On October 22, 1985, the founding general Xu Shiyou died at the Nanjing Military Region General Hospital at the age of eighty.
Looking back at his life, he has made great achievements and great prestige. Not only did they make great contributions in the War of Resistance Against Japan and the Liberation War of , but after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, they also participated in the " self-defense counterattack " and " self-defense counterattack against Vietnam ".
Deng Xiaoping commented on it: "Xu Shiyou has made great achievements in warfare during his 60-year military and horse career, and he is a special person with special character, special experience and special contribution."
Xu Shiyou
For the merits of General Xu Shiyou, after his death, he should be buried in Babaoshan Cemetery for future generations to pay respect. But in fact Xu Shiyou not only was not buried in Babaoshan, and Deng Xiaoping also gave instructions on this: is not allowed to hold memorial services; not to publish newspapers; not to spread funerals; not to allow family members and children to pass on; not to erect monuments. .
Why was he treated like this after the death of the founding general of the army? What untold story is hidden behind Deng Gong’s instructions?
Refusal to cremation
In 1956, during the Central Working Conference held in Huairen Hall, Beijing, a "Proposal" was silently circulated among state leaders. The signatures of Chairman Mao, Premier Zhou and President Peng were Marshal Zhu De, etc., but when this "proposal" was passed to General Xu Shiyou, he did not sign it.
This is a "proposal" on the implementation of cremation,The thick stack, the main content is to propose that people working in state agencies voluntarily carry out cremation after death. Anyone who supports this should sign at the end of the report to show their commitment.
Xu Shiyou and Chairman Mao
Prior to this, most Chinese people chose to go to the soil for peace after death. The traditional Chinese culture believes that is the beginning of filial piety. Therefore, the form of burial is also a manifestation of filial piety, which has been recognized and accepted by most Chinese for thousands of years.
But after the founding of New China, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China had different opinions on burial.
One year after the founding of New China, Ren Bishi, then secretary of the Central Committee, died of illness at the age of 46. The founding fathers fell, and the whole country was in grief. For this reason, the government and organizations held a very grand memorial service and a very grand burial ceremony for him.
After the funeral, Chairman Mao said to Zhou Enlai, Zhu De’s and other leading comrades of the central government with a slight worry: “Comrade Ren Bishi’s contribution to the cause of China’s revolution is very great, and his burial is also very necessary, but if we are People have to do it like this. Isn't it a waste?"
In fact, from these words, it can be seen that Chairman Mao has already begun to consider more frugal funeral methods at this time.
Chairman Mao
In 1954, Chairman Mao visited the West Lake in Hangzhou. When he saw that there were many graves on the peaks of the West Lake, he said with concern: "There are too many graves here. It’s not good for the dead to compete for land with the living.”
Therefore, in order to save limited land resources and out of consideration for more environmental protection, the central government began to try to promote cremation. This was the time when the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China met in 1956. "The Proposal for the Implementation of Cremation" circulated in China.
There is such a paragraph in the proposal:
"Practice cremation,It does not occupy farmland and does not require coffins, which can save the cost of burial and burial, and it does not hinder the memorial of the dead. All staff of state agencies who approve of cremation methods, please sign at the back. Anyone who signs his name means that he must be cremated after his death. The later deceased must ensure that the first deceased fulfill their cremation wishes.
Mao Zedong expressed his approval for this proposal. After reading it, he repeatedly said: "Okay, okay, very good!" "Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, all the staff of the central government signed their names as an example. After that, they were promoted to local governments. Local leaders also signed one by one. Only General Xu Shiyou at rejected this.
Xu Shiyou also specifically for This matter found Chairman Mao, told Chairman Mao about his difficulties, and explained why he refused to sign the "Practice Cremation Proposal." Chairman Mao did not seriously criticize Xu Shiyou after hearing Xu Shiyou clarify the story. He just haha. I laughed, and didn’t say much.
Xu Shiyou is still a young and powerful battlefield hero. The death and the arrangements for his aftermath are still early for him. Therefore, Chairman Mao, including General Xu Shiyou himself, did not let this matter go. In my heart. Moreover, the reasons Xu Shiyou gave at the time were very moving.
The reason that General Xu Shiyou was reluctant to sign the "Practice Cremation Proposal" was that he wanted to be buried with his mother so that he could be there after death. Be filial to your side.
Xu Shiyou's mother
Xu Shiyou refused to sign the "Cremation Proposal". At that time, the central high-level officials thought that Xu Shiyou did not sign it, after all, he was still young. In the heyday, maybe a few years later, he will change his mind. But Xu Shiyou's idea of burial did not dissipate over time, instead, he became more and more determined.
Regret for not being filial
As everyone knows, General Xu Shiyou is only one. In addition to the fierce generals who can win the battle,He is also a famous filial son. Nowadays, in the former residence of Xu Shiyou in Xin County, Henan Province, the road in front of the door is still called the "Mother Road" by the world. The story of Xu's mother and son's filial piety is even more widely circulated in the local area.
Xu Shiyou
When Xu Shiyou was young, because of chronic malnutrition, his head was large and neck thin, and his limbs were as thin as firewood. At the age when children can walk, Xu Shiyou couldn't even stand. This year, there was another severe drought, and there was no harvest in the fields, and it was even more difficult for a family where the grain was already very compact.
Looking at a big family starving and suffering, Xu Shiyou's father decided to sell Xu Shiyou and return some food. It was the birthplace of the thin Xu's mother, who took Xu Shiyou back from the traffickers.
If there is nothing to eat, Xu's mother hugs Xu Shiyou and goes out to beg. Whenever she asks for a good meal, Xu's mother will keep it for Xu Shiyou. During the cold winter, Xu's mother will put the rice in her chest to heat up or take a bite. Feed him with one bite. In this way, Xu Shiyou was fed by his mother with the meal he had asked for. During this period, Xu's mother didn't know how many times he passed out of hunger.
When Xu Shiyou was 6 years old, his father died of illness due to overwork. The burden of the whole family fell on Xu's mother's thin shoulders. In order to feed a family of several, Xu's mother can be said to have suffered almost all the suffering in the world. Children from poor families have taken care of them early. Since childhood, Xu Shiyou has determined that he must repay his mother's nurturing grace in the future.
In order to reduce the burden on the mother and learn a little bit of personal skills to better support her mother in the future, the 8-year-old Xu Shiyou resolutely followed You Fang's monk to Dengfeng Shaolin Temple . When he was 16 years old, he was beaten out of the temple by a group of seniors to visit his seriously ill mother. After joining the Red Army, Xu Shiyou often worried about his mother in the family.
Shaolin Temple
Three years of service and no filial son, when he left Dabie Mountain ,Xu Shiyou felt that there might be no chance to do his mother's filial piety in the future, so before leaving, he risked the danger and touched back home in the middle of the night, and solemnly knelt down his head for his mother. It is said that Xu Shiyou often dreamed of his mother during the war. In the dream, he would wake up crying and crying when he saw his mother's hard life at home alone.
In 1952, Xu Shiyou, who was already the commander of Shandong Military Region , went home to visit his mother after being approved by his superiors. At this point, it has been 20 years since he went home last time.
On that day, Xu Shiyou rode a horse far away and saw an old woman in ragged clothes and gray hair, with a small body carrying a large bundle of firewood and walking hard towards his home.
Xu Shiyou slowly stepped forward, rolled over and got off his horse. He saw the old woman’s gray hair messy like a grass nest, and some broken hair was stuck to her face and neck by sweat. She was wearing a patchwork patchy shirt and feet. The shoe on my shoe has also broken a big hole, and one toe has leaked out.
Xu Shiyou stared at the face of the old woman and did not dare to recognize each other for a while. He carefully looked at it, trying to find out what it looked like 20 years ago from this face, "Is it a mother?" Xu Shiyou hoped it was and hoped it was not. I don't know what it's like.
When Xu Shiyou was unsure, the old woman slowly opened her mouth hoarsely: "It's You Dewa?"
Youde, the nickname of General Xu Shiyou, Xu Shiyou knelt on the ground with a "pump", tears streaming down He said with a full face: "Mother, my mother is Youde, Youde is back, and my son is back." Xu's mother dropped the firewood and supported Xu Shiyou who was kneeling on the ground. Let it stand up quickly.
Xu Shiyou refused to get up, and said guiltily: "Mother, these days when I am away, you have suffered, your son is late, and your son is not filial." Xu's mother could not hold Xu Shiyou, so she had to hold him, mother and son People cried into a ball not far from the door of the house. The accompanying staff and neighbors were all moved by it.
For a long time, Xu mother straightened up slowly and said: "You Dewa, it is not easy for you to come to the house from a long distance. I enter the house and boil some water for you." Xu Shiyou stood up and picked up the bundle. Chai, carrying Chai and following his mother slowly walked home.
Back at home, Xu Shiyou looked at the poor house, thinking about the hardships of his mother’s daily life.He was full of sadness again, and knelt down in front of his mother again. The general who commanded thousands of troops on the battlefield was just a child full of guilt in front of his mother.
Portrait of Xu Shiyou saying goodbye to his mother
After Xu Shiyou took her mother to support, but her mother was used to living in the country, and it was difficult for her to adapt to the big city for a while, so she fell ill and was helpless Xu Shiyou Had to obey the old man's wishes and sent him back to his hometown.
However, Xu Shiyou was still worried after all. He was busy with official duties and lacked skills. He transferred his son Xu Guang back to his hometown and let his son do his filial piety. Xu Guang is also a great filial son. He has no complaints about this matter. He said: "From ancient times to the present in China, there has been a tradition of'you raise me and I raise you old.' The principle of virtue and filial piety is a matter of course.”
In the winter of 1957, Xu Shiyou returned home to visit relatives. At this time, Xu's mother was 78 years old. As soon as Xu Shiyou entered the house, he saw his mother crouching to feed the pigs. His nose was sore, and he shouted at his mother: "Mother, my son is back, I will come back to see you."
Xu's mother turned her head back in reply. With a surprise smile on her wrinkled face, she put aside the work in her hands and murmured: "Oh, Youde is back, really Youde!" Before she finished speaking, she choked.
Xu Shiyou stepped forward, knelt on his knees, hugged his mother's legs, and started crying again.
Mother Xu said: "You Dewa, I am 78 this year, and we see each other once less." After speaking, she couldn't help crying.
Two years later, when Xu Shiyou returned home to visit, Xu's mother had passed away. Xu Shiyou knelt in front of Xu’s mother’s grave, crying and said: "My mother, I can’t help you. I couldn’t serve you by your side when you were there. Don’t worry, when I die, I I must come to guard your grave."
General Xu Shiyou stubbornly believes that only burial can protect the grave for his mother, so he never signed the proposal for cremation. Because he promised his mother,Guard her grave after death.
Special approval by Deng Xiaoping
In 1979, the 74-year-old General Xu Shiyou led the Chinese People's Liberation Army to successfully complete the Eastern Front combat mission of the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam. General Xu Shiyou, who had finished the last battle in his life, gradually deteriorated in physical condition.
General Xu Shiyou, who feels his body is getting weaker, wrote to his son Xu Guang when he was 70 years old. The letter said to prepare a coffin for him in advance. After his death, don’t cremate him, just use this. He was buried in a coffin and buried him beside his mother's grave. Xu Guang obediently followed suit, and he really found a carpenter to lay a coffin for his father.
Letter from Xu Shiyou to Xu Guang
In 1985, just after New Year’s Day, Xu Shiyou’s body was obviously not as good as before. He found the staff around him and asked him to write a report to the Party Central Committee. Once formally proposed, I hope to be buried next to my mother in the way of burial after death.
The report was submitted after New Year's Day, but the central government has not approved it. At that time, General Xu Shiyou was in the advanced stage of liver cancer, and from time to time he would be tortured into a coma. Every time he woke up, the first thing he had to ask was whether the report of the application for burial was approved by the central government.
One day, Xu Shiyou woke up from a coma again. He said in a weak voice to his nephew who was standing in front of the hospital bed: "Daquan, you can drive. After I die, can you get a truck and pull me? Go back to your hometown. At that time, you don’t need to bother. Use a plastic sheet to dig a hole on the edge of your grandma’s grave and bury me in it.”
No, the hospital refused to go to the General Hospital of the Beijing Military Region for treatment due to the narrow roads and many people. How could Beijing's medical conditions be bad? Xu Shiyou was just afraid that after he went to Beijing and died of illness, his body might not come back.He could not fulfill his wish to guard the grave for his mother after his death.
Xu Shiyou’s condition is getting worse and worse. Every time he comes to visit his comrade from Beijing, he asks: "Is the organization responding to my request?"
Actually, the central government responded to Xu Shiyou The report requesting burial is very important. Many central leaders have seen his application report, but no one dares to make this decision. After all, many of the country’s founding fathers have been cremated over the years after the deaths.
On October 22, 1985, General Xu Shiyou died in Nanjing with regret at the age of 80.
After the death of General Xu Shiyou, his children once again raised his last wish to the organization. First, I want my father to be buried and rest in peace as soon as possible, and second, I want to do my best to satisfy my father's last wish. However, at the same time, Xu Shiyou's children also prepared for the worst. If the central government does not approve the burial, it will have to go against his father's last wish.
The deceased was the big one, and the report soon reached Deng Xiaoping's desk, and Deng Xiaoping felt embarrassed.
Deng Xiaoping and Xu Shiyou
It is reasonable to say that cremation was promoted throughout the country at that time, and the central staff should set an example. Xu Shiyou should not be an exception. However, the proposal for cremation at that time was still a voluntary act and was not mandatory. Xu Shiyou has never signed the proposal and has repeatedly stated that he wants to carry out burial. In this case, if you disagree, it will seem unkind.
Deng Xiaoping and Xu Shiyou have been good friends for many years, they know him well, and they visited him when he just fell ill.
At the beginning of the year, Deng Xiaoping made a southern tour through Nanjing. He told Han Peixin: "After I arrived in Nanjing on this trip, I will go to visit Comrade Shiyou."
Han Peixin brought the news to Xu Shiyou, and Xu Shiyou smiled after hearing it. : "I want to pick him up at the station."
After Deng Xiaoping learned the news,He wrote back saying that Comrade Xu Shiyou is in poor health. Don't let him pick him up at the station on such a cold day. Just make an appointment at your residence then.
So. On February 1, the two met at Zhongshan Mausoleum in . The two hadn't seen each other for a long time. Goodbye was very kind, and both of them clasped their hands, both of them looked a little excited. The two greeted each other, talked about many past events, and left a precious group photo.
Deng Xiaoping and Xu Shiyou
Nowadays, the friend has passed away, and there is still a last wish that has not been fulfilled. Deng Xiaoping has been silent for a long time. After careful consideration, Comrade Deng Xiaoping finally agreed to Xu Shiyou's request and gave instructions: "Do as this, not as an example."
So, on the fourth day after General Xu Shiyou passed away, Wang Zhen was commissioned by Comrade Deng Xiaoping to make a special trip. He went to Nanjing to convey the opinions of the central government to his family members.
Wang Zhen explained to Xu Shiyou's family that the central government agreed that the burial of General Xu Shiyou was a unique exception. At the same time, Wang Zhen also verbally conveyed the five-point request of the central government: "No memorial service; no report; no spread of funerals; no tombstones." General Xu Shiyou's final request was the state's due treatment to meritorious ministers. However, the cremation of Communist Party cadres is a matter of principle. Therefore, everything must be kept simple and not publicized.
Keeping the grave for the mother as you wish
One of the problems that must be solved in the burial is the problem of the coffin. The coffin prepared by Xu Shiyou's family before was a bit small and could not hold Xu Shiyou's body due to edema due to illness. Later, with the help of You Taizhong, commander of Guangzhou Military Region , two hundred-year-old nanmu were found in the virgin forest of Guangxi and sent to Nanjing overnight.The coffin of General Xu Shiyou was resolved.
On the afternoon of the 31st, the farewell ceremony of General Xu Shiyou's remains was held in the auditorium of the Nanjing Military Region. The auditorium has undergone a fully enclosed renovation. A banner hung high outside the auditorium with the words "Comrade Xu Shiyou immortal" . The portraits of Xu Shiyou are hung on both sides of the stage. Many party and central leaders came to give wreaths, but the entire auditorium was always quiet and even the footsteps were heard clearly.
Maybe it was a coincidence, maybe the sky was also weeping. When bidding farewell to Xu Shiyou's body, the sky was clear and the sky was clouded with lightning and thunder, and then the big raindrops fell down. In less than half an hour, the torrential rain had gone again, and the sky became cloudless and clear again. "Even God is crying for Commander Xu to see him off." Someone said quietly.
Xu Shiyou (right)
Xu Shiyou’s coffin contained several items: the watch he wore most often during his lifetime, the radio that he listened to for a while every day, a bottle of Maotai, and two of his favorites Guns and one hundred yuan of renminbi. Some people say that these funeral items have special meanings: drinking can be bold, guns can be used to fight ghosts, and money can be used to buy roads. With these objects, General Xu Shiyou can go all the way unimpeded.
At zero o'clock on November 8, Fan Zhilun, deputy chief of staff of the Nanjing Military Region , waved his right arm: "Go!" The convoy escorting Xu Shiyou's coffin departed to , new county of on time. It was in the middle of the night when I arrived at Xujia Pump in Xinxian County, and no one was arranged to greet him. The entire burial process proceeded in silence.
At four o'clock, Xu Shiyou's coffin was put into the tomb. This mysterious funeral was successfully completed, and General Xu Shiyou finally realized his wish to "keep the grave for his mother".
According to the instructions of the central government, Xu Shiyou's tomb had no tombstones at first, and there was only a solitary grave in the cemetery. But then, the villagers knew that General Xu Shiyou was buried here,There are always many visitors in front of Xu Shiyou's grave.
The masses felt that Xu Shiyou's tomb was a bit bleak, so they asked the organization to build a tombstone for Xu Shiyou. So, one year after Xu Shiyou's death, another tombstone was erected in front of his tomb. On the tombstone, there is no title, no credit, no history. There are only 7 characters written by the famous calligrapher Fan Zeng : The tomb of Comrade Xu Shiyou.
It is said that since ancient times loyalty and filial piety are difficult to achieve both, but General Xu Shiyou can be regarded as a famous generation of loyalty and filial piety. Although there is no record on his tombstone, every Chinese person will never forget the various contributions he made to China.
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