please note that I have almost excerpted the paragraph mentioned above from the original text.
Because it's so well said.
Whether from a religious point of view or from a practical point of view, as long as everyone lives in this world, they will have their own pain and doubts, and even children of a few years old will have their own unhappiness.
The rich have the pain of the rich, and the poor have the pain of the poor.
But *** makes it clear: the suffering of the poor is even more pronounced.
The people he was talking about, people who were starving, people who were cold, people who had no money for treatment, people who watched the sick and die, people who couldn't afford to pay the rent and food, and were put in prison and tortured to death - basically they were all poor.
This is the true meaning of reality!
Of course, the rich also have the pain of the rich, but can their suffering be compared with that of ordinary people and the poor?
It is known that the white-collar workers' sorrows and sorrows, and their moaning without illness can be compared with the survival plight of the real people at the bottom?
What is the poor?It's a person who has to exhaust all the strength and luck of his life just to live himself!
It is precisely because of this kind of thinking and reflection that I finally set up such an ambition: from that time on, I was determined to contribute all my strength to the suffering people of all China and the world.
Therefore, to the workers and peasants, to the poor people, ** is always full of affection, he once said emotionally: the cleanest are the workers and peasants, although their hands are black and their feet have cow, they are still cleaner than the bourgeois and petty-bourgeois intellectuals.
He was extremely enthusiastic and determined to change the fate of the workers and peasants, and he also wanted the poor to live a good life in their own hands.
Otherwise, what would have been the support for such a difficult and dangerous revolutionary road?
This is what Dr. Marx wrote: Knowledge does not come from experience, nor from reason, because knowledge comes from gazing into the eyes of others, listening to their calls, and aspiring to do something for others.
This is a very great feeling, a bodhisattva-like compassion like "I don't go to hell, who goes to hell."
It is the earth, the life of **, never a life of living for yourself.
A person who could have been left alone, but he had to throw his head and spill his blood, and spent most of his life in the ravines, dealing with poor people from all walks of life, teaching them to read, supporting them, and telling them: get up, don't kneel.
For such a great ideal, he can lead the people to throw their heads and spill their blood, regardless of life and death, and can start from scratch.
He once said that one day the four greats will all be removed, and there will only be one teacher left, that is, the teacher. Because *** has always been a teacher, and is still a teacher.
And one of the most important things he taught everyone is that the masses of people are the creators of history.
Tell everyone that there has never been a savior, nor does it depend on the Immortal Emperor. The only ones who can save sentient beings are savient beings themselves.
His firm stance of standing on the side of the toiling masses from beginning to end has never changed, no matter how difficult and wronged he is, no matter how high his power and wealth have been.
From beginning to end, he wanted more people to believe, practice, and work with him to create the ideal society and country in his heart.
In that society, everyone is equal, there is no oppression, there is no exploitation, no road is left behind, no door is closed at night, labor is the most glorious, young people are the most hopeful, the old are wise, women can hold up half the sky, and everyone is a complete and conscious person.
From a philosophical level, his highest ideal is to build a new world of absolute equality, free from material pursuits, and constantly purified by thought.
In such a world, everyone abandons many innate instincts and inferior qualities, does not exploit, oppresses, suffers, high and low, superior and inferior, strengthens physical exercise, strengthens the people's physique, studies hard, makes progress every day, stresses five stresses, four beauties and three loves, and everyone is healthy and healthy.
In such a society, everyone can achieve free and all-round development in morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics, and labor -- and this is also the highest ideal of Marxism.
With his spiritual will, his fighting life, he brought profound changes to this country, nation and people.
I saw an evaluation of *** that went something like this: "When he threw himself into the revolution, the country had almost nothing but illiteracy, no steel, no industry, no planes and artillery, more than 90 percent of the people were illiterate peasants, and those in power were either blood-sucking bureaucrats or spokesmen for foreign powers, and any country could come and step on two feet." ”
When he left this world, the country had established a relatively complete basic industrial system, eliminated the illiteracy of more than 400 million people, put an end to banditry for thousands of years, and had its own aircraft, missiles, and nuclear submarines, and became one of the five most powerful countries in the world. The other four were all his underdogs.
Under the extremely viewed question of Zhihu mentioned above, many people said that they liked all the posts that answered ***;Some people say that after turning over for more than an hour, their hands are tired;Some people say that they are relieved to see such a high degree of unanimous answers......
There are many more who wrote: "I cried when I saw it", "My eyes were wet", "I was rereading "Mao Xuan"...
One of the comments with the most likes and citations is:
The people said it was him, he said it was the people".
But what makes people even more tearful is another sentence:
Without him, the answer would never have been the people.
The Chinese people love *** from the bottom of their hearts, and their heartfelt words are *** long live, and what *** thinks in their hearts is "long live the people"!
I believe that this sentence is the best answer to the title of today's article.
Today marks the 130th anniversary of ***'s birth.
I remembered the inscription of Mr. Lei Jieqiong, former vice chairman of the National People's Congress, at the former residence of Shaoshan.
And only *** is truly worthy of these eight big words: the public is eternal, and the private is temporary.
Our cause is not illustrious for a while, but it will always be there;In the face of our ashes, noble people will shed tears. - Carl. Heinrich. Marx.
Author: Wang Gongjian.