On the morning of May 7, 1961, Comrade Liu Shaoqi returned to his hometown after 36 years - Tanzichong, Huaminglou Township, more than 30 kilometers south of Ningxiang County.
He walked along the almost invisible field ridge covered with weeds on both sides, towards the corner of the forest at the boundary of Tanzichong, passed through several small hills - Shiziling and Xianjiling, and came to Xiagongtang Mother on the graveyard.
The grass is green, the tomb has been arched, and it has been 30 years since her mother passed away. Can she, who has been sleeping for a long time, sense the arrival of her son?
Liu Shaoqi presented a handful of picked pine branches in front of his mother's grave. After bowing deeply three times, he stood in front of his mother's grave and observed a long moment of silence.
There was solemnity between heaven and earth, as if only Liu Shaoqi's soul was speaking, telling his hopeless longing for goodbye.
When his mother was alive, he was studying abroad and making revolution. He failed to fulfill his filial piety and instead made his old mother worry about him at home. After my mother passed away, I didn’t have time to pay her last respects to the old man...
His mother was an ordinary peasant woman with a surname of Lu, and people used to call her Lu.
On the third day of the ninth lunar month in 1882, the 18-year-old Lu married from Gulutang to the Liu family in Tanzichong and married Liu Deyun's son, 17-year-old Liu Shousheng.
Liu Deyun has been bedridden before and has not been cured for a long time. What he was most worried about was his youngest son's marriage. He wanted to see his son get married before he put aside his last worry.
At the same time, according to the custom in the village, it is believed that "one happiness can eliminate three disasters". If someone in the family gets married, the current disaster in the family can be eliminated. This is called "happiness".
So the family hurriedly arranged to arrange a marriage with Liu Shousheng.
Liu Shousheng was born in 1865. He was a farmer with a certain education. He was well-read and honest.
Luo Shi, it was Haishi on December 29th of the lunar calendar in the third year of Tongzhi (1864), which was New Year's Eve.
There is a folk saying that girls born on the New Year's Day will have good fortune. The Liu family is naturally very happy.
The Liu family and the Lu family are also well-matched and know each other well.
Liu Shaoqi's maternal grandfather, Lu Guihe, was also considered a wealthy family in Gulutang. He owned 30 acres of land and rented another 20 acres of land from others.
Liu Shaoqi’s grandfather, Liu Deyun, worked as a farmer all his life and was poor in the first half of his life. Later, the family business began to prosper. He successively bought 60 acres of paddy fields nearby and transformed the original three old thatched huts into a seven-seven-year-old civil structure facing east and west. A new house.
Liu Shaoqi's former residence
In the early morning of the day when Liu and Lu's family held a wedding ceremony, before dawn, old man Liu Deyun died suddenly and did not survive the day of his son's wedding.
The family had no choice but to keep the funeral secret for the time being, and the marriage went on as usual.
In the morning, Tanzi rushed to the door to welcome the bride, Liu Shousheng and Lu officially went to the church to get married.
In the afternoon, Tan Zichong suddenly started playing mournful music again, and the family started to cry and hold a funeral.
It was in this mixture of sorrow and joy that Lu entered the Liu family.
After they got married, Liu Shousheng and his wife were allocated three and a half houses and thirty acres of land in Tanzichong, as well as thirty acres of ancestral land in Maotiantan.
Liu Shaoqi's mother
On October 11, the 24th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (November 24, 1898), a baby boy was born in the old house of the Liu family in Tanzichong. When his father Liu Shousheng and his mother Mr. Lu has reached middle age.
Having a child in middle age will double the joy for a traditional farming family that advocates having more children and more blessings.
This baby boy is the "Man Zai" (the youngest son in Hunan dialect) in the family. He has three brothers and two sisters. He is also the ninth in the family, also known as "Nine Man". He is the later Liu Shaoqi.
When he was a child, Liu Shaoqi was quiet and thin, with pigtails and a small mandarin jacket. His mother and sister often helped him tidy up his clothes and comb his pigtails before going to school, making him very neat and clean.
When he went to school in the morning, his mother had already prepared a delicious lunch for him to take with him.Sometimes, in order to take care of "Jiu Man"'s health, his mother would steam a bowl of bacon or fry a poached egg for him.
Every noon, the primary school students receive heated meals from their teachers. Liu Shaoqi often shares the delicious dishes in his lunch box with his friends to try.
After growing up, Liu Shaoqi traveled extensively until he settled in Zhongnanhai. He always missed the hometown meals cooked by his mother, which he was used to eating when he was a child.
My mother is the housewife of the family. She takes care of all the trivial matters at home, including food and clothing.
At that time, Lu's eldest son Mo Qing and second son Yunting had already married and had children. With the odd jobs brought in from outside, there were often more than two people at home eating.
Lu took his daughter-in-law and daughters to sew and prepare all the clothes, shoes, quilts and other items for the whole family. Mr. Lu arranged the daily needs of more than a dozen people, including his son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren, in an orderly manner.
After a busy day of cooking, feeding pigs and other tasks during the day, everyone gathered around my mother's bedroom to do needlework together at night, dividing the work and cooperating, talking and laughing, and having fun without feeling tired.
Farmers work with the fields all day long. The whole family works hard in the fields and competes with God all year round for farm time. When Liu Shaoqi was six or seven years old, when he came back from school, he followed his brothers to the fields to see cows, mow grass, cut crops, and pick up crops, experiencing the hardship of labor and the sweetness of harvest.
Growing up in such a traditional Chinese peasant family that was diligent, frugal, loving, harmonious and orderly, Liu Shaoqi was influenced by loving family affection, strict family rules and hard work.
In 1911, an unfortunate thing happened to the Liu family. Liu Shousheng suffered from tuberculosis and could not be cured. He died on the 26th of the sixth lunar month at the age of 46.
The pain of losing her husband was a huge blow to Lu, and she would cry every day for a long time. But she was not knocked down. She came out of the misfortune and shouldered the burden of the family left behind by her husband.
In this year, Lu was 47 years old and Liu Shaoqi had just turned 13. The eldest brother Liu Moqing was young and strong and was the main labor force of the family; the second brother Liu Yunting was serving in the New Army and had no time to shoulder the responsibilities of the family; the third brother Liu Zuoheng was not yet 20 years old. He is 20 years old. He has attended private school for several years. He can write, do calculations, and do all kinds of farm work. He is a good candidate for farming.
Mrs. Lu assigned her third son Liu Zuoheng to be responsible for arranging various outside production matters, as well as taking charge of domestic and external expenses, and regularly accounted for her and the whole family.
Mr. Lu worked hard, was diligent and frugal, and relied on his several sons who were gradually growing up to walk step by step along the original path of life.
Young Liu Shaoqi has experienced family changes and has become more sensible.
During the day, he studied in a private school. Whenever night fell, he would light an oil lamp in his small study and read fascinatedly by himself. Late at night, my mother's concerned voice always came: "Jiu Man, it's time to sleep!" "Jiu Man, don't burn yourself out!"
Later, Liu Shaoqi was admitted to Yutan, the No. 1 higher primary school in Ningxiang County. School. He bid farewell to his mother and went to Ningxiang, a county town more than 60 miles away from home, to "further study."
During his three years of study at Yutan School, Liu Shaoqi strived to reach the top, and the school sent good news to the Liu family several times. The mother was really happy to see her son being so successful.
A few years later, the Liu family's land and business in Tanzichong not only did not wither, but gradually prospered.
In addition to cultivating their own 60 acres of land, Lu and his eldest son and third son, who are working in the fields at home, also rented dozens of acres of land nearby. After renting, they can still harvest hundreds of tons of rice a year.
There was too much excess rice to eat. In order to increase their income, Lu and his sons secured a business supplying some grains for the staff canteen of Shuangshiling Coal Mine.
As a result, the whole family became more and more busy. First, they built a spacious rice processing workshop and a warehouse for storing rice.
Then, the whole family became doubly busy. First, a large rice processing workshop and a large warehouse for storing rice were built. And because there was not enough manpower, we hired a few helpers.
During the autumn harvest season, in addition to arranging and directing the harvest of hundreds of acres of rice fields at home, my mother and brothers also had to take advantage of this harvest season to purchase hundreds of tons of rice.
Once the busy season of farm work is over, large quantities of rice will be processed into rice. Part of it is sent to Shuangshiling Coal Mine on time; the other part is used to process into liquor and buy it to people around.
During the Chinese New Year, Mr. Lu and his sons would settle the income and expenses for the year, and at the same time make arrangements for the family's production in the coming year.
In the summer of 1916, Liu Shaoqi graduated from Yutan School at the top of his grade. Later he entered Ningxiang Provincial Middle School.
Whenever the school was out for winter and summer vacations, and Liu Shaoqi returned home from studying in the city, his mother always felt sorry for his hard work in study, and cared about him more. She did not arrange for him to do much at home.
During the holidays, he sometimes helped his third brother Liu Zuoheng stand at the counter. But he didn't do business seriously. When he met poor people who came to buy, he often intended to give money. He would either give them more goods, or charge less or no money from them.
In early 1919, Liu Shaoqi entered the graduating class of Hunan Private Yucai Middle School and planned to apply for university or military school after graduating in six months.
At this time, Lu was already thinking about "Jiu Man"'s life-long affairs. Seeing that he was already 20 years old, his brothers had already started a family and started a business at this age.
Mrs. Lu chose a marriage for her youngest son. She was a local woman named Zhou from an average family. Zhou is handsome in appearance and gentle in temperament. The family situation and dowry accompaniment are only secondary. As long as the daughter-in-law has good character and appearance, the son is happy, and will live a good life in the future, it is a good thing.
Before Liu Shaoqi knew it, his mother even set a date for him to get married - the middle of the second lunar month was the big day.
The wedding date is approaching, and the whole family, relatives and friends are busy killing pigs and sheep, cooking wine and steaming cakes, preparing etiquette, decorating the wedding room... everything is ready, just waiting for the groom to arrive.
Liu Shaoqi, who was concentrating on his personal studies and the future of the country in Changsha, was completely unaware of all the reasons behind his family.
One of his relatives came to Changsha and found his residence at Yucai Middle School, bringing unexpected bad news: Your mother is seriously ill and asks you to go home as soon as possible!
Liu Shaoqi hurriedly asked for leave from the teacher, simply packed his bags, and then hurried home with the visitor.
"When Liu Shaoqi returned to Tanzichong, he saw bright red characters "囍" and couplets posted on the door. The aroma of three delicacies and wines in the house filled the room with a festive atmosphere.
His mother came out to greet him with a smile on his face. A large group of sisters-in-law, sisters and relatives came to congratulate him. Although Liu Shaoqi was confused for a moment, he felt relieved when he saw that his mother was in good spirits and not sick.
When he knew that the house was bustling with activity. They arranged a happy event for him and lied about his mother's illness to trick him into coming back to get married.
For this, he said angrily: "How could you do this? "
His brothers and sisters hurriedly advised him: "My father passed away early and my mother is old. You must be filial to your mother and listen to your mother!" "
Why doesn't he understand his mother's devout love for her son? But if he is suddenly faced with a marriage that he has never seriously considered and accepts a woman he doesn't know at all, how can he do it?
Get married. The day is tomorrow, and the deal is already done. Will he make a big fuss and force his mother to agree to cancel the marriage? Or run away quietly? If he makes a fuss about a happy event that his mother has worked so hard to achieve, will he make a fuss? Unbearable.
He could only stick to his attitude: If you want to organize happy events, feel free to do it, but I have my own ideas. No matter what, you can't tie my heart.
The next day, a sedan chair was carried into Tanzichong amidst the sound of gongs, drums and firecrackers, and the beautiful bride entered the Liu family's door.
Surrounded by everyone, Liu Shaoqi held a "bowing ceremony" with his bride Zhou against his will, paying homage to his ancestors and bowing respectfully to his mother.
On their wedding night, Liu Shaoqi said frankly to the bride: "I am opposed to the marriage arranged by my mother. We cannot live together in the future. I hope you can fight for the freedom of your own marriage and find a good way out." But the bride only cried. More than that, he said he would never leave the Liu family.
The bride and groom spent this spring night in unbearable silence.
The next day, early in the morning, Liu Shaoqi had packed his bags. After breakfast, he said goodbye to his mother and determined to return to Changsha to study immediately.
His mother was very surprised: "You just got married. You didn't say you would stay at home for a few days, but why are you leaving now? Is studying really that important?"
Liu Shaoqi replied: "Mom, I also have my own things to do. Ah! It’s so hard on you at home, I can’t delay any longer.”
Liu Shaoqi left in a hurry without caring about his mother’s plea, leaving his mother sighing. Zhou couldn't tell her the pain, so she and her mother-in-law depended on each other from then on.
After the May Fourth Patriotic Movement broke out, Liu Shaoqi rushed to Beijing and embarked on the road of revolution.
In the autumn of 1920, Liu Shaoqi returned to Tanzichong from Beijing.
Come to think of it, he hasn't been home for more than a year. It's natural for a mother to be upset.
Originally, I was not prepared to let him study again, but he couldn't stop it and went from the county seat to the provincial capital; it would be fine if he studied in a disciplined manner, and he continued to participate in various sports, running around, making his mother a My heart can't let go.
Liu Shaoqi brought back a decision that shocked his family even more: to study abroad.
"The mother is worried when her son travels thousands of miles away." Lu heard that Liu Shaoqi was going to study in Russia, thousands of miles away. One can imagine how much she resisted this.
She repeatedly persuaded her son to give up the idea of studying abroad. Now that he is back, he can live a good life with his wife at home. There is no need to drink "foreign ink".
Liu Shaoqi has made up his mind. No matter how difficult it is, his determination to study in Russia will not waver.
"My son is so grown up that he has no control over his mother!" The mother sighed sadly, followed by a long silence...
At this time, a few squires came out to pour cold water: "You farmers have worked hard for generations to save a few money and have a meal, which is very rare. But now you want to send your children to study abroad, I'm afraid it will inevitably be tiring." The whole family will be starving!" Others said: "You don't have enough money to give it away, so don't have this dream as soon as possible."
After hearing these sarcastic words, Lu finally made up his mind to support his son's study abroad.
Mother asked her eldest son, Mo Qing, and her third son, Zuo Heng, to sell several fat pigs they raised at home; she also asked her to open the family barn and sell some of the saved grain; she scraped together a sum of money to pay for traveling abroad. The remaining shortfall will be paid from the salary of his second son Yunting, who serves as deputy company commander in the Hunan Army in Changsha.
Following mother's instructions, the travel expenses were quickly collected. Liu Shaoqi’s dream of studying in Russia will finally become a reality. How grateful he is to his mother and brother!
A mother’s responsibility and dedication are magnificently sublimated in this kind of plainness. Mothers don't want to wrong their children. Mothers often keep their sighs and disappointments to themselves.
In the spring of 1921, Liu Shaoqi set out for Moscow to study in the Chinese class of the Communist University of the Toilers of the East, where he joined the Communist Party of China.
In the spring of 1922, according to the organizational decision, Liu Shaoqi returned to China early. In August, he returned to Changsha and served as a member of the Hunan District Executive Committee of the Communist Party of China. After reporting for duty, I took the time to go home and visit my mother.
The mother was overjoyed to return from studying abroad so soon. She held her little son's hand tightly, her thoughts and joy flowing down her eyes.
My mother is obviously aging, wrinkles have climbed up to her forehead, her hair has turned white, and one of her teeth is missing.
Mother saw that "Jiu Man" had grown taller and thinner. He was wearing a white shirt and blue suit trousers. The shirt was tied inside the suit trousers. He also shook hands with the villagers one by one using the new etiquette outside.
When the squires saw Liu Shaoqi coming back from a long journey across the ocean, they did not get close to them, nor did they hold any official position in the local area. They started talking about revolution, which inevitably led to another round of rumors:
"It's a pity that the money is wasted in the water." "After all, getting rich is important, and being an official is important for luck!"
When he heard this, he said, "Humph! How can a studious person like Jiuman be so smart as to be in the world in the past few years?" , Lu's life is really not easy. Since the death of her husband Liu Shousheng, in the past thirteen years, due to her efforts to maintain it, the family property has continued to develop.
Mrs. Lu told her younger son that her family had sold 30 acres of land far away from Tanzichong, and then bought 90 acres of good land in Xiagongtang. In this way, their family owned 120 acres of land, and they also bought a spacious house in Xiagontang. houses and nearby mountains and forests.
At his mother's suggestion, Liu Shaoqi and his brothers came to Xiagongtang to inspect the newly purchased Liu family property.
Xiagongtang’s new home faces south and has a wide view. There are mountains behind the house and large farmland in front of the house.
The tomb of Liu Shaoqi's father, Liu Shousheng, is located on Xianji Ridge behind Xiagontang House. If there is knowledge under the spring, you should be happy.
Liu Shaoqi was not in favor of buying land and real estate from the bottom of his heart. Considering that he had already joined the revolution and became a member of the proletariat, there was no problem of accumulating family property.
Liu Shaoqi left home again. This time, his mother didn't stop him. Perhaps the mother really thinks that her youngest son can do the big things she wants to do.
In the third year after purchasing the new property in Xiagongtang, in the winter of 1924, under the auspices of the Lu family, several brothers of the Liu family were about to separate. "A big tree will branch, and a large number of people will divide the family" is inevitable.
The eldest brother Mo Qing lives in an old house in Tanzichong with its own forest, fish ponds, and 30 acres of original paddy fields. The second brother Yunting, the third brother Zuoheng and Liu Shaoqi each received 30 acres of their new house in Xiagongtang and the nearby paddy fields. The forest behind the house and the pond in front of the house were also divided into three shares.
At the same time, the four brothers shared the debt of 800 yuan each for the purchase of land and houses. Guangyang.
In Xiagongtang's new house, Yunting lives in the middle room and is named "Li Zhaotang"; Zuoheng lives in the left room and is named "Baxiu Hall"; Liu Shaoqi lives in the right room and is named "Jiusitang".
The three families are still managed by the mother, collectively known as the "Three Family Halls".
In 1924, the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month was Lu’s sixtieth birthday. The family was preparing to hold a lively birthday party for his mother in Xiagongtang, their new home.
Mothers have worked hard for their children for most of their lives, so it is time for them to be happy that they have entered the age of "early hearing".
There is another happy thing. Yunbin, the son of Liu Shaoqi and He Baozhen, picked up Tanzi Chong from the Anyuan coal mine in Jiangxi Province.
It happened that Zhou had long wanted to raise a son for Liu Shaoqi, so Liu Shaoqi and his wife left Yunbin to be raised by his mother and Zhou.
Since the two major events of family separation and moving were not finalized until after the New Year, Lu's sixtieth birthday banquet was postponed to the fourth day of the first lunar month of the Spring Festival in 1925.
For the Lu family, it can also be said that moving to a new home, having a grandchild and celebrating a birthday are three blessings.
The Liu family's new house in Xiagongtang was crowded with guests. When the birthday banquet began, the son, daughter-in-law, daughter and son-in-law came to Mrs. Lu one by one to wish her birthday and congratulate her.
When it was the turn of the fourth son Liu Shaoqi, Mrs. Zhou came out to meet her mother with Yunbin in her arms.
In this lively atmosphere with children and grandchildren enjoying family happiness, the mother could not see her beloved son Jiuman with her own eyes, and could not help but look at her little grandson in ecstasy, feeling somewhat regretful in her heart.
In November 1925, Liu Shaoqi suffered from lung disease due to overwork. While recuperating in Changsha, he was arrested by the warlord Zhao Hengti. After various rescue efforts, he was released from prison in January 1926.
When her mother learned in her hometown that her youngest son had been arrested, her hair turned gray with anxiety. When she heard the news of her son's release, she quickly worked as a sedan chair for a day and rushed from Tanzichong to Changsha.
Liu Shaoqi was planning to leave Changsha for Shanghai in the next two days, and he couldn't help but have mixed feelings when he saw his old mother. For his mother, he failed to fulfill his responsibilities as a son, which made her worried. He looked at his mother with gray hair and choked up and shouted: "Mom!"
As soon as the mother saw her son, she couldn't hold back her tears. Chang Liu hugged his son tightly : "My child, go back with your mother! Your mother is worried about you every day, just listen to her for once!"
Looking at the frightened and uneasy face of his loving mother, Liu Shaoqi felt extremely sad. But in the face of the revolutionary cause, he could only care about everyone at the expense of his own family.
The next day, he took his mother to a portrait studio to have her portrait painted. Comforting mother: "Mom! I carry your portrait with me. No matter when and where, I will always think of you."
In this way, the parting soaked in tears became the last time between Liu Shaoqi and his mother. meet. After that, he was busy with revolutionary work and never had time to go home to visit his mother.
In 1931, Zhou and Liu Shaoqi’s mother Lu passed away one after another. Mr. Lu kept shouting "Man Zai" before he died. His regret and sadness were something that no one else could understand.
At that time, Liu Shaoqi was engaged in secret work in the party's white area and was unable to learn about the death of his mother and Zhou.
In 1938, during the Anti-Japanese War and the period of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, my family finally received a letter from Liu Shaoqi from Yan'an. In the letter, he asked how his mother was doing. Please ask your second brother Yunting to send Yunbin to Yan'an to study through the Changsha Eighth Route Army Office.
At the same time, he asked his family to sell the 30 acres of land assigned to him, and all the money earned would be used to send his nieces and nephews to study.
When the second brother Yunting sent Liu Yunbin to Yan'an and talked about the death of his mother, and the brothers reunited after more than ten years, it was really sad! Overwhelmingly sad!
But he still couldn't return to his hometown for a while and couldn't worship his mother.
It was not until the early summer of 1961 that Liu Shaoqi returned to his hometown of Tanzichong to visit his fellow villagers.
He and his wife Wang Guangmei did not go to the guest house prepared for them by Huaminglou Commune. I went straight back to the familiar old house in Tanzichong, lived in my mother's old house, and slept on the old-fashioned bed that my mother had slept on.
Lu's life was ordinary, like the passing years, silent; Lu's life was also great, she had the virtues of an old-style woman of diligence, frugality, self-denial, and tolerance; she raised a great proletarian revolutionist, The founding father of the People's Republic of China ; her life is worthy of commemoration and writing.
Thank you for reading the article.
The text is compiled and written by the author's subjective thoughts + historical and objective facts.
Reading history brings wisdom, reading history brings knowledge, and reading history makes sense.
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