On the morning of February 24, 1997, the sky in the capital was smog.
On the way to Babaoshan Cemetery from Beijing People's Liberation Army Hospital, there were white flowers and snow, and people were crowded. The short two and a half kilometers of road was crowded with people from all walks of life in Beijing and more than 100,000 people who came from all over the country. They were wearing white flowers on their chests and stood quietly in the chilly morning breeze of the cold winter.
The noisy streets in the past were immersed in a solemn atmosphere, with overwhelming sadness spreading over the capital, and sobs were heard endlessly.
This day is the day of Deng Xiaoping’s funeral.
A great man of a generation passed away with the world
After the Spring Festival in 1994, Deng Xiaoping rarely made public appearances. He lives in a square courtyard in Beijing and enjoys a comfortable and free and easy life in his later years.
According to doctors, Deng Xiaoping was healthy in his later years and his liver and spleen function was normal. He did not have the common diabetes or prostatitis in the elderly, but he suffered from the incurable "Parkinson's Syndrome".
Due to the influence of Parkinson's disease , he often coughs, and has difficulty swallowing .
On the morning of December 12, 1996, Deng Xiaoping woke up and felt his breathing was not smooth.
According to the past habit, he would wash up after getting up every day, and then have breakfast at a small table. The secretary usually comes in at this time and puts glasses, watches, magnifying glasses, documents, newspapers and other items on the desk. Deng Xiaoping likes to read maps and dictionaries. Sometimes he reads "Records of the Grand Historian" or " Zizhi Tongjian ", and his most frequent exercise is walking.
But that morning, he felt weak and could not do anything, so the doctor quickly sent him to the General Hospital of the People's Liberation Army of China.
"I didn't expect that he would never come back after leaving." Mrs. Zhuo Lin later recalled that day like this.
As New Year's Day approaches, the whole city is full of lights and decorations to welcome the New Year. However, there was no festive atmosphere in the small building at the southern end of the People's Liberation Army Hospital, and everyone was worried about Deng Xiaoping's physical condition.
Doctor Fu Chunen of the medical team always remembers the last years he accompanied the chief: "For the disease itself, he always actively cooperates with the medical staff's treatment. The rescue process is very painful, but he never cried out in pain."
In addition, he also mentioned that Deng Xiaoping's family was always full of trust, understanding and cooperation in treating medical staff.
On New Year’s Eve, Deng Xiaoping’s condition was relatively stable. To celebrate the New Year, the director of the nutrition room and the cook cooked a few dishes and made dumplings. All the medical staff and staff sat together for a New Year’s Eve dinner.
At the dinner table, everyone prayed from the bottom of their hearts: "I wish Comrade Xiaoping a speedy recovery!"
A regretful thing, the deep prayers of so many people did not keep this old man.
On February 19, 1997, Deng Xiaoping's respiratory function was severely exhausted and he could only rely on machines to maintain vital signs. The medical team urgently reported the situation to the Political Bureau of the Central Committee.
Fu Chunen participated in the rescue on the spot and witnessed Deng Xiaoping reaching the last moment of his life.
In an interview later, he recalled the tension and grief of that moment: "We had long expected this day to come. Before this, several changes in the condition had occurred and all of them were rescued. This time, we have also been doing our best to rescue."
rescue continued until 9:08 pm. The medical team had to accept the fact that there was no way to make a comeback. Team leader Tao Shouqi and hospital vice president Mou Shanchu officially announced the "stop rescue."
At that moment, everyone present couldn't help but burst into tears.
Deng Xiaoping, a great man of the generation, passed away forever. He has traveled a legendary and glorious life with the storm of the century and the dust of history.
The whole country is sad and everyone cried
A few days before Deng Xiaoping's death, his wife Zhuo Lin wrote a letter to General Secretary Jiang Zemin, in which she informed Deng Xiaoping of his instructions: "Refusing the farewell ceremony for the body, donating his cornea to medical research, and scattering the ashes into the sea of the motherland.”
On the night of February 19, 1997, the night shift duty room of Xinhua News Agency interrupted normal news broadcast, broadcasting the obituary of Deng Xiaoping's death.
Early the next morning, CCTV and Central People's Radio publicly released the " to the whole party, the whole army, the people of all ethnic groups in the country" .
When the bad news spread throughout China, all cities, rural areas, pastoral areas, institutions, industries, mining, and schools were immersed in great grief.
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Deng Xiaoping's hometown, Guang'an, Sichuan, is sparsely populated on the streets, many shops are closed, all cars are covered with white flowers, and the glass is covered with notes "Xiaoping, the people of my hometown miss you".
The people of my hometown flock to Deng Xiaoping's former residence in Paifang Village, Xiexing Town, expressing my grief. For a long time, the mourning and joyfulness near the former residence was low, and the masses were endless.
On the office building of Guang'an Prefectural Committee, a few hundred meters long green elegy couplet given to Deng Xiaoping by the people of my hometown: "The sun star is hidden and the green mountains are hanging on the head of the head of the Nine Provinces. The children of the nine provinces mourn the giants of the century, the wind and moon are hidden in the shape of clear water and speechless. Yao and Shun are determined to achieve success in the future. "
All the revolutionary sites, memorial halls, government agencies, schools and shops in Yan'an, the revolutionary holy land, lowered the flags. The people of Yan'an sat in the cave and watched the relevant reports around the TV. Many old Red Army soldiers and Lao Ba were crying while watching TV.
A local farmer named Yang Zailin once attended the wedding of Deng Xiaoping and Zhuo Lin in Yangjialing, Yan'an. After learning the bad news, he cried in excitement: "Comrade Xiaoping worked hard for the revolution and the people all his life, which brought us a good scene, and we will never forget it. "
The New Year of 1997 is truly "the Chinese people are mourning, and the tears of China are spontaneously mourning Deng Xiaoping."
In addition to the Chinese people, people from all countries and regions are spontaneously mourning Deng Xiaoping.
All important news media around the world reported the news of Deng Xiaoping's death as fast as possible, and many newspapers removed the front-page headlines overnight.
The United Nations Headquarters Building lowered half a flag to mourn. At the same time, the United Nations Spokesperson's Office announced the recent Security Council html At the l7 meeting, participants will mourn Deng Xiaoping in a moment of silence.
The then US President Clinton issued a statement saying that Deng Xiaoping was "an extraordinary figure on the world stage"; then French President Jacques Chirac called Jiang Zemin as soon as possible to express his heartfelt condolences for Deng Xiaoping's death; Singapore leader Lee Kuan Yew praised Deng Xiaoping for "saving 1.2 billion people from disasters and chaos" in his eulogy.
Eight-character elegiac couplet."
Eight-character elegiac couplet Farewell to the leader
On the morning of February 24, 1997, Deng Xiaoping's body was cremated in Beijing. Jiang Zemin, Li Peng, Qiao Shi, Zhu Rongji and other national leaders escorted the body to Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery.
, who had walked with Deng Xiaoping through the revolutionary years filled with smoke, was extremely sad. He wrote the eight big words "One person is eternal, one person is eternal" and gave it to Zhuo Linfu In order to commemorate this comrade-in-arms and confidant.
Bo Yibo and Deng Xiaoping met during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, when Liu and Deng’s army opened up anti-Japanese bases in southeastern Shanxi.
In the 1942 Fuyi Battle, Bo Yibo deeply felt Deng Xiaoping’s command and decision-making ability.
During the War of Liberation, Liu and Deng’s army broke through the natural danger of the Yellow River and opened The prelude to the People's Liberation Army's strategic counterattack, successfully opened the passage of the southward journey and began a feat of leaping forward thousands of miles and competing for the Central Plains.
During this period, Bo Yibo worked hard to complete logistics work such as recruits, cadre equipment, and military supply for the frontline troops.
After the founding of New China, Deng Xiaoping and Bo Yibo, who were also secretary of the Central Bureau, successively transferred to the central government's work and had many connections in their work. After the 1953 Financial and Economic Conference, Deng Xiaoping served as Minister of Finance, and Bo Yibo served as Deputy Director of the Finance Committee. The two cooperated tacitly and presided over the work of the railway department and the transportation department.
1978, Bo Yibo, who had experienced ten years of turmoil, resumed his work.
Deng Xiaoping first found him to talk to and solicited his opinions on work arrangements.He was subsequently appointed as Vice Premier of the State Council and Director of the Machinery Industry Committee, and Deng Xiaoping asked him to make achievements in reform.
In order not to live up to the expectations of the old leader, Bo Yibo, who was over 70 years old, went to Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Hubei, Suzhou and Hangzhou for inspection. Go deep into the grassroots and listen to various feedback and opinions. After returning, he wrote an article "A Review of Thirty Years of Economic Construction", which played an important role in unifying the ideological understanding and adjustment of the whole party.
The 12th National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held and the Central Advisory Committee was established. Bo Yibo presided over the daily work of the Central Advisory Committee for ten years and was also responsible for some ideological liaison between Chen Yun and Deng Xiaoping.
When reviewing this past, he said excitedly: "The establishment of the Central Advisory Committee is a pioneering move by Deng Xiaoping. For ten years, I am the deputy director in charge of daily work, and he is the soul of the Central Advisory Committee. In the long-term struggle for the cause of the Party and the people, we have a close relationship and a deep understanding of each other. The teachings he once gave me will be unforgettable for my life."
Once in an interview with a reporter, Bo Yibo described Deng Xiaoping's historical achievements like this: "Great and progressive changes in history require giants and will inevitably be produced. When he was a giant. For example, the great practice of China's new democratic revolution produced Comrade Mao Zedong, and the great practice of China's socialist construction and reform produced Comrade Deng Xiaoping. "
. Regarding the elegy couplet he gave when Deng Xiaoping died, Bo Yibo explained this: "One person has passed through the ages, which expresses my personal grief for Deng Xiaoping; and one person has passed through the ages, my historical evaluation of him."
Socialism opened up a new era in human history. However, how to build socialism like a country like China with a huge population base and a backward economy is a global problem.
Deng Xiaoping answered this difficult question systematically and scientifically for the first time, which is of pioneering significance in the history of world socialism development.
One person for thousands of years. The achievements are for thousands of years.
Looking at Deng Xiaoping’s life, he can truly bear the four words “one person for thousands of years”.
For the Communist Party of China, opening up a national governance path that suits China's national conditions is a new undertaking that "Marx has never said, our predecessors have not done it, and other socialist countries have never done it." At the beginning of reform and opening up, Deng Xiaoping looked far-sighted and not only solemnly announced and emphasized "taking his own path and building socialism with Chinese characteristics", but also established the methodological principle of exploring the path of national governance with Chinese characteristics in terms of how to guide understanding, promote practice, and promote development.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the world situation was changing, a new round of scientific and technological revolution was emerging, and new concepts and new things emerged one after another.
China, which is waiting to be selected for all industries, must re-establish its ideological line if it wants to surpass Western developed capitalist countries.
At this important moment of historical turning point, Deng Xiaoping proposed "emancipating the mind and seeking truth from facts", emphasizing breaking the shackles of old ideas, studying new situations, solving new problems, and sharply pointing out that "the Party, the country and the nation must never believe in bookism. Once the thought is rigid and superstition prevails, its vitality will stop."
Developing the economy and improving people's lives is the issue that Deng Xiaoping thought the most.
Reform and opening up first starts with the economic field.
Since 1978, farmers in some places in Sichuan and Anhui have boldly explored and tried the production responsibility system of households and units, with remarkable results. This model has gradually been promoted to rural areas across the country.
The successful reform of rural areas has stimulated the development of urban commercial economy.
In 1984, the Third Plenary Session of the 12th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China formally proposed to promote the great strategy of reforming the economic system with cities as the focus.
socialist market economic system proposed by Deng Xiaoping combines the superiority of maintaining social fairness and promoting common prosperity with the advantages of optimizing resource allocation and improving efficiency. It is a major institutional innovation of the Party.
On political system reform , Deng Xiaoping clearly pointed out that it is necessary to develop democracy, improve the legal system, and form a political situation of "stable, united, vivid and lively" in order to achieve the "four modernizations".
On the issue of national sovereignty, Deng Xiaoping explored the unprecedented path of " One Country, Two Systems ", laying the foundation for the return of Hong Kong and Macao, and maintaining the unity and integrity of the country.
In the cause of science, education and culture, Deng Xiaoping explained for the first time the scientific connotation of socialist spiritual civilization . resumed the college entrance examination , which changed the dull and depressed mental state of young people at that time, and mobilized countless aspiring young people to devote themselves to their studies.
In the past half century of reform and opening up, socialist China has created an unprecedented miracle of economic development and social stability. This is inseparable from the hard work of Deng Xiaoping, the chief designer.
Conclusion
In those difficult years when the future could not be predicted, Deng Xiaoping did not disappoint the expectations of the people, perfectly and diligently fulfilled the mission entrusted by the Party and the country in a special historical moment. With his unique character and strong political vitality, he assumed the position of chief designer of reform and opening up, and led the Chinese nation to open a new historical chapter.
He spent his whole life focusing on the great goal of making the Chinese people rich, and he deserved to be the "son" of the Chinese people!
Reference
[1]Bo Yibo talks about Deng Xiaoping: "One person is eternal, one person is eternal". People's Daily. 2008.1.15
[2] Yu Wei. In the day of Deng Xiaoping's death (Part 1). Overview of Party History. 2014(06)
[3] Qi Weiping. Deng Xiaoping's contribution to the formation of the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Socialism Research. 2022(02)
