Ma Ying-jeou's mother's eulogy is deeply moving
Ma Ying-jeou, former chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang and former leader of the Taiwan region, will go to the mainland from March 27 to April 7 to pay homage to his ancestors, and visit Nanjing, Wuhan, Changsha, Chongqing, Shanghai and other cities, according to Taiwan**.
He said that this is his first visit to the mainland since leaving office, and it is also the first time that a leader of the Taiwan region has visited the mainland after leaving office. Ma Ying-jeou hopes that through this visit, he can promote the peaceful development of Taiwan and provide more opportunities for exchanges and learning for Taiwan's youth.
This affectionate article not only recalls the life of a loving mother, but also shows the ups and downs of the modern history of the Chinese nation, which has touched hundreds of millions of Chinese.
Mom left us quietly, and her departure was full of serenity and peace. When she was dying, I rushed to the intensive care unit of Wanfang Hospital, held her slightly warm hand tightly, these hands used to raise me, I kissed her on the cheek and whispered to her: "Mom, you can leave with peace of mind, your children, daughter-in-law, son-in-law and grandson are here to accompany you, your husband will be there to greet you, don't be afraid, everything will be fine." ”
Our fate lasted for 64 years, and we will still be mother and son in the next life, okay? Then, we sang softly with tears in the melody of Happy Birthday: "Thank you mom for giving birth to me, thank mom for raising me, thank mom for educating me, thank mom for loving me." ”
Mom quietly closed her eyes and left this world at the age of 94.
Ma Ying-jeou sent his mother Qin Houxiu's body to be cremated, and he walked into the crematorium with his mother's ** in his arms. Her mother was born in Ningxiang, Hunan, and she grew up in a scholarly family.
Her parents were very knowledgeable and polite and educated her well from an early age. My mother is smart and kind, she studied in a private school before entering primary school, and she has a good foundation in Chinese studies, and she writes very well, and she has a demeanor of everyone.
After her mother finished primary school, she went to Changsha's famous Zhounan Girls' High School and the Provincial Changsha Girls' High School to continue her studies. A year before graduating from high school, that is, when the "77 Incident" broke out, she personally experienced a difficult and tragic war of national humiliation, which gave her an unforgettable feeling and had a far-reaching impact on her.
After graduating from high school, she was successfully admitted to ** Political School (the predecessor of NCCU) and Jinling University, and she chose the former. During the Sino-Japanese War, the political school moved from Nanjing to the beautiful Nanhot Spring in Chongqing, where she met Ma Heling, my father, a fellow villager from the Department of Law and Political Science.
The mother was beautiful and temperamental when she was young, she loved to read and play sports, and the father was attracted to her talent and beauty, and the two soon fell in love. Her father praised her at the time as "the embodiment of truth, goodness and beauty".
* In the autumn of '33, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression came to an end, the Japanese army prepared to counterattack, and Chongqing shook. Jiang Gong called for "100,000 young people and 100,000 troops", and his father responded positively. At that time, my mother was very reluctant, but she did not hesitate to take the national disaster as the head, and she said a word of encouragement to my father to join the army at the farewell party, which was touching and made me proud to this day: "Successful men in history have come from the battlefield." ”
Ma Ying-jeou's family portrait of his father joined the military when he was a young man, and the war ended quickly. I was born in July 1939 in Kowloon, Hong Kong. At that time, my parents worked in the "Liyuan" amusement park, my mother worked as a toll collector, my father made steamed buns at home during the day, and went to "Liyuan" as a tea house at night, and my grandmother took care of her four young grandchildren at home.
A family of seven can only eat two meals a day. When my sister was six years old, she walked to her mother, who often pawned her grandmother's jewelry to supplement the family's needs, and the family was lucky to be reunited during the chaotic times.
A year later, my family finally arrived in Taiwan in October 1940, first in Taoyuan, and then half a year later in Wanhua, Taipei, where I lived for 11 years in a patchwork compound where my childhood was spent and where my little sister was born.
The mother is kind and thrifty, and she is very considerate in taking care of her grandmother, and the two work together in housework, and they are like mother and daughter. When parents disagree, grandma often takes the mother's side.
Our family is a typical strict father and mother, and the children are naturally closer to their mothers. After my mother was transferred to work at Shimen Reservoir, she took me and my little sister with her. During the day, we went to Sankeng National School in Longtan to borrow, and in the afternoon we went back to the dormitory to have dinner with my mother.
In 1947, when there were no televisions, computers, and movie theaters in Taiwan, my mother used the evenings to teach me to read Guwen Guan Zhi. For decades, every time I recall the warm picture of my mother teaching her son under the lamp, I feel extremely moved.
Recently, my mother was conscious at the beginning of her stay in the intensive care unit. When I visited the patient, I recited "The Story of the Peach Blossom Spring" to her, and if I had my back right, she nodded; If she recited it wrong, she shook her head.
We relive the happy times that mother and son shared fifty years ago. Now that my mother has left us, I dare not touch "The Story of Peach Blossom Spring" again, for fear that I will not be able to control the tears welling up.
In 2005, 83-year-old Qin Houxiu returned to Ningxiang to worship his ancestors and take photos with his relatives. From left to right, Qin Xiwu, Qin Houxiu, Qin Bingxi and her husband Yi Shengzhen.
The mother is virtuous and talented, taking care of a family of eight and five children. I work during the day, and sometimes I have to work part-time and cook at night, which is very hard. Dad is hospitable and often invites friends to get together, so Mom cooks a good dish and is very popular.
There are also many people who come to eat her specialty braised spicy mutton. Mom also knits sweaters and makes clothes. There is a sewing machine at home, which is a sharp tool for her to supplement the family.
Many of our sisters and sisters in primary and secondary school were made by their mothers. At that time, my parents' salaries were meager, and my mother was able to cook, make clothes, and knit sweaters, saving a lot of expenses.
During the summer vacation of my first year of junior high school, I participated in a Boy Scout camp and learned how to make braised eggplant. When she got home, she was very happy to see that her 13-year-old son knew how to cook and honor his mother!
And because my mother can cook, my four sisters can not only cook, but also cook the whole table. My mother was very filial to my parents, my grandfather lived in Xindian, and my mother went to chat and eat with him almost every weekend.
After my grandfather died, my mother had to go to the grave to worship even if she had a knee injury and was not good at walking. In 1980, ** had not yet opened the mainland to visit relatives, and my mother was anxious for her mother, so she could not go to the mainland to visit relatives, so she had to ask her eldest sister living in the United States to go to Changsha to visit her grandmother and aunt who had not seen her for 30 years.
The eldest sister returned to Taiwan and brought back her grandmother's thoughts and a special souvenir. Grandma passed away in **72, and their mother and daughter parted from **38 years and never saw each other again in their lives!
The souvenir given by my grandmother, my mother cried when she saw it, and it has been kept until now. We will put this souvenir in the Fude Ling Bone Building and accompany my mother forever. Mom is kind and helpful.
When we were children, we went to the Catholic Church on Xiyuan Road with my grandmother, and often brought back foreign relief items such as flour and bud flour. Once, I found a poor old man at the gate looking for something to eat in a bucket of rancid water, and I immediately ran to tell my mother, who immediately packed a pack of fragrant bud grain steamed buns and gave it to the hungry old man.
Seeing the grateful eyes of the old man, I was very happy, and I understood why helping others is the foundation of happiness. Mom's life is full of love and dedication, and her spirit and kindness are always worth learning and remembering.
In 1953, three-year-old Ma Ying-jeou and his mother Qin Houxiu's mother taught us to be diligent and thrifty, honest, honest and patriotic since we were children; It is necessary to read ancient texts, read English, and practice calligraphy.
When she talked to us during her illness, she also wrote: "Your father and I have not been greedy for money in our lives." Our family has established a hard-working bonus system to encourage housework and develop the habit of working and saving for our children.
My mother is low-key and cautious, and she has never interfered in my official duties for more than 30 years. All she gave me was support, nothing bothered. Both parents encouraged us to practice the family motto of our late grandfather Li'an Gong, "* If it is not a treasure book, everything is empty, and good is not empty."
My father also hung a couplet in the living room, reminding us: "For the sake of good study, do not forget the family motto, and stand up and do the way without hesitation." We have lived in Wenshan District for more than 40 years, and this is the impression my mother left on our neighbors and market vendors.
More than two years ago, when we learned that my mother had pulmonary lymphoma, I was very grateful to my eldest sister for proposing and agreeing on the practice - we should give my mother a dignified and quality life in her last days.
Today, we can proudly say that we did it! Two weeks before entering the hospital, my eldest sister took my mother to Houbi Township, Tainan to watch the International Orchid Exhibition. Only the last three weeks she was in a hospital bed, but she was still very humorous and talked to us about the past.
We asked her to make an orchid hand pose, and she would deliberately do it with two hands, and she would shake it up and down, which made us very happy, and there was often laughter in the ward, and there was no appearance of suffering at all.
When Meiqing and Weizhong visited the patient, they arranged for Yuanzhong to sing to her mother from the United States, and her mother still remembered Yuanzhong's signature song "Little Lamb Wants to Go Home" when she was a child, and designated her to sing.
Every time Meiqing and I go to visit the patient, I will definitely kiss her, chat with her for a while, and high-five her 6 times before saying goodbye. During this time, the four sisters took turns to accompany and take care of their mother, which was extremely hard.
Doctors praised Mom as the most cooperative patient – kind and nurturing.
This is a family photo of Ma Ying-jeou, with his mother Qin Houxiu on the far left, his grandmother in the middle, and his father Ma Heling and his childhood at the back.
Ma Heling is next to his son, and his grandmother is a hero of the Ma family, she spent 70 years in the Ma family, raising her children, educating them to be loyal and filial, and she never gave up despite the difficulties and challenges in life.
She enjoyed four generations of happiness before her death, with a total of 38 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, all of whom lived positive lives. My grandmother left behind two of the world's most valuable legacies – maternal love and parenting.
In order to commemorate her, we carved two words on her ashes: "Virtue and self-cultivation, lifelong loyalty to the party and patriotism; A loving mother and a good teacher, it will be difficult to repay the kindness of relatives forever". This is our highest respect for her.
Mother, rest in peace, and we hope that you will be with Father in Heaven. We have spent 64 years with you and hope to meet again in the afterlife.