Qiao Guanhua is from Yancheng, Jiangsu Province. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of New China. In 1971, he led a delegation to attend the 26th United Nations General Assembly and delivered a speech at the conference as the head of the delegation, comprehensively elaborating on the foreign policy of New China. It was also this year that Qiao Guanhua witnessed the passage of UN General Assembly resolution 2758 , making great contributions to the United Nations restoration of our country’s legitimate seat.
However, after serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Qiao Guanhua also made a mistake and had close contact with the "Gang of Four". In 1976, after arresting Wang Hongwen, he found a list of "Gang of Four" "platoons" from his home, and Qiao Guanhua's name was listed. Because of this, Qiao Guanhua was revoked from his post in December 1976 and was subject to continuous review.
In 1978, during the period when he was under review, Qiao Guanhua was diagnosed with lung cancer. Although he had undergone resection, his condition repeatedly broke out, which tortured Qiao Guanhua so exhausted. In 1982, Qiao Guanhua's cancer recurred and metastasized to the neck, and since then the condition has become more and more serious. During his serious illness, Qiao Guanhua left a will, hoping that he would return to his hometown in a hundred years and be buried back to Yancheng .
1983, Qiao Guanhua died of illness. After that, his wife Zhang Hanzhi followed his last wish and returned to Yancheng, Jiangsu with his urn. Zhang Hanzhi found the Yancheng Prefectural Committee, hoping that the Yancheng Prefectural Committee could come forward to assist in the burial of Qiao Guanhua. However, after learning the news, the Yancheng Prefectural Committee first asked Jiangsu Provincial Committee for instructions. The result of the request was: "Help warmly, but the specifications should not be too high." The Yancheng Prefectural Committee asked again: "How to deal with the ashes?" The Provincial Party Committee replied: "You can do it yourself."
So the Yancheng Prefectural Committee immediately convened a standing committee meeting to discuss the burial of Qiao Guanhua. However, after the meeting began, the venue was silent and no one spoke. Not long after, a deputy secretary spoke: "I'm afraid I can't figure out Qiao's problem, and it's not appropriate to come back to bury now." After the deputy secretary finished speaking, no one spoke at the venue and no one gave any opinions, so the Yancheng Prefectural Committee expressed his "disagreement for the time being" to Zhang Hanzhi.
The reason why Yancheng Prefectural Committee did this was because Qiao Guanhua was involved with the "Gang of Four" back then. Although it was 1983, the cadres at that time were not completely freed from the shadow of the "Gang of Four", so this conclusion was drawn. However, just when the Yancheng Prefectural Committee expressed its disagreement with Qiao Guanhua's burial back home, Guan Zheng, the county party secretary of Wu County, Jiangsu (now Wuzhong District, Suzhou), heard about this.
Guan Zheng knew about Qiao Guanhua and also knew that he had made a lot of contributions to the country and the nation at the United Nations General Assembly. So he enthusiastically invited Zhang Hanzhi to Wuxian and said to her: "On the shore of Taihu Lake, on the mountain of Dongting, Dongting, bury him wherever he wants." Zhang Hanzhi was very grateful to Guan Zheng, and finally chose Qiao Guanhua's cemetery on the east mountain of Dongting, Dongting, sheltered the wind and sunny, and officially buried Qiao Guanhua in Suzhou.
With the reform and opening up of , , localities began to pay attention to the development of humanistic assets. At this time, the Yancheng Prefectural Committee put the development of "Erqiao" humanistic assets on the agenda. However, Qiao Guanhua, one of the "Two Qiaos", was not buried in Yancheng, which made the Yancheng Prefectural Committee, who is Qiao Guanhua's hometown, feel very embarrassed, so Yancheng took the initiative to contact Suzhou.
Not long after, Suzhou issued a special letter to Yancheng. In this letter, Suzhou said: "Because of specific historical reasons, Qiao Guanhua was placed in Suzhou. Now the wish of the people in his hometown to return to his hometown is reasonable and should be supported. However, because Qiao Guanhua's tomb has been in Suzhou for many years, and many people come to visit the tomb every year, it is advisable to keep some of the relics and indicate the reason for the relocation of the tomb."
Because of the cooperation of Suzhou, Qiao Guanhua's tomb was successfully moved to Yancheng. This diplomat who has made great contributions to the diplomatic cause of New China finally returned to his hometown.
