Source: "Republic of China Style Literature and Art"
Here's how it looks: The old agent, who had been missing for decades, returned to the team, traveled thousands of miles by train to Beijing, to meet an old chief who knew his true identity, and he walked to the door of a courtyard in the alley and rang the doorbell......
The familiar scene has also appeared in our home in Daliubukou. One day, thirty years ago, an old man came to our yard. His arrival made my grandfather Xia Yan very excited and attached great importance to it. He told us that what came today was an old agent who was blind in one eye, who had been wronged for many years, and who had returned to Beijing after a labor camp, and who had been Pan Hannian's subordinate.
The grandfather and the old man are reunited after a long absence. When the old man left, he left his phone number and address, and wrote down the three words "Hua Kezhi" with a trembling hand, and I later learned that he also had a name, called "Zhang Jianliang".
After the "Cultural Revolution", especially before and after the rehabilitation of Pan Hannian, such a meeting for the rest of my life after the catastrophe often appeared in my grandfather's living room. Many of the old underground party members, including some old special branch members, either came to their homes to reminisce about the past, or went to the organization to appeal for rehabilitation. Some of these visitors are famous, some are mysterious. Grandfather always talked about them in a few words, but if you expand it, it's a big article.
The rehabilitation of the "Pan case" is a big deal for the people of the Pan Hannian system of the hidden front led by Zhou Enlai. Twenty-seven years have finally been resolved, which has a tortuous and difficult process.
As early as 1978, Li Yiyu, who came from the Teco era, wrote a poem:
Fifty years of lightning and thunder,
It is difficult to rhyme with empty bullets.
Xiangling has no news,
Where to find the soul of a Chinese woman.
In the political environment of the time, this poem commemorating Pan Hannian's 50 years of revolutionary work and nostalgia for Dong Hui was named "Untitled". Judging from the poem, Li Yiyu already knew that Pan Hannian had died in Hunan. If he knew, my grandfather would know too.
Subsequently, the rehabilitation work of the "Pan case" began among Pan Hannian's old comrades-in-arms. Chen Yun's ascension played an important role, and he was determined to clarify Pan Hannian's problem. First of all, Liu Xiao, secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, who had held an underground party post for a long time, was asked to write a report and use materials to speak. At that time, the impact of the "two whatevers" brought great resistance to the review of the "Pan case". Chen Yun's assignment can only be carried out in secrecy. Liu Xiao and Zhang Yi, together with Pan Hannian's old comrades-in-arms Xia Yan and Shi Yong (Sha Wenwei), wrote a letter to the central authorities requesting a review of the "Pan case". In addition, Chen Yun also asked Liao Chengzhi, Xia Yan, and others to write systematic and specific materials and report them to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. On March 1, 1981, Chen Yun personally wrote a letter to Deng Xiaoping and other central leaders, suggesting that the "Pan case" be reviewed.
On August 23, 1982, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China announced that the "Pan case" was a wrongful case since the founding of the People's Republic of China and was thoroughly corrected.
In early November, Chen Yun asked his secretary to come to our house with his handwritten letter and asked my grandfather to write a commemorative article that he would publish in the People's Daily, that is, Xia Yan's article "In Memory of Comrade Pan Hannian" completed on November 23, which had a strong response in society.
April 15, 1983 was the day that my grandfather was looking forward to, and it was also the day that Pan Hannian's relatives and friends were looking forward to, and they worked together for many years to finally achieve success, and the ashes of Pan Hannian and his wife were to be shipped back.
Previously, the Laijiang Tea Farm in Hunan Province had sent a letter to my grandfather to report on the placement of the ashes of Pan Hannian and his wife. On the 14th, the ashes of Pan Hannian and Dong Hui were sent to Beijing from Changsha. People gathered at the Beijing Railway Station to welcome the ashes back to Beijing Babaoshan for burial, including Liao Chengzhi, Xia Yan, Li Yiyu, Zhou Yang, Yang Hansheng, etc., as well as Yu Ling and Liu Shoushou, who made a special trip from Shanghai to Changsha to escort the ashes, as well as the family members of Pan Hannian's former friends Tang Yu and Sun Shiyi. The ceremony of covering the party flag was held in the VIP room of Beijing Railway Station, and Pan Hannian's ashes were placed in the sub-room of the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery.
Bao Wenwei's daughter, Bao Xiaona, described in the book "My Father and Pan Hannian" the shock her father suffered after the "Pan case" was rehabilitated. "In the autumn of 1983, my father was 81 years old, his hands were shaking, and he was suffering from eye diseases. He fired several college hires and rested at home. One day for a walk, he heard that Pan Hannian's unjust case had been rehabilitated and his ashes had been placed in the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery. ”
Grandfather Xia Yan's two identities
"Hidden front" is a hot search word at the moment. Regarding the relationship between Xia Yan and the hidden front, the outside world has made many speculations. My grandfather never flaunted his connection to the Hidden Front during his lifetime. He has said the same thing on many occasions: "I am a helper, I have not been part of an organization (intelligence system)." He said this to my elders, and he said it to me.
In 2015, "The Biography of Xia Yan" was republished, and in its preface there was this paragraph: "Xia Yan is not only a Communist, but also a special Communist—he belongs to an important member of the CCP's intelligence system under the direct leadership of Zhou Enlai...... Kang Sheng, then secretary of the Zhabei District Party Committee of Shanghai, was Xia Yan's direct leader, and he said to Pan Hannian, "It is a pity that such literary and artistic talents are placed in Zhabei District to run a yarn factory." Soon after Zhou Enlai transferred Xia Yan to participate in the preparation for the establishment of the 'Left Alliance', Xia Yan also became a member of the CCP's special department. Since then, Xia Yan has had two identities: a public identity as a writer and a secret identity as a CCP intelligence agent. ”
The two secret identities of "CCP special branch members" and "CCP intelligence personnel", without direct material proof, not only do not conform to historical facts, but also completely contradict Xia Yan's own statement. After all, it is recorded in the archives that Xia Yan first met Zhou Enlai two years after the end of the special department.
The background of the establishment of the Central Special Branch was the "April 12" coup d'état launched by Chiang Kai-shek, whose main tasks were intelligence gathering, political defense and rape, and existed from November 1927 to October 1935.
1927 was an important year for the Communists. At the beginning of June of that year, more than a month after the defeat of the Great Revolution, on the upper floor of a cigarette paper shop at the intersection of North Sichuan Road and Haining Road in Shanghai, Xia Yan was introduced to the Communist Party of China by Zheng Hanxian and Da Da En. He was living in the Schaudon Company and making a living as a translator.
In the winter of the same year, Cai Shuhou, the owner of Shaodun Company and Xia Yan's middle school classmate, also joined the Communist Party of China.
According to the "Annals of Zhou Enlai", Zhou Enlai decided to transfer Xia Yan (Shen Duanxian) from the Zhabei Street Branch to participate in the preparation of the "Left Alliance", which should be in 1929, and it was in 1929 that Xia Yan moved out of Shaodun Company.
According to Ah Ying (Qian Xingcun)'s recollections, the "Cultural Committee" was established in 1929, and Pan Hannian was the secretary of the "Cultural Committee". A Ying and other comrades believed that by transferring Shen Duan to participate in the preparatory work for the "Left Alliance" first, he would be able to play a greater role. So, they formally talked to Pan Hannian, and the organization quickly agreed to this suggestion.
In 1928, Pan Han began to take charge of the work of the cultural united front. Xia Yan recalled: "I met him in 1924 when he was working in the publishing department of the Creation Society, but in the late 20s, although I knew that he was working in Shanghai, I never had the opportunity to meet him. ”
On April 24, 1931, Gu Shunzhang, the head of the Central Special Branch, was arrested and betrayed. In May, under the leadership of Zhou Enlai, the new Central Special Branch was rapidly rebuilt, and from 1931 to 1933, Pan Hannian served as the chief of the Central Special Branch Intelligence Section (Second Section).
In the summer of 1931, Pan Hannian, who had not been seen for five or six months, found Xia Yan through a bookstore. Xia Yan recalled: "He asked me to meet in a room in the Juelu Hotel, and we talked about twilight from four o'clock in the afternoon. I began by talking about the work of the 'Left League and the 'Drama League', and he seems to already know all of this. So, I childishly asked him where he had been during this time, and he said that he had not gone anywhere, but just changed jobs. When I asked him what he was doing, he wouldn't tell him...... After dinner, when I broke up with Pan, I asked him if he wanted to leave Shanghai, but he didn't answer directly, only said that it was not interesting to stay in Shanghai all the time. At that time, I didn't expect that this farewell would not meet in Shanghai until the eve of the Anti-Japanese War in 1937. ”
As a veteran underground party member, the bridge between Xia Yan and Tek, in addition to Pan Hannian, there is also Cai Shuhou.
In 1933, Xia Yan forwarded a letter for Yuan Shu.
Yuan Shu's "Literature and Art News" was ideologically progressive, objectively reported on the "Five Martyrs Incident", and had good contacts with Xia Yan and other left-wing figures, Xia Yan and others were also the authors of Yuan Shu's magazine. As for Yuan Shu's more complicated background, Pan Hannian did not mention it in his conversation with Xia Yan in 1931, Pan Hannian only reminded Xia Yan when Xia Yan said that "Literature and Art News" might be "exploiting" the contradictions within the Kuomintang: "Don't think too simply, it is a fact that Pan Gongzhan and Wu Xingya (Zhongtong) have contradictions, but they are completely consistent in their anti-communism." Therefore, Pan Hannian asked Xia Yan to tell Yuan Shu at the right time not to have illusions about Wu Xingya. Through this sentence, Xia Yan guessed that Pan Hannian and Yuan Shu might also be connected. Later, after Yuan Shu stopped publishing "Literature and Art News", he participated in the special department, which Xia Yan knew, and Yuan Shu repeatedly asked Xia Yan to keep it secret for him. After that, the two did not communicate for a long time.
"In the autumn of 1933, he (Yuan Shu) suddenly asked me to meet, saying that his contact with Tek had suddenly been cut off, and he had not been able to meet anyone with him at the appointed time and place twice, so he urgently asked me to help him forward a letter to the leader of Tek. According to the regulations, the special branch has a special organizational system, for the sake of security and confidentiality, ordinary party members are not allowed to contact the special branch staff, so I told him that I have no organizational relationship with the special branch and cannot transfer letters to him. But he said that the situation was urgent and that he had to help him, and that it was okay to forward the letter to the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee or any higher-level leader. At that time, the White Terror was very serious, and he said, 'The situation is urgent, so I thought about it for a while, agreed to his request, and forwarded his letter to Cai Shuhou. I also know that Cai has been transferred from the Special Branch of the Chinese Communist Party to the Far East Intelligence Bureau of the Third International at this time, but his organizational relationship is still in the China Special Branch (Wu Kejian), so I think it is safer to hand over Yuan Shu's letter to Cai Zhuan. Unexpectedly, at that time, the International Far East Intelligence Bureau needed someone like Yuan Shu, so Yuan's relationship was also transferred to the International Intelligence Bureau. Of course, this transfer of relationship, Cai Shuhou did not tell me, I could not know, when Cai Shuhou told me that Yuan Shu's problem had been solved, I did not ask anymore. ”
Eventful year 1935
Another two years passed. 1935 was an eventful year for Xia Yan. First, Tian Han and Yang Hansheng were arrested, and second, after the "Strange Westerner Incident", he was almost trapped. These two events forced him to make urgent contact with Teko. In this process, Xia Yan's quick wit, Cai Shuhou's decisive aftermath and Sun Shiyi's meticulous thinking made both things go through smoothly without danger.
It all started with the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner at Tian Han's family in 1934. This was actually a meeting of the "Cultural Committee", with Xia Yan, Zhou Yang, Yang Hansheng and Sun Shiyi as participants. Tian Han, Xia Yan and others were optimistic about the situation, but Sun Shiyi was more sober-minded, "He believed that the Kuomintang's victory in the military 'encirclement and suppression' (the news of the Red Army's start of the Long March appeared in Chinese and foreign newspapers in November) might be two-pronged, and at the same time intensify the 'suppression' of the revolutionary literary and artistic movement." Shi Yi is not a member of the Cultural Affairs Committee, and he still maintains an open and legal identity to the outside world, but his brother-in-law Liu Jinzhong first worked in the Special Branch, and later transferred to the International Intelligence Agency, so we also know that Shi Yi has ties with the Party Central Committee, and for this reason, Shi Yi's words have aroused our vigilance."
Unfortunately, on the night of February 19, Tian Han was arrested. When Qian Xingcun went home at night, he found a police car in the alley, and the library on the third floor of his house that was usually not lit was brightly lit.
Xia Yan's home at that time was in Puyili, Aiwenyi Road (now Beijing West Road), where members of the "Cultural Committee" often met for meetings, and Qu Qiubai also came twice. The biggest advantage of this one-and-a-half-room alley house is that it has a front door and two back doors, that is to say, the house number of this house is on Aiwenyi Road, and the other back door is on Matthurst Road, "Although it is not a cunning rabbit, it has three holes, and if something happens, you can slip away from the back door."
After Xia Yan determined that Tian Han had an accident, he returned home, burned some documents, and then opened the back door of the house, which was originally locked and could be connected to Methurst Road, and made necessary emergency preparations, and then went to Cai Shuhou, told him about the situation of Tian and Qian, and asked Boss Cai to verify it through Tek. Two days later, Cai informed that due to the traitor's informant, Shanghai's central organs had been damaged for the third time, and that five members of the "Cultural Affairs Committee", Yang Hansheng, Tian Han, and Du Guozhen, had been arrested, and Xia Yan and Zhou Yang had survived. After getting the accurate news from Tekko, Xia Yan immediately informed Zhou Yang to hide.
Immediately, Xia Yan also hid in Xujiahui for more than a month. During this time, Xia Yan adapted the story of "Children of the Storm" left by Tian Han into a movie script, and the lyrics written by Tian Han on the last page became the lyrics of the future national anthem, "March of the Volunteers".
In May of that year, a man named Lu Haiphong from the International Far East Intelligence Agency was arrested and betrayed in Shanghai, and confessed his contact with Walton (also known as Lawrence). Due to the involvement of the Soviet Union, the Kuomintang military commanders kept the news tightly sealed. Therefore, the news of Yuan Shu's arrest was not even known to Cai Shuhou of the International Far East Intelligence Bureau at first.
However, a left-wing cultural person like Xia Yan, who has nothing to do with the Far East Intelligence Bureau, was targeted by the military commander because he transferred a letter for Yuan Shu two years ago.
"About late May, one day, I had returned home from Xujiahui, Wang Ying, who was filming in Dentsu, forwarded a letter from Yuan Shu to me, (Yuan Shu) asked me to meet him at the Xinya Tea Room on Qiujiang Road in North Sichuan Road, Yuan's handwriting is very familiar to me, so I went on time without doubt, but when I took the tram to Haining Road, I suddenly thought that Qiujiang Road is a 'cross-border road construction area, this place is jointly managed by the Bureau of the Ministry of Industry of the Concession and the Kuomintang government, it is not safe to go to this place, So I got out of the car and went to Liangyou Book Company to talk to Zheng Boqi for a while, and then went home. The next day, Sun Shiyi told me that he had received a phone call from Yuan Shu asking him about Huang Zibu (my code name for the film company), and Shi Yi was alert and immediately replied: 'Huang Zibu is no longer in Shanghai. Putting these two things together, both of us felt that something might be wrong with Yuan Shu, and sure enough, at about the same time, Wang Ying was arrested by the military commander's agents at the apartment on Huanlong Road. ”
Xia Yan has had an underground party complex all his life
Originally, at the beginning of 1935, Cai Shuhou had already obtained a passport and was ready to go to the Soviet Union to study, but because of Walton's arrest, he decisively decided to stay and deal with the aftermath. When Xia Yan found Cai Shuhou, Cai told the general outline of the "Strange Westerner" case, and he was consistent with Xia Yan and Sun Shiyi's analysis, "The main danger now is Yuan Shu, and Wang Ying's arrest is an example."
Cai Shuhou, known as "Boss Cai", stayed in Japan in his early years, and was known as the "radio duo" with Zeng Xisheng in the party. In the summer of 1929, the party's first radio waves came from Cai Shuhou's apartment in the French Concession. In 1932, Cai Shuhou was favored by Sorge of the Far Eastern Intelligence Bureau, and as the backbone of the Communist Party of China to support the Comintern, Cai Shuhou was transferred out of the Special Branch and sent by Wu Kejian to work in the Chinese section of the Comintern and became a Red International agent. It is precisely because of Uncle Cai's dual background that he can properly handle the follow-up matters. In June, Cai Shuhou's plan really worked, and Yuan Shu's identity as a "Japanese faction" alarmed the Japanese side, and the military commander sent Yuan Shu to Wuhan to "bring him to justice", thus cutting off the military commander's investigation of the Far East Intelligence Bureau in Shanghai, and enabling Xiao Bingshi, Liu Simu and others to escape safely. Wang Ying was quietly released two weeks later.
Cai Shuhou learned from Tang Enbo in Nanjing that because Walton refused to answer questions, the military command did not know anything about Cai's line, and Cai was safe for the time being. Although Yuan Shu had been sent to Wuhan, the Kuomintang may still be pursuing Xia Yan's clues, so Xia Yan should be prepared to hide for a long time. Xia Yan immediately asked Cai Shuhou to tell Sun Shiyi to dissipate his air on his behalf in the film industry, saying that Huang Zibu had gone to Japan or Beiping.
Xia Yan hid for three months in an old Western-style two-story house on Avenyi Lukade Road, a costly apartment run by a White Russian woman, and wrote the multi-act play "Sai Jinhua".
In Xia Yan's memoirs, he did not shy away from the harm caused by the Yuan Shu incident to the leftists and the Far Eastern Intelligence Bureau, but faithfully recorded it and always insisted on his own opinion, which should be said to be not his personal conclusion, but his common judgment with Cai Shuhou, Sun Shiyi and Pan Hannian.
After the "Pan case" occurred, "after examination, Li Kenong came out and wrote an official report to the Political Bureau and the Secretariat of the Central Committee on April 29, 1955." The report lists seven suspicious points...... The report then presents five powerful counter-evidence...... However, under the circumstances at that time, the 'leftist wind was becoming more and more prevalent, and this report seeking truth from facts did not attract the attention of the central authorities, and it was not until after the Third Plenary Session of the 11 th CPC Central Committee that Comrade Chen Yun suggested that the Pan case be re-examined, and this report played a role and became an important basis for Pan Hannian's rehabilitation and restoration of his reputation. ”
Xia Yan has had an underground party complex all his life, and he cherishes the unforgettable memories left by these eventful years, but the underground party is not the same as Tekko. In this regard, Professor Xu Yan of the National Defense University clearly expounded that the main task of the CPC's underground work is not to engage in intelligence, but to win over the masses. Among the five major tasks of secret work summarized by Mao Zedong during the rectification of the Yan'an Reform, intelligence work was only listed in the fourth place.
Xu Yan also gave an example of my grandfather: "As early as the early 80s of the 20th century, when a TV series lurking in the enemy camp was broadcast in China, Xia Yan, a senior in the literary and art circles who had been engaged in underground work for a long time, wrote an article and sighed after watching it, saying that these young directors did not understand the party's principles of covert struggle back then, and the use of women's sex, money bribery, and pistol assassination was exactly what the CCP's underground work did not allow. ”
The TV series referred to here should be the once popular "Eighteen Years in the Enemy Camp", and after many years, if my grandfather saw some articles confusing old underground party members like him with "spy warfare", he would definitely shake his head and sigh at this view that lacks basic common sense.
Still back in the summer of 1931, Pan Hannian did not tell Xia Yan that the organization was already investigating Yuan Shu and preparing to introduce Yuan to the party, and at the same time transfer to the special department. He revealed a piece of news about Qu Qiubai: "Now I can tell you that the central government has decided that the cultural work in Shanghai will be led by Qu Qiubai, who has rich experience and has a very good relationship with Lu Xun and Mao Dun. Subsequently, Xia Yan added: "Not long after, Yang Hansheng also quietly told me the news. ”
This is the characteristic of intelligence work, and it is also the style of Pan Hannian. Xia Yan wrote in the article "In Memory of Pan Hannian": "I once asked him why he didn't even tell me his name when he asked me to contact Yang Du. He said, 'This is discipline. I said that he had seen big scenes, such as participating in the Long March, going to Moscow after the Zunyi Conference, going to Nanjing in 1936 to live in the Soong Ziwen Mansion, and Soong Meiling talking to him after Chiang Kai-shek was detained in Xi'an...... This kind of 'negotiable help' is kept a secret even by an old partner like me (which was charged to me by a magazine during the Cultural Revolution). ”
In 1982, when the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to rehabilitate Pan Hannian's case, Chen Yun wrote to Xia Yan on November 9, hoping that he would write an article to commemorate Pan Hannian. At the end of the letter, Chen Yun specially added a sentence: "It is enough to write only one paragraph of the article that you know." ”
On the two lines of cultural united front and intelligence system led by Pan Hannian, Xia Yan has always been positioned in the former position as a semi-public left-wing cultural person, which can be regarded as Pan Hannian's arrangement, and can be understood as Zhou Enlai's decision.
In 1930, before Zhou Enlai left Shanghai, considering that Pan Hannian was also about to leave, the organization decided to have a one-line contact between Xia Yan and Yang Du. One evening in the late autumn of that year, Pan Hannian made an appointment with Xia Yan, called a taxi, drove to a small bungalow near Xue Huali Road in Shanghai's old concession, and introduced Xia Yan to a gentleman in his early fifties. As soon as he came up, there was not much greeting, Pan Hannian said: "I'm going to go out in a few days, and it's hard to say when I'll come back, so ......" Then, he pointed to Xia Yan and said: "In the future, he will contact you one-way, his surname is Shen, and he is stable and reliable." The old gentleman shook hands with Xia Yan. Pan added: "He is six or seven years older than me, and we are old friends. At the time of parting, the old gentleman handed a box of cigars to Pan Hannian, and Pan did not even say thank you after accepting it, Xia Yan recalled: "I guess this is not a parting gift." When I went out, he told me, 'This is a well-known person, a secret party member, and I have always been in contact with him in a single line, and he will tell us many useful things, and you must not neglect him.' After pausing for a while, he said, 'This bungalow belongs to Du Yuesheng, and Annan patrols dare not touch it, so you can take refuge here when you are in danger.' ”
"I contacted him once a month, gave him some party publications and 'banned books' that were not available on the market, and also talked to him about the situation at home and abroad, mainly the war in the Central Soviet District, as we know it. He came from the enemy camp and knew many northern warlords and factional contradictions within the Kuomintang...... On more than one occasion, he had asked me to pass on the internal situation of the Kuomintang to the higher authorities in a large envelope sealed with fire paint. At first, I didn't know his real name, only that he was a secret party member surnamed Yang. Later, when he got acquainted with me, he told me: 'I am Yang Huizi. I was really surprised. ”
In the article "In Memory of Pan Hannian", he specially added the historical facts that the Pan Hannian case had not yet been rehabilitated and could not be written in 1978, "After a period of investigation, he was introduced to the party, and with the approval of Comrade Zhou Enlai, he became a secret member of the Communist Party of China. The person who was introduced was Pan Hannian, and I couldn't write it at the time. This experience can also be regarded as Xia Yan's first exploration or test of the waters for united front work in the future.
Xia Yan is in Zhou Enlai's field of vision
In June 1937, Wang Ying forwarded a letter to Xia Yan again, and with the handwriting on the envelope and the word "Yan", Xia Yan knew that Pan Hannian had returned. They met very quickly, and this time, unlike in 1929, Pan Hannian's actions were quite public, and his telephone number and address were no longer classified.
On July 10, the third day after the "77 Incident", Pan Hannian said that he would accompany Xia Yan to meet a friend. "We walked into the second floor of a two-bay shikumen house, knocked softly, and we were greeted by a middle-aged man in a white shirt and dark gray suit pants, who shook hands with me and said first: 'Let's call you Comrade Shen Duanxian.'" This is the first time we have met. I was about to open my mouth when he said, 'I, Zhou Enlai. ”
According to Xia Yan's own memories and the materials that can be seen so far, Zhou Enlai came prepared this time, and they have gone through a long-term and multi-faceted investigation of Xia Yan, mainly including two aspects of information: first, Xia Yan entered Zhou Enlai's field of vision very early, Zhou Enlai said that when he returned from Moscow in 1930, he had read his translated novels, and designated Xia Yan to maintain one-line contact with Yang Du, a special party member, on behalf of the CCP organization; The second is Xia Yan's outstanding performance and organizational ability in the "left-wing decade". They thought he had the ability to take on more complex tasks.
Pan Hannian said: "Comrade Enlai knows all about the past. He would like to talk to you about the future work. The first meeting between Zhou Enlai and Xia Yan determined the direction of Xia Yan's work in the following decades.
Zhou Enlai told him that the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War and the imminent cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party were needed, and people like Xia Yan, who had joined the Kuomintang in the early years during the Sun Yat-sen period and had dealt with high-level officials such as Wu Zhihui and Dai Jitao, were needed to do united front work with people from all walks of life, including the Kuomintang, as progressive cultural people in the future. Pan Hannian said at the outset: "The central authorities have agreed, so it is better for you to do the work of the united front at the upper level." ”
Zhou Enlai clearly instructed Xia Yan to be prepared to leave after the fall of Shanghai, and he patiently analyzed the current situation for Xia Yan, and then said: "The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression will not end soon, and in the future, for a long period of time, you will work in the areas ruled by the Kuomintang, doing propaganda work and united front work." Of course, you can edit magazines, run newspapers, and write articles, but you must strive for openness, and only when openness is legal can you do united front work. Propaganda and united front work are both important tasks of the party...... Next, first of all, in the areas ruled by the Kuomintang, it is necessary to assist Guo Moruo, who is about to return from Japan, to set up a party newspaper, that is, the "Salvation Daily." ”
Zhou Enlai's words made Xia Yan make up his mind: "The organization has decided, I will do my best." ”
After the fall of Shanghai, the organization decided to let Xia Yan go south. "I can't remember the specific date, but it was about December 16th, Han Nian suddenly handed me a ticket to Hong Kong, and said that when you arrived in Hong Kong, someone who knew you would pick you up at the pier. On a cold and windy day, probably December 19th or 20th, I got up early in the morning, packed up the luggage I had taken away, told my wife what to pay attention to, and gently kissed Shen Ning and Danhua on the foreheads of the sleeping Shen Ning and Danhua, and went straight to Gonghexiang Wharf...... The whistle sounded a dull sound, and the ship slowly left the dock. On the river of Huanghun, there are several warships with sun flags, and there are almost no pedestrians on both sides of the river. In the "Annals of Pan Hannian", this paragraph uses "evacuate in the same boat".
The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was the background for the formation of the united front, and it was also the beginning of Xia Yan's official entry into the hidden front of the CCP led by Zhou Enlai to participate in the united front work, and the previous work can only be regarded as a peripheral stage, so the understanding should be relatively objective.
In the CCP's covert front, united front and intelligence are two lines, which are bright and dark with each other, sometimes diverging or intersecting, but not completely overlapping. Xia Yan's extraordinary experience on this front is inseparable from the two most important people, Zhou Enlai and Pan Hannian.
The experience of the united front had a profound impact on Xia Yan, and his friends were all three religions and nine streams, and Zhou Enlai gave him the task of "making friends diligently", making friends for the party, and uniting all forces that could be united. In this regard, Li Kenong told him more bluntly and frankly: "Standing outside and scolding your mother is not brave, it is your duty to go deep into the enemy base to influence them." In the national control area, the bodhisattva must be worshipped, and the ghost must also be worshipped...... Comrade cultural people, is it okay to wear white gloves for revolutionary united front work? ”
In a large number of writings left by my grandfather, he repeatedly emphasized that the nature of his work was united front, and even in the review of the "rectification of the Ministry of Culture" in January 1965, he would write about the impact of united front work on himself: "For about ten years, I was mainly engaged in united front work in the cultural circles, and according to the specific situation of the rear at that time, the organization asked me to contact all sides as a non-party democrat. Unconsciously he gradually regarded himself as a democrat, and rarely demanded himself by the standards of a Communist Party member. It was precisely this decade of cultural united front work that Xia Yan spent the most hearty decade of his revolutionary career under the direct leadership of Zhou Enlai.
Zhou Enlai, Pan Hannian, Cai Shuhou and Xia Yan, as well as Qu Qiubai and others, their idealistic and romantic feelings for the revolution are also expressed in the dual temperament of unswerving revolutionaries and talented cultural people, and the two complement each other.
This is a group of high-ranking intellectuals of the Communist Party of China who share the same spiritual temperament, and they constitute a different scenery of the Chinese revolution. The fate of many of them was tragic, and most of them ended up as martyrs of the revolution, either in different forms or at different stages...... Pan Hannian and Cai Shuhou became "kites" with broken strings, Qu Qiubai wrote "Superfluous Words" before his righteousness, telling about another self, and Zhou Enlai expressed his artistic feelings in the way of enthusiasts. In comparison, Xia Yan is the luckiest, because he always holds the pen of literature and art in his hand.
Many people who have seen Pan Hannian and Xia Yan at the same time recalled that they had the same temperament, like brothers. Xia Yan's secretary, Li Ziyun, wrote more interestingly in "Remembering Xia Yan the Elder": "Is it because they all have neat hair and wear stockings (when I first met Comrade Xia Yan, I noticed that he was also wearing stockings)? Is it because they are all elegant? Or is it because they all show such affectionate care and love for their juniors? There is a temperamental similarity between them. On his days off, if Comrade Xia Yan had no meetings or foreign affairs activities, he either went to the stamp shop or went to Pan Hannian's house. ”
For his many achievements on the hidden front, Xia Yan chose to remain silent, because he and Pan Hannian's beliefs are the same, Pan Hannian once said in Shanghainese: "Those who boast of themselves are at the bottom (indecent)." ”
Many things on the hidden front would rather be buried in the dust of history than become a topic of conversation in the market or at the dinner table.
In 1955, after the "Pan Case", Xia Yan was isolated in Cuimingzhuang to review and write materials. After that, he remained dignified and silent for more than twenty years. During this period, the parole-released Pan Hannian and his wife had the opportunity to visit their old friends Sun Shiyi and Tang Yu, but they avoided meeting Xia Yan, who was still vice minister of culture at the time.
For the coming of a catastrophe, Pan Hannian and his wife had foresight. In June 1967, Dong Hui left a final message to Tang Yu and Sun Shiyi: "We will move to a small hot spring the day after tomorrow, let me buy candy for the children again, I hope they grow up healthy." I am afraid that we will never see each other again in this life. ”
During the "Cultural Revolution", under the pressure of the task force, Pan Hannian spent a long time writing a material of tens of thousands of words about Xia Yan's situation. This is a document that has stood the test of history, reflecting Pan Hannian's noble political qualities and sincere responsibility to his old friends.
Six letters written by Xia Yan to Pan Hannian in the fifties and sixties of the last century have survived and are included in the Complete Works of Xia Yan. Between the lines, he still uses the pre-1949 title for Pan Hannian: Brother Kai, Kai.
There is a letter with no year but date:
Brother Kai:
I arrived in Beijing on the seventh day and made preparations for going abroad, and now that I am generally ready, I will take you with a letter. …… The night before I was chatting with Li Blind Gong, I asked him about the arrangements between us, and he said that in 1954 it was estimated that seven capital countries would establish diplomatic relations, and it was not yet possible to say that it would not be reconciled. And asked about some information, he said that Ke Dabi may not go to the UK, he is too honest, and he wants you to go. He also said that the list of three people in front of the opening, another person other than you and me, the above did not agree very much......
Xia Yan 24/11
Li Blind Gong is Li Kenong, and Ke Da Nose refers to Ke Qingshi, all of which were nicknames that they joked with each other at that time. Luo Qingchang wrote in the article "The Historical Lessons of Pan Hannian's Unjust Case": "After entering Beiping, when the central government was considering carrying out diplomatic work, it discussed that Pan Hannian should be appointed ambassador to the United Kingdom. It can be seen that the central government trusted Pan Hannian very much in the past. The comparison of these two texts makes it clear that there is a fact, and the time of writing the letter can be concluded to be 1950. In May 1951, Xia Yan visited the Soviet Union and East Germany with Lin Boqu and Shen Junru.
He wrote the following passage in his "Miscellaneous Notes on His Visit to Germany":
(1951) Tuesday, June 12 Sunny
……
At 8 o'clock, the audience spoke in the Great Hall, and the audience was enthusiastic. Return to Dresden at 11 a.m.
The city has a population of 50,000. Famous for porcelain, there are many imitations of Chinese porcelain, and the mayor gave an imitation of Yixing pottery pot. It is planned to bring it back as a gift for the Year of the Han Dynasty.
[Source: "Republic of China Style Literature and Art"]