This article is compiled based on the recollections of Ben Lanwu, a soldier in the former 8341 unit.
In 1965, as a recruit from the Central Guard Regiment, my first squad when I arrived at Zhongnanhai Station was Chairman Mao’s home at the gate of the No. 1 sentry, “Fengze Garden”.
Later, Chairman Mao moved into the "swimming pool", and I was also transferred there, and I was still standing on the No. 1 post. Until more than five years after leaving the Central Guard Regiment, whether Chairman Mao was in Zhongnanhai, the Great Hall, Diaoyutai, or in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Wuhan, and on special trains, I had always stood at the No. 1 sentry that Chairman Mao must pass through.
No head of state will have the work of the head of state as busy as Chairman Mao, but life and guards are as simple and simple. In order to be frugal, there were very few staff members (about ten people) around Chairman Mao, and there was not even a full-time guard.
The head of state does not have full-time guards, which is not available in countries around the world. Only Mao Zedong of China is so maverick, which seems incredible. The complicated daily work, life services and security are all handled by the few staff members and our bodyguard code-named "Telecomb".
He works day and night, and we are busy with him day and night. It is precisely because of Chairman Mao’s work and lifestyle that I, an ordinary soldier, have more opportunities to approach and understand Chairman Mao and witness those passionate years.
1. Approaching Zhongnanhai
Chairman Mao’s guard work is divided into two categories: residence guards and accompanying guards.
Residential guards are responsible for the guard work of Chairman Mao’s home in Zhongnanhai, Fengzeyuan, and the personal guards are responsible for the guard work of Chairman Mao when he leaves Zhongnanhai or works in another place. Before the Cultural Revolution, the military troops had only two teams, the Second Team and the Eleventh Team. During the Cultural Revolution, the Thirteenth Team and the Fourteenth Team were added due to the complex social conditions. When I first entered Zhongnanhai, I worked as a guard at "Fengzeyuan" and later transferred to the Second Battalion.
There is a compulsory course in the security business before taking office - be familiar with the security environment. One person, one car, one floor, one road, one pavilion, one pavilion, one door, one window, and even one grass and one tree. The old comrade took me to visit "Nanhai", "Zhonghai", "Yingtai", "Fengzeyuan", "Chunouzhai", "Qinzheng Hall" and other places (the key points are Nanhai and Fengzeyuan) and redirected the familiar places, read them all, and listened them all, giving me a Zhongnanhai that I had never known and was even more fascinating.
Zhongnanhai is majestic and elegant, and its beauty is almost difficult to describe in words and words. It seems that it seems very pale to describe it as "human wisdom".
People often say: Beijing is the heart of the motherland. I think the heart of Beijing is Zhongnanhai. Because this is the location of the Party Central Committee, Chairman Mao and older revolutionaries such as Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi, Dong Biwu, Deng Xiaoping, Li Fuchun, and Li Xiannian all live here. It was a place that was both sacred and mysterious.
Zhongnanhai was first built in the Liao Dynasty. It was named after the Mongolians called water the sea. Previously, this place was a natural lake. The "Yaoyu Palace" was built here in the Liao Dynasty, and later renamed "Xihuatan". In the Ming Dynasty, two bridges were built in the north and south. The north bridge was called "Jin'ao Bridge" and the south bridge was called "Centipede Bridge". Jinao Bridge is now commonly known as the Beihai Bridge. It lies between the North Sea and the Central Sea, and is the boundary between the North Sea and the Central Sea. The centipede bridge lies between the Middle Sea and the South Sea, and is the boundary between the Middle Sea and the South Sea. There is a saying that "two bridges are divided into three seas" (Beihai, Zhonghai, and South China Sea).
The total area of Zhongnanhai is about 1,500 mu, and the water area and land area each account for about half, one-third larger than the current Forbidden City. After more than 700 years of careful construction after the founding of the Liao, Yuan, Ming, Qing, and New China, it gathers mountains, seas, islands, bridges, pavilions, pavilions, pavilions, pavilions, pavilions, and garden art, and is a masterpiece of architectural art and garden art in ancient and modern times. It is the oldest, largest and most complete royal garden in the world so far. It is like a fairyland in it.
2. Approach Fengze Garden
Chairman Mao’s home is in the “Fengze Garden” at the intersection of the Central Sea and the South Sea. The north gate faces the Central Sea, the south gate faces the South Sea. You can reach it by entering Xinhua Gate along the west coast.The south gate is five rooms wide, and the large plaque in the middle of the door is written on it, with the signature above the character "Ze" and a small gold-plated seal: "Qianlong Imperial Brush".
The entire Fengze Garden architectural community is divided into four courtyards, from east to west, namely "Garden", "Juxiang Bookstore", "Fengze Garden" and "Jinggu". The entire courtyard covers an area of more than 100 acres.
"Fengze Garden" is simple and honest and not gorgeous. The middle three of the five doors are six vermilion doors, each of which is inlaid with 81 golden door nails the size of steamed buns. There are two thick Chinese locust trees on both sides of the door, and there is a dragon-clawed locust tree next to each of the Sophora. On both sides of the south end of the gate are two cedars that cover the sky and the sun and embrace thick. The cedars seem to have never been trimmed, and the thick branches almost stretch out close to the ground, making the cedars look particularly lush.
Enter the gate of Fengze Garden, and when you enter the courtyard is a hall, this is the main building of the entire courtyard, "Yinian Hall". (formerly known as "Yinian Palace") There is no paint outside the entire hall, and it looks a bit decay. However, it is the only golden nanmu building in Zhongnanhai. Golden nanmu is extremely expensive because it is particularly corrosion-resistant. Because it is corrosion-resistant, it does not require paint. Its appearance is completely woody, so it looks like it has decayed.
There is a relief couplet embedded on the bright pillars on both sides of the main entrance of the hall: the porch flowers shine on the shore of the calamus, and the bamboo shadows are lush with the jade pavilion. The signature is "Qianlong Imperial Pen". It is said that Cixi, Yuan Shikai and Fu Zuoyi have all been in charge of the board of directors here.
Chairman Mao often meets foreign guests here and convenes meetings. In the 1950s and 1960s, many major policies and guidelines at home and abroad were made here. Every National Day, the leaders and democrats of the Party and state who climbed the Tiananmen Square to watch the ceremony came here and drove to Tiananmen Square with Chairman Mao.
Further north is the "Xiangui Building" in the architectural style of the Qing Dynasty. This is a two-story building where a staff member once lived. There is a big red wall about four meters high on the north side of the building. There was no north gate at the beginning of Fengze Garden construction. It is said that it was to block the north wind in the Central Sea. Later, for the convenience of entering and exiting, there was a door in Fengze Garden and the north side of the garden. Chairman Mao often walks around the north gate of the garden adjacent to the "Juxiang Bookstore".
There is a plaque of "Ju Xiang Bookstore" on the front of the east wing between Yinian Hall and Hanhe Hall. The couplets hanging on the pillars on both sides of the door are engraved: The pine trees in the courtyard do not change the green color, and the chrysanthemums in the pot are still fragrant. The signature is "Kangxi Imperial Pen".
This is Chairman Mao’s residence in Zhongnanhai, the so-called home - "Juxiang Bookstore". It is recorded that at the beginning of the Qing Dynasty architecture, it was indeed a study room. This seems very strange. Could it be that the ancients knew that there would be a person who regards books as fate in the future to live here? I really don’t know whether history chose Mao Zedong, or Mao Zedong chose history, or whether it was a combination of the two.
Through the wing is a large courtyard. The architectural style of the entire courtyard is no different from that of the courtyard houses with blue bricks and gray tiles in Beijing, but it is even bigger. The nine straight ancient trees in the courtyard are green and tall, and the stone-paved "Ten" corridor and the corridor surrounding the eaves connect the two main rooms in the north and south and the two wing rooms in the east and west. Now I can't remember how many rooms it is. I remember that there are nine rooms in the north and south and east wing rooms.
Chairman Mao lives on the east side of the north house called "Ziyunxuan", and Jiang Qing lives on the west side of the north house. Nanzhengfang is a place for office and reception. There are three east and west wing rooms on the south side of the Nanzheng Room. At that time, Li Na and Jiang Qing's sister Li Yunhe lived here.
East and West rooms are mostly Chairman Mao’s study room, which contains many books. In mid-1966, Chairman Mao moved to the swimming pool. The first squadron dispatched more than 40 people to move for Chairman Mao, saying that it was a moving but there were not many daily necessities. After moving for a week, it was almost all books, so that the study room of the "swimming pool" could not be placed, and some books were temporarily stored in "Gui Xiuxuan" in Jinggu courtyard. After Chairman Mao moved to the swimming pool, he never returned to the "Juxiang Bookstore" where he had lived for seventeen years.
On the east side of Juxiang Bookstore is the "Garden". There are two main rooms in the garden, one is lived by staff Li Zhisui, Lin Ke and Wang Bowen, son of Li Yunhe, and the other is a warehouse.There is also an air-raid shelter built in 1964. From the outside, it looks like a house with windows and doors. When it opens, it is a staircase that goes down to the ground about ten meters deep. Although the air-raid shelter is equipped with simple office and daily necessities, Chairman Mao has never entered it once.
Although this yard is called a "garden" and there are also exquisite flower beds made of glazed bricks, we can't see a single flower. But we plant peanuts, cotton and vegetables in the flower beds. We often pick some vegetables to give to Chairman Mao.
The reason why flowers are not grown in the garden is because Chairman Mao doesn’t like flowers very much. He often tells us: Planting trees is better than planting flowers, and trees can become vegetarians. Growing vegetables is better than growing flowers, and vegetables are edible. At Chairman Mao’s home, in the Great Hall, Diaoyutai, and even in his home, I have never seen a pot of flowers for Chairman Mao.
The east side is the "Qinzheng Hall" which is different from the large rooftop architecture of the Qing Dynasty. It is a dome hall that looks a bit like the Western architectural style. It was built in the early years of the Republic of China and is said to be built for Yuan Shikai's restoration and ascending to the extreme.
Whenever there is an important festival, the national flag is raised in front of the gate of the Qinzheng Hall. This is the only place to raise the national flag in Zhongnanhai. It is said that this symbolizes that this is the location of the Central People's Government. Later, a small door was opened between Qinzheng Hall and the garden. Chairman Mao often went through this small door to Qinzheng Hall for meetings and meeting foreign guests.
To the west of Fengze Garden is the "Jinggu" called the "Garden Garden". The yard is about 50 acres, and the area is equivalent to the sum of the three courtyards on the east. It is a model work of gardening art in the Qing Dynasty. The entire courtyard looks relaxed and generous, elegant and simple, with ancient rockery and ancient cypresses, and cleverly layout of the buildings and pavilions and palaces. The main building "Chunouzhai" is magnificent and gorgeous, and the gold-plated exterior decoration shines in the sun. In front of "Chunyizhai" next to it is a lotus pond, and the pond is filled with lotus flowers in summer.
On the high rockery, "Aicui Tower" and "Gui Xiuxuan" are hidden among the green pines and cypresses, facing Chunouzhai from afar. The corridor leading out of the foot door next to Yinian Hall passes through the entire Jinggu courtyard from east to west. Every Saturday night, "Chuno Ouzhai" holds a dance party. Chairman Mao, Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De, Premier Zhou and other leaders often come here to dance, and sometimes watch movies here.
During the "Cultural Revolution" period, these activities were basically cancelled. Directly opposite the inner side of Jinggu Gate, there is a very wonderful cypress tree. At the bottom of it are two ancient cypresses about two meters apart and about a foot thick. However, at about two meters high, the two trees grew into one fantasy, forming a big "man", which looks very interesting. Looking closely, the long-healing chops can still be clearly seen on the inside of the two trees. It can be seen that it is not natural, but must be a unique masterpiece by the Qing Dynasty horticulturalists.
3. Get close to the swimming pool
"Swimming pool" is on the west coast of the Central Sea. The courtyard is more than 250 meters long from north to south and about 60 meters wide from east to west. The so-called "swimming pool" refers to an open-air swimming pool in the courtyard. Its construction date is unknown and it is said to have it during the Republic of China. In the 1950s, Chairman Mao used his royalties to build an indoor swimming pool south of the open-air swimming pool.
Chairman Mao often comes here to work and swim when he lives in Fengzeyuan. In mid-1966, Chairman Mao moved his home here. The lounge in the swimming pool became Chairman Mao's study, and the locker rooms on both sides became the living offices of Chairman Mao and the staff. We live in five bungalows at the north end of the yard. It is said that this is a house built for Chairman Ho Chi Minh that year.
The main entrance of the indoor swimming pool is at the north end, and the entrance is the foyer. Through the corridors on both sides to the southern end, it is the lounge that was later converted into a study room. The area is less than 100 meters square meters. Chairman Mao is so simple that it cannot be called the "official residence" of the official residence. It can't be called the "official residence" of the official residence to work, hold meetings, and meet foreign guests. It is here that Chairman Mao met with many foreign political leaders and US President Nixon, breaking the West's blockade against China for more than 20 years. In a practical sense, Chairman Mao opened the door to China's opening to the world here.
Most of the fabric sofa occupies most of the study room. On the sofa, the wedge-shaped tea table is piled with various books, some are open and some are closed, and the bookshelf on the east and west sides are even more crowded with books. Most of the books are line-based woodcut books, and there are many English versions. Many books have notes of paper with words written in them, and the strips of paper hang down on the bookshelf and look messy.
Despite this, we cannot organize these books when cleaning the room. Chairman Mao once stipulated: I can move anything with my things, but books cannot move them. If he accidentally touches his book and cannot find the book he wants to read in his original position, he will be so anxious that he will lose his temper.
Chairman Mao has a habit: after reading a book, draw a circle with a red pencil on the corner of the cover. Many books have several circles on the covers, and there are at least five red circles on the covers of books such as "Zizhi Tongjian" and "Dream of Red Mansions". In other words, he has read these books five times. It is obvious that the more red circles the books look old.
The dark green curtains are rarely opened, and the lighting is hidden in the ceiling. The diffuse light from the ceiling is the main light source in the room. Next to the sofa are two enamel spittoons and three large floor lamps. The middle of the lamp pole is inlaid with a circular glass disk with a diameter of more than one foot, with magnifying glasses, many sharpened pencils, matches, and cigars.
There is a bedroom of about 40 square meters on the east and west sides of the study. Chairman Mao often lives in the east bedroom. There is an office desk in the northeast corner of the bedroom, which is full of books. At that time, I saw one of them, "Quotes from Chairman Mao" and many red guard mimeographed tabloids. These tabloids were collected by Chairman Mao on the street.
There are two towel pajamas hanging on a hanger with many patches. Under the south wall is an old-fashioned "Shanghai" brand floor-standing radio with a record player made in the 1950s. The radio is rarely turned on, and occasionally Chairman Mao would use a phonograph to listen to records. Against the west wall is a two-meter-wide wooden bed. On the side of the bed are piled with books and several file bags more than one foot high, which almost takes up half of the bed, as if half of the wall was built on the bed.
There are two very old white quilts on the bed, and Chairman Mao often leans on the quilt to read books. There were three towel quilts, a thick round pillow, under the bed there was a pair of worn red leather shoes, a pair of pigskin slippers and a pair of cloth shoes. The bathroom was in the northeast corner of the room, about seven or eight square meters, and there was a square wooden cushion next to the toilet, with books about a ruler stacked on it.
There is a garden on the south side outside the swimming pool, and there is a small door between the study and the garden. Chairman Mao always walks through this small door when he goes to the garden for a walk or goes out. There is also no flower in the garden, and we still plant many vegetables in the garden. Chairman Mao has worked and lived in this "swimming pool" for more than ten years, and has spent his old age in this "swimming pool".
4. Getting closer to Mao Zedong
Hometimes pass by, and years pass by. Chairman Mao has been away from us for thirty-seven years. However, no matter how wind, frost, rain, snow, ups and downs of the world, the days and nights of working around Chairman Mao and the voice, appearance and smile of Chairman Mao, they are always lingering in my heart and knocking on my heartstrings. Those unforgettable past events are like yesterday. Every time I think about it, I always feel surging and excited.
Great people are also human beings and one of the millions of people. They also have joys, sorrows, sorrows, and daily life. If Chairman Mao’s brilliant achievements in political and military fields are a great epic, then, as an ordinary person, Chairman Mao’s life and his emotional world are also a moving poem.
Chairman Mao’s seemingly ordinary stories in his life. In the past, due to confidentiality and discipline, these stories could only be passed down among us comrades who have worked with Chairman Mao, and have never been spread to the outside world.
5. Simple style
Chairman Mao’s frugality in life is famous throughout the party. The concrete and subtle frugal style is incredible. It is hard to believe that the life of a leader of a great country is so simple and simple.
Chairman Mao slept with a wooden bed, two ordinary white cloth quilts from Yan'an and the other from Xibaipo, with several patches on them.Chairman Mao is accustomed to using towel quilts. There are three towel quilts on the bed. One is covered when it is hot, and two or three are covered when it is cold. The three towels were worn out, with almost no fluff on them, and patches were stacked with patches. Sometimes, kicking their legs would kick the quilt hole. He joked: This is a liberation, and for this reason the staff developed a habit: the used old towels should not be thrown away, and they would keep them for Chairman Mao to repair the towels and quilts and pajamas.
The towel he washed his face was hard, the thermos was no longer insulated, and the broom that swept the bed had few bamboo strips, even so he wouldn't let the new one be replaced. I remember that in 1968, after everyone's soft and hard work and patient "ideological work", Chairman Mao finally agreed to buy a new towel quilt. However, the comrade who went to buy a towel and quilt was afraid that Chairman Mao would regret it and left in a hurry, but forgot to bring the "knit ticket" and came back shortly after.
Chairman Mao asked him if he had bought it, and the comrade said: I forgot to bring the 'knitting ticket'. Chairman Mao seemed not clear about what the ‘knitted ticket’ was, and said in surprise: What other tickets are needed? It seems that it is not something we should use. Forget it, don’t buy it. In this way, the towel quilt was still not replaced.
Chairman Mao likes to wear pajamas. He has never worn the Mao style Zhongshan suit that is common in public at home. He always wears towels and pajamas in spring, summer, autumn and winter. When you go out in cold weather, wear a windbreaker at most. The three pajamas were also worn out, with patches on them. A careful comrade counted them and there were more than 60 patches on the most pajamas. Among Chairman Mao’s personal belongings I have seen, the two sets of Mao style Zhongshan outfits are Chairman Mao’s only luxurious items.
Chairman Mao loved cigarettes and tea all his life. The matches he used to light cigarettes were ordinary matches produced by the Beijing Match Factory. When he scratched the matches, he always carefully scratched one side of the phosphorus surface, and he cherished the matchbox very much. After using up a box of matches, the matchbox was still intact, and the phosphorus surface on one side had never been used once.
He carefully accumulated these matchboxes together. When he accumulated too much, he would ask us to send the empty boxes back to the match factory. (Of course, it cannot be said that it was sent by Chairman Mao.) The masters of the match factory were surprised and inadvertent when they received these empty matchboxes. They didn't know that these were matchboxes carefully used by Chairman Mao. If they knew that they were sent back by Chairman Mao, they would make any noise.
Once, Chairman Mao went to the Great Hall to work from Zhongnanhai. As soon as he entered the '118' room (Chairman Mao was in the Great Hall office), he hurriedly asked someone to call the swimming pool: Tell the comrades in the swimming pool that I should not pour out the remaining half cup of tea, and I will continue to drink it when I go back. The reason I was anxious was because he knew that after he left the swimming pool, the staff there would clean up and that half a cup of tea would definitely be poured out.
Chairman Mao likes to drink tea, but in difficult times he did not drink tea for three years and did not eat meat for three years. He also said: tighten his belt and pay off his debts. At that time, the staff found that due to malnutrition, Chairman Mao's legs were already a little swollen.
There was a pair of broken red leather shoes under Chairman Mao's bed, which were given by the Soviet leaders in Yan'an period. This pair of shoes had followed him to northern Shaanxi and stepped onto the Tiananmen Gate Tower. The abrasion of time had already caused it to lose its original appearance. Although it had been repaired several times, Chairman Mao was not allowed to throw it away.
After discussion, several comrades decided to throw away the shoes quietly, but soon they were discovered by Chairman Mao and they must find the shoes back, and then beg us to go outside to repair them. Helplessly, Comrade Zhou Fuming took his shoes to Xidan and asked the shoe repairer to repair it. The shoe repairer looked at the shoes over and over again, then looked at Xiao Zhou, who was capable and neatly dressed, and said in surprise: How can you wear such shoes? You should change them. I can't fix these shoes.
Xiao Zhou came back and told Chairman Mao: The shoes cannot be repaired. Chairman Mao said: I can’t practice outside, please help me practice. It was really hard to resist, and a few people forced the pair of shoes to sew again and still placed them under Chairman Mao's bed. It is said that until Chairman Mao’s death, the red leather shoes were still placed under the wooden bed.
Chairman Mao eats very simply. He eats two meals a day all year round, two meats and two vegetables per meal, and one dish of chili pepper. The dishes are home-cooked dishes. I have never seen them, nor have I heard of what Chairman Mao eats sea cucumbers, abalone, bird's nest, shark fin, and at most, braised pork. And I insist on eating the brown rice (three-season rice) supplied by Beijing citizens. This rice is not sticky at all and tastes like chewing wood chips, with no rice fragrance at all. Although the Jingxi rice produced in Yuquanshan Farm of the Central Guard Corps is very delicious and can be eaten by even ordinary soldiers, I don’t know how many times I persuade Chairman Mao to change Jingxi rice, but he just won’t change it.
Chairman Mao occasionally ate some boiled sweet potatoes and corn. He never threw away the sweet potato tails when he ate sweet potatoes, but ate them all. Once, after eating and cooking corn, the staff wanted to take away the corn cob. Chairman Mao suddenly found that there was a deflated corn kernel on the corn cob, so he called the staff, pinched the deflated grain and put it in his mouth and said: Waste is a crime.
What I remember most during the years I worked with Chairman Mao was picking wild vegetables for Chairman Mao. I once tried my best to recall, but no matter how much I recall, I can't remember how many times I picked wild vegetables for Chairman Mao. There are not many wild vegetables in Zhongnanhai, but there are many horse vegetables. Every time I pick a handful of them, I will mix them for him or stir-fry them. I remember that once Chairman Mao specifically explained: pick more wild vegetables today and treat them at noon.
Chairman Mao likes to use a cane when he is walking. He said it is a cane. In fact, it is a bamboo pole about 1.7 meters long and has no decoration or polishing. The lower part of the bamboo pole has been split, and every time he leans on it, it will make a harsh cracking sound.
I have asked many old comrades how many years this bamboo pole has been used, but no one can tell it clearly. It seems that the bamboo pole I saw in the photo of Chairman Mao’s transition to northern Shaanxi. He regarded it as a treasure for such a long time and refused to discard it. I discussed with Chairman Mao several times to buy a good cane, but he always refused.
Chairman Mao left Beijing to work in another place. We must do a very important task, that is, we must never forget to bring the broken and long bamboo pole. In 1969, Chairman Mao lived in Meiling Hotel in Donghu, Wuhan. There was a large bamboo forest on the north side of Building 3 of the hotel, covered with bamboos of varying thicknesses.
One day, I borrowed a bone-clearing knife from the kitchen and searched in the bamboo forest. Finally, I found a bamboo with dense and moderate thickness. I cut it into about one meter seven long, cut the bamboo joints flat, polished them smoothly and gave them to Chairman Mao. He was very happy to say: This cane is good. After that, I could no longer hear the harsh cracking sound of Chairman Mao’s broken bamboo pole when he was walking. It was this cane that accompanied the great man through the last part of his life.
Chairman Mao often works on trains when inspecting in other places. In order to reduce the trouble to the local area, he brings his own luggage and bedding, including slippers. Each time there are thirty-six large wooden boxes, plus a cane, a total of thirty-seven pieces, and most of the wooden boxes are books. These thirty-seven items are specifically handled by the careful soldier Comrade Sun Xiuting. They are all taken up and removed, moved in and out by Xiao Sun.
1969 I experienced an interesting story when Chairman Mao moved to Meiling, Wuhan. The Wuhan Military Region sent soldier Xiao Wang to serve Chairman Mao. The day before Xiao Wang came, he cleaned Chairman Mao's room and found a pair of worn-out pigskin slippers under the bed. He thought it was someone discarded it before, so he threw it out. When I found out, I hurriedly told him: This is Chairman Mao’s slippers and cannot be thrown away.
He said: You are kidding, how could Chairman Mao wear such torn slippers? He doesn't believe that this is Chairman Mao's slippers no matter what. At my insistence, he picked up the slippers and looked at them silently for a while, tears flashed in his eyes, and he took the shoes back half-believingly.
"Chuno Zhai" is an old building left in the Qing Dynasty, and it looks dilapidated due to its disrepair. In 1962, Chairman Mao had to work in the south for a long time, and it was estimated that it would take about half a year. The State Council Administration Bureau decided to take the opportunity to carry out the deflation and rehabilitation of Chunouzhai, and the project was undertaken by Comrade Luo Moumou, head of the Administrative Department of the State Council.
Luo does not understand architecture, but he requires designers to have high quality and strong engineering.He also vividly told the designer: If a large crane is used to hook the large ridge of the house, you can lift the foundation together. Under the guidance of this idea, the project is not only of good quality and luxurious decoration, but also has a fast progress and is completed in four and a half months. Of course, the project cost a lot.
Chairman Mao went to Chunouzhai for a walk when he saw the magnificent Chunouzhai, and asked the staff around him why Chunouzhai is so beautiful. The staff around him told him that it was rebuilt. Chairman Mao asked again how much it cost, and the staff told him that it had spent 450 million. After hearing this, Chairman Mao's expression immediately calmed down, turned around and rushed back to Juxiang Bookstore, and immediately asked someone to call Luo Moumou and lost his temper: It took only 600 million yuan to build the Great Hall of the People, and you spent 450 million yuan to build a small Chunouzhai. You are intentionally corrupting the cadres of the Party. After that, Luo Moumou was transferred out of Zhongnanhai, and Chairman Mao had not been to Chunouzhai for two years.
6. Being concerned about the people
After the liberation, Chairman Mao had fewer and fewer opportunities to contact the people for security and protection work. Strict security regulations were almost a shackle for Chairman Mao. However, he personally found it difficult to break the semi-closed state. Going to the masses and being with the people has almost become Chairman Mao’s luxury. Therefore, he will never miss every opportunity to contact the masses.
I remember that in the early summer of 1966, Chairman Mao called a car and made an appointment with Wang Dongxing without even telling us the guards. He quietly left Xinhua Gate and entered Fuyou Street and came outside the west gate of Zhongnanhai. Chairman Mao walked out of the car and came to the masses to shake hands and chat with them. He hugged and hugged the children watching the fun, and beat the big drum beside him.
Chairman Mao was surrounded by the middle, and the masses rushed to shake hands with Chairman Mao and say hello to Chairman Mao. Suddenly, Fuyou Street became a sea of jubilant, with laughter and cheers. The news that Chairman Mao suddenly appeared outside the West Gate was immediately notified of the guards, and the mobile troops stationed in the West Gate immediately rushed out of the West Gate and forced Chairman Mao back to Zhongnanhai.
August 8, 1966 Chairman Mao was going to Tiananmen Square to meet the Red Guards and proposed to wear military uniforms. At that time, Chairman Mao had no military uniforms and had to borrow from the army. Liu Yuntang, our squadron, was fat, and he tried to use his clothes to try it. Later, when he thought that the deputy regiment commander Zhang Rongwen was fat, he borrowed his military uniform and tried it and was thinner, but no matter how big it was, he had to give it up.
At around five o'clock in the morning, we took a car to Tiananmen Square. Inside Tiananmen Square, Chairman Mao did not allow the car to stop, but asked the car to drive directly out of Tiananmen Square and parked at the northwest corner of the East Viewing Platform full of Red Guards.
On the corner of the viewing platform, a little girl wearing a braided brush and wearing an old military uniform. First, she saw Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou coming out of the car and waved to them. She first screamed: "Chairman Mao!" Then she shouted: "Long live Chairman Mao!" Suddenly, the entire square was like a boiling ocean, and the cheers of "Long live Chairman Mao" sounded.
Originally, Chang'an Street between the square and Tiananmen Square was empty. People rushed through the cordon regardless of everything, and like a huge wave suddenly rushed to the Jinshui Bridge. Chairman Mao turned around from the viewing platform and came to Jinshui Bridge to shake hands with the Red Guards. Our nervous eyes scanned everyone in front of us over and over again, but who could calm down this huge wave? Although we formed a wall of people to protect Chairman Mao, we and Chairman Mao were like swimming in the sea, allowing the tide to float around.
Still remember that a short photographer in the news film studio put the machine on my shoulder and grabbed the shot of Chairman Mao. In order to protect Chairman Mao, the Prime Minister always stood outside the wall of people in front of Chairman Mao and welcomed every hand that stretched out.
About half an hour later, Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou returned to the Tiananmen Gate Tower. The Red Guards who had already reached the bottom of the Tiananmen Gate City jumped and shouted excitedly. A slightly fat man (probably the director of Xinying) kept shouting to the photographer just now: Mass emotions, mass emotions, capture mass emotions.
This shout reminded the photographer who was so tired that his face was sweaty and was about to take a breath. He immediately rushed into the Red Guards who were jumping and jumping with the camera as if he was full of clockwork again. On the Tiananmen Gate Tower, we found that the Prime Minister's hand was already a little red and swollen by the excited Red Guards.
We were all tired and sweating. Several comrades, including the leader Zhang Yaoci, were squeezed and thrown in the square, and some even lost their socks. They looked particularly funny when they climbed the Tiananmen Gate Tower with barefoot. We were so embarrassed, but Chairman Mao seemed very happy.
On the evening of early October 1969, the Politburo held a meeting at '118'. In view of the tense Sino-Soviet relations, it decided to Chairman Mao to go to the south and decided to set off at 11:00 that night. Comrade Chen Changjiang, the deputy captain of the first squadron of the first squadron next to Chairman Mao, immediately called and notified the Suiwei troops in the swimming pool in code: I will go to the south, leave at 11 o'clock, and deliver the peanuts and green clothes I brought to Beijing Station.
means very clear. "He goes to the south" means Chairman Mao goes to the south. "Peanuts" means fully armed, and "green clothes" means not wearing casual clothes and changing to military uniforms. We have become accustomed to such sudden actions, and we arrived at Beijing Station in less than half an hour. At nine o'clock, we just loaded 36 wooden boxes onto the special train and Chairman Mao arrived and notified the station to leave immediately, two hours ahead of the original time. This kind of violation of the norm often happens to Chairman Mao. This "violating the norm" may be a normal state for Chairman Mao to protect himself.
The train stops at Anyang Station the next afternoon. Chairman Mao was riding in the tenth carriage. I was on duty at the No. 1 sentry that were handed over by carriages 9 and 10th carriages. Originally, Anyang Station was temporarily parked and there was no guard procedure to open the door. I stood in the window of the carriage door and looked out. Suddenly, I found that the comrades of the No. 2 sentry that was handed over by carriage 11 and 11th carriage appeared on the platform.
I concluded that Chairman Mao forced himself to get off the train again, so I immediately opened the door and jumped out of the train, and accompanied Chairman Mao to the front of the train with the comrades of the second post. When he walked to the part facing the waiting room in the middle of the train, Chairman Mao suddenly turned to the waiting room and waved inside.
In an instant, passengers who recognized Chairman Mao suddenly cheered. Passengers waiting for the bus rushed out of the ticket gate. Some simply jumped out of the window, carrying luggage, packages, and carrying shoulder poles, and surrounded us in the middle. Chairman Mao smiled and held each hand that reached out. His smile was refreshing, his smile was simple and innocent, and he rarely saw such a smile.
The cheers on the platform alarmed the guards on the special train. They rushed out of the carriage and took a lot of effort to pull Chairman Mao back into the carriage. As guards, our ideas are exactly the opposite of Chairman Mao. Chairman Mao always wants to go to the masses, and we are afraid that Chairman Mao will approach the masses and watch. Therefore, Chairman Mao often criticizes us for being afraid of the masses.
There is also a widely circulated among us that Chairman Mao’s story: ‘Three years of difficult period,’ in order to understand the real situation in the countryside, Chairman Mao asked the guards of the first squadron to take turns to go home for investigation, asking each person to write an investigation report for him, and also asked to bring some food from home.
Once, the comrade who came back from the investigation reported to Chairman Mao. A comrade took out a steamed bun and said that he would eat steamed buns at home. Chairman Mao slowly shook his head, disagreed. Another comrade from Shandong took out a dumpling of bran and vegetable. Chairman Mao hurriedly took it over and broke it into his mouth. As he chewed it, he burst into tears and said to himself: My people will eat this! In the "three years of difficult period," the materials were extremely scarce and the people lived in extreme poverty. The reason why the country did not experience great turmoil in the years and years of disasters is that people's hearts have not scattered and the people have a foundation. This foundation is that they firmly believe that the Communist Party and Chairman Mao always stand with the people and will definitely lead the people to reverse the difficult situation.
7. The image of Chairman Mao is not allowed to be
During the Cultural Revolution, the personality cult of Chairman Mao was close to the extreme. Some people took advantage of this blind fanaticism and used the so-called "loyalty to Chairman Mao" as a means and bargaining chip to fight wars. They hung portraits of Chairman Mao everywhere and wrote quotations of Chairman Mao. Some even engaged in the so-called "red ocean", and some even fought the "quotation" war. The big red wall in Zhongnanhai failed to block the surging wave of the "Red Ocean". The statue of Chairman Mao was also hung inside the big red wall, and Chairman Mao's quotations were posted.
Chairman Mao was actually very disgusted with this phenomenon. He said more than once: "I am the tree, I don't know who the tree is. There is a huge portrait of Chairman Mao on Chang'an Street in the northwest corner of the Great Hall. Every time Chairman Mao passes there, he will say humorously: They sleep at home, which makes me feel frozen here. Later, Chairman Mao became more and more disgusted as he looked at it, so he simply asked us to call the Beijing Municipal Committee and must take off the portrait. Later, the portrait was taken off and a quote from Chairman Mao was replaced.
1968, a worker from Beijing Chemical Factory No. 3 gave us a portrait of Chairman Mao about 40 inches printed on a plastic board. The image has a delicate texture, bright colors and exquisite frames. At that time, such exquisite portraits of Chairman Mao were rare. We all loved it very much, so it hung it in the center of the lobby of our room.
One weekend at around four o'clock, Chairman Mao was walking in the yard with a bamboo stick and wearing the worn towel and pajamas, and chatting with the accompanying Comrades Chen Changjiang, Shang Laibao and Wu Xujun while walking. Chairman Mao saw the two cucumbers we planted that were not growing vigorously and said: They are yellow and thin, but lack fat.
Chen Changjiang defended: We run outside with you all day and don’t have time to manage it. Chairman Mao walked to our room door. At this time, the soldier Xia Linfang was washing clothes in the room. Someone was playing with him. Xia Linfang chased him out with a basin of water and was about to splash the comrade with water. When he met Chairman Mao, he almost poured the water on Chairman Mao, which caused Chairman Mao and the people present to laugh.
Chairman Mao walked into the lobby of the room and saw the statue of Chairman Mao hanging in the center of the hall. His face suddenly darkened. He pointed to the portrait and asked sternly: Who asked you to hang it? We said: It was given by the worker of the No. 3 Chemical Factory. Chairman Mao looked at the portrait and said loudly: Rich! Take it down quickly. This shocked everyone present because we have never heard Chairman Mao use such self-deprecating language. It seems that Chairman Mao was really angry.
District captain Shang Laibao immediately said: I will pick it off in a while. Chairman Mao sternly said: Pick it now, pick it now. So I took off Chairman Mao’s image in front of Chairman Mao. The atmosphere at the scene was very tense and awkward.
This incident proves that Chairman Mao is very disgusted with the so-called "Red Ocean" and blind personality cult. Chairman Mao seemed to have walked to the gun stand in order to break this embarrassing situation, picked up an automatic rifle and said: The gun is short now. When I was in the army, I was so high (with my hands). At that time, I sat down to catch lice if I had nothing to do. Do you have lice? We smiled and said: We don’t have lice. Only then did the atmosphere soothe.
8. Poetry sentiment
Chairman Mao is a great politician, military strategist, and a great poet. His revolutionary poems written on horseback are almost unparalleled in politics and art. Chairman Mao in life is like his poems, open-minded and humorous, cheerful and funny. Perhaps it is precisely because of such open-minded, humorous, witty and witty personality and feelings that Chairman Mao was able to write such a magnificent, bold, tactful and delicate poem.
Some philosophers say: Humor is a manifestation of excessive wisdom, and this makes sense. With Chairman Mao’s wisdom, how can we lose humor and humor in life? No matter what things are, what words are always so humorous and funny, and he can even be humorous about the names of the staff around him.
His head nurse is called Wu Xujun, and Chairman Mao said: Head nurse is about hygiene, and even the name is "free of bacteria". His waiter is Wu Liandeng, who works with Chairman Mao all day. Chairman Mao said: You are a beacon for me, Mao Zedong.
A comrade of guards named Li Jintai. Chairman Mao said: When Taiwan is liberated, you will be the governor. A comrade is called Wang Dexiu. When Chairman Mao saw him, he smiled and said: Oh! Are you a German old revisionist! Dexiu?
A comrade named Geng Wenxi, Chairman Mao said: You are still happy if you have the fire burned your ears. A comrade named Chen Xiangyi, who is a big man over 1.9 meters tall. We all call him "Da Chen". Chairman Mao said: You are big and taller than me, you can be the President of the country.
My surname is very rare. Chairman Mao knew that my surname was Ben, so he recited the "Hundred Family Surnames" casually: "Ding Xuan Ben Deng", and said: You are ahead of Deng Xiaoping. Xinhua News Agency sent reporter Qian Sijie to be a full-time photographer for Chairman Mao. When Chairman Mao heard that his surname was Qian, he smiled and said: Hello, you have money. I am a proletariat, I have no money, I only have a cent.
Once Chairman Mao chatted with several of us soldiers. At this time, he took out a cigarette from his pocket and held it in his mouth, and then touched the match in his pocket. Comrade Zhang Guangmin quickly took out his match and wanted to light a cigarette for Chairman Mao.
Chairman Mao stopped Zhang Guangmin, picked up Zhang Guangmin's match, lit a match, and then handed the match to Zhang Guangmin and said: Chairman Mao taught us to say "self-reliance, have enough food and clothing"! It caused us to burst into laughter, and Chairman Mao also laughed with us.
Once his insole jumped out of his shoes, and Chairman Mao said humorously: It is unwilling to be oppressed by me and wants to rebel.
In the summer of 1968, Chairman Mao lived in Wangzhuang Hotel in Hangzhou at around 4 o'clock one afternoon. Chairman Mao was accompanied by Chen Changjiang and Wu Xujun for a walk by the West Lake. When he came back, Chairman Mao hummed Peking Opera while walking.
When Chairman Mao walked to the door, I deliberately blocked the door and refused to let him in. Chairman Mao said: Why don’t you let me in? I said: Sing another paragraph. So Chairman Mao sang Guo Jianguang's sing in the Peking Opera "Shajiabang" in a decent manner: "Central Party Central Committee, Chairman Mao guides the way forward..."
Then he swung his pajamas sleeves and said in a white tone of Peking Opera: Goodbye. Then he squeezed into the door with a smile. It caused us to laugh.
Chairman Mao likes to watch it rain and snow. On rainy and snowy days, he often stands outside and lets the rain and snow beat. On snowy days, he often uses his shoes to step on the thickness of the snow. If the snow falls heavily, he will happily say: It seems that the year is good this year! Chairman Mao also likes to expose himself to the scorching sun. In the south of summer, the surface temperature exceeds 50 degrees. Chairman Mao is shirtless almost every noon, wearing big shorts, a towel on his shoulder, and lying on a rattan chair to let the sun burn for an hour or two.
Every time I go to the south, Chairman Mao is covered in darkness. Chairman Mao likes nature, so he doesn't let the grass in the yard pull it away, saying that it is life. He doesn't let the fallen leaves in autumn and the snow in winter, and the sound of walking is very good.
Chairman Mao likes swimming. The Yangtze River, Xiangjiang River, Qiantang River, Thirteen Tombs Reservoir, and Beidaihe Seashore are all places where Chairman Mao likes to swim. Since Chairman Mao loves swimming, comrades who do guards for Chairman Mao not only have high requirements for political and military qualities, but also must be masters of swimmers. When Chairman Mao swims, we always have a few people going into the water to swim with him.
Chairman Mao’s swimming posture is really irregular. His hands always paddled in the side and backward direction, neither breaststroke nor crawling. He himself joked: This is freestyle. Chairman Mao has a skill that is difficult for others to master. He can lie motionless on the water surface for a long time, and can float sideways when he is tired.
In the hot summer, we young people are very enthusiastic when we first go into the water, so we don’t feel relieved for a long time. Especially when we watch Chairman Mao floating motionlessly on the water, we can’t help but be anxious. At this time, we will instigate the brave comrade to dive under him and scratch his soles of his feet. Chairman Mao would use his feet to make big splashes to drive away the brave man, and said with a angrily voice: You people will interfere.Then he said: If you are tired of playing, let’s go up!
There are many crows in the Middle Sea in autumn and winter. Every evening, it almost covers the sky and the sun. It often breaks thick tree branches and crushes the ice. The screams come one after another, and the crow feces on the road are one inch thick every day, which is very annoying. We had naively thought that they would not dare to come again after driving it with a gun.
So, as long as Chairman Mao left Zhongnanhai and went outside to work, we would use two double-barrel hunting rifles to shoot crows, but no matter how we hit crows, we would not see any crows. Later, I wondered how Chairman Mao knew about us beating crows, and said unhappily: You are stingy. Crows have no place to live at night, and they think that they can’t lend a house to your house. If you don’t agree, you have to shoot them with a gun. Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, crows have lived here, and this is their home. How can you drive them away? Moreover, shooting guns at night will also interfere with other people’s work, so don’t shoot them again in the future. From then on, we will never drive away the crows.
9. Care for soldiers
Chairman Mao once said to the soldiers of the Central Guard Corps: You are all good comrades, but you have low culture. You must learn culture. With culture, people will be smart. You should run a school, and I will serve as your honorary principal.
So the first squadron of the Guard Regiment first established a cultural school in the early 1950s. Subsequently, the Guard Regiment and the Central Bureau of the Central Government successively established cultural schools, and recruited cultural teachers from university graduates. In addition to on-duty training, the soldiers had nearly four hours of cultural classes every day. Chairman Mao also personally reviewed the soldiers' exam papers, and used some simple truths to inspire our interest in learning, asking us why the sky is blue, why trees are green, why eagles can fly, and why fish can swim.
Chairman Mao always instructs the soldiers who follow the guards to bring the textbooks. The cultural school of the first squadron still insisted on attending classes during the "Cultural Revolution". When I was a child, I didn’t read much and had a weak cultural foundation. I even struggled to write letters when I first joined the army.
I sincerely thank Chairman Mao for his concern and calling us to learn culture, and thank the Cultural School of the Central Guard Corps for allowing me to learn culture and gain knowledge in the army. More importantly, it introduced me into the door of learning, which made me develop a strong interest in learning, and thus made me a career as a journalist for most of my life.
At that time, we also asked Chairman Mao for questions that we didn’t understand, and Chairman Mao was willing to answer them for us. I remember that in 1968, Lin Biao said: Those who understand Chairman Mao’s instructions should be implemented, and those who do not understand should be implemented. We had a heated debate about this while studying the discussion. One side believed that Lin Biao made sense, while the other side believed that if he didn't understand, he could not execute it. The two sides argued that their faces were red and their necks were thick.
Finally, the "subsidy" was attacked by Chairman Mao. Chairman Mao's two words convinced us. Chairman Mao said: It is OK in the army, but not in the local area. You still need to do meticulous ideological work.
Once, Chairman Mao worked in the Great Hall and wanted to return to Zhongnanhai at around 2 o'clock in the evening. The comrades on duty informed the sleeping staff members, but some of them were slower. Chairman Mao stood outside and waited for a while, and saw that some comrades returned to their room before they came out. For the guards, this is a serious dereliction of duty. How can Chairman Mao and others be allowed to wait for the guards? Such a major mistake must be criticized and punished. Chairman Mao was afraid that the comrade would be criticized, so he said to the captain Chen Changjiang: Young people feel a lot, don’t criticize them.
Chairman Mao often had a little left over when he had dinner, but once he ate all one of the vegetarian dishes and finally licked the plate. This made the careful head nurse Wu Xujun puzzled. Is the food delicious or there are other reasons? Wu Xujun asked the cook Yu Cun: How did you stir-fry that vegetarian dish? Chairman Mao loved it very much. He ate it all and licked the plate. Xiaoyu said: As usual, nothing special.
Xiaoyu thought about it hard, and suddenly slapped his forehead and said: It's broken, I forgot to add salt to that dish. Wu Xujun asked Chairman Mao if there was no salt in the dish. Chairman Mao said: "You are young, there is nothing to make a fuss about making some mistakes. Don't criticize him."Later, Xiaoyu said ashamedly at the meeting: Chairman Mao licked the plate in order not to let people know that I didn’t put salt.
In the summer of 1969, Chairman Mao lived in Wuhan. Comrade Zeng Siyu, commander of the military region, often came to visit him. After lunch, Commander Zeng saw us playing basketball and told our captain Chen Changjiang: Our military region basketball team is very powerful. Do you dare to compete with them? Chen Changjiang said: OK, we are worried about not having any opponents, we will compete tomorrow. At that time, we analyzed that our skills were definitely not as good as others, but our physical fitness must be better than them. We compete with them for speed and we have hope of winning by competing with our physical fitness.
Chairman Mao heard that we were playing football, so after lunch, he came to the court with great enthusiasm and sat on the rattan chair watching the game. Chairman Mao is obviously our "cheerleader team". He takes the lead in applauding and applauding as long as we score a goal, and comments from time to time, and is in a very good mood.
Of course, there is only Commander Zeng, the "cheerleader" of the military region team. We played very well in this game, and our speed was indeed better than the opponent. In the end, we won. Chairman Mao praised us for playing well after he came back. In the second game, Chairman Mao came to watch the game again. In the first half, Chairman Mao was in a good mood and still applauded. In the second half, he seemed to see something, and seemed depressed and did not applaud.
The result of the competition is again we won. In the third game, Chairman Mao arrived on time again, and his mood was not as good as before. He only watched the half, and left with a gloomy face. After returning, he called captain Chen Changjiang and said, "You are too proud and too humble." We live in Wuhan and are guests. We must respect our masters. How can we be without any affection? Chen Changjiang conveyed Chairman Mao’s criticism to us and we decided to hand over the ball in the fourth game.
In the fourth game, Chairman Mao came again. Because the "handicap" game was slack and lifeless, Chairman Mao only watched for a while and left. He criticized Chen Changjiang: You are in a bad mood and it is difficult to play the game, and the ball is very easy. Chairman Mao is meticulous in his care about us and does not let us go at all with our shortcomings.
In my eyes, Chairman Mao is our great leader, but in my heart, Chairman Mao is even more kind to respect the elder among us. With an extremely respectful mood, I will always remember Mao Zedong, a great man who made the entire Chinese nation proud of.
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