Gongdelin was originally an ancient temple built in the Jin Dynasty, formerly known as the "Stone Buddha Zen Forest", located outside the Desheng Gate in the capital.
During the Qing Dynasty, Gongdelin became a porridge factory. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, during the Xuantong period, Gongdelin became a large-scale labor camp and was known as a model prison.
During the Republic of China period, Gongdelin was still used as a prison and renamed "Second Prison".
At the beginning of 1949, Peiping was peacefully liberated. When military representatives of the People's Liberation Army Military Control Commission took over Gongdelin Prison, they found a metal gallows in a shed in the backyard of the prison. The old prison guard who assisted in the handover said: "This gallows once strangled Comrade Li Dazhao, a pioneer of the revolution. ”
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Gongdelin Prison was transformed into a "War Criminals Management Center" to specially detain and reform important war criminals. Hundreds of captured senior Kuomintang generals were "educated" here. Such as: Huang Wei, Wang Yaowu, Song Xilian, Liao Yaoxiang, Zheng Tingji, Chen Changjie, Shen Zui, Kang Ze, Dong Yisan and others.
Also undergoing "transformation" in Gongdelin was Mr. Yang Zhenning's father-in-law, Du Yuming.
Du Yuming was an anti-Japanese general, a lieutenant general in the Nationalist army, and a backbone of the Huangpu department. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he commanded the army to fight against Japan in the Battle of Kunlun Pass, and severely damaged the Japanese Fifth Division, known as the "Steel Army".
On January 10, 1949, in the Battle of Huaihai, Du Yuming, who served as the deputy commander-in-chief of the Xu Beng Battlefield of the Nationalist Army, was completely destroyed, and Du Yuming himself was captured alive by PLA fighters.
After that, Du Yuming was sent to the Gongdelin Management Institute for "reform education".
During Du Yuming's "reform" in prison, Yang Zhenning's father, Professor Yang Wuzhi, personally went to Gongdelin to meet and visit his relatives Du Yuming. When the two talked, Yang Wuzhi made a request, which made his relatives Du Yuming mixed.
Here's the thing.
Du Yuming and his wife Cao Xiuqing had three sons and three daughters. The eldest daughter is Du Zhili, the second daughter is Du Zhiyi, the third daughter is Du Zhilian; the eldest son is Du Zhiren, the second son is Du Zhiyong, and the third son is Du Zhiyan.
On August 26, 1950, 28-year-old Yang Zhenning and 23-year-old Du Zhili were married in Princeton.
When Du Zhili got married, her father, Du Yuming, was undergoing reform at the War Criminals Management Center. Her mother, Cao Xiuqing, lived a life of upheaval and displacement in Taiwan, China. Du Zhili was once in a state of disconnection with his parents.
In 1957, when the news of Yang Zhenning's nobel prize in physics came, his father Yang Wuzhi immediately rushed to Gongdelin Prison to meet and visit his relatives Du Yuming.
Yang Wuzhi is a very famous mathematics educator and one of the pioneers of modern mathematics in China. Hua Luogeng once said: "The person who led me on the path of number theory was Professor Yang Wuzhi. ”
After Yang Wuzhi and Du Yuming met, the news spread at the War Criminals Management Center, and many people congratulated Du Yuming, saying that he had such an internationally renowned scholar and a son-in-law who won the Nobel Prize in Physics.
This would have been a happy thing, but somehow, Du Yuming was burdened with baggage, very distressed, mixed.
After the prisoner Liao Yaoxiang noticed this, he asked why.
Du Yuming thought about it again and again, telling the truth: "Mr. Wu Zhi is an intellectual with strong patriotic feelings. He was very happy to learn that his son Zhenning had won the Nobel Prize in Physics. In particular, he wrote two sentences for his son and daughter-in-law, "Don't forget your dear love forever at every meal, and you should be grateful to the country for your life". The purpose of his visit to me this time was not for the private affairs of his children's relatives, but out of his patriotism! ”
Du Yuming continued: "Mr. Yang Wuzhi very much hopes that his daughter and son-in-law can return to China and serve the country. In order to let his son return to China, he specially went to Gongdelin Prison to meet and visit me this time. On the one hand, he wanted to visit his relatives, and on the other hand, he also asked me to come forward and persuade my daughter and son-in-law to return to China. ”
Yang Wuzhi made a request, he hoped that Du Yuming, the father and father-in-law, could mobilize his daughter and son-in-law to return to China and serve the country.
Liao Yaoxiang said: "This is a good thing, then you will write a letter to mobilize your daughter and son-in-law to return to China." ”
Du Yuming said: "I am also very happy, I hope to be reunited with my family, and I hope that my daughter and son-in-law can return to China to serve." But I was mixed. Because I am still in prison, I have considered various reasons and know nothing about the thinking of my daughter and son-in-law. And everyone congratulated me one by one, and the superiors and leaders also had great expectations of me, but who knew that I was in trouble. Please think for me about how I can put my heart at ease. He said, almost in tears.
Liao Yaoxiang and other inmates were almost in tears when they saw Du Yuming. Therefore, after everyone discussed, they enlightened Du Yuming together.
Everyone said, "Old Du, what are you embarrassed about?" That's a good thing! You should write a letter. The great victory in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea has shattered the myth of the invincibility of the US military, and our country's international status has been enhanced as never before. At present, the achievements of domestic construction are well known at home and abroad. In such a good situation, your daughter and son-in-law can't be unaware? What's so bad about you fighting for them to return to their homeland, to contribute to the motherland, to build the motherland, to benefit the 600 million people and even to future generations? You win them back into the embrace of the people of the motherland, this is the most reliable way out of life and a great future..."
After everyone said this, Du Yuming was suddenly enlightened.
Soon, Du Yuming met for the second time with his relative Yang Wuzhi.
After meeting with his relatives, Du Yuming immediately wrote a report to the superior chief and ordered the "Pictorial" to be sent to the United States on schedule for his son-in-law and daughter to read, hoping that they would learn more about the new appearance of the motherland's construction.
Later, Du Yuming also wrote a concise congratulatory letter to his son-in-law Yang Zhenning as his father-in-law. The content is: Dear Son-in-law Ning, I congratulate you on winning the Nobel Prize. This is the glory of the Chinese nation. Du Yuming is grass. ”
After Receiving the letter, Yang Zhenning was very excited, and he immediately replied to his father-in-law and sent a latest atomic watch to Du Yuming. In the letter, he thanked his father-in-law and said: "I am very touched by my father-in-law's care. ”
In the summer of 1971, Yang Zhenning and his wife Du Zhili returned to the motherland for a visit. He also met his father-in-law, Du Yuming, whom he had never met.