"Chairman Mao is a teenager visiting Xiaotang, a youth visiting the Xiang River, and an elderly visiting the Yangtze."
In 1963, Guo Moruo When visiting Mao Zedong’s old residence, the escort introduced him to Mao Zedong’s passion for swimming since his youth. story.
After listening to the explanation, he couldn't help uttering this exclamation.
In the eyes of many people, people who grow up in mountainous areas are generally not good at swimming, but Mao Zedong, who grew up in Shaoshan, Hunan, swimming is his biggest hobby after reading.
When studying at Hunan First Normal School , the Xiangjiang River flowing through Changsha became a good place for him to cool off the heat and exercise his will.
After the revolution, I went to the Jinggang Mountain, the Long March, went to Yan'an, and fought in the north and south, so I rarely swim.
After the founding of New China, Guotai Min'an, swimming became Chairman Mao's first choice for physical fitness. The swimming pool in Zhongnanhai, by the Beidai River, and the Yangtze River all left his heroic posture of riding the wind and waves.
Picture Guo Moruo
It is necessary to say something about Chairman Mao's feat of traveling the Yangtze River.
first visited the Yangtze River in 1956 at the age of 63. By 1966, he was already 73 years old. In the past ten years, Chairman Mao created the story of visiting the Yangtze River 18 times.
Why does Chairman Mao love swimming so much? What interesting stories happened when he first visited the Yangtze River in 1956?
Mao Zedong
After the founding of New China, Mao Zedong managed everything from morning to night. In the first few years of entering Beijing, he had to study the policy of fighting the remnants of the mainland, and also to prepare for the formation of a new state power. Consolidation, followed by the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, land reform and so on.
His dedication is better than before, and sometimes he is so busy that he stays at home and spends all his energy on work and thinking.
Chairman Mao's health doctors and guards feel that this will affect his physical condition.
So everyone began to discuss what methods could be used to motivate the chairman to exercise, even if it is to move the muscles and bones.
From daily walks, to dancing in the spring lotus root studio, to playing table tennis, after thinking of a few ideas, the guards thought of swimming, which the chairman liked when he was young.
A few days later, when Mao Zedong’s health doctor was walking with him, he tried to raise the topic of swimming. He asked the chairman:
"Where is on earth, where is the origin of life?"
Mao Zedong was surprised , Said: "It's in the sea".
The doctor asked again: "What is the best exercise for life?" Mao Zedong thought it was a walk.
But the doctor said it was actually swimming.
Then I took a lot of talking, talking about swimming in contact with nature, exercising the heart and lungs, building muscles and so on. After such a big circle, Mao Zedong knew that the doctor actually wanted to persuade him to swim more, and then ordered Nodding:
"Swimming, you can go."
Picture of Mao Zedong
Just go, Mao Zedong and his party came to the indoor swimming pool of Tsinghua University . This was his first entry into the water after he entered Beijing.
The health doctor doesn’t know the chairman’s wateriness, so he guards the chairman in the swimming pool very carefully, but when he sees the chairman in the deep water area for a while sidestroke , and then backstroke, he looks like a fish in water. Knowing that I am overwhelmed.
Since his visit to Tsinghua University, Mao Zedong's interest in swimming has completely recovered.
From then on, as soon as summer comes, he will swim in the Zhongnanhai swimming pool for a period of time. Later, he uses the Zhongnanhai swimming pool as a place to receive foreign guests and important domestic people.
For example, Eugene, the Soviet ambassador to China, Li Zongren, former vice president of the Kuomintang and his wife.
Since swimming has become Mao Zedong's special exercise and rest method, the staff around him are very happy.
Mao Zedong is a person who likes to go to rivers, lakes and seas to ride the wind and waves. After a long time, he is no longer satisfied with swimming in the swimming pool.
In the mid-1950s, he often went to the beach of Beidaihe to swim around. liked the liveliness and especially liked swimming with young people. At this time, Mao Zedong was very interested in swimming. He would swim and swim. The young people talked and laughed happily.
Once the waves on the beach were too big, Mao Zedong said with a kind of adventurous joy:
"Go, let's go!"
As a result, just a few steps, a row of turbulent waves hit the face Then, he shot the chairman and the swimmer four or five meters away and pushed them down on the beach.
After he was lifted up, he looked at the sea and let out a burst of cheerful laughter and said:
"I finally found a good opponent!"
Then he launched a series of attacks on the sea, although every time he was caught The ruthless waves slapped back, but Mao Zedong was never discouraged, and finally rushed through the waves and swam into the sea. As he swam, he told the swimmers around him:
"Don’t be nervous, we will only be washed ashore by the sea. , Will not be dragged into the sea to return, you are young, you have to go through some trials and hardships, you have to grow in strong winds and waves, and don’t be flowers in a greenhouse."
In the picture, Nanhai Yi Nian Tang
The beach of Beidaihe has been swimming for a long time, and Mao Zedong began to try to fight new storms again.
He set his sights on the Yangtze River.
"The Yangtze River is rolling eastward, and the waves wash away the tears of heroes." The Yangtze River, as the largest river in China and the third largest river in the world, has torrential currents, and the heart of the river is unfathomable. It is rare to hear anyone swim before or after liberation. News from the Yangtze River.
However,When Mao Zedong visited the Yangtze River for the first time, the obstacles encountered were enormous.
For the sake of his safety, none of the staff around him agreed to swim in the river. The "big guard" Luo Ruiqing even produced a top-secret report to discourage him.
Luo Ruiqing, a tall man with a height of eighteen meters, as the founding general of New China, he served as the then Minister of Public Security and Chairman Mao's "grand guard".
What was written in the top-secret report he drafted?
The first point is that the river water is very dirty and contains many germs.
The second point is that there are aggressive river creatures such as crocodiles, water snakes, and river pigs in the river.
The third point is that considering the rapid flow of the river, there are dangerous vortices in the middle of the river, and there are some sunken ships and reefs that are easy to encounter.
Fourth, due to the above reasons, the Wuhan Municipal Government has produced reports over the years, prohibiting people from swimming in the river.
Picture Founding General Luo Ruiqing
However, what is the chairman's attitude when he read this top-secret report?
His idea was not dispelled, and in the early summer of 1956, he began to act.
This summer, he came to Guangzhou for inspection. The weather in Guangzhou was sultry, and Chairman Mao, who loves swimming, went for a swim in the White Goose Pool of the Pearl River Estuary.
But he still felt uncomfortable, and then to Luo Xiaozhou, the first secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee, and Wang Renzhong, the first secretary of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee, expressed his desire to travel to Wuhan to visit the Yangtze River.
The chairman is going to Wuhan to tour the Yangtze River. These important events have made everyone's minds throaty. The guardian Li Yinqiao, the Minister of Public Security Luo Ruiqing, Luo Xiaozhou, Wang Renzhong and others have repeatedly discouraged and explained the dangers of the river. sex.
Luo Ruiqing was the first to not agree. He felt that this was no longer the chairman's personal business.
said too much. Chairman Mao was annoyed. He asked:
"It's just that you are afraid that I will die in that place! How do you know that I will drown?" He looked very upset, and quickly explained:
"Chairman,I didn't mean that. Protecting your safety is the responsibility entrusted to me by the party and the people. I do not agree that you risk your life, even if it is dangerous at all.
In fact, Mao Zedong understood Luo Ruiqing’s good intentions, but he also had his own insistence on traveling the Yangtze River.
After thinking about it, the chairman proposed a compromise method, that is, let Han Qingyu go to Wuhan for a field visit.
Picture Mao Zedong taking a photo when he went out for inspection
Han Qingyu was the captain of the First Squadron of the Guangzhou Central Guard Corps. He arrived in Wuhan at the time when the Yangtze River Valley entered the rainy season. Han Qingyu took a thermometer and tested the water temperature of the Yangtze River with Xie Ziqun, then head of the Wuhan Public Security Bureau, and observed the water flow.
When he came back, he told the chairman that the people along the river said that The Yangtze River cannot swim now.
Mao Zedong frowned and asked:
"Have you been in the water?"
Han Qingyu shook his head.
"How do you know you can't swim without entering the water?" Don't stay here anymore, let's go!
Han Qingyu opened his mouth and wanted to explain, but the chairman had turned his head and called Li Yinqiao:
"You call Sun Yong."
Sun Yong is Chairman Mao’s deputy chief of guard and a good swimmer. The chairman told him: "You have to go to Wuhan again, be sure to go into the water, and personally test whether you can swim in the Yangtze River!"
After Sun Yong went to Wuhan to take a trip on the Yangtze River, he had a good experience, and he immediately returned to Guangzhou to report to the chairman that the Yangtze River could travel. You have to taste it yourself. You all said you can’t swim. Isn’t Sun Yong swimming anymore? "
This is actually meant for Luo Ruiqing, and also for the leaders who prevented him from wanting to swim in the Yangtze River.
Photograph of Mao Zedong with Qian Sijie and other staff around him in 1967
has a personal trial tour of the deputy chief,This Yangtze River must swim.
In order to welcome Mao Zedong's swim in the Yangtze River, Wuhan has stepped up the training of the escort team.
On the last day of May 1956, Mao Zedong took a special plane from Changsha to Wuhan. When the plane just landed at Wuhan Airport, the chairman's first words to the leaders of Wuhan were:
"Go to visit the Yangtze River first."
After boarding the Wuhan Military Wharf, accompanied by a group of leaders, walked on the ferry "Wukang".
He first inspected the water and land construction sites of the Yangtze River Bridge , and listened to the report from the Director of the Engineering Bureau.
In the afternoon, the ferry drove to the waters near Wuchang Hanyangmen Wharf. Mao Zedong took off his bathrobe calmly, slowly supported the spiral staircase into the water, and then thumped into the river.
The persons who accompanied the chairman into the water sometimes served as Wang Erzhong, secretary of the Secretariat of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee, Sun Yaohua, deputy mayor of Wuhan, and others.
Although the surface of the Yangtze River is not turbulent, it is also a rolling wave. However, Chairman Mao's water is very good.
The sailors guarding the tour kept a neat formation, following Mao Zedong in a semicircle.
The chairman was swimming while chatting and laughing with young people.
"Headrest wave crest", "Looking at Chu Tianshu", just when he was talking about the happy place, he saw several small wooden boats around him, the boats were full of lifebuoys, and many "popeyes" were also standing. Be prepared for an emergency at any time.
the chairman exclaimed:
"Tell these boats to go away, go away, not too close to me."
In order not to disturb Chairman Mao's interest in swimming, the person in charge directed the other boats to row away, leaving only health care. The doctor's boat followed quietly not far away.
Figure 1955 Wang Dongxing reported to Mao Zedong
When they swam to the river surface before Hankou Wuhan pass , they had been swimming for more than an hour, and Mao Zedong was talking to comrade Huyou, suddenly A wave hit the chairman and spit out calmly.Everyone asked him if he drank the water, but the chairman humorously replied:
"Yes, the water of the Yangtze River is so sweet!"
The leader on the "Wukang Wheel" tried when the water temperature was only about 20℃. Worried that the chairman's physical strength was exhausted, he advised him to get on the boat and rest early, but the chairman only said "it's too early" and swam forward, swimming until the river in Zhanjiaji, Hankou before getting on the boat.
This was Mao Zedong's first trip to the Yangtze River in 1956. The journey was close to 26 li, which lasted two hours and 4 minutes. After boarding the ship, Chairman Mao was full of red, full of energy, and not the slightest fatigue.
He traveled endlessly and said to the people around him:
"If you give me a steamed bun, I can swim for another 2 hours!"
This year Mao Zedong is 63 years old, and his physical strength and physical fitness are still very good.
Since Mao Zedong traveled the Yangtze River in Wuhan on May 31, 1956, he was out of control. Only one day later, he went to the Yangtze River twice in succession.
Even in the face of drizzle and three or four north winds on the river surface, Mao Zedong’s enthusiasm for traveling to the Yangtze River was still not blocked. The leaders of Wuhan initially suggested that he swim in East Lake, but the chairman said:
"The Yangtze River is a natural and the best swimming pool."
Also after that swim, the chairman Shixing made a big stroke and wrote the famous phrase " water tune song head swimming":
Only drink Changsha water and eat Wuchang fish. Thousands of miles across the Yangtze River, looking at Chu Tianshu. Regardless of the wind and waves, it is better than strolling in the garden, and today I have a margin.
said in Kawasaki: The deceased is like a swan, the wind moves, turtles and snakes quiet, and grand plans. A bridge flies north and south, and the moat becomes a thoroughfare. Set up the cliffs of the Xijiang River, cut off the clouds and rain in Wushan, and go out of Pinghu from the high gorge. The goddess should be unharmed, and should shock the world.
July 16, 1966It was the last time Mao Zedong had traveled to the Yangtze River in Wuhan. This year, he was 73 years old. Although a martyr was in his twilight years, he was full of heart.
In July 1966, Mao Zedong reviewed the swimmers swimming in the Yangtze River
This day also coincided with the 11th River Crossing Competition held in Wuhan. Nearly 5,000 swimmers participated. On both sides of the Yangtze River, the bridge was surrounded by countless numbers. , There are colorful flags fluttering everywhere, the scene is spectacular!
Mao Zedong boarded the speedboat accompanied by the leaders of Hubei and inspected the swimming army. The people on the river and the shore were excited after seeing Chairman Mao and shouted:
"Chairman Mao, long live Chairman Mao!"
Chairman Smiling and waving his hands and shouted:
"Hello, comrades!", "Long live the people!"
After crossing the race, Mao Zedong also got into the water from the estuary river. As he swam, he told a comrade beside him:
"The Yangtze River is so fast that you can exercise your body and your will."
Another comrade told him that this is the second time he has crossed the Yangtze River. The chairman listened and encouraged:
""The Yangtze River is wide and deep, and it is a good place for swimming!
This time, Chairman Mao had nearly 30 li. It took 1 hour and 5 minutes. After boarding the boat, he was still in good spirits and was not tired.
Picture 1954 Mao Zedong inspected Hangzhou and boarded with a bamboo stick. On the green hills, I smiled and left this photo
In 1974, when Mao Zedong was recuperating in Changsha, he still did not forget the hobby of swimming that had accompanied him for many years, so he went to Changsha Swimming Pool After a while, this is also the last time he swims in his life.
He loves to ride the wind and waves. Whenever he swims, he will often say a word to inspire the comrades around him:
"Human society grew up in strong winds and waves. ! ”
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