Preface
Chairman Mao is the greatest politician and military strategist in Chinese history, and has left a strong mark in Chinese history. At the same time, Chairman Mao is also a well-known Chinese scholar. People know that he loves reading, and he has been constantly learning and thinking throughout his life.
Even in his later years, Chairman Mao always kept his books apart from work. He drew new knowledge from books like a sponge and kept up with the pace of the times.
Chairman had a small habit in his later years, which was that he loved to read joke books. Many people were very surprised by this, but Chairman Mao actually had an unknown hidden story behind reading joke books.
1. Chairman's collection of books
Chairman Mao once said: " My biggest hobby in my life is reading. I can not eat or sleep every day, but I cannot stop reading. "
For Chairman Mao, no matter what kind of environment it is, it cannot affect his reading.
In the war-torn era, Chairman Mao has always insisted on reading. Even if he finishes the work late at night, he will read a few pages of books slightly.
We can see the Chairman's reading volume through data: the Chairman's collection of books during his lifetime reached nearly 100,000, and the number was more than 100,000.
Chairman Mao’s secretary once sighed: "The Chairman’s collection of books can be called a small library. " However, such huge data is only the tip of the iceberg that Chairman Mao has read.
After Chairman Mao’s death, relevant personnel summarized and counted the Chairman’s collection of books during his lifetime and found that the largest proportion of these collections were books on Chinese literary history, accounting for about 40% of the Chairman’s collection.
Picture | Chairman Mao also has many related books on Marxism and Lenin's thoughts, as well as books on economy, science and technology, agriculture, etc., as well as a small number of comic strips and villain books.
According to the staff who take care of the Chairman, in the Chairman's huge collection of books, he often reads the four great Chinese classics, as well as Chinese classical books such as " Book of Songs " and "The Analects of Confucius". Chairman
often said, "The romance and profound meaning contained in Chinese classical literature need to be carefully savored and carefully felt. This is not only to enrich one's own understanding, but also to discover the excellence of Chinese culture, and to inspire national identity. ." The books collected by Chairman
spanned for half a century, from Chairman Mao's youth until his death.
Chairman Mao has been constantly expanding his collection of books. While reading new books, he often reads old books and argues each other's views.
There are many books in the collection of Chairman
. Because he read too many times, the pages have already had rough edges. Chairman Mao cherishes these books very much. Even if the books are yellowed and old, he will carefully smooth out the wrinkles on the paper and repair them.
Even during the war, the chairman will never leave his own books when he needs to transfer.
Chairman Mao would distribute his clothes, daily necessities and other items to others before transferring, and he never felt sorry for him, but on the other hand, he was very "stingy" and rarely gave his books to others because these are his treasures.
pic | Chairman Mao who insists on reading
After the founding of New China , people's living standards continued to rise, and people had more entertainment, such as listening to radios, watching dramas, etc., but the Chairman's enthusiasm for reading has not subsided. Whenever the chairman of
wants to read a book, he asks the staff to first consider looking in the residential library. If there is no place, he will go to the library to borrow books. The places where the most books are Beijing Library and Peking University Library , followed by Shanghai Library and Nanjing Library .
According to statistics from relevant institutions, from 1949 to 1966, the Chairman borrowed more than 5,000 books from the Beijing Library.
Not to mention the books I have borrowed in other places, the Chairman’s huge amount of reading can be seen from this.
When borrowing books, the chairman also follows the normal borrowing process and never makes special.
In 1958, the Beijing Library made internal adjustments and needed to replace the borrowing certificate in large quantities. After the Chairman learned about it, he specially asked his secretary to do this, but the Secretary believed that the Chairman could ask the Library people to send the books they needed without such troublesome borrowing. This idea was severely criticized by the Chairman as soon as it was proposed. Chairman
told him: "Although my identity is special, it does not mean that I have privileges. Everything has rules and procedures."
Chairman Mao not only studies in his spare time, but also will definitely bring books when he goes out to work. Before each trip, the Chairman will sort out the list of books he needs to read and hand it over to the secretary to organize and arrange and ship it.
always has specially sorted book boxes on the special train where the chairman goes out, ranging from a few boxes, a dozen boxes to twenty or thirty boxes. The number will also change depending on the number of days of travel.
Picture | Chairman Mao
If the Chairman finds that there are no related books when he needs to read, he will send someone to the local library to find and borrow. The Chairman, who has always been kind, is very harsh in this matter, and he must read this book no matter what.
2. Chairman Mao’s reading secrets
First, you must know how to accumulate.
As early as 1915, Chairman Mao discussed reading in a letter to his friend.
Chairman Mao learned the importance of accumulation in his youth. He told his friend that " erudition is the foundation of huge knowledge accumulation" . When the knowledge accumulates to a certain level, consider combining reality, integrating knowledge into one's own use, so that he can master the essence of knowledge. He summarized this idea as "first to make a living, then make an appointment."
During this period, Chairman Mao attached great importance to the accumulation of knowledge. When he was studying and reading books, he often took notes and recorded knowledge points, and at the same time he would write his own opinions in the blanks of the page to annotate them.
Second, Chairman Mao’s young teacher Xu Teli taught him with the Analects of Confucius that “learning without thinking will lead to confusion”. He also summarized a set of learning methods from this. “Don’t read without writing or writing.”
Chairman Mao would think and annotate the books he had read. He believed that the process of thinking and annotation was to communicate and discuss emotionally with the author.
Chairman Mao left a lot of notes and annotations, the most when he was studying in his youth. These notes include his classroom content sorting, self-study annotations and essays from some books.
When Chairman Mao was recording classes, he not only marked the teacher's lectures, but also sorted out all the content related to other subjects. For example, the "Lecture Records" he wrote has more than 10,000 words of annotation, involving many aspects such as philosophy, history, mathematics, and physics.
Chairman believes that human thoughts cannot be limited by the author's views and methods. He should boldly question the content in the book and have his own opinions and opinions.
When Chairman Mao reads classical novels such as the four great classics in China, he can see the contradiction between the social forms and social development at that time from the lines; when reading the poems of Li Bai, , Xin Qiji, , Du Fu, , Li Shangyin, , from which he can learn the cultural heritage of different schools of Chinese poetry, as well as the author's personal excellent literary talent; when reading Lu Xun's works, he can feel his deep revolutionary spirit and sense of mission.
Picture | Chairman Mao
Third, learning knowledge cannot be limited to books, but also learning experience knowledge from practice in real life.
All knowledge is for solving problems. In the practice of solving problems, knowledge must be summarized. Theory and practice complement each other, forming a virtuous cycle that inspires people to make continuous progress.
Fourth, by comparing the classification methods of traditional Chinese disciplines and Western disciplines, Chairman Mao put forward the idea that reading requires systematic view.
Systematic learning can make reading organized, connect huge and trivial knowledge to form a complete knowledge framework. The current education method is basically the same as Chairman Mao’s idea at that time. It has to be said that the learning method proposed by Chairman Mao is advanced.
Fifth, Chairman Mao also proposed the reading method of "three repetitions and four warmths", which he himself practiced.
Starting from the chairman's reading, he will study and mark the books he likes repeatedly, and in the end he can recite many books smoothly.
Picture | Chairman Mao
This method is still used by many people now, but I am afraid that no one knows this reading method Chairman Mao has also practiced it for everyone.
No. 6: Reading requires a combination of work and rest, and you cannot just study hard.
1920, in a letter to a friend, the Chairman pointed out that the hygiene rules should be abide by, "After reading for one hour, you need to rest for ten minutes."
believes that since ancient times, the disadvantages of scholars have come from sitting and studying for a long time, and not strengthening their bodies. He also used his actual situation as an example.
Chairman often feels uncomfortable because of sitting for a long time in school, but after he exercises, he feels relaxed in his body. Until now, this educational method is still widely used in various regions in China. Since kindergarten, students have had the fixed subject of physical education.
, seventh, we must have innovative thinking.
You cannot read books behind closed doors, as this will make you complacent. You must think more, read more, and write more when reading. You must dare to question the places with questions, actively put forward new ideas about your views, and discuss them with friends.
8, you must be diligent and diligent in studying.
Blind laziness cannot understand the true meaning of reading. Only diligent people can succeed.
When he was young, Chairman Mao often studied in the downtown area and since then he has tried to hone his concentration. At the same time, he will also discuss his views with his teachers and classmates and study hard.
Picture | Chairman Mao’s library
3. The reading range of the chairman
Chairman Mao’s reading range is very wide, and there are also different main reading directions in different periods.
Yan'an period
At that time, the revolutionary practice of communist thought in China was not smooth, and it was not even combined with China's national conditions at some point. If we copy the revolutionary theory of Communist International , we would make the mistake of dogmatism , which would cause a fatal blow to the Chinese revolution. The victory of the revolutionary struggle in the New China requires a revolutionary theory that conforms to China's national conditions and can guide China towards victory.
During his days in Yan'an, the Chairman was very interested in philosophical books, so he read a lot of such books.
Foreign books on Marxism and Leninism, books by famous philosophers such as Kant , Plato , etc., as well as books related to ancient Chinese Confucian , Taoist and other schools of thought. Chairman Mao carefully studied these books.
Chairman Mao believes that philosophy is the theoretical basis for understanding the world and transforming the world. In philosophy, thinking orientations and methods for solving problems can be explored. Through reading these philosophical books, Chairman Mao has a deeper understanding of the development of socialism, and combines the Chinese and foreign philosophical theories to integrate the socialist development policy with Chinese characteristics.
The cultural accumulation during this period laid the theoretical foundation of Mao Zedong Thought, greatly promoted the development of Mao Zedong Thought, and also played a great guiding role in the founding of New China.
After the founding of New China, after the founding of New China, Chairman Mao began to read domestic and foreign books on history and culture and economic development at the same time due to the influence of the international environment.
Picture | Young Mao Zedong
The books read by Chairman Mao during this period are very rich.
Through reading historical and cultural books and economic books, Chairman Mao has different views on the history and culture between different countries, and has also summarized the view that economic development needs to be adapted to local conditions. The right path is to strive to develop the country's economy on the basis of respecting the culture of other countries.
After reading works in economic fields such as "Political and Economic Criticism", " Capital on ", and "Soviet Socialism", Chairman Mao had a deeper thought about the development of China's foreign economy.
"Soviet Socialism" Chairman Mao reads the book "Soviet Socialism" several times without any worries. In the chapter "Economic Laws under the Socialist System", every time Chairman Mao reads it, he will leave his own different opinions in the book, and finally form a dense comment.
Later years
Later years, Chairman Mao borrowed a large number of joke books three times.
The first time was in early 1966. Chairman Mao borrowed joke books such as "Xiao Lin Guang Ji", "Xiao Xiao Lu", and "Four Jokes in Ming and Qing Dynasties".
The second time was in 1970. Chairman Mao, who was cultivating in Lushan, Jiangxi, specially borrowed more than 20 joke books from the Beijing Library.
The third time was in early 1974 to July 1974. In half a year, Chairman Mao read a large number of joke books. Chairman Mao had almost read joke books from Beijing, Shanghai and other regions. Chairman Mao suffered from cataract during this period, and it was already very inconvenient to read books. In order for the chairman to have a better viewing experience, the staff specially selected joke books in large characters to read for Chairman Mao.
Picture | Chairman Mao’s notes
4. The hidden truths of Chairman Mao’s reading of joke books
There are also certain hidden truths behind Chairman Mao’s concentrated reading of joke books.
first, in order to adjust the status.
Chairman Mao was very worried about the future of China in his later years. Although he had to process a large number of work documents every day, he did not give up his love for reading. Long-term work has caused his spirit to remain tense. In order to relax his mental state, the Chairman would read joke books. It was the joke books that made him feel a little more joy in his busy schedule.
Chairman Mao also mentioned this in an interview: "When reading books, when you read too many books of the same type, you will change to another book to adjust it. This can greatly eliminate fatigue."
Chairman Mao's secretary also said that he had put forward opinions on the Chairman's method of "changing books to adjust the state", and the Chairman said: "Switching one mental activity to another is also a kind of rest."
Second, reading joke books is to relieve loneliness and loneliness.
Many of Chairman Mao’s relatives War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and Aid Korea , and all died heroically in the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea. What’s more, in the later years of the Chairman, his relatives were unable to go to Zhongnanhai anytime and anywhere due to some reasons. This made the elderly Chairman even more lonely. Although he had staff around him, he could never replace the warmth of his family.
Picture | Chairman Mao
Especially when ordinary people reunite, the chairman can only be alone in the office, double the loneliness. Therefore, at this time, joke books are a good choice. Reading joke books can temporarily forget your worries through humorous jokes and keep your mood short-term joy.
Third, reading joke books is also to understand another literary form, to learn.
Each funny joke contains rich culture and philosophy. Classic jokes will be deeply imprinted by the times. Through reading jokes, the chairman also has a certain understanding of the development of the times and people's spiritual needs.
Fourth, in 1974, Chairman Mao's physical health had problems.
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has established a special medical team for Chairman Mao’s physical health. The medical team includes medical experts in cardiovascular, nerve, anesthesia, respiratory, surgery and other medical fields. At this stage, Chairman Mao reads joke books in large quantities for half a year, because reading joke books can help him maintain a happy mood and continue to fight against the disease mentally.
5. Still insisting on reading in his later years
During the last decade of Chairman Mao's life, his body became weaker and his vision gradually blurred. In order to continue reading, he paired multiple pairs of glasses to read the book. Later, his cataracts became increasingly serious, and the Chairman specially bought a high-power magnifying glass to help read.
1974, Chairman Mao's eyesight continued to deteriorate. After the joint discussion between the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the medical team, he performed cataract surgery for Chairman Mao. After the operation, the doctor specially equipped him with a pair of glasses for the convenience of work of the chairman, and also specifically reminded him, " must pay attention to the rest of his eyes, and you can put it aside when reading."
But Chairman Mao quickly threw away the doctor's advice and directly put it into the arms of the books. Later, the Chairman took off his glasses because they were too heavy and it was inconvenient to read while wearing a book, and insisted on using a magnifying glass to read.
pic | Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou
At that time, the chairman, who was over 80 years old, gradually increased his underlying diseases and he was even in a state of not leaving home. However, he still did not stop reading and studying. Every day he would walk out of the bedroom and read quietly on the sofa.
In the last stage of Chairman Mao's life, his eyes could no longer see clearly. Although he could not read books, he still missed the books that had accompanied him for most of his life, so he asked the secretary to study for him. Although the chairman was old, his memory was still amazing. After listening to the secretary read the contents of the book several times, the chairman could recite the whole text without saying a word.
At the end of August 1976, the Chairman's life had entered the countdown. He still proposed to read "Rongzhai Essays". The staff urgently searched for him, but the Chairman's library had made adjustments before and could not find the book for a while. Out of helplessness, the secretary quickly borrowed it from the library in Beijing.
September 8, also the day when Chairman Mao passed away, the Chairman was still reading this book "Rongzhai Essay". At that time, Chairman Mao had just come out of the rescue room and his whole body was filled with monitoring instruments, but he still hoped to continue reading. Although he no longer had the strength to pick up the book, with the help of the staff, he still insisted on listening to the book for seven minutes.
Conclusion
Someone commented on Chairman Mao and said: " Reading made Mao Zedong successful, and practice made great Chairman Mao. "
Although Chairman Mao was busy with official duties, he could still take time to study and study. He used his practice to prove the true meaning of the sentence " to live until old age and learn ". Chairman
loves reading throughout his life and is with books. Reading has been engraved in his soul, and even in the last few minutes of his life, he still misses reading.
