One Saturday at the end of 1949, Zhou Enlai's 12-year-old niece Zhou Bingde returned from the holiday at the Girls' High School Affiliated to Beijing Normal University and returned to Zhongnanhai Xihua Hall.

On a Saturday at the end of 1949, Zhou Enlai's 12-year-old niece Zhou Bingde returned from the holiday at the Girls' High School Affiliated to Beijing Normal University, where she studied, and returned to Zhongnanhai Xihua Hall.

Not long ago, Zhou Bingde came to Beijing from Tianjin and lived with his uncle and aunt. Soon, the little girl adapted to life here.

Zhou Enlai and Zhou Bingde

On this day, Zhou Bingde, who came back from school, just entered the courtyard and unexpectedly heard someone calling "sister". Before she could react, two children younger than herself had already appeared in front of Bingde.

Zhou Bingde took a closer look and saw that it was his younger brother Bingjun and younger sister Bingyi! As a sister, she quickly asked: "When did you come?...Where's mom?"

When Zhou Bingde was confused, her mother Wang Shiqin appeared immediately. Then, Zhou Bingde learned that his two younger brothers and sisters would live in Xihua Hall forever, just like him.

Not only that, later, the father of these brothers and sisters, Zhou Enlai's biological brother Zhou Enshou, also took the initiative to propose that his daughter Zhou Bingyi could be adopted to his childless brother Zhou Enlai .

However, after some careful thinking, Premier Zhou finally rejected the proposal. So, what did Zhou Enlai think, and what stories happened between Zhou Bingyi and his uncle?

Came to Xihua Hall and lived with his uncle and aunt

After the peaceful liberation of Peiping in 1949, Zhou Enshou, who lived in Tianjin, has been paying attention to the news of his brother Zhou Enlai. Over the years, the two brothers lost contact, and Zhou Enshou could only read some reports about his brother from newspapers. Now that Tianjin and Peiping are finally liberated, he is very much looking forward to meeting Zhou Enlai again.

Finally, after entering March, as the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China entered Peiping, Zhou Enlai found out the whereabouts of his younger brother and wrote a letter to Zhou Enshou.

Zhou Enshou was very excited after receiving the letter. Soon, he went to Peiping, met his brother whom he thought about day and night, and proposed to him that he wanted to return to the revolutionary ranks.

At Zhou Enlai's suggestion, Zhou Enshou decided to stay in Peiping and attend Revolutionary University. His wife Wang Shiqin stayed in Tianjin to take care of several children.

Zhou Enshou

At the same time, Zhou Enshou and his wife's eldest daughter, Zhou Bingde, was about to graduate from elementary school. During a conversation with his brother, Zhou Enshou mentioned that Bingde wanted to come to Peiping to study in middle school, but he usually lived in the dormitory of the Revolutionary University and was inconvenient to take care of him...

Zhou Enlai, who was considerate and considerate, immediately proposed that he could let little Bingde come to his place and let him take care of him. He and his wife Deng Yingchao take care of him. In this way, In June 1949, Zhou Bingde came to Peiping and moved into Zhongnanhai.

After being admitted to the Girls' High School Affiliated to Beijing Normal University, Zhou Bingde lived on campus on weekdays and returned to Zhongnanhai to visit his uncle and aunt on weekends. Days like this lasted until the end of the year.

On this day, Zhou Bingde, who returned from school vacation, unexpectedly saw his seven-year-old brother Zhou Bingjun and his five-year-old sister Zhou Bingyi appearing in front of him. Soon, their mother, Wang Shiqin, also came over with a smile on her face.

Zhou Bingde quickly asked his mother: "Mom! It's great that you are here too! Has your family moved from Tianjin? Where is the new home? When will I move there?..."

At this time, Zhou Enshou had already moved from Tianjin. After graduating from university, I was assigned a job in Beijing. Therefore, Xiao Bingde felt that he would have a new home in Beijing.

However, Wang Shiqin explained to his eldest daughter: "Bingde, your uncle and your seventh mother (Deng Yingchao) have already said that you are still living here, and Daju (Bingjun) and Xiaomi (Bingyi) are also staying. "

Zhou Bingde was immediately puzzled: "Why? Didn't dad have a job? Didn't our family move to Beijing?"

At this time, Bingjun and Bingyi were already playing in the garden. After playing hide and seek, she laughed very happily; but as her sister, Bingde, she couldn't laugh at all...

Wang Shiqin took his eldest daughter and sat down on the sofa, and told Bingde the reason in detail.It turned out that although Wang Shiqin had been married for a long time, she had always wanted to work. It was only because she had given birth to several children that she had to stay at home to take care of them.

When Zhou Enlai learned about his siblings' wishes, he offered to bring several of their children to him. In this way, Wang Shiqin can go out to work with peace of mind.

Zhou Enshou's family

In this way, Wang Shiqin entered Beijing No. 4 Girls' Middle School and became a Russian teacher. Zhou Bingjun and Zhou Bingyi lived in the West Flower Hall with their sister Zhou Bingde.

Zhou Enshou proposed adoption, but Zhou Enlai refused.

After the younger siblings came to the West Flower Hall, they lived with Zhou Bingde in the east wing, with three beds side by side, leaving a little space in between. To the north of the house is uncle Zhou Enlai's bedroom. For fear of disturbing his rest, the three children do not dare to speak loudly or play in the house.

Among the three children, Zhou Bingyi is the youngest. After coming to Beijing, she entered kindergarten.

One weekend in 1950, Deng Yingchao asked Zhou Bingyi to perform the dance she had just learned in kindergarten for her uncle Zhou Enlai. When Zhou Bingyi heard this, he immediately completed the performance excitedly and waited hopefully for his uncle to praise him.

But to the little girl's surprise, her uncle, who had always been kind and cheerful, not only didn't praise her this time, he didn't even smile. After reading it, the new Chinese Prime Minister just said thoughtfully: "This dance has no meaning"...

Little Bingyi, who was full of expectations, was hit hard in his immature heart. When she went back next week, when faced with the adult's request to let her dance again, she said she would not dance anymore and started to cry aggrievedly...

When everyone present saw this situation, they all thought it was little Bingyi. I simply don’t want to dance. Only Zhou Enlai was keenly aware of the reason.

A few days later, Premier Zhou specially took this niece to the Beijing Hotel. This is the first and only time that the new Chinese leader takes his relatives and friends there.

After arriving at Beijing Hotel , Zhou Enlai went to the barber shop there for a haircut and shave; while Zhou Bingyi had his hair washed there. Later, she recalled that her uncle should be using this method to comfort herself.

Zhou Bingyi

As for what Zhou Enlai said at the beginning, "it makes no sense", Zhou Bingyi later found the answer. It turned out that the person who taught them dance in the kindergarten was a woman from a rural area in northern Shaanxi. The so-called dance is actually just moving your feet forward and back a few steps, and then the two people hold hands and exchange positions. The reason why it is so simple is that before liberation, many women were "women with small feet" who had their feet bound and could only dance such low-tech movements.

And Premier Zhou’s words were not actually directed at his niece. He must have been thinking at the time that the dance art of old China had never been able to develop, and New China must have its own dance.

Zhou Enlai not only thought this way, but also did it. Later, under his personal guidance, New China finally had its own representative new dance in 1953, which won an award at the World Youth Festival that year.

Not long after, an idea appeared in Zhou Enshou's mind: He already had several children, and his brother Zhou Enlai had no children so far. It would be better to adopt one of his children to his brother and stay with them as a couple..

So, among your children, who will you choose? After some consideration, Zhou Bingyi became the most suitable candidate. Firstly, little Bingyi looks a lot like her grandmother - Zhou Enlai's mother; secondly, little Bingyi has a well-behaved personality and is easier to take care of.

So Zhou Enshou expressed his thoughts to his brother and sister-in-law. After hearing this, Deng Yingchao felt that Zhou Bingyi was indeed a good boy, and was very moved by this.

However, the thoughtful Zhou Enlai had deeper considerations about this matter. In the autumn of 1951, he called Zhou Enshou over and told his brother his thoughts.

Premier Zhou said seriously: "If I have this child, the child will feel that he is very special, and other children will also feel that it is unfair for me to be an uncle. Isn't it good to be like this now, your child We will all treat him as his own child."

In this way, Zhou Bingyi continued to be treated equally by Zhou Enlai like other children. Although she was not adopted to her uncle or aunt, in the eyes of Zhou Enlai and his wife, she was just like her own child like other nieces and nephews.

Strict requirements and no specialization

In the eyes of many people, the lives of Zhou Bingyi and others in Zhongnanhai must have been colorful and enviable to others. But in fact, due to Zhou Enlai's strict requirements, they did not enjoy any special treatment.

Zhou Enlai

At that time, every weekend, an in-house movie would be shown in the auditorium of Zhongnanhai. However, Premier Zhou insisted that his nephews and nieces should live in harmony with the lives of ordinary people and never allowed them to watch.

Not only that, during the summer vacation at that time, the central leaders would go to Beidaihe for meetings. Many central leaders will take their families and children there to escape the summer heat.

In this regard, Deng Yingchao once said to Zhou Bingyi and others: "Your uncle said that when all the people in China can go to Beidaihe to escape the summer heat, you can go."

So, it was not until the summer of 2001 that Zhou Bingyi came to Beijing for the first time. Once I went to Beidaihe.

As the days passed, Zhou Bingyi also reached the age of going to school. Like her brother Zhou Bingjun, she entered Bayi School.

Among the students at Bayi School, many are the children of cadres, and they are often picked up and dropped off by car. Brother and sister Zhou Bingyi, on the other hand, could only take the 20 cents and drive the bus to school by themselves. Sometimes children are greedy and use their money to buy popsicles, so they have to walk to school.

Despite this, the Zhou Bingyi brothers and sisters kept in mind the teachings of their uncle and aunt and had no complaints. Until the end of a semester, students need to take out and wash their quilts, and many children's homes send cars to pick them up.

Brother and sister Zhou Bingyi looked at it and realized that they couldn’t take the bus with the quilt by themselves, right? So I asked the teacher for letter paper and an envelope, and wrote a letter to my aunt Deng Yingchao: "Qi Ma, we are on vacation. Please send a car to pick us up because we have luggage."

Although they are not old, this brother and sister wrote this letter The letter can be said to be concise, clear and logical, without any nonsense. After writing and sending it, they began to look forward to a car picking them up.

In the afternoon, someone came over as expected. Only it's not a car, but an uncle guard riding a bicycle. After the guard found the little brother and sister, he loaded up their quilts, found two tricycles at the school gate, and took them back...

After the Zhou Bingyi brothers and sisters returned to the West Flower Hall, Deng Yingchao said with some guilt, I'll have to remember to help them get their luggage in the future. But at the same time, she also taught the brother and sister: "It's really hard to ask for a car! But the car is for uncle's work, and you are ordinary people."

Coincidentally, when Zhou Bingyi was in the fifth grade of elementary school, Deng Yingchao told her again He said this sentence: "Your uncle is the Prime Minister of the people of the country. He serves the people of the country, not your Zhou family."

Zhou Enlai and his nephews and nieces

It turns out that at that time, a relative of Zhou Enlai's ancestral home Shaoxing , came to Beijing specifically to ask the Prime Minister to mediate the matter of clearing the grave in the village. Not only that, he was very unfamiliar and asked Zhou Enlai to introduce him to a job.

To this end, Zhou Enlai specially held a family meeting. At the meeting, he solemnly pointed out to all family members present: "I am the prime minister of the people, not the prime minister of the Zhou family."

One summer, Zhou Enlai received foreign guests from the Soviet Union in the West Flower Hall. The staff of the Hospitality Section of the State Council prepared a bucket of ice cream in advance to entertain foreign guests.

By coincidence, Zhou Bingyi and Zhou Bingjun were also there at the time. When the staff saw it, they gave them a small bowl each, and the two children ate very happily.

However, Deng Yingchao soon learned of this matter. She called the staff member over and criticized him severely. Since , similar things have never happened again. Brother and sister Zhou Bingyi have never eaten such delicious ice cream.

Not only that, Premier Zhou also made a rule that once the children in the family go to elementary school, they can no longer eat in the Xihua Hall and must go to the big cafeteria to eat.

Zhou Bingyi clearly remembered that in September of the year when she was in elementary school, her uncle's guard Changfa gave her an enamel jar and a spoon, and also gave her two cents. In this way, Xiao Bingyi and his brother went to the third largest canteen of the State Council to prepare their own meals. Since then, except for relatives coming from my hometown, it has always been like this no matter whether it is windy or rainy.

Decades later, Zhou Bingyi still remembers that at a family meeting, Zhou Enlai said to them: "You are not my children. If you were, I would be more strict."

When filling out the application form, his uncle gave Opinions

Since childhood, Zhou Bingyi has been fond of art. In middle school, she entered the Middle School Affiliated to the Central Academy of Fine Arts. In the summer of 1965, Zhou Bingyi, who was about to graduate from the Affiliated High School, began to think about applying for college.

Zhou Enlai and Zhou Bingyi admire flowers

At that time, several major art academies across the country stopped recruiting students. The only one left with enrollment tasks is the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts. is a college that mainly trains practical art designers.

However, for many years, the Academy of Arts and Crafts has not been favored by the majority of students from the high school attached to it. In their hearts, they always feel that art design is not as good as art creation. Therefore, when students later heard that Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts had enrollment quotas, they all filled in the name of Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts on their application forms.

At this time, Zhou Bingyi had different ideas. She felt that the country now needs a large number of art designers who serve society and mass production, so she decided to apply for the Academy of Arts and Crafts.

However, after seeing his classmates changing their ways one after another, Zhou Bingyi couldn't help but feel excited. To be cautious, he decided to seek his uncle's opinion.

On this day, after eating at the Xihua Hall, Zhou Bingyi took the time to explain the matter to Premier Zhou, who was busy with everything, and expressed that he wanted to hear his thoughts.

Zhou Enlai immediately asked, what majors are there in the Academy of Arts and Crafts? Zhou Bingyi replied: "There are dyeing and weaving, ceramics, architectural interior decoration, and industrial design. I want to learn dyeing and weaving." After

, Premier Zhou did not express his position directly, but said to his niece sincerely: "These majors of are all It is closely related to the lives of the people. The packaging design of our country’s export products is rough, and the price of our products cannot rise in the international market. We still need to put a lot of effort into packaging design. ”

. After hearing what his uncle said, Zhou Bingyi suddenly felt confident. She didn't ask any more questions, just nodded "Yeah".

Later, when almost all the students in the Affiliated High School chose Zhejiang University of Technology, Zhou Bingyi applied for the Dyeing and Weaving Department of the Academy of Arts and Crafts.. After working, she served as the art editor of "International Trade" magazine, applying the knowledge and skills she learned to this position.

After retiring, Zhou Bingyi engaged in family history research. And her uncle’s earnest teachings to her back then often appeared in her mind...