People's Liberation Army Daily
In December 1946, Zhou Enlai walked out of No. 17 Meiyuan New Village, confident and calm, and full of energy.
At the premiere of "Goal One", director Zhai Junjie introduced that the story told in the film took place in 1946, in order to smash the civil war conspiracy of the Kuomintang reactionaries, during the period when the CHINESE delegation led by Zhou Enlai entered Meiyuan New Village to negotiate with the Kuomintang government, many specific plots were directly copied from the real history. Speaking of this, Zhai Dao sighed even more: the real is far more wonderful than the fiction. So, what wonderful historical stories happened during the 10-month-long Negotiations in Nanjing? Let's listen together.
- Editor
The Buick car will be undercover personnel
After the CPC delegation moved from Chongqing to Nanjing, due to the needs of work, it purchased an American Buick black car from Shanghai and drove it to Nanjing by the driver Duan Tingying, with the brand number "Beijing 1645". During the Nanjing negotiations, Zhou Enlai, Dong Biwu, and others not only carried out a lot of work in this car, but also used this car many times to shake off the secret agents and escort the party's underground workers to a safe place. Zhou Enlai also secretly discussed with Zhang Kexia, an underground party member and "sword general" on this car, about plotting an uprising against the Kuomintang troops.
It was a late summer day in 1946, when the Buick sedan drove out of Meiyuan New Village and sped away via Guofu Road. Inside the car, Zhou Enlai stared at the jeep that was closely following behind him, and said to the driver: "Get rid of the agent." The car sped into a path and approached a park near General Feng Yuxiang's mansion.
It was nearly evening, the road outside the park was getting less and less pedestrian, looking a little deserted, and a middle-aged man in military civilian clothes was wandering alone. He was Zhang Kexia, who was approved by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 1929 to become a special member of the Communist Party of China and then the deputy commander of the Kuomintang's Xuzhou Third Appeasement District. When the Buick sedan stopped in front of him, Zhang Kexia looked through the window and saw zhou Enlai's familiar face. He stepped into the car and couldn't help but shout, "Vice Chairman Zhou!" Zhou Enlai clasped his hands tightly and said, "Comrade Kexia, it has been hard!" This kind name made Zhang Kexia, who had been lurking in the enemy army for a long time, burst into tears.
In the car, Zhang Kexia quickly reported to Zhou Enlai the relevant situation of the Kuomintang troops preparing for the uprising, and Zhou Enlai listened very carefully, and his eyes flashed with excitement from time to time. Finally, Zhang Kexia said: "According to the above situation, the uprising is conditional. Zhou Enlai solemnly said: "The uprising is a very meaningful work. If it is done, it can break the morale of the enemy army and help our army fight, but we must choose a good time. We must be meticulous and cautious in our work, explain our party's policies to the senior Kuomintang generals, and strive to pull more troops..." Approaching the separation, Zhang Kexia clings to it: "Vice Chairman Zhou, goodbye." Zhou Enlai said firmly: "We will see you after victory!"
On November 8, 1948, Zhang Kexia, together with He Jifeng, an underground member of the Communist Party of China, led the 38th and 180th Divisions of the 59th Army of the Third Appeasement District of the Kuomintang Army, as well as the 132nd Division of the 77th Army and the 111th Regiment of the 37th Division, a total of more than 23,000 officers and men, announced an uprising in the Jiawang and Taierzhuang areas, accelerating the process of victory in the Huaihai Campaign.
Signing fiat currency wins the hearts and minds of the United Front
In the middle of summer that year, five pilots of the Kuomintang Air Force walked into a cold drink shop in Xinjiekou and found two people sitting at a table in the middle of the room very familiar. Isn't this Mr. Zhou Enlai and Ms. Deng Yingchao? The pilots greatly admired the Sincere Attitude of the Communist Party in advocating peace and democracy, and they had long wanted to meet Mr. Zhou, a representative of the Communist Party of China, and did not want to meet here by chance. They elected a pilot named Lin Yuyu as a representative and went to meet Zhou Enlai together. Lin Yuyu said to Zhou En: "We are all returned overseas Chinese, we have returned to participate in the War of Resistance, and now the Japanese have surrendered, but the Kuomintang is going to fight a civil war again, and we are not willing to Chinese cannibalism." Zhou Enlai politely gave up his seat and said: "In order to achieve peace and democracy, we are negotiating with the Kuomintang, you young people are very patriotic, and there are many young people like you in the Liberated Areas. The conversation was pleasant and easy-going, and the 5 pilots wanted to ask Zhou Enlai to sign for a souvenir, but because they did not have a notebook on their bodies, they had to take out 5 new 500 yuan legal coins from their pockets and ask Zhou Enlai to sign on them. Zhou Enlai gladly agreed, took out a pen and wrote the three words "Zhou Enlai" on the legal tender.
This chance encounter allowed the five pilots to further understand the Communist Party's peace propositions, and at the same time strengthened their determination to yearn for light and demand progress. In the second year of the outbreak of the civil war, they all resolutely broke away from the Kuomintang Air Force. In Hong Kong, Lin Yushui entered the work of China Central Airlines. On November 9, 1949, the patriotic employees of China Airlines and China Central Airlines, which originally belonged to the Kuomintang government, launched the "Two Airlines Uprising" that shocked China and foreign countries, and flew back to the mainland from Hong Kong. It was Lin Yushui who flew China Central Airlines Flight 525.
At the end of that year, Zhou Enlai set up a banquet at the Beijing Hotel to entertain the personnel of the "Two Airlines Uprising." During the banquet, Zhou En: "Let your comrade who has revolted with his relatives sit down beside me." Lin Yuyu happily got up and walked toward Zhou Enlai. Zhou Enlai immediately called out his name, and clasped his hand like an old friend reunited and said happily: "You have come to the Liberated Areas in the end." ”
A piece of red silk was given to the newcomers to the delegation
There were more than 200 comrades working in Nanjing in the CPC delegation, most of whom were young people, and the leaders of the CPC delegation headed by Zhou Enlai were very concerned about the lives of these young people. Many comrades who had worked in the delegation later recalled: At that time, although the negotiation struggle was arduous, we were as harmonious and warm as living in a big family around Vice Chairman Zhou.
On the day that Lu Ming and Lin Gang, who worked at the Xinhua Daily, were happily married, Sister Deng Ying asked the comrades around her to try to find a piece of red silk and asked the highly respected Dong Biwu to write an inscription on it as a congratulatory gift to a couple of newcomers. Elder Dong happily waved his hand, and the four big characters of "a match made in heaven" were written in one go, and dozens of comrades such as Zhou Enlai, Deng Yingchao, Lu Dingyi, Liao Chengzhi, Pan Hannian, and Song Ping also signed their congratulations. Zhou Enlai and Deng Yingchao also affectionately instructed them: Husband and wife are both revolutionary comrades and lovers, and they should respect each other, love each other, trust each other, encourage each other, help each other, give each other, understand each other, and comfort each other, so that they can do a good job in the relationship between husband and wife and advance hand in hand. The fiery red silk reflected the cheeks of the comrades, and the spirit of revolutionary optimism burned even more in their hearts.
After the kuomintang-communist negotiations broke down, in March 1947, when the Kuomintang government ordered the staff of the Chinese communist delegation to return to Yan'an within a time limit, the situation was already quite sinister, and many of the belongings of the members of the delegation could not be taken away, but Lu Minglingang and his wife cherished the red silk and brought it back to Beijing.
The vase carries on a 42-year wish for peace
In the kuomintang-communist negotiations, Zhou Enlai's attitude toward the US representatives was not humble, reasonable and restrained, and he did not give in to any step on the issue of principle. But at the negotiating table, he still treated the U.S. representatives with courtesy and showed a flexible diplomatic strategy.
In November 1946, negotiations finally broke down. On the 19th, Zhou Enlai led a CPC delegation of Deng Yingchao, Li Weihan and more than 10 other people to leave Nanjing and return to Yan'an. Before his departure, he specially entrusted Wang Bingnan, who was in charge of foreign affairs work at the delegation, to present an open bottle of colorful figures to US Ambassador to China Stuart Layden as a souvenir.
This porcelain vase is 45 cm high, 17.5 cm in diameter along the mouth, the maximum abdominal diameter is 20 cm, the bottom diameter is 14.5 cm, the main pattern of the abdomen is decorated with eight immortals, and the bottle body is an irregular ice crack, which is a porcelain from the imitation Ming Dynasty Chenghua period kiln in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi in the early years of the Republic of China. At that time, the victory or defeat of the two parties was undecided, just like the eight immortals in the waves, each showing their magic on the sea. Does this mean that if you want to sail on the sea, only those who overcome the wind and waves will reach the other side of victory?
Stuart Redden has always appreciated Zhou Enlai's character and cherished this gift. Later, he returned to the United States with this bottle and carefully treasured it. Before dying, he instructed his secretary Fu Jingbo: "After Yu's death, this object will be restored to the Lord." Fu Jingbo kept in mind Mr. Stuart's last wish, and after learning in 1988 that the old office site of the Cpc delegation Meiyuan New Village would be built as a revolution memorial hall, the old man asked his daughter Fu Hailan to escort the vase back. On the morning of May 26 of that year, a grand vase handover ceremony was held at No. 30 Meiyuan New Village. At this point, this vase has been carefully treasured by The Ambassador from Zhou Enlai to Situ Leiden, then preserved by Fu Jingbo and escorted by his daughter, and has been passed for 42 years. At that time, it crossed the ocean with the hope of peace, and now, it has returned to Meiyuan New Village with the blessing of peace.
(The author is the director of the compilation and research department of the Meiyuan Xincun Memorial Hall of the CPC delegation and a research librarian.) )