September 9, 1976, is a day that will be forever remembered by people across the country. On this day, the great leader Chairman Mao left forever the land and people he loved most, and this land and people will always love and remember him deeply.
As early as on April 14, 1975, when the leader of North Korea came to visit China, he met Chairman Mao .
Although the two had a pleasant conversation, at the end, Chairman Mao said: "I am 82 years old and I am about to die. I will rely on you from now on."
Chairman Mao
People around him and the North Korean leaders expressed their opinions. He told Chairman Mao to take care of himself, but Chairman Mao only waved his hand and said: "No, God wants to invite me to drink."
Every time I see this little story, I can't help but feel that Chairman Mao seems to know everything. I am amazed by the awareness of life and death. At the same time, this also increased the regret and reluctance over Chairman Mao's death.
The leader passed away, and the whole people mourned. New China experienced the death of Premier Zhou and Chairman Mao in 1976. The painful blows made it difficult for all the military and civilians to calm down for a long time.
After Chairman Mao passed away, all entertainment activities were suspended across the country to express condolences for the great leader.
And every time I think of the popular song "The East is Red" , I can't help but think of the great leader Chairman Mao again. It was he who led us to establish New China and open a new page for New China.
The death of a great man and three questions
In fact, the night before Chairman Mao passed away, a grand party was being held in the Great Hall of the People .
The Head of State of Western Samoa His Royal Highness Malietoa Tanumaphili paid a visit to our country. In order to welcome their arrival, this party was held in the Great Hall of the People. It was personally presided over by Hua Guofeng, then Acting Prime Minister of the State Council.
His Second Highness Maletoya Tanumafili
But what puzzled the foreign delegations was that the Chinese leaders who held a party for themselves all had a little sadness on their faces.
It is no secret that Chairman Mao's health is getting worse and worse. Chairman Mao, who has been tortured by illness for a long time, often falls into a coma. However, on September 8, Chairman Mao still insisted on reading documents.
As the banquet progressed late into the night, Hua Guofeng, who was supposed to be speaking on behalf of the country, received a phone call.
From the moment he received the call, Hua Guofeng's brows were always furrowed, so he hurriedly finished his speech and then quickly left the venue. The destination that Hua Guofeng was going to after leaving the venue was exactly The "202" room of Zhongnanhai .
Hua Guofeng
This is where the central government temporarily moved Chairman Mao. Due to the raging Tangshan earthquake, in order to take care of Chairman Mao's safety, the central government specially moved Chairman Mao to this newly built room. This room has Very good shockproof function.
But in the room at this time, various medical experts were desperately trying to save Chairman Mao's life, and the quiet sound of needle drops could be heard.
But no one stopped what they were doing. Chairman Mao, who had entered a dying state, finally failed to survive this test. His great heart stopped beating forever, and his great brain stopped thinking forever.
Hua Guofeng looked at the helpless and trying medical staff with tears in his eyes and was silent for a long time.
Chairman's death is a very big and important matter. At this time, there is not much time left for Hua Guofeng to grieve, and Chairman Mao did not leave any last words.
However, when Chairman Mao was in poor health, he once wrote a note to Hua Guofeng, "You can do the work, I can rest assured." , so Hua Guofeng took over some of the hosting duties after Chairman Mao's death. The first thing
needs to do is to hold an emergency meeting in the "202" room.After the
meeting notice was issued, leaders arrived one after another. After seeing that the number of people was almost there, Hua Guofeng did not beat around the bush, but put forward his views straightforwardly.
Hua Guofeng said that we have three very important issues that need to be resolved: first, the chairman’s funeral arrangements, the form and scale of the funeral; second, how to deal with the chairman’s body; third, whether to invite foreign delegations Come to Beijing to express condolences.
These three questions can be said to be a very clear plan for the series of work we need after the chairman's death.
The first question to be solved is what form and etiquette should be used to handle this funeral. Chairman Mao's contribution and role to New China are unique, and his funeral must have a unique form.
Second question, regarding the remains, the remains of both the Soviet leader Lenin and Vietnam Ho Chi Minh leader have been preserved before. Our country is also inclined to preserve the remains of Chairman Mao.
However, the chairman also mentioned many times that his body would be cremated during his lifetime, so the issue of the body has become a topic that must be discussed.
The third question is about diplomacy after the death of the chairman. The world situation at that time was still not optimistic. There were many countries waiting to see the joke of New China, and all forces were ready to make moves. What attitude
should adopt towards foreign delegations is a question that must be resolved. Faced with these three issues, central leaders began urgent discussions.
Cremation or preservation?
After Hua Guofeng raised three questions, he began to discuss and solve the problems in an orderly manner.
Regarding the first question, we have successively formulated a series of orderly procedures, including the process of people paying their respects and condolences. When a great leader passes away, people who love the leader must come to see him off no matter what. . After
set up the plan, everyone went over the details again. After confirming that there was no problem, the discussion on the second issue began. But unexpectedly, the issue about Chairman Mao's body turned out to be the most difficult issue to solve.
The main reason is that as early as 1956, Chairman Mao clearly stated that if he passed away, he would be cremated. In order to set an example, he took the lead in signing the cremation initiative.
Chairman Mao later expressed that he would be cremated and then scatter his ashes into the Yangtze River to feed the fish.
Chairman Mao said grandly that he loved eating fish in his life and had eaten too many fish. He hoped that after his death he could make amends to the fish, so that they could all eat fat and serve the people again.
The purpose of Chairman Mao's thoughts is to guide the people to abandon the original burial and carry out more scientific cremation. He also hopes that after his death he will not cause too much trouble, because after all, everyone is going to die.
Since and Confucius , China has produced too many great figures, but they still cannot escape the law of birth, aging, sickness and death. Although I have devoted my whole life to New China, I am still just a mortal who cannot escape birth, old age, illness and death.
Chairman Mao's magnanimity and far-reaching considerations are admirable. This also became an important voice in the discussion at the meeting. A considerable number of people believed that Chairman Mao should be cremated according to his wishes during his lifetime, and his body should no longer be preserved.
However, many people believe that the remains should be preserved. Chairman Mao is a symbol of New China. He represents a new era in China. Without Chairman Mao’s leadership, it is still unknown what China would be like now.
We should preserve Chairman Mao’s body for future generations to pay their respects and remember. Chairman Mao represents a spirit that can lead the people of the country to continue to move forward, continue to work hard, and fight for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Both sides had their own opinions and argued with each other. After several hours of meeting, it was still difficult to make a final decision.
After temporarily skipping the second question and discussing the third question, Hua Guofeng and Ye Jianying made the decision at the same time that regardless of whether the body should be kept or not, the body must be protected for 15 days.
Ye Jianying
This will be conducive to the mourning and condolences that will be carried out later. We cannot last more than ten days. As for whether to be cremated or preserved, we will discuss and decide again after soliciting opinions from all parties.
The most urgent task now is to carry out necessary embalming treatment on the body, otherwise it will be difficult to maintain the mourning period.
This proposal was supported by the vast majority of participants. If the debate continues like this, it will only waste time. At the moment, the mourning and mourning period should still be carried out. The chairman's funeral matters are the priority, and the chairman's body should be kept temporarily regardless of the considerations.
Therefore, under the joint resolution of Hua Guofeng and Marshal Ye Jianying, the Office of the Leading Group for the Protection of Chairman Mao's Remains was finally established. This office later became very famous: The Ninth Office of the State Council.
After setting up the office, the most professional people are now needed to handle Chairman Mao's body, so Wang Dongxing, director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee, urgently notified Minister of Health Liu Xiangping and Secretary of the Party Branch of the Basic Medicine Group of the Academy of Medical Sciences Xu Jing to go to Zhongnanhai.
At four o'clock in the morning, the two arrived at Zhongnanhai. After Wang Dongxing met them, he first conveyed the news of Chairman Mao's death. It only took a few seconds for the two of them to go from shock, to sadness, to cheering up.
Permanently retained remains
"What does the central government need from us now? Please give instructions."
Wang Dongxing saw the two people's statements and immediately said: "In order for people of all ethnic groups in the country to pay respects to Chairman Mao's remains, we need The body will be protected for 15 days. Do you have any requirements?"
Wang Dongxing
After thinking carefully, Xu Jing said that she needed to see the chairman's body first, and then return to the hospital to discuss the matter with colleagues and experts. The specific execution steps required a little time to prepare equipment and medicines.
So after seeing the chairman's body, the two left Zhongnanhai and returned to the Medical Academy.
At this time, in Zhongnanhai, preparations for the obituary manuscript and eulogy were also being carried out in an orderly manner. In fact, these documents had been prepared before. After Hua Guofeng reviewed them again, he determined the content of the manuscript.
So at 4 pm on September 9, Central People's Broadcasting Station officially broadcast "Message to the People of All Nationalities" , sadly announcing the death of Chairman Mao.
The whole country was mourned and shocked. People shed tears on the radio. Countless people could not believe that the leader who led China to peace and stability had just left us.
html On September 10, the embalming work of Chairman Mao's body officially began. It took more than two hours of work before it was finally completed. After measuring the size of the Chairman's body, the staff put the Chairman into a brand new Chinese tunic suit .The next day, at 10 a.m. on the 11th, Chairman Mao’s body was moved into the Great Hall of the People, and condolences officially began.
Thousands of people came here to see the chairman for the last time. The whole venue was filled with crying. Everyone could not control themselves, hugging each other to comfort each other and bursting into tears.
As the masses came to express condolences, problems soon arose. The temperature of the Great Hall of the People continued to rise. Strong lights and dense crowds became unstable factors, and the anti-corrosion work also greatly increased the difficulty.
For this reason, the leaders decided to control the amount of light and cover the body with glass to prevent it from decaying. The condolences continued until the 18th, and Chairman Mao's body was temporarily placed in the "769" protection room.
The central government is determined to preserve Chairman Mao's body, but debate has begun again on how to preserve it.
Some people proposed the use of liquid preservation, that is, putting the body in embalming fluid, but this proposal was quickly rejected. If it is preserved in this way, it will look like a specimen in the eyes of the people. The people are Hard to accept.
After many discussions, the central government decided to adopt the "gas and liquid combination method" , that is, it is stored in gaseous state when it is usually visited, and then put into antiseptic liquid when it is maintained. This can greatly reduce the psychological burden on the people. . While
is discussing anti-corrosion and preservation here, another very important task is also being urgently carried out, which is to build a world-class crystal coffin for Chairman Mao.
For this reason, we used the crystal mine in Donghai County, Jiangsu Province, known as " Donghai Crystal Jiatianxia" , as the main material for the crystal coffin. With the joint efforts of the entire Donghai County people, handed over 35.2 tons of natural crystal for use by craftsmen in just half a year.
With the efforts of our country's technicians, we used coating technology to build a crystal coffin that is more advanced than Lenin of the Soviet Union and leader Ho Chi Minh of Vietnam.
Chairman Mao Memorial Hall
By mid-August 1977, the entire crystal coffin had been basically assembled, and a month later it was officially moved to the completed Chairman Mao Memorial Hall.
Chairman
once proposed to make Tiananmen Square into something most loved by the people of the country when he was just liberated, and personally raised China's first five-star red flag here. From this moment on, the Chairman's love for the people was established with Tiananmen Square. Together.
After repeated discussions between the central government and experts, the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall was finally established in the south of Tiananmen Square, between the Monument to the People's Heroes and the Zhengyangmen Gate Tower.
The great leader Chairman Mao has left us for more than 40 years, and China has continued to grow along the way. All this is because Chairman Mao gave us a good start and led the people on a new path.
To this day, there are still long queues at the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall all year round, and the people's admiration and respect for the Chairman have never left. The east is red and the sun is rising.
