One morning in the late 1990s, when the clock rang six times, the silent night of Beijing City gradually woke up from the sleep. The early morning breeze blew past the grape racks in the courtyard of No. 9, Huangchenggen South Street, Xijing, and the lush vines on the racks were rustling by the wind.
The little dean is not big, but the yard and the base along the exterior wall are planted with fruit trees and vegetables by the owner. The path leading from the yard door to the living room is decorated into a tree-lined corridor.
In addition to winter, when you come to this yard in any season, you can see the various flowers planted in the yard and the peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes and other vegetables planted by the owner. Occasionally, you can see the grapes on your head full of flowers. The small yard is full of rich pastoral atmosphere.
Just after six o'clock, the male owner of the yard got up. After walking around the yard for two laps, my wife had already cooked boiled water for him and made tea, calling the male owner to come over for breakfast.
Breakfast is simple, with only a cup of hot milk and a bowl of egg custard , plus a few slices of steamed buns, or a small twist.
From the outside, the steamed buns were roasted very hard, and it can be seen that the male owner's teeth were very good. After taking the milk brought by his wife, the male owner was used to putting a spoonful of coffee in the milk and then slowly drinking it in bites.
Not long after, the male owner finished breakfast, then sat on the old sofa, picked up a newspaper and read it carefully.
The male owner of this inconspicuous courtyard is Hua Guofeng, who once served as the leader of the Party and the country. At this time, he had already resigned from his position as the leader of the Party and the country for many years and lived a peaceful and regular retirement life.
1,
Since retiring from the post of the Party and state leaders in the early 1980s, Hua Guofeng has been living in this No. 9 courtyard.
This place turned out to be part of the royal palace of the Qing Taizu Nurhaci second son Dianshan . It is located on the west side of Xihuangchenggen South Street, Xicheng District. It can be said to be a good place to be quiet in the midst of chaos.
After retirement, Hua Guofeng likes to call him "Lao Hua" and does not like to call him "Chairman Hua". He said that he felt very natural about the title "Hua Lao". "Chairman Hua" made him feel uncomfortable when he heard it, and it would invisibly distance him from the masses.
It can be seen from the grape trellis covered with small courtyards that planting grapes occupy a large part of Hua Guofeng's retirement life. It is said that in order to grow good grapes, Hua Guofeng personally went to the Beijing Horticultural Farm to find some old farmers who grow grapes and learn from them how to grow and manage grapes.
Although Hua Guofeng's small courtyard is not large in size, he grows many grape varieties. He once proudly told the visiting guests that there are fifty or sixty varieties of grapes in his yard, and the grapes harvested every year are more than 200 kilograms! When talking about this "achievement", Hua Guofeng's eyes were full of smiles.
There are so many grapes, Hua Guofeng and his family will definitely not be able to finish them. In addition, Hua Guofeng suffers from the relatively serious diabetes . The doctor strictly stipulates that he is not allowed to eat fruits with a lot of sugar, and even eat less staple foods for each meal.
So most of the grapes harvested were given to the staff and some old friends around him.
In fact, in the eyes of his wife Han Zhijun, Hua Guofeng didn't listen to the doctor so much. Although the doctor did not allow him to eat grapes, he couldn't bear to carry him while Han Zhijun was not paying attention. He took advantage of the opportunity to take a walk and secretly picked one or two ripe grapes from the grape trellis and put them in his mouth at a very fast speed.
Several times Han Zhijun felt that Hua Guofeng had stolen grapes and asked him to open his mouth to check, but Hua Guofeng had already swallowed the grapes and the belt seeds into his stomach. "Catch the thief and stolen goods", but Han Zhijun had to give up without catching the evidence.
Han Zhijun occasionally complains to the children, and she almost becomes Hua Guofeng's "old nanny". As long as you are not careful, Hua Guofeng will get some "demon moth".
Once, I made dumplings at home. This was the favorite of Hua Guofeng, a Shanxi native. Han Zhijun stipulated that Hua Guofeng could only eat ten, but Hua Guofeng felt that he was not satisfied with the food after eating, so he pestered Han Zhijun and asked for a few more.
Han Zhijun was so entangled that he had no choice but to let him eat two more. Every time he talks about these things, Han Zhijun always looks at Hua Guofeng helplessly and shakes his head.
2.
After breakfast, Hua Guofeng would insist on taking a few hours to read books and newspapers. He read a lot of newspapers, including party newspapers such as " People's Daily " and "People's Liberation Army Daily", as well as newspapers that are more socially-oriented, such as "Beijing Evening News" and " Yanzhao Metropolis Daily ".
Although his eyes are not very good, Hua Guofeng is very "obsessed" when he looks at the newspaper. Sometimes Hua Guofeng doesn't even hear that even Master Xie, a chef who has been following Hua Guofeng for more than 20 years, calls him to have a meal.
I like Master Xie’s skills. Hua Guofeng loves Shanxi buckwheat noodles , cat ears, knife-cut noodles , and mutton sauce made by Master Xie. In Master Xie's eyes, Hua Guofeng's diet is very simple, and it is also very convenient to cook for Hua Guofeng, because the ingredients he likes to eat are extremely ordinary, and the varieties are only a few, and they never change.
The vegetables that Hua Guofeng likes to eat include pumpkin, yam , Chinese cabbage and radish . You don’t have to buy these vegetables because a lot of them are planted in his yard. As for meat dishes, Hua Guofeng only occasionally eats boiled mutton and never likes to eat expensive seafood and other ingredients.
What Master Xie is most moved is that Hua Guofeng treats himself and other staff members as he treats his family, without any attitude as a leader.
"He is a very kind old man. I occasionally add more salt to cook. He doesn't say anything when he feels it. He just eats less. He has never criticized me, nor has he put down the bowl and said he won't eat it. He asked me to remake it."
After lunch, Hua Guofeng usually takes two or three hours off. After lunch break, if any guests come, they will also meet the visiting guests.
After the guests leave, Hua Guofeng usually takes care of the vegetables he grows with his wife in the yard with the staff. Dinner starts at 6:30 pm. Hua Guofeng didn’t eat much dinner, so he drank some 2-rice porridge or pumpkin porridge most of the time, and sometimes added a sesame cake.
After dinner, it was time for the start of " News Broadcast ". Watching the Daily News Broadcast is a habit that Hua Guofeng has been unable to move for many years. Unless he is so sick that he cannot get up in bed, he has never been to watch the News Broadcast.
After watching "News Broadcast", Hua Guofeng will come to the study and start practicing calligraphy. Due to long-term persistence and many discussions with some famous calligraphers and painting masters, and has received guidance from Zhao Puchu, Chu Tunan, Pujie and others, although Hua Guofeng's calligraphy is not a "big master", he also has considerable skills.
Qigong gave a high evaluation of Hua Guofeng's words, saying that his words "are all in a grand and full of strength." You should know that Qi Gong rarely praises others' words, and it is quite difficult to get his evaluation.
3,
There are many interesting stories when talking about Hua Guofeng's calligraphy.
Hua Guofeng has a small study room. Every day he insists on taking time to practice calligraphy in the study room.
One day, Hua Guofeng's fellow villager Han Xuewu visited, and just caught Hua Guofeng's practice of calligraphy. Hua Guofeng knew that Han Xuewu was also a calligrapher, so he took out a few works that he was quite satisfied with to let Han Xuewu give his advice.
Han Xuewu is a straightforward person. Although he praised Hua Guofeng for his good writing, he still pointed out that some of the writings are still lacking in some strength. Hua Guofeng was very happy after hearing this. He said to Han Xuewu: "Among the guests who came to visit me, you are the only one who pointed out the shortcomings of my calligraphy in person. You are a person who tells the truth!"
From then on, as long as Han Xuewu comes, Hua Guofeng will come up with his new work and ask him to comment. After this incident was spread, everyone said that Han Xuewu was Hua Guofeng's teacher, which made Han Xuewu very embarrassed: "The characters of Mr. Hua are simple and plain on the surface, but in fact they are very strong and have deep skills. Where can I be his teacher?"
Hua Guofeng likes to write Chairman Mao's poems the most, but he uses Yan style . Someone suggested that he use "Mao style" to write Chairman Mao's poems, but Hua Guofeng shook his head and said, "Chairman Mao's calligraphy is his own. Even if I practice it for another hundred years, I will not be able to practice Chairman Mao's water. I should learn Yan style honestly!"
Some guests who come to the door like Hua Guofeng's calligraphy very much and asked Hua Guofeng to get one or two pieces of ink treasures. Hua Guofeng could satisfy the guests as much as possible. He only has one requirement: he can take it home and collect it, but he is not allowed to take it to the market for speculation!
Later, Hua Guofeng heard that someone did not abide by the agreement and took his words to the market to sell them. Moreover, there were people in the market who imitated his font and made fakes. He was very unhappy. From then on, he no longer wrote inscriptions easily.
Just after Hua Guofeng decided to "stop the pen", several comrades from Jiaocheng, Shanxi came to Beijing to find Hua Guofeng and proposed that Jiaocheng 's Guashan is in tourism development. I would like to ask Hua Guofeng to write a few words on the newly built archway in Guashan.
Jiaocheng is where Hua Guofeng fought guerrillas back then. Hua Guofeng always had deep feelings for the mountains and rivers there and the simple people.
After listening to the other party's request, Hua Guofeng picked up his brush and wrote the four big words "Yansha Gua" by himself. He handed these big words together with several poems by Chairman Mao in his hand to the other party, saying that he hoped that his inscription could help the villagers in Guashan to run a good trip and live a good life.
Now his inscription has been hung on the gatehouse of Guashan, and the handwritten Chairman Mao’s poems have also been engraved into monuments, becoming a new tourist attraction in Guashan.
4.
After resigning from the leadership position, Hua Guofeng has also visited all parts of the country many times to see the rapid changes in the development of the motherland.
Cao Junhong, who has served as the guard of Hua Guofeng, has accompanied Hua Guofeng to many places. In his impression, Hua Guofeng was very concerned about the local development and the living conditions of the people, no matter where he went. A sentence that Hua Guofeng often says is: "As long as the people's living standards are improved, it is better than anything else."
Although Hua Guofeng's children do not object to the elderly going out for a walk and taking a look, they always have some opinions on how Hua Guofeng will arrange their itinerary whenever he goes to. Because whenever Hua Guofeng goes to a place, he not only has to visit local factories and rural areas, but also likes to chat with workers and farmers, ask about the people's income and living conditions, and even doesn't rest at night.
The children "complained" and said, "Every time you go out, you arrange your itinerary so nervously, and you are not afraid that your body will not be able to bear it?" Hua Guofeng always retorted, "I feel happy when I see the people live well. Isn't this more beneficial to health than rest?" When the children heard him say this, they had to stop opposing it.
1996, when Huaxi Village, Jiangsu Province held the 35th anniversary celebration of the construction of the village, Hua Guofeng was invited to visit Huaxi Village . Hua Guofeng asked Huaxi Village not to be allowed to gossip, and he did not make a public speech, but only participated in the celebration as an ordinary person.
After seeing the development of Huaxi Village, Hua Guofeng was deeply impressed by this village, especially in the housing of farmers. After seeing the farmers' houses "seemingly like a forest garden from a distance, looking like a park from a close distance, living in Le Park", Hua Guofeng smiled with relief...
Hua Guofeng is also very concerned about the development of his hometown Shanxi. Whenever a family member comes to see him, he always asks people with concern: "How is the economic development of his hometown? How is the harvest?"
In the mid-1990s, Hua Guofeng's niece Su Fengxian once made a special trip to Beijing to visit Hua Guofeng. Hua Guofeng knew that his niece worked in a fertilizer factory, and the first question he asked her was: "'How is the production and distribution of in your fertilizer plant? How much salary can workers get in a month?"
Su Fengxian told Hua Guofeng that the fertilizer plant has good benefits, and workers can get more than 800 yuan in salary every month. After hearing this, Hua Guofeng smiled with relief. He pointed to his wife Han Zhijun and said to Su Fengxian, "That's not bad. The workers' wages are higher than your aunt. She is only more than 600 yuan a month.That should be the case, and the people who work should get more than those who retire! "
Hua Guofeng has always had deep feelings for the people in his hometown in Shanxi. I learned from Su Fengxian that Shi Yuhuan in the same village had cataract , so he asked Su Fengxian to go back and urge her to come to Beijing for treatment, and proposed to send someone to help Shi Yuhuan find a good hospital and arrange the operation as soon as possible.
Su Fengxian not long after he returned, Shi Yuhuan came to Beijing to treat cataracts according to Hua Guofeng's arrangement. Hua Guofeng knew that the villagers were reluctant to stay in the hotel, so he asked Shi Yuhuan and her husband to live in his home. They stayed for more than 20 days until Shi Yuhuan had an operation and returned to Shanxi.
The next year when Shi Yuhuan came to Beijing for a review, Hua Guofeng took her home to stay for more than a week. Before Shi Yuhuan left, Hua Guofeng paid for a lot of candies and biscuits and asked her to take them back to distribute them to the children in the village.
Tian Rui, director of the Jiaocheng County Chronicle Office, in order to create "Hua Guofeng is in the War" "The Year" has visited Hua Guofeng's home many times. The thing that impressed Tian Rui the most was that when we saw guests from our hometown, Hua Guofeng always communicated with everyone in Jiaocheng dialect, which seemed extremely friendly.
Hua Guofeng's Jiaocheng dialect is very fluent, and even Tian Rui, a native Jiaocheng person, felt inferior. Even the two young people from the county annals who accompanied him said: Hua Lao has some Jiaocheng dialect, but we young people can't understand it!
In 2001, Hua Guofeng celebrated his 80th birthday. The children said they wanted to hold a birthday party for him, but Hua Guofeng refused. That night, his wife ordered an birthday cake for him, prepared a table of home-cooked dishes, and had a simple birthday with several children and staff around him. While having dinner with
, Hua Guofeng told the children: "The future of the country lies in you young people. You must save money and not waste extravagance. "
5.
After resigning from the main leadership positions of the Party and the country, the Party and the people did not forget Hua Guofeng. From the 12th National Congress of the Communist Party of China to the 15th National Congress, Hua Guofeng was elected as a member of the Central Committee. After no longer serving as a member of the Central Committee, he attended the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China as a special representative. He still maintained the historical record of attending the Party's congress nine consecutive times. After entering the 21st century, as he grew older, Hua Guofeng's health was much worse than before. At the request of the doctor, Hua Guofeng reduced going out and focused on resting at home.
No matter what his health or the weather, there were two days of the year, and Hua Guofeng was unable to stop. You must go out. One of these two days is December 26th every year, which is Mao Zedong's birthday; the other day is September 9th, which is the day when Mao Zedong died.
In these two days, Hua Guofeng will definitely bring his family to Chairman Mao's Memorial Hall to pay tribute to Mao Zedong's remains.
Some old friends who are familiar with Hua Guofeng know this "rule", so many people will also come to Chairman Mao's Memorial Hall in the past two days, just to meet Hua Guofeng and reminisce about the past. Qian Sijie, a photographer who once worked in Zhongnanhai , is one of them.
Recalling these, Qian Sijie said: "We have those who have stood guard for Mr. Hua, and some who accompanied him on the trip. Mr. Hua is approachable and always talks and laughs with us in private, and it is always the case.
He has been in poor health in recent years and rarely comes out. We don’t have the heart to disturb him all the time, so we will come to Chairman Mao’s Memorial Hall early these two days just to look at him. We feel at ease when we see that he can still move around. "
December 26, 2007, although 86-year-old Hua Guofeng was already ill, he still decided to take his family to Chairman Mao Memorial Hall to pay homage to the Chairman's Face. The children were worried about his body and did not want him to go, but Hua Guofeng disagreed no matter what he said. He sighed to the children: "I don't know if this is the last time I went to pay homage to the Chairman's Face..." The facts later proved that Hua Guofeng's premonition was not wrong. This was the last time he paid homage to Chairman Mao's Face in his life and his last public appearance.
Old man Chen Changjiang, who had worked with Hua Guofeng, still remembers that day Hua Guofeng took his family and their old subordinates to respectfully stand in front of Chairman Mao’s statue, and solemnly shouted a command: "Bow to the great leader Chairman Mao, one bow, two bow, and three bow!"
After entering 2008, Hua Guofeng's health was getting worse and worse. In March, Tian Rui, director of the Jiaocheng County Chronicle Office, came to Beijing with the manuscript of Hua Guofeng's biography to ask Hua Guofeng to review. But after turning a few pages, Hua Guofeng had no choice but to put down the manuscript: "Tian Rui, I can't finish reading."
6,
Like the people of the whole country, Hua Guofeng had a wish, that is, to see with his own eyes the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics of the 29th Summer Olympics held in Beijing on August 8, 2008, and to see how 1.3 billion Chinese people sing the Olympic songs of unity, friendship and peace in their homes, and to share this joy with the masses.
After learning about Hua Guofeng's wish, the Olympic Organizing Committee sent him a few tickets on August 2. Looking at the tickets sent, Hua Guofeng sighed regretfully and said, "I'm old and I won't go anymore, you guys go!"
August 3, Hua Guofeng was admitted to the hospital again and never came out again. On August 20, 2008, Hua Guofeng died in Beijing at the age of 87. Before his death, Hua Guofeng left his last words: "Let me go back to Guashan, there are many trees and quiet. When I was a child, I was there, and I was also fighting guerrillas."
At Hua Guofeng's memorial service, several old friends who accompanied Hua Guofeng to pay tribute to the Chairman's remains on the day of Chairman Mao's birth in 2007 were deeply saddened. Everyone sighed: "September 9th is still there, but we didn't expect that we would stand in front of Hua Guofeng's mourning hall... We can no longer hear the commands that Mr. Hua shouted..."
Reference materials:
China News Network: "Hua Guofeng's later life"
People's Daily Online: "Hua Guofeng's last regret: I didn't like the Beijing Olympics", "Hua Guofeng's living in seclusion, and pays attention to Chairman Mao's remains twice a year"
