Former Commanders of the New Fourth Army - Political Commissar Rao Shushi (16)

At the celebration of the liberation of Shanghai. From left: Chen Yi, Rao Shushi, Su Yu, Song Shilun.

As soon as Shanghai was liberated, Rao Shushi and Chen Yi led the East China Bureau and the Shanghai Municipal Military Control Commission to begin a comprehensive reception work. The Municipal Military Control Commission set up a military, government, financial and cultural takeover committee to lead the takeover of the urban area; the suburban takeover committee and the suburban work department of the Shanghai Municipal CPC Committee were established to lead the suburban takeover work. Due to the correctness of the CPC Central Committee's takeover policy and the strict implementation of Rao Shushi, Chen Yi, and others, in the process of taking over, the social and economic life of the entire city not only did not appear chaotic, but also returned to normal in a short period of time.

After taking over Shanghai in an all-round way, Rao Shushi, Chen Yi, and other leaders unanimously held that the most urgent task at the moment is to stabilize people's minds and resume production as soon as possible. They came to Ms. Soong Ching Ling's apartment on 31 May to visit Dr. Sun Yat-sen's widow, Ms. Soong Ching Ling. They first apologized to Song Qingling. It turned out that on May 27, a battalion of the 178th Regiment of the 60th Division was stationed on Huaihai Middle Road, and the company commander designated a spacious house opposite the Wukang Building to take a platoon of people to camp, but no one knew that this was the Soong Qingling Mansion. When he knocked on the door to enter, he was refused by the concierge, and Song Qingling also went downstairs and said to the soldiers, I am Song Qingling, this is my mansion, your troops want to live, please ask Commander Chen to call me. After Chen Yi learned of this incident, he personally called Song Qingling to apologize, and then went to Song Qingling's apartment with Pan Hannian, and in addition to apologizing in person, he also asked Song Qingling for advice on taking over and building Shanghai. When Rao Shushi met with Song Qingling this time, he asked Song Qingling about her living conditions with concern, and immediately decided to send guards to her residence, and asked Pan Hannian to send some money to help her solve her living difficulties. Later, Rao Shushi also accompanied her to the Qiantang River to watch the tide once. This made Song Qingling very moved. After meeting with Soong Ching-ling, they successively visited Zhang Lan, Zhang Yuanji, and Yan Huiqing, who enjoyed a high reputation at home and abroad, and talked cordially with people from all walks of life extensively, solicited their various opinions on taking over Shanghai, and mobilized the people of the whole city to work with one heart and one mind, overcome difficulties, resume production, and struggle against the remnants of the Kuomintang.

On the afternoon of May 31, more than 2,000 workers, as representatives of millions of workers in the city, held a meeting to commemorate the May 30 Movement and the establishment of the Preparatory Committee of the Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions at the Daguang Cinema. Rao Shushi attended the congress, and in his speech, he called on the workers to take the lead in taking action to overcome temporary difficulties. On the evening of 1 June, Deng Xiaoping, Rao Shushi, Chen Yi, Su Yu, and others attended a welcome banquet hosted by the Shanghai Democratic Party. In his speech, Rao Shushi said that a new era has begun, and he hopes that everyone will work together to build a beautiful Shanghai. On the evening of 3 July, Rao Shushi and others held a banquet to thank various democratic figures in Shanghai, and the guests and hosts talked happily and discussed the state of the country. On the 5th, on behalf of the government, Chen Yi, Rao Shushi and others invited famous people from cultural circles to hold a symposium at the Eight Immortals Bridge. This was the first grand gathering of Shanghai's cultural circles after liberation, and 162 people attended the meeting, including Wu Youxun, Zhou Gucheng, Mao Yisheng, Ba Jin, Mei Lanfang, and so on. In his speech, Rao Shushi analyzed the revolutionary situation and the great historical significance of the liberation of Shanghai, and explained in detail the cultural and educational policy of the Communist Party. He enthusiastically expressed: People in cultural circles are welcome to unite and cooperate with the Communist Party to build a new China together. On the 26th, the inaugural meeting of the Preparatory Committee of the Shanghai Democratic Women's Federation was held, and Deng Yingchao and Xu Guangping attended the meeting. Rao Shushi attended the meeting and pointed out at the meeting that the women's issue is a part of the entire people's revolutionary movement and is inseparable from the cause of building new China. On the 30th, the Party Committee of the East China Bureau and the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee held a "July 1st" commemorative party, which was attended by more than 100 people from all walks of life in Shanghai. Rao Shushi presided over the meeting and emphatically pointed out that the CPC will, as always, accept criticism and advice from friends from all walks of life in order to further carry forward its strong points and correct its shortcomings.

In mid-June, according to the instructions of the CPC Central Committee, the leading organs of the Third Field Army were merged with the leading organs of the East China Military Region (the former committee of the Third Field Army of the CPC was still temporarily retained), and the Third Field Army and the East China Military Region were called, with Chen Yi as commander and Rao Shushi as political commissar. From August 1949 to May 1950, Chen Yi and Rao Shushi led the Third Field Army to successively hold the Battle of Changshan Archipelago, the Battle of Fuzhou, the Battle of Zhangxiajin, the Battle of Dongshan Island and the Zhoushan Archipelago, liberating all of the East China Continent and most of the islands along the East China Coast, and effectively supporting the Second Field Army's march to the southwest and the Fourth Field Army to South China.

From September 21 to 30, Rao Attended the First Plenary Session of the Chinese Political Consultative Conference held in Beijing and was elected as a member of the Central People's Government at the meeting on september 30. At 2 p.m. on October 1, Rao Shushi attended the first plenary meeting of the Central People's Government. At 3 o'clock, together with other leaders, they climbed the Tiananmen Tower to celebrate the founding ceremony of the people's republic of China. On December 2, the fourth meeting of the Central People's Government Committee was held, and Rao Shushi was appointed chairman of the East China Military and Political Committee and a member of the Central People's Revolutionary Military Commission.

In January 1950, Rao Shushi called the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and demanded that the East China Bureau be separated from the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee. The specific division of labor is as follows: Rao Shushi, Zeng Shan, and Shu Tong are in charge of the work of the East China Bureau, and Chen Yi, Liu Xiao, and Liu Changsheng are in charge of the work of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee. He also proposed that the departments of the East China Bureau and the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee should be as organizationally separated as possible. On February 20, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China replied to the agreement and put forward the principle of division of labor. In May, the Central Military Commission of the COMMUNIST Party of China revoked the number of corps under the jurisdiction of the Third Field Army, and on August 11, the former committee of the Third Field Army of the Communist Party of China was abolished and the Committee of the East China Military Region of the CPC was re-formed, with Rao Shubai as the political commissar and Chen Yi and Su Yu as the first and second secretaries respectively.

At the same time as the liberation of the southeastern mainland, Rao Shushi was also responsible for the work of zhen rebellion and purging in Shanghai and East China. By the beginning of October 1950, more than 12,000 counter-revolutionaries had been captured and great victories had been achieved. On October 10, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued a directive to severely suppress counter-revolutionaries. The East China Bureau and the Shanghai Municipal CPC Committee resolutely carried out this order, and in accordance with the principle of "combining suppression with leniency," they should grasp and manage the counter-revolutionaries. At the first session of the Second Session of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress of All Walks of Life held on October 16, Rao Shushi pointed out that counter-revolutionaries who continue to carry out their activities by taking advantage of the leniency of the people's government must be resolutely suppressed. In March 1951, he presided over the Third Plenary Session of the East China Military and Political Committee and issued the Resolution on severe suppression of counter-revolution. However, with regard to the suppression of counter-revolution, Rao Shushi believes that the anti-special work in Shanghai and even in the whole of East China is almost complete, that the new political power is firmly in the hands of the people, that all work is being carried out in an orderly manner, and that there is no need to make any further efforts. In the work of suppressing counter-revolution and purging secret agents, Rao Shushi's general work attitude was negative, and Shanghai's work of suppressing counter-revolution lagged far behind that of the whole country. For this reason, Rao Shushi was criticized by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China by name. The People's Daily also publicly criticized the Shanghai Municipal People's Court for failing to punish counterrevolutionary cases. From the beginning of 1952, Chen Yi was in charge of this work.