Chinese people have always had a deep attachment to the land since ancient times. The ancient people paid attention to "returning the soul to the homeland" and "returning the fallen leaves to the roots", which means that people should be buried in the soil after they pass away. The tradition of "burial" is handed down from ancient times.
Before the Liberation War, our party began to consciously stop "burial" and promote "cremation". There are three main reasons: 1. Get rid of superstition and fight against feudalism. 2. Save funeral costs. 3. Prevent plague. To this end, 151 leaders of our party signed their names on the cremation proposal.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the tradition of "burial" has been completely abolished. Under the leadership of the Party, cremation has been unanimously promoted throughout the country. Only extremely remote rural areas are still popular in this ancient funeral ceremony. However, in 1985, General Xu Shiyou, the founding general of the People's Republic of China, passed away, and he was buried in a burial. Why was he the only exception?
Xu Shiyou, nicknamed "Monk General", his life can be called a "legend". In 1906, Xu Shiyou was born in an ordinary farm family in Macheng, Hubei Province. Because he was spotted by an old monk from Songshan Shaolin Temple when he was young, he began his martial arts training career in the mountains at the age of 8. When he was 16 years old, he finally got the opportunity to go home to visit relatives. However, during the visit, he had a conflict with the landlord and accidentally killed the landlord's son. In order to avoid being pursued by the landlord, Xu Shiyou had to leave his home and temple and wander around.
- He was loyal to his country during his lifetime and filial to his mother after his death.
During the wandering process, Xu Shiyou joined the army of the Zhili warlord Wu Peifu in order to have enough food. Later, by chance, he joined the Chinese Communist Youth League. A year later, he officially joined the party and began his revolutionary career. In the decades since he left home, except for 1932, when the troops marched through Xizhangdian Village, Xu Shiyou went home to stay for one night. Apart from this, he never returned home once. At that time, General Xu Shiyou was serving as a soldier under Chen Geng. General Chen Geng, who loved soldiers as much as his son, knew very well that General Xu Shiyou was a very filial man. He found General Xu Shiyou specially and took the initiative to grant him a day off and let him go home to see his old man. Mother.
After Xu Shiyou returned home, he finally saw his old mother whom he had not seen for several years. Xu Shiyou's mother, Xu Li, was the person he respected most in his life. After his father passed away, his mother supported their family's life alone, so Xu Shiyou respected his mother particularly. General Xu Shiyou kowtowed heavily when he saw his mother, and then the mother and son hugged each other and cried bitterly.
At dawn the next day, Xu Shiyou had to leave home and return to the army. General Xu Shiyou knew in his heart that it was still unknown whether he would be able to come back alive to see his mother after this separation. Xu Shiyou couldn't bear the sad scene when saying goodbye, so he planned to sneak away quietly without saying goodbye. But how could Mother Xu, who loves her son so much, not know a little bit about her son's thoughts? Xu's mother got up early and cooked breakfast for General Xu Shiyou. After Xu Shiyou had a full meal, Xu's mother reluctantly stuffed a few eggs into his pocket and kept urging him to leave quickly so as not to delay the departure of the troops.
When General Xu Shiyou stepped out of his house, he felt an unspeakable sadness in his heart. He turned back to his mother and said solemnly: "Mother! My son was loyal to his country during his lifetime and filial to his mother after his death. He cannot serve his mother while he is still alive. After death, he should be buried next to his mother and accompany her day and night! ”
After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Xu Shiyou became famous. He couldn’t help but think of his mother who had suffered all his life, so he specially took her to his side to let her live. A few good days. However, Xu's mother had been raised in the countryside all her life and was used to living a hard life. She was very uncomfortable with life in the city. Even though Xu Shiyou repeatedly tried to persuade Xu's mother to stay with him, hoping that Xu's mother could stay with him for a while, Xu's mother was still reluctant and insisted on staying. Return to my hometown in Macheng.The filial Xu Shiyou could not refuse his mother's request and had to send his mother back to his hometown. From then on, whenever he was free, Xu Shiyou would go home to visit his mother. In the process, Xu Shiyou would always think of the oath he had sworn to his mother: "I will be loyal to my country during my lifetime, and I will be loyal to my mother after my death." After his death, he was buried with his mother. The determination to stay together became stronger.
In the winter of 1957, after Xu Shiyou arranged his affairs in the army, he embarked on a journey home to visit relatives again, but no one thought that this would be the last time that General Xu Shiyou would go home to visit relatives.. Xu Shiyou arrived at the door of his house. He looked at his mother's aging body and the marks that time had left on his mother's face. He felt very heartbroken. If he had not participated in the revolution, he would have stayed with his mother at home!
During this visit, General Xu Shiyou cried and begged his mother to live with him in Nanjing, but Xu's mother still refused. The son wants to be raised, but the family does not wait
In 1965, General Xu Shiyou was inspecting the front line of coastal defense. During the inspection, he suddenly received a telegram that "mother is seriously ill". However, due to the busy military and long distance, he could not rush back in a short while, so he contacted his son Xu Guangfa and asked him to go back and take care of his old mother first. What people didn't expect was that Xu's mother's condition deteriorated so quickly. A day or two after Xu Shiyou received the telegram, Xu's mother had already left Hexi.
It is said that Xu’s mother was still calling Xu Shiyou’s nickname before she left. General Xu Shiyou, who knew this, was in grief. The impact of various emotions made him cry loudly in the car returning home, shouting: Mother! It’s the child who is unfilial, and it’s me who feels sorry for you! "After General Xu Shiyou arrived home, he held a grand funeral for his mother, and he could not kneel in front of her mother's portrait for a long time. Before his mother died, the person he missed most was Xu Shiyou, but Xu Shiyou was not able to accompany her when she died. After completing the last journey of his life, this incident became the biggest scar in General Xu Shiyou's heart.
In 1976, North and South Vietnam were unified, and Vietnam, which had grown in strength, began to look at other forces in Asia. Soon, Vietnam regarded China as a country. The number one enemy. This attitude has caused Vietnam to crazily exclude the Chinese at home and continue to provoke conflicts abroad in an attempt to invade our territory. At this time, our country is still facing the trauma caused by the turmoil and has no intention of fighting abroad.
This dilemma of our country was regarded by Vietnam at that time as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. They soon began to continuously harass our border. In response, our leaders quickly issued relevant orders after understanding the situation. Instructions - China is a peace-loving country, but it is definitely not a timid country.
In order to end the war as quickly as possible, the Central Military Commission decided to adopt the tactic of "killing a chicken with a bull's knife", that is, appointing Xu Shiyou, who had just finished the Xisha campaign. The general is the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Front. General Yang Dezhi, commander of the Han Military Region, is the commander-in-chief of the Western Front. The Eastern Front Group is composed of the 41st, 42nd, 43rd, 54th, 55th Army and the 50th Army of the 149th Division, and the Western Front Group is composed of The 11th, 13th, 14th Army and the 149th Division of the 50th Army were assigned to the armored , artillery, and engineering units to the maximum extent. The Guangxi and Yunnan troops were also assigned to enter a state of full combat readiness, and were replaced by the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union. The Shenyang Military Region, Beijing Military Region, Lanzhou Military Region , and Xinjiang Military Region bordering Mongolia have all entered level 1 combat readiness to prepare for the Soviet attack. At this time, General Xu Shiyou was already 74 years old and had commanded several wars in succession. It was overwhelming for his body. The difficulty of the vs. Vietnam self-defense battle itself did not stump Xu Shiyou, but in this battle, Xu Shiyou's old wounds from the anti-war relapsed, he couldn't help but It reminded him of his own past.
- Reluctantly suffering from cancer, a generation of heroes finally came to an end.
When General Xu Shiyou was old, he would think of his mother's appearance every night before she died. He did not give his mother a final death, which became a knot that General Xu Shiyou could not let go of throughout his life. Therefore, General Xu Shiyou told his son long ago: "Be sure not to be cremated after death, but be buried next to your mother!" For this reason, Xu Shiyou even prepared a coffin for himself in advance.
After the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, General Xu Shiyou's old injury recurred, which made him, who was already addicted to alcohol, like drinking even more. But at this time, General Xu Shiyou's body could no longer bear this. Not long after, Xu Shiyou suffered from liver cancer . At first, he thought it was not a big problem, just a little stomachache, and there was no need to publicize it everywhere. However, as cancer worsened, General Xu Shiyou's mental state and physical condition deteriorated rapidly. His relatives and subordinates realized that there might be something wrong with General Xu Shiyou's body, and insisted that General Xu Shiyou go to the hospital for examination. The stubborn General Xu Shiyou couldn't stand the advice of people around him, and finally went to the hospital for a check-up, only to find out that he had liver cancer.
- Do it like this, there will be no other example
General Xu Shiyou, who is terminally ill, is in great pain. This kind of pain cannot even be alleviated by the use of painkillers. General painkillers are not effective enough and have minimal effect. Powerful painkillers are also highly addictive, and even doctors dare not use them too much.
Cancer crazily tortured Xu Shiyou's old body. In the later stages, Xu Shiyou could not even stand up alone. No matter what he did, he needed someone to take care of him. Under this situation, General Xu Shiyou also vaguely felt that his end was approaching. He called someone in a small voice and handed over a letter that he had prepared.
It turns out that Xu Shiyou has never forgotten the vow he made to his mother, nor has he forgotten his regrets. He wrote this letter to the leading comrades of the Party Central Committee, hoping that the Party Central Committee could fulfill his wish, but he regretted it. While waiting for a reply, the confused General Xu Shiyou often said to his children: "After I leave, you can drive me back to my hometown, dig a hole next to your grandma and bury me in it." General Xu Shiyou Every time he said this, the relatives around him couldn't stop crying. He dedicated his life to the country and made great contributions, but his wishes before leaving were so simple.
In fact, the Party Central Committee has long understood General Xu Shiyou’s wish. As early as Chairman Mao’s initiative for cremation, General Xu Shiyou directly proposed his wish for burial to Chairman Mao. After some consideration, the then Chairman agreed to the request. . This time, the central government has not issued a document after receiving the letter. The reason is very simple, that is, after the founding of New China, all central leaders and generals adopted cremation without exception, so no one could make this decision. But having said that, special situations are treated differently, and the Party Central Committee quickly found the person who could make this decision, and that was Comrade Deng Xiaoping. After Comrade Deng Xiaoping received the letter, he was very confused at first. However, after thinking about General Xu Shiyou's life, Deng Xiaoping gave instructions in the letter: "Do it as it is and never do it again."
On October 20, 1985, General Xu Shiyou left forever. us. On October 26, the deputy director of the Central Advisory Committee went to Nanjing under the order of the central government to convey Deng Xiaoping's thoughts on the burial of General Xu Shiyou - " In Xu Shiyou's more than 60 years of military career, he made great achievements in battle and died a hundred lives. He was a special person. A special person with special character, special experience, special contribution, a special pass signed by Deng Xiaoping, this is the special among the special. Seven specials in a row are enough to show that the Party Central Committee attaches great importance to this matter.At this point, Xu Shiyou finally fulfilled his original promise of "being loyal to the country during his lifetime and filial piety to his mother after his death" at this special funeral.
General Xu Shiyou's life was a magnificent one. His regret for his mother was because he had all the people of China in his heart. Although he did not insist on cremation, his reasons for insisting on burial were sufficient. He sacrificed the opportunity to accompany his mother for the revolution, for the 40 million people who suffered, and for countless suffering families, and never There was one complaint. In this case, what reason do we have to refuse? General Xu Shiyou is immortal!
