In June 1981, at the Sixth Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Party, Hua Guofeng voluntarily resigned from the positions of Chairman of the Central Committee and Chairman of the Military Commission, and then withdrew from the leadership position and gradually lived a peaceful life in his old age. Hua Guofeng and his wife lived in an ordinary courtyard in Beijing.
In his later years, Hua Guofeng liked to plant some flowers and plants and vine , especially he liked to plant vine . He planted many varieties of grapes and could harvest a lot every time the harvest season. However, because Hua Guofeng suffered from diabetes , he could not eat more, and the harvested grapes were mostly given to neighbors and friends.
Hua Guofeng's life in his later years was simple and simple. He not only had strict requirements on himself, but also strict requirements on his children. Hua Guofeng's four children were not engaged in business or went abroad. They were all ordinary people and each achieved success in their respective positions. Hua Guofeng was very pleased with this.
Since the beginning of 2008, Hua Guofeng has been hospitalized many times due to illness. He originally planned to go to the Olympics on site, but he couldn't go there due to physical reasons. On August 20, Hua Guofeng died of illness in the hospital at the age of 87. According to Hua Guofeng's wife Han Zhijun's retelling, Hua Guofeng's last wish is "Let me go back to Guashan. There are many trees there and it is pure. When I was a child, I was there, and I was there to fight guerrillas."
It is not difficult to see from Hua Guofeng's last wish that he missed his hometown very much. Many people may not know that since the founding of New China, Hua Guofeng has only returned to his hometown three times.
So why did Hua Guofeng only return to his hometown three times in so many years after the founding of the People's Republic of China? Tian Rui, the editor-in-chief of "Hua Guofeng in the War Era", knows very clearly that Tian Rui is the Jiaocheng people who visited Hua Guofeng the most. Since 2002, Tian Rui has visited Hua Guofeng many times.
According to Tian Rui's recollection, on March 20, 2008, he went to Beijing to visit Hua Guofeng. When he said goodbye, Hua Guofeng personally sent him out. Tian Rui remembered that he had walked far that day, and Hua Guofeng was still watching him at the door. That was the last time the two of them met.
At the beginning of 1949, Hua Guofeng followed the troops south and left his hometown since then. He has only returned to his hometown three times since then. According to Tian Rui's recollection, Hua Guofeng's first return home was in 1958. At that time, Hua Guofeng was working in Hunan because of a meeting. He passed by Jiaocheng and went home to see his mother once.
Hua Guofeng had not returned home for many years since then. By the early 1970s, due to work reasons, Hua Guofeng had no time to go home when his mother passed away. Until the end of August 1991, Hua Guofeng, who had retired from the main leadership position, returned to Jiaocheng for nearly a week.
During those days, Hua Guofeng went to the places where he had lived and also to the places where he had fought guerrilla warfare. These places left a deep memory for Hua Guofeng. Local fellow villagers came to welcome him when they learned that Hua Guofeng was back, and the scene was very lively.
1995, Hua Guofeng took his wife Han Zhijun back to Jiaocheng for the third time, and it was the last time he returned to his hometown. He went to the place where he had fought again and was warmly welcomed by his hometown people. Hua Guofeng felt uneasy about this, and he felt that he had disturbed the lives of his fellow villagers.
From then on, in order not to cause trouble to the place, Hua Guofeng never returned to his hometown again. Even though he missed his hometown very much, Hua Guofeng endured not to return to his hometown and did not cause trouble to the villagers. Until his death, Hua Guofeng expressed his wish that he had hidden in his heart for many years and wanted to return to his roots.
Finally, in early November 2011, Hua Guofeng's ashes were moved from Babaoshan to Guashan in Jiaocheng, Shanxi for burial. Hua Guofeng realized his soul returned to his hometown. Since then, every year during the Qingming Festival, people spontaneously came to Guashan Hualing to pay tribute to Hua Guofeng.
