Kong Dongmei
Kong Dongmei is Chairman Mao’s granddaughter. Over the years, she has written a large number of books related to her grandfather’s life. In December 2003, Kong Dongmei mentioned a little-known story about Chairman Mao’s original wife in her new book "Opening the Old Photo Collection of My Home - My Grandfather Mao Zedong in My Heart".
For a long time, many people have thought that Yang Kaihui was Chairman Mao’s first wife, but this is actually wrong. Kong Dongmei described it like this, "She is the least known member of my grandfather's family. However, this is another member who cannot be ignored by history and forgotten by future generations. She is my grandfather's original wife Luo family."
Not only that, Kong Dongmei found the records of the Mao family in the 15th volume of the "Shaoshan Mao Family Genealogy·List of Genealogy" (Zhuxi Branch) of the Mao family:
" "The original wife Luo family was born on the 26th day of the September 2nd year of the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, and died on the second day of the first lunar month of Gengxu in the second year of the Xuantong period. She was buried in the south bank of Shaoshan land clashed with Nanzhu, and Youshan Mao direction."
can appear in the genealogy, which is enough to show the Mao family's recognition of the Luo family, and this is also Chairman Mao's special request. So, why is Luo less known? What unknown story does she have? What is Chairman Mao’s attitude towards Roche? These questions can be answered in this article.
Young Chairman Mao
In Chinese feudal society, men are superior to women and arranged marriages have become the norm. This is true for wealthy families, and even more so for poor families. It was not uncommon for distant cousins to become in-laws at that time. However, this kind of "kindness and kinship" behavior often hits both men and women, and the woman is likely to become a victim.
It’s a pity that Chairman Mao and Luo’s husband and wife were the result of Chairman Mao’s father Mao Yichang’s one-hand deal. The reason why Mao Yichang did this was because the conflict between him and his son was difficult to reconcile, especially Chairman Mao was obsessed with reading all day long, which made the father and son quarrel repeatedly.
In June 1936, an American war correspondent also served as lecturer in the Department of Journalism at Yenching University in Peking, Edgar Snow , came to northern Shaanxi, and had several long talks with Chairman Mao all night. Nowadays, we can understand Chairman Mao’s childhood and youth experiences. Most of them are interview records from Snow . Chairman Mao described to him in detail every detail he experienced before leaving Shaoshan Chong .
During his youth experience, Chairman Mao Yichang's severity will never forget Chairman Mao for his life. Mao Yichang was born in a poor family. He went to work as a soldier for several years in his early years and accumulated a lot of money. When Mao Yichang returned to his hometown, he not only redeemed the land that his father had pawned out, but also purchased some land.
Mao Yichang
Mao Yichang also gained a lot of knowledge during his military service. With his shrewd mind and business talents, his family's background gradually improved. Obviously, Mao Yichang was an ordinary and extraordinary farmer at that time. He concentrated on the excellent qualities of the most ordinary working people in China, such as hard work, hard work and hard work. These precious qualities undoubtedly had a subtle influence on the young Chairman Mao.
Regarding his family situation when he was born, Chairman Mao said to Snow:
"My father was a poor peasant. When he was young, he had to join the army because he was too much debt. He worked as a soldier for many years. Later, he returned to the village where I was born, did small businesses and other business, worked hard and frugal, saved some money, and bought his land. At this time, my family had fifteen acres of land, and became a middle-aged peasant, and he could rely on this every year. 60 tangas of grain. A family of five eats a total of 35 tangas per year - that is, about 7 tangas per person - so there are still 25 tangas per year. My father used these sanitary and saved some capital, and later bought seven acres of land, so that my family would have the status of a "rich" farmer. At that time, my family could collect 84 tangas of grain every year."
However, compared with the future of the children, Mao Yichang was very practical and did not expect them to make a fortune. As long as they could manage this family business well, it would be fine. Before Chairman Mao officially entered a private school, he lived in his grandmother's house for many years and was influenced by his uncle to read a lot of books.Zou Chunpei, a private tutor in Nan'an, believed that Chairman Mao's future was limitless, so he said to Mao Yichang: "One day the son will be famous and honored the ancestors."
wen Qimei took a photo with her three sons
Mao Yichang just smiled, and he said disapprovingly: " The children of farming families do not care about fame and fortune. As long as they calculate a few numbers, remember a few accounts, and write a few letters, they will get it. " Mao Yichang looked at studying this way, and the result was that Chairman Mao had to keep accounts every day and needed to go to the fields to do farm work during busy farming.
Chairman Mao was very dissatisfied with this. He said to Snow: "He is a strict supervisor and I can't bear to be idle. If there is no account to be kept, I will ask me to do farm work. He is irritable and often beat me and my two younger brothers." According to information, Chairman Mao was suspended from school at home from the age of 13 to 15, and sat in the room to read books whenever he had time. Mao Yichang was very dissatisfied.
On the winter of 1906, the conflict between the father and son broke out completely. That day, Mao Yichang held a banquet at home to entertain guests. Because there were many visitors, Chairman Mao was obsessed with reading books in the room and forgot to come out to help. Mao Yichang pushed the door and started cursing, while Chairman Mao rushed out of the room regardless of everything, shouting that he wanted to run away from home.
Mother Wen Qimei was frightened and quickly called on her husband to chase her together. Next to a pond, Chairman Mao said that if he was not allowed to read, he would jump down. Perhaps seeing his son so persistently studying, Mao Yichang compromised under his wife's persuasion. Chairman Mao also mentioned this to Snow:
"I ran to a pond and threatened that if he took another step, I would jump down. In this case, both sides put forward the demands and counter-demands to stop the civil war. The father insisted that I kowtow and admit my mistake. I said that if he promised not to hit me, I could kowtow on one leg. The war ended like this."
wenqimei
After this, Mao Yichang increasingly believed that he had to do something. He thought of taking care of his son to marry so that his son could go down and run the family business with peace of mind. It was against this background that Luo Family entered Mao Yichang's vision, and he believed that this girl was very compatible with her son.
Luo Family, whose full name is Luo Yixiu, was born in October 1889 in front of the building of Chiwei Village, Yanglin Township, Xiangtan County. She is 4 years older than Chairman Mao. Luo Yixiu's family is well-off and her family has a close relationship with the Mao family. Luo Yixiu's grandmother is Mao Yongtang's eldest daughter, and she is a cousin with Chairman Mao's grandfather Mao Yichen .
Luo Yixiu's father Luo Helou has read a lot of books, and there are a lot of land, so the whole family is happy. Luo Yixiu is the eldest daughter in the family, so she is called "Daxiu". Luo Helou, who is good at managing the family, educates the children strictly, and Luo Yixiu has gradually become a master of housekeeping. Many local people come to propose marriages.
After Mao Yichang learned about it, he went to Luo Helou's house many times. He was very satisfied with Luo Yixiu. After the two families discussed it, they thought that the marriage was of equal status, so they decided to settle the marriage. In 1907, 18-year-old Luo Yixiu married to Chong, Shaoshan. That day, Mao Yichang was particularly happy. He held a big banquet at home, and almost all his relatives and friends came to his home to congratulate him.
Chairman Mao’s former residence
However, Chairman Mao was unhappy. After reading for many years, he had long been dissatisfied with the arranged marriage. But he could not change anything about his father's arrangements, so he could only bear all this silently. The only thing he could do was to cooperate in completing this ceremony. Chairman Mao said: "But I never lived with her - I didn't later. I didn't think she was my wife, and I didn't think of her at this time."
After Luo Yixiu married into Chong, Shaoshan, she was kind by nature and quickly won the recognition of her parents-in-law, and her neighbors gradually praised her. Wen Qimei was in poor health, so Luo Yixiu took on all the housework. She kept the house in an orderly manner and went to the fields to help with farm work whenever she had time.
All of this was seen by Chairman Mao, and he knew very well that Luo Yixiu was a good wife, but he just couldn't accept this marriage and locked himself in the room to read books all day long.Chairman Mao's attitude towards Luo Yixiu was seen by his parents. Originally, Mao Yichang wanted his son to take on the responsibility of running the family, but now the two hardly speak, but he cannot change his son.
Destiny is sometimes elusive, and Luo Yixiu's health soon had problems. In the early morning of the second day of the Lunar New Year in 1910, Luo Yixiu died of illness at the age of 21. Luo Yixiu died young, which greatly stimulated Chairman Mao. He was full of sympathy for his wife. He hated feudal arranged marriages and had the idea of transforming this society.
Chairman Mao swept his parents' graves
After Luo Yixiu's funeral, he was buried on a hillside in Nanzhuguo, Chong, Shaoshan. This was not far from the cemetery of Chairman Mao's parents. Unfortunately, when the Hunan warlords sent people to Shaoshan Chong to destroy Chairman Mao's ancestral grave, the villagers moved Chairman Mao's ancestral grave to protect the cemetery. During this period, Luo Yixiu's tomb was flattened. Unfortunately, it was not restored later, so the exact location could not be found.
In the autumn of the year when Luo Yixiu passed away, Chairman Mao began the most important step in his life, leaving the closed Shaoshan Chong, and studying at Dongshan Primary School in Xiangxiang. Kong Dongmei also believed that this was a step to change his grandfather's fate. "Ro's death due to illness - some people say that he suffered from dysentery . In the rural areas where there was a shortage of doctors and medicine, it was a fatal disease. She was only 21 years old at that time. That autumn, her grandfather made the decision to leave Shaoshan to study in Xiangxiang , and since then he opened up a new world of life that truly belonged to him." Although Luo Yixiu passed away, Chairman Mao was full of feelings for the Luo family and always cared about the situation of the Luo family. In the spring of 1911, Chairman Mao was going to study in the provincial capital Changsha. It was the season for transplanting rice. Chairman Mao came to his father-in-law's house to help before leaving, which touched Luo Helou very much.
1925 Spring Festival, Chairman Mao and his wife Yang Kaihui returned to his hometown to recuperate with the purpose of "setting fires and burning wasteland" and igniting the enthusiasm of the farmers' revolution in their hometown. During this period, he visited the "former father-in-law" many times, tried his best to help Luo Helou solve some difficulties, and also had several meals together.
Chairman Mao and Yang Kaihui
Chairman Mao's concern for the Luo family continued until after the founding of the People's Republic of China, which many people did not expect. In various parts of China, compiling family genealogies is an extremely important thing, especially in Shaoshan Chong. After the Mao family came to live in Shaoshan Chong, they had to make every effort to solve their survival problems for a long time. Social life was still relatively simple, and people did not have much time to train etiquette.
As the Mao family grew, editing of the genealogy was put on the agenda. According to information, the Shaoshan Chongmao family genealogy was founded in the second year of Qianlong (1737), but unfortunately the genealogy has long been lost. In the seventh year of Guangxu (1881), the Mao family specially formulated family rules when compiling the genealogy. The first of them stipulates:
"Filial piety and brotherhood are the basis of all actions, and should be fulfilled by the human way. Anyone who serves children should serve and serves parents, and obediently and respectfully give up their younger brothers. If they are unfilial to their parents, they will not serve their brothers, and they will disobey and disobey. If they are not filial to them, they will be disobedient and disobedient. If they are small, they will be touched by words. The clan leader will pass on the temple, punish them more severely, and punish them if they are not scolded, and send them to the officials for their governance."
After the founding of New China, the Mao clans in Shaoshan were preparing to compile the genealogy again. After reading the first draft, Chairman Mao wrote a letter to the leader, urging him to write Luo Yixiu into the genealogy, although Luo Yixiu had passed away for many years. To a certain extent, Chairman Mao’s move was an approval of Luo Yixiu, so the scene at the beginning of this article was found. Kong Dongmei saw the records of Luo Yixiu in the genealogy.
Chairman Mao
In January 1950, Chairman Mao received a letter signed by Huang Puchen. In the letter, he told himself that he is currently working in the railway department of Liuzhou, Guangxi, and hopes that Chairman Mao can arrange for him to return to his hometown to work.
Chairman Mao is not unfamiliar with Huang Puchen, and he quickly replied to a letter:
"I received the letter on January 24, and I am very happy. I only work on Guangxi Railway, which is very good. I hope you will continue to work hard on this work, without going anywhere else, nor have to go back to your hometown. Is your wife still the second daughter of Mr. Luo Helou? If so, please send me greetings to her."
Chairman Mao's letter is written in principle, and he is not special.In May 1950, Chairman Mao sent his eldest son Mao Anying to Changsha. He specifically reminded his son to return to Shaoshan Chong to see the villagers on his behalf. Luo Helou had been dead for many years. Before leaving, Chairman Mao repeatedly told his son to see who to see who to give, what gifts to give, etc., especially when he mentioned that he wanted to see Luo Shiquan.
Luo Shiquan was Luo Helou's younger brother. He actively participated in the revolution in his early years and was later arrested by the enemy. He was not released from prison until 1941. Luo Shiquan had a difficult life after he was released from prison. After Chairman Mao learned about it, he sent him a sum of money to help him overcome the difficulties. After Mao Anying returned to Shaoshan Chong, he followed his father's request and visited the villagers one by one, and also specifically notified Luo Shiquan to meet.
Mao Anying returned to Shaoshan Chong
Mao Anying learned in detail about Luo Shiquan's living conditions, what requirements were for the government, etc., and gave him 200 yuan and a box of tea when they were separated. Luo Shiquan was so moved that he burst into tears. He immediately wrote a letter to Chairman Mao to express his gratitude. Luo Shiquan also expressed in the letter that he hoped to go to Beijing and hoped that Chairman Mao would approve it.
Chairman Mao has never allowed to be special, and this is especially true for his relatives. He said to the staff around him many times: " Anyone who asks to come to Beijing to see me is not allowed now. No one who comes here will be allowed to come. No one who asks to arrange work will be refused. I will not introduce it here, do not recommend it, and do not speak. "
Now that he has received a letter from Luo Shiquan, Chairman Mao hesitated, and finally he made an exception. This is obviously because of Luo Yixiu. During his time in Beijing, Luo Shiquan paid all the expenses by Chairman Mao with his salary, and he also accompanied him to visit Zhongnanhai .
Luo Yixiu's life can only last for 21 years, and is undoubtedly full of tragedy. But Chairman Mao never forgot Luo Yixiu. Even though he later became the President of the country, he paid more attention to the life of the Luo family and made exceptions for her many times.
