The reporter borrowed the chairman's new hat, which was too old
During a meeting in 1975, Deng met an American woman in Beijing. The woman showed her a Red Army military cap, which became her family's "heirloom" and a testament to that bitter and glorious history.
This **, wearing the hat of the Red Army, became the first impression of the president in Europeans, although the hat was actually borrowed.
It turned out that the American woman gave her husband's military hat to China, and behind this incident is actually a touching story that spans continents, eras and cultures.
Back then, an American journalist named Edgar ** risked his life to come to Yan'an in order to reveal the true situation of our side. And his wife, Helen **, also donated her husband's military hat to China to support his career.
* Born into a low-income family in Missouri, USA, but with his diligence and talent, he eventually became a brilliant journalist. In China, he witnessed the brutality of the war and came into contact with many Chinese leftist celebrities, and his ideas were sublimated.
The President attaches great importance to his presence and hopes that he will be able to convey our views to the outside world. Under the escort of the soldiers, ** and the doctor Ma Haide successfully arrived in Yan'an, and their courage and determination deeply touched us.
Ma Haide, as the first foreign citizen after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and ** changed into a brand-new Red Army uniform and wore a Red Army gray cloth military hat with a red five-pointed star after the safety was confirmed.
The cave where they lived was close to the chairman's cave, so that they could communicate at any time. According to ** recall, on July 15, he and Ma Haide went to interview the chairman, and when they entered the courtyard door, the chairman was already waiting at the door of the living room.
The chairman smiled, warmly shook hands with **, and happily welcomed him. ** Shocked by the humble environment in front of him, but the chairman is still refreshed and full of conviction of victory.
As a journalist, watching the sun shine on the chairman's face, I felt like a mighty giant who had just stood up. He wanted to capture the moment, so he held up his camera.
* Say to the chairman, "Chairman, let me take a picture of you." ”
* I hope to be able to photograph the vivid image of the chairman wearing a military uniform, but the chairman was not wearing a military cap at the time, and he hoped that the chairman would be able to wear a full uniform.
The guard brought the chairman's military cap, which was a worn-out Red Army military cap, which had long since faded and turned white because of many washes, and the brim of the hat hung down softly.
The chairman himself is accustomed to wearing this old military hat, and in Yan'an, cadres have to share weal and woe with the military and the people. But from the point of view, if the chairman wears this shabby military hat to take pictures, it is obvious that he will not be able to achieve the effect he wants.
So ** suggested that the chairman change a military hat and find a military hat that matches his identity and is suitable for taking pictures. The chairman nodded in agreement, and asked the guards to borrow a military hat in good color from a nearby comrade.
The guards hurriedly went to borrow the military hat, because the chairman had already arranged to do a good job of reception, but he didn't expect that at the beginning of the interview, he was mistaken because of the military hat.
When the guards were unable to find a suitable military cap, ** immediately handed over their new military cap. The cadres in Yan'an all uphold the principle of hard work and simplicity, and rarely prepare new hats.
*'s move is not accidental, he was issued this new military hat when he first arrived in Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningbo a few days ago. The chairman put on the military hat of **, the size was just right, he adjusted the angle of the hat, posed and prepared to take pictures.
In that era, this ** represented the image of Yan'an and the Eighth Route Army, which is exactly why ** attaches importance to hats. **Capture this moment, press the camera shutter, and take a picture of the chairman's energetic**.
Although there are some twists and turns in the photo process, for reporters, a good ** can add a lot of color to the press release. After the chairman took the photo, he walked to the side of **, gently tidied up the military hat of **, and then put it back on **'s head.
Precious group photo in Yan'an: Helen ** shook hands with the chairman affectionately, and the chairman expressed his gratitude excitedly. ** Responded with a Red Army-like salute and won warm applause from the audience.
Subsequently, ** traveled all over Yan'an, interviewed freely, and reported the production and life of Yan'an. In the days in Yan'an, **cherished his military hat, wore it no matter where he went**, and even if he slept at night, he would carefully tidy it up.
After several months of on-the-ground records, ** left the base area of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo Border Region and planned to take the military vehicle sent by Zhang Xueliang to Xi'an, and then transfer to Beiping. However, his photographic manuscripts and films could only be seen by the Red Army and the Northeast Army, and absolutely not by Chiang's army, otherwise they would not have been able to be taken out of China at all.
As for that Red Army cap, it was clearly the best option to throw it away, but ** decided to take it back. In order to avoid layers of scrutiny, ** packed the materials and military cap in a sack, which also contained the parts of the munitions that needed to be repaired.
However, ** slept halfway through and woke up to find that the sack was missing, and it turned out that it had been sent to an arsenal in Xianyang. The car had arrived in Xi'an, **insisted on going to the arsenal to retrieve his things, the driver asked him what it was, ** only said that it had to be retrieved.
The driver led ** deep into the arsenal, and finally succeeded in retrieving valuable materials and military hats. If Chiang's army found the sack, he would have been driven out of China at least and killed at worst!
* After returning to Beiping, with his in-depth research, he wrote the book "Red Star Shines on China", and at the campus of Yenching University, he filmed a documentary about the Red Army. The students were deeply affected by the ** interview and immediately organized a team to go to Yan'an, where they were warmly welcomed.
*'s wife, Helen **, also secretly went to Yan'an for an interview, and Yan'an received her warmly. The chairman welcomed her and said, "Welcome to Yan'an. Helen said: "We all know you from the **. ”
She took out a ** with the chairman wearing a military hat, in order to protect this **, she once disguised herself as a ** and jumped out of the Xi'an guest house in the middle of the night to avoid Jiang Jun's interrogation. The chairman took the ** and looked at it carefully many times, and he appreciated the photographic skills of the Western journalists, who were able to photograph a raunchy person so well, which was the credit of Comrade **.
With the wide spread of "Red Star Shining over China" in the West, the chairman wearing a military hat has also spread all over the world. Westerners began to understand that in the anti-Japanese battlefield in China, the chairman was leading the Eighth Route Army in a bloody battle against the Japanese.
Chiang was very dissatisfied with this, reprimanded the secret agents in the northwest for their dereliction of duty, and demanded that they reorganize the intelligence agencies.
In 1964, he visited China and performed "Dongfang Hong", of which the huge one was taken by himself in 1936. And that military hat has become a witness to the friendship between ** and ***, the two have maintained a good relationship, and **'s children have also worn that military hat to take pictures.
* In his later years, he came to China for medical treatment and lived in China until the last moment of his life. During the New Year's holidays, many people go to the tomb of ** to lay flowers to commemorate. **After her death, the family discussed whether to donate the military hat to China, and in October 1975, Helen made a special trip to give the red army hat to Sister Deng and donated it to the Chinese Revolutionary History Museum.
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