On January 20, 1969, Nixon was sworn in as the United States, and most of his impressions of the Chinese leader were known from Kissinger's mouth.
Kissinger told him that his family was very simple, and his food, clothing, housing and transportation were very frugal, which was not bad from the Yan'an scene described back then.
But Nixon didn't believe it, he had been in contact with the Kuomintang for a long time, and he was still clear about the living conditions of the Kuomintang.
Therefore, before his first visit to China in 1972, Nixon specially gave a generous gift to ***, that is, a huge porcelain swan, although this gift is not a precious cultural relic, but it looks very magnificent.
But when Nixon actually came to China and walked into ***'s office, he was dumbfounded: Is this really the home of a national leader?
1972 was an extraordinary year for ***. Since New Year's Day, **'s condition has been unstable, and the doctor recommended a comprehensive examination, or an electrocardiogram, but *** disagreed.
The doctor suggested that *** take an injection and infusion, but *** was unwilling, and the doctor suggested that he take ginseng to improve his resistance, but *** did not believe in those flowers and plants. The doctor again offered to inject antibiotics into the muscle, but ** still did not agree.
In desperation, the doctor asked *** for help, and under the persuasion of ***, ** only agreed to take oral antibiotic pills, but as long as he felt that his health had improved slightly, he would stop taking the medicine immediately.
On January 6, Comrade ** passed away in Beijing. **After learning about it, I was already in poor health, and my mood instantly became heavy.
In April 1928, the Autumn Harvest Uprising led by **, and some troops of the South Hunan Uprising and the Nanchang Uprising led by ** met in Jinggangshan, and the revolutionary friendship between the two people became deeper and deeper.
On the morning of January 10, in Zhongnanhai's bedroom, ** was half-lying on the bed in a pale yellow pajamas, his face was haggard, his beard was long, and he was holding a book that he had turned many times in his hand. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the memorial service of ** was about to be held in Babaoshan, **because of physical inconvenience, the trip was not arranged.
Zhang Yufeng once specially read the eulogy for ***, but the eulogy of less than 600 words accounted for more than half of the resume, at noon, ** thought of going through so many years of ups and downs with his old comrades-in-arms, his mood was extremely heavy, and he suddenly wanted to go to the memorial service of **.
After eating, ** asked Zhang Yufeng: "What time is it?"Zhang Yufeng said softly: "Chairman, it's half past one now." ”
**Looking out the window, he nodded and said:"Shunting, I'm going to attend the memorial service of Comrade **!”
After saying that, he walked straight to the door.
Seeing this, Zhang Yufeng immediately picked up his coat and chased him out, and said to the people around him: "Quick, give *** a beating."
**After receiving the Juxiang Book House**, I immediately rushed from the West Flower Hall, and quickly called** the memorial service**, and immediately raised the specifications of the memorial service.
**Suddenly going to the memorial service of **comrade**, which many people did not expect. At the memorial service, ** was supported by the staff and moved slowly, Zhang Qian saw *** coming, and hurriedly came over to help ***
"Why are you here?".”
**Sad to say:"I'm here to attend the ** memorial service. ”
Zhang Qian saw the elderly *** distressed and said: "* is not sensible, and I have opposed you in the past." * shook his head: "You can't say that, he's a good guy and you can't blame him entirely." ”
Seeing that everyone was wearing black yarn on their arms, he said sadly to the staff, "Tie one to my arm too." Soon, ** stood in front of the portrait of ** comrade and silently bowed three times.
Zhang Qian instructed Zhang Yufeng and the others: "*Poor health, go back early." "But *** doesn't want to go back, he insists on attending the memorial service.
After returning from this memorial service, ** suffered from a cold, and he was already in poor health*** plus he only wore a pajama and coat at the memorial service, and he couldn't even afford to be sick.
Since then, ** has been bedridden for several weeks, weak and unconscious, Zhang Yufeng recalled that when the doctor measured his blood pressure, he was almost frightened because he couldn't measure his pulse.
At this time, less than a month before Nixon's visit to China, since the Zhenbao Island incident, the relationship between China and the Soviet Union has been in turmoil, and now Nixon's visit to China is the first step in breaking the ice in Sino-US relations.
**Tell *** that if Nixon comes, he wants to see Nixon as soon as possible. But *** was not in good health, ** comforted: "Nixon is a guest, he should go to the state guest house to rest first." "* reluctantly agreed.
On February 21, Air Force One landed, and Nixon came to the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse under the arrangement of ***.
At the airport, ** and Nixon's hands were tightly clasped together, and this precious historical shot was preserved intact, and from **, ** was dressed appropriately and generously.
Nixon's motorcade sped through Tiananmen Square toward the west of the city. Foreign guests visiting Beijing were arranged to stay in a heavily guarded Lin Yuan mansion, Diaoyutai, and this is still the case today.
The Diaoyutai State Guesthouse was opened in the late 50s of the 20th century to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Although most of the annexes of the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse are new, the location itself is rich in historical allusions. The sparkling lake and the green forest garden of Diaoyutai have been good for the past generations.
The Ming Dynasty poet Wang Jiamo once wrote a poem to praise the subtle beauty of Diaoyutai: "The weeping willows are full of embankments, the mountains are dark, and the peach blossoms are flowing and the sunset is low. "The royal family and nobles have repaired the palace here and fished on the terrace. Emperor Qianlong, who was good at calligraphy, also personally inscribed the three words "Diaoyu Tai", which are still inlaid on the urn door on the west side of Diaoyu Tai.
Nixon told *** that most of what he knew about China was from Kissinger's mouth, and now he really wanted to see *** and said with a smile:"**I've called several times**, and now his old man is waiting for you at home. ”
As early as a year ago, Kissinger took the lead in coming to China to pave the way for Nixon's visit to China, and welcomed Kissinger, who was the secretary of state of the United States (he took office in 1973, at this time he was an assistant for affairs), and played a pivotal role in diplomacy. Kissinger once said to ***".China is too mysterious to me. ”
Kissinger told *** that the previous understanding of Chinese culture was probably from ancient history, and the most famous was probably only Confucius and others, and in modern times, the name of ** was almost known to everyone in the United States.
In fact, this sentence is not unreasonable, a few decades ago, **led the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army through climbing snow-capped mountains and grasslands, and successfully completed the Long March, in 1936 when he was in northern Shaanxi, American reporters ** had interviewed *** at that time and took a few photos **.
Don't want to, these stories of the Long March caused a sensation in the world as soon as they were published, and the great miracle of the Long March was also known to the whole world.
So when Nixon learned from Kissinger's mouth that he had seen it with his own eyes, he was also very surprised. Nixon asked, I heard that ***'s bedroom was full of books* smiled and said, "I'll know when you see ***." ”
Nixon also learned about this from Kissinger, who described the bedroom he first saw:
It was a medium-sized room, with bookshelves lined with manuscripts on the walls and books on the floor and table, and it looked more like a scholar's retreat than a meeting room for the leader of the world's most populous power.In the bedroom, the furnishings are very simple, except for all the unpretentious daily necessities, washbasins, toothbrushes, etc., the rest are books. On the shelves, on the coffee table, on the table, even on his bed, most of the books were piled up. Kissinger could not have imagined that this was where the leader of New China had always lived. Speaking of which, Nixon was already completely attracted to the "mysterious man" of ***, and even couldn't wait. In Nixon's impression, as the leader of a country, his home should be magnificent, because this is how Kissinger has known Chinese leaders since Chiang Kai-shek's study was made public.
But what happened next shattered Kissinger's views on ***.
In Zhongnanhai, ** was sitting dignified on the sofa, and he was wearing the clothes that the secretary specially took out to meet foreign guests, which was a gray tunic suit, which was also the best clothes in all the clothes.
The nearly 80-year-old *** seemed a little anxious, he would read a book on the sofa for a while, and let the secretary play ** for a while.
At this time, Nixon had already taken the car and came to the gate of Zhongnanhai. Zhongnanhai is taken from two artificial lakes, Zhonghai and Nanhai, which separate Zhongnanhai from the Forbidden City, which has always been heavily guarded and rarely entered.
Nixon's car bypassed the red wall, through the passage, lined with houses with high walls and deep locks, and after a while, several cars stopped in front of the gate of Fengze Garden, and ** was the first to get out of the car to greet Nixon.
Nixon got out of the car, frowned, looked up, and said in English to the secretary next to him that it looked a little unremarkable. Then ask ***"Is this where *** lives?”Nodding.
Nixon was so shocked that he couldn't find the right words to describe his shock, and he described the exterior of the house this way"It's like a low-level ** place to live. ”
Smiled and said, "Just live here." ”
Nixon and his party walked into the foyer, where a ping-pong table was placed. ** motioned to them with his limbs and guided them to the chairman's study.
In order to prevent the chairman from losing patience again, the doctor stood outside the door and waited anxiously. Only a Chinese photographer recorded the historic moment of Nixon's first meeting with ***. **With the help of his assistant, he walked towards Nixon.
Hold Nixon's hand with both hands for a moment and greet him cordially. The photographer used his lens to capture the footage of the two shaking hands.
Another photo shows the group sitting in front of a library full of books, with a porcelain spittoon on the floor, which is still a standard furnishing in the Chinese office.
The conversation was supposed to be 15 minutes due to ***'s physical condition, but it lasted more than an hour. During this period, ***'s words were very humorous, and Nixon was also very happy to talk to ***.
Nixon told ***"I heard that you have loved to read since you were a child, and from this study of yours, you are really full of poetry and books. ”Subsequently, Nixon also expressed his admiration for ***'s articles and poems.
What shocked Nixon the most was that in the corner of this room, there was a *** wooden bed, and the bed was full of books. **The bed is specially widened by the staff, and most of it is used for books.
There are hundreds of books on the bed, stacked in three rows, some of which are two feet high. These books are all often read, they look very messy on the surface, but they are actually orderly, how to put them, which books are placed where, ** clear in my heart.
**Said with a smile:"My articles are nothing, and what I write is not a lesson. ”After listening to the translation, Nixon insisted: "Chairman, you are humble, you are the one who changed the world." ”
Hearing this, he said, "All I can change is a few places near Beijing." A word of humor made Nixon sigh to himself.
In the meantime, ** suddenly reached out and held Nixon's hand for a minute, then said, "This is a moving moment." At the end of this conversation, ** told Nixon that he was not in good health. But Nixon responded, "You look good."
When Nixon left the bedroom, he didn't speak for a long time, because he was deeply shocked by the living environment and the personality charm of ***.
It turns out that everything Kissinger said was right. Kissinger once commented on ***"Perhaps no one I have ever met, except de Gaulle, has such pure and strong willpower as ***. ”In Nixon's eyes, he felt the same way.
On his way back to the United States, Nixon told his secretary: "This man had great foresight for strategic concepts. ”
Years later, Nixon wrote in his memoirs that he had an extraordinary sense of humor and that his thoughts were "lightning fast."
In fact, the path to this historic meeting with Nixon was a far cry.
In 1913, when Nixon was born in a quiet town in California, he was already a weak crown and had a revolutionary experience that helped China overthrow the Qing Dynasty. By the 30s, Nixon had just been admitted to university, and had already begun a brutal struggle with Chiang Kai-shek.
In 1937, Nixon worked as a lawyer in a small town in Los Angeles, and *** was in a cave in northern Shaanxi, writing one shocking article after another for China's anti-Japanese war cause. Soon, when Nixon was giving a speech at the local service club and was planning to enter politics, he was negotiating with the Kuomintang, and the Chinese Civil War was on the verge of breaking out.
**'s growth background, as well as the environment of the times in which he lived, as well as his character, together created his leadership temperament, ** personality is tough and independent, accepts new ideas very early, and never blindly obeys China's old-fashioned traditions.
Therefore, when Nixon read "Red Star Shining Over China" written by **, his admiration for *** spontaneously arose.
In the future, the first visit to the United States will start a new stage in Sino-US relations.
When Nixon visited China in 1972, he was still working in Jiangxi and did not participate in it, and it was not until his comeback in 1973 that he participated in a lot of diplomatic work.
On January 28, 1979, the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, ** and his wife Zhuo Lin left Beijing for an official visit to the United States. The entourage includes ***Vice Premier**, Chang Huanghua and many others**. In the afternoon of the same day, he arrived at Andrews Air Force Base in Washington and was welcomed by US Deputy Mondell, Secretary of State Vance, and others.
Since then, Sino-US relations have opened up a new situation, and when I met my wife in the United States, I sighed that from 1936 to the present, more than 40 years have passed, and it is not easy from any point of view.
Of course, for Nixon, what he felt the most was his admiration for ***, as Kissinger said, he saidSomeone asked me why I became a fan of ***?What is that feeling like?My daughter described the stars she adores as having an electromagnetic impact, and I admit I don't feel that way, but in front of ***, he did give me this feeling.
In 2009, an oil painting "Discussing the Divine Comedy with Dante" that became popular all over the Internet, 103 celebrities who influenced the world appeared, and some people found that in this huge work, the most important thing to sit in is China's *** and *** This has said it all.
This is the personality charm of ***, he has influenced the whole world, and he has really stood up with the Chinese people.