Author: Zhang Shuyan
Source: Leting County Civil Affairs Bureau and Leting Culture Research Association Editor-in-chief of "Leting Centenary Birthday Star"
As the saying goes, "There are also thousands of years of trees in the mountains, and it is hard to see a hundred-year-old person in the world." On the fourth day of the first lunar month in 2010, Li Xiaoming, an old man from Lizhuang from Jianggezhuang Town, Leting County, welcomed his 99th birthday with the blessings of his descendants and fellow villagers (the 100th birthday is taboo in rural areas). The old man was born on June 23, 1911, has 4 sons and 6 daughters, and now his eldest daughter is 80 years old. Now, Mr. Li Xiaoming has five generations living together, and more than a hundred descendants gathered together on this day to celebrate the 99th birthday for the elderly.
The old man Li Xiaoming, also known as Li Jingwu, has a gentle personality, honest and loyal personality, and does not like to talk. On that day, the old man was wearing a red Tang suit, with a red face, and greeted guests from home from time to time. He was extremely enthusiastic. At the banquet, everyone rushed to hold wine glasses to celebrate the old man's birthday. Because the old man had limited alcohol tolerance, his grandson would drink it on his behalf. It didn't matter who drinks it. The important thing was to make the old man happy. In addition to hearing loss, a little hunched back, and walking with crutches, the elderly now have good eyesight and a very clear consciousness. What’s more surprising is that this 99-year-old still manages life and hygiene by himself.
The younger generation of the old man said that the old man has a good appetite and has three meals a day, which is very regular. The old man is not picky about food every time he eats, and he likes to eat whatever his family cooks. The eldest son said that life is better now and the elderly must ensure that their diet is nutritious. The second son said that his father had a good reputation among the villagers. When he was nearly a hundred years old, the old man still couldn't rest. He often helped with housework, sweep and wiped, and removed weeds in front and behind the house. The grandson, who graduated from college, said that his grandfather’s biggest hobby was playing chess, and his family would play with the elderly a few games every day. On the old man’s birthday, relatives, friends, neighbors and neighbors all went to the old man’s house to send full blessings to the old man. The old man's room was full of people, and everyone wanted to take photos with the old man and share the joy of the old man. "Now, the elderly can live to 100 years old, which is not only a blessing for their descendants, but also for our village." said a fellow villagers attending the wedding banquet.
Li Xiaoming had a miserable childhood. When his elder sister was 24 years old, his father passed away and left six siblings behind. My mother buried her tears in her heart, spinning around the spinning wheel during the day, doing needlework at night, and making hard work to make a living. Because his family was poor, Li Xiaoming's brothers were in high school and could not afford to go to school at all. His mother was reluctant to let him go to work in the fields, so she let him go out to be an apprentice.
He married at the age of 20. His wife gave birth to daughter Li Xiurong and son Li He died of illness after getting up. Li Xiaoming is both a father and a mother, and his life is extremely difficult, but who would marry him? Later, there was a marriage of free love. One day, Li Xiaoming went to the market to Jianggezhuang market town. On the way back, he met Zhao Zhiyun, a girl from Xitun Village. The two of them talked while walking. Li Xiaoming told the family's difficulties. Zhao Zhiyun was also a miserable child. His father died early and his widowed mother was blind. Only he and his widowed mother depended on each other for their own life. Although the two were more than ten years apart, they were both sick and sympathetic. The more they talked, the more they became more and more speculative. Finally, they agreed to live for life: Zhao Zhiyun brought his blind mother to the Li family. Without a noisy wedding or a joyful blowing, Zhao Zhiyun and his daughter came to the Li family in Shaya Village. At this time, the eldest daughter Li Xiurong was 6 years old and the son Li Heqi was 3 years old. Zhao Zhiyun treated them like their biological children and took care of them meticulously; Li Xiaoming served Zhao Zhiyun's old mother carefully and thoughtfully until her death. This incident was once a household name at that time.
1942 was the era when the Japanese devils were rampant invading China. There is a big opium restaurant listed on Jianggezhuang Street. The Japanese and puppet army claimed that it was known as the Japanese "drug rehabilitation center" in the United States. The so-called "drug rehabilitation center" of this Renji ointment store is actually the "Ren"-sized opium restaurant opened in Jianggezhuang by Li Shouren, a traitor who was supported and manipulated by the Japanese and puppets in Changli County. Where is the "drug rehabilitation center"? To be precise, it should be called the drug intervention center. Because this is not an encouragement to quit drugs, but rather it is to induce people to intervene in drug use! It is a bottomless black kiln that uses drugs, traffics, cheats and harms people. Li Xiaoming is a communist who was invaded by the Communist Party and one of the eight men in this store.While using this special identity to convey information, he reported the situation in the store to our party, providing our party with real and reliable first-hand materials for the party to remove this paste store in time.
In the summer of 1943, our party staff began to open activities, went to Jianggezhuang and villages, lived at the homes of ordinary people, promoted the propositions of our party and army and the news of victory in various places, and taught revolutionary songs, etc. In each village, activists are the main ones, and based on the awareness of the masses, Qixinhui has been established one after another. Anyone who is willing and sympathizes with the anti-Japanese war can participate. No matter the rich and poor, men and women, old and young, when the organization is established, the various powers of the security chief were first reduced, and President Qixinhui had the final say. Under Qixinhui's leadership, the security chief dealt with the enemy and puppet, Qixinhui did some work instead of the anti-Japanese government, and announced the policies and laws of the anti-Japanese government. Li Xiaoming was introduced by Han Guangxin, president of the Qixinhui Association of Beishaya Village. He served as an armed member of the Qixinhui Association in the village, and was responsible for the village's military recruitment, grain collection, and military shoes making. After the puppet townships were abolished in 1944, the party's activities became more public. Each village established a democratic anti-Japanese village regime and established a village government committee, consisting of five members: chief and deputy village chief village chief , civil affairs committee member, finance and grain committee member, and mediation committee member. Each member was democratically elected and was an anti-Japanese activist who supported the Communist Party and the Eighth Route Army. Beishaya Village established a village office, which is a red regime led by the Communist Party. Yang Zhaoxiang from the same village was appointed as the village chief, and Li Xiaoming was appointed as the deputy village chief.
In 1944, due to outstanding work, Li Xiaoming secretly joined the Communist Party of China through introduction by Yang Zhaoxiang and Cai Fuchang. He clearly remembered that the party joining ceremony was held in a large cemetery on the east side of the village. The two introducers guided him to face the party flag and swore: I volunteer to join the Communist Party of China, adhere to the party’s discipline, not afraid of difficulties, not afraid of sacrifice, and strive for communism to the end. From then on, he became more active in the fight against Japan and more responsible in his work. He made remarkable achievements in the expansion of the Eighth Route Army, and he personally sent his two younger brothers to the battlefield of the anti-Japanese war. His second brother Li Shangwu joined the army during the Anti-Japanese War. He moved to the local area after the liberation of the north and the south. He served as the director of the Nanling Mining Bureau of Liaoning Province. His third brother, Li Xiaowu, also known as Li Xiaoguang, has served as the Party Branch Secretary of the 2nd Company of the Leting County Brigade and the Translator of the Confidential Section of the 14th Military District of the Hebei East. Later, he served as the director of the Political Department of the Independent First Regiment of the Sichuan Military Region and the Deputy Political Commissar of the 150th Division of the 50th Army. Now the Chengdu Military Region Cadre Retirement House is enjoying its old age.
In 1946, the Kuomintang army launched a full-scale civil war. Shi Chunfu (from Wangzhuang, Sanzhouyuan) originally served as company commander for the Japanese and puppet security army, but he transformed himself into the captain of the Kuomintang army's Changli Security Police (Gang Club). When the 21st Division of the Kuomintang Army attacked Jianggezhuang, he led the team to follow and killed Changli County Armed Forces Minister Zhai Haiting, District Civil Affairs Assistant Li Chengde, and village cadres Zhao Chengquan, Tang Yaoxian and others in Jianggezhuang Town. White horror enveloped the whole town. In the spring, the Kuomintang cleared the countryside and rushed to the village. Li Xiaoming quickly led the anti-resident personnel to escape after hearing the news. His wife Zhao Shuyun was blocked at home because her second daughter was only 6 months old. The enemy asked her: "Where is your husband? Where is the food hidden? Who is still a Communist in the village?" Zhao Shuyun curled up in the corner of the kang with her child in her arms and said repeatedly: "I don't know, I don't know anything." A group would say viciously, "If you don't say it, just hang you on the door frame!" She begged repeatedly: "Don't scare the child, you never tell us what the child's father does outside." One of the group was soft-hearted and said, "Forget it, the Communists will not let their families know about it." In this way, Li Xiaoming's wife was spared from a disaster.
However, Li Jingwu was not so lucky. In the twelfth month of the same year, the Kuomintang gang surrounded the entire village early one morning and began to search and search. Because the militia standing guard discovered it early, all the cadres ran away, and the Kuomintang was in vain. Li Xiaoming led the masses to cat in the big sandtuo in the east of the village for a day and a night. The next morning someone sent a message saying that the enemy had left, and Li Xiaoming and the villagers returned home one after another.As a result, the cunning enemy killed a shot and surrounded the whole village again. He put the machine gun at the front and back doors of Li Xiaoming's home, arrested all 17 party members and cadres, including Yang Zhaoxiang, the village chief of Beishaya Village, Liu Shuqin, the Women's Federation director, and Cai Yunzhong, and Li Xiaoming. None of them were spared. After being arrested, they were taken to Jianggezhuang. The enemy tied Li Xiaoming to a chair, punched and kicked, pressed bars, poured pepper water, and burned it with charcoal fire. The enemy questioned while fighting: "Who else does the Communist Party? Where is the Eighth Route Army's grain cloth hidden?" Li Xiaoming gritted his teeth and said nothing. At that time, Li Xiaoming's second aunt's family was a businessman on Jianggezhuang Street. She had some power and tried her best to raise some money and secretly bribed the executioner. The next day, the executioner tortured Li Xiaoming with a wooden stick, held it high several times, and landed heavily on the floor tiles. After a while, the stick broke into two sections and had to stop. After a while, someone told me: Stop fighting, someone has recruited them, and all the food and cloth have been found. It turned out that Han Guangxin, the village chief of Zhouzhuang in Beishaya, had rebelled and surrendered to the enemy. Not only did he betray all the party members and cadres in Beishaya Village, but he also led the enemy to search all the military supplies buried by the Eighth Route Army. Under such circumstances, Zhao Nairu, a public security committee member of the Seventh District Government of Changli County, sent a message: In order to preserve the vitality of the Party, save the lives of these 17 people, and to prevent the village regime from being paralyzed. Since the traitor betrayed you, we should admit that the Communist Party and the Eighth Route Army are doing things. In this way, Li Xiaoming and 17 people were released.
1947, with Li Xiaoming taking the lead and mobilizing the entire village (Shaya was an administrative village at that time, including Lizhuang, Zhouzhuang, Donghuang, Zhuangtou and other villages), young people such as Li Xiang and Wang Jinwen joined the army to reach a new recruit company. Due to an argument with Ma Hongcai, a district cadre at that time, he ran home in anger for more than 20 days after joining the army. After returning to the village, he served as the anti-resident director of the village, responsible for the life and production of the families of the military. He got up early and worked hard, took good care of the lives of the military families of the entire village, and relieved the worries of the Eighth Route Army soldiers who joined the military in the village. However, later, Ma Hongcai, the organization committee member of the district office, announced in Xitun Township that Li Xiaoming was expelled from the party because there was no record of him in the archives when he was arrested. Yang Zhaoxiang, Cai Yunzhong, Liu Shuqin and others who were arrested at the same time were not punished. He knew that Ma Hongcai took revenge at that time, but he still obeyed the organization's decision unconditionally. In this way, the party member of a Communist Party member was lost inexplicably. Later, Zhao Nairu testified to Li Xiaoming, proving that Li Xiaoming was not a rebel or a traitor at that time.
After the liberation, Li Xiaoming served as the organization committee member of Beishaya Village, director of the credit union, and captain of the Shaya Brigade until the Cultural Revolution in 1966. He once led the militia to participate in flood fighting and rescue in Weichang Village in 1957, led the team to repair the Beiluan River Waiba, and during the Great Leap Forward in 1958, he led the team to dig the Luan River ditches from Mazhuangzi to Wangzhuangzi, Dazhao Lake from Erluan River, and in 1959, he led the team to serve as the battalion commander of the Third Battalion to repair the Qiuzhuang Reservoir , etc. When he was taking militia to fight floods and rescue in the reed factory, he soaked in the water for a day and a night. His legs were stiff and unable to move. When everyone pulled him out of the water, his legs trembled, his lips were purple and he couldn't speak. Everyone rubbed his whole body with wine to get a sense of consciousness, and he still had the problem of old cold legs.
When Li Xiaoming was the captain of the country, it was a period of economic difficulties in my country. Although the family of more than 10 people had a difficult life, he still helped countless villagers through the difficulties and is still remembered by people. Li Laohuo (Li Heyun's father), Li Quan, Zhou Baoying and others in this village have found him because they have no food, so Li Xiaoming always took out some of his own rations for them. His wife always said, "It's good for others to be cadres, but our family gives food to others and goes hungry." Now, Li Quan's daughter Li Wenhua (married to Quanli Village), saw Li Xiaoming's daughters and said, "We will never forget the kindness of Mr. Li (Li Xiaoming) in our life. In difficult times, our family has no food to eat, and everything they eat is his food." Grandpa Ma Xiufeng from Zhonghaibin came from another place, without land or food, and he had no helplessness to find Li Xiaoming, so he distributed a piece of wasteland and some trees around the village to him, so that he could build a small house to settle down. There are countless things like this to help poor households.
During the "Four Cleanups" movement in 1964, veteran cadres had to undergo review. He "downstairs" a month later, no problems were found, and no punishment or characterization were given. The Cultural Revolution began in 1966, and Lizhuang Brigade established a revolutionary committee. As an old cadre, it was bound to be impacted. At that time, a young man who broke into the Cultural Revolution fell in love with his second daughter. He failed to propose several times and became angry. He went to the Dongzhuang Revolutionary Committee to accuse Li Xiaoming of being a traitor. As a result, in 1968, he suddenly received a decision from the Dongzhuang Reform Committee and was classified as a traitor and was under control for two years. This was purely a vent of personal anger. At the end of 1969, Li Xuewu, the village political instructor, announced in public the rehabilitation decision of the Dongzhuang Reform Committee: revoke the original wrong decision and restore the reputation. Later, Li Xiaoming rode his bicycle to organizations at all levels to ask for party membership to be restored. At that time, the leaders of the Public Security Bureau expressed sympathy and apologized to him, but the files had been transferred to the county party committee and could not be processed. The organization department of the county party committee could not be clarified because of the age of time and no evidence. Later, Li Xiaoming rode his bicycle to find the county civil affairs bureau several times but had no results. Because the old files were gone, Li Xiaoming passed away on the 15th day of the September 19th of the lunar calendar in 2011 with deep regret. Before his death, he left his children with sincere complaint materials.
Li Xiaoming went through the test of storms and life and death from the War of Resistance Against Japan until the Cultural Revolution, and devoted himself to the work of the Party and the government, and devoted himself to the death. After 1966, his family had many children, his wife was weak and sick, and life was difficult. His wife passed away prematurely in 1988, leaving Li Xiaoming alone for more than 20 years. The elderly usually live a light life, never picky about food, and do not eat big fish and meat. But the old man has a weird temper and will never stay away for the rest of his life, so he has the final say. He has 10 children and does not take turns to live. He said himself: I will not go whoever tells me, and I will not go whoever tells me. Although the children were a little afraid of him, they were very filial and rushed to serve the elderly. Whenever I think back to the past, the old man said that what I remember most was that before liberation, I couldn’t eat enough or wear warm clothes. I got up early and worked in the fields every day to allow my wife and children to have a bite of hot meal. Whenever the wheat harvest and autumn harvest, my family could not afford to plow the land, Li Xiaoming and his wife would go to work in person and pull the plow to plow the land. The rope is deeply embedded in the flesh, often shattering the flesh and blood.
After experiencing hard years, the old man Li Xiaoming cherishes his current happy life very much: "Look at the current days, you can eat whatever you want, eat every day, eat in a different way, install a phone at home, install tap water in the village, and build a road, and get a car when you go out. This is thanks to the good national policies!" Speaking of the changes in life over the years, the old man sighed: "This is really a good day I never dared to think of before, and life is sweeter than honey!"
