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mao zedong met with us president ford in his study (file photo)

on may 17, 1964, mao zedong said when meeting with foreign guests at the great hall of the people in beijing: "i have fought for 25 years. by chance, i was not killed by the enemy." the 25 years here should be a general term. in fact, it should be more than 25 years, at least starting from the autumn harvest uprising in 1927. it is also a basic fact that during this long historical process, amidst the hail of bullets, mao zedong "was not killed by the enemy" and did not even suffer serious physical injuries.

on january 9, 1965, the famous american journalist edgar snow visited china again. when mao zedong and he talked about international issues, they could not help but mention world war ii. snow said: "at that time (1942), i was a war correspondent in russia." mao zedong asked: "how long did you stay there?" snow replied: "two and a half years. after the war, i stayed in britain and france. i never killed anyone, but i was almost killed several times."

snow talked about his interview on the battlefield, and mao zedong asked about his safety with concern. the conversation later turned to the issue of china and the united states. snow asked whether there was hope for the improvement of relations between the two countries. mao zedong replied: "i think there is hope, but it will take time. maybe i have no hope in this life. i will soon see god. maybe you have hope. according to dialectics, life is always limited." perhaps because of the previous discussion of topics such as war and life, mao zedong's words had a hint of desolation. then, snow said: "i think the chairman is in good health." mao zedong continued: "i have prepared many times, but i just won't die. what can i do! many times i seemed to be dying, including the dangers in the war you mentioned. the guards around me were blown to death and blood splashed on me, but the bombs didn't hit me." this is a story rarely heard of mao zedong's personal experience, and it was a dangerous experience. so, almost instinctively, snow asked nervously: "in yan'an?" mao zedong replied: "many times. there was also one time on the long march. after crossing the dadu river, i encountered an airplane bombing and killed my guard leader. this time the blood didn't splash on me."

“i was not killed by the enemy”, but there were dangers “many times”, which was rarely heard of before. the author searched through historical materials and only found relevant content about the latter.

this is the story of "mao zedong weeping for his guard squad leader hu changbao" in history. hu changbao, a native of ji'an, jiangxi, joined the red army in 1930 and served as mao zedong's guard squad leader in early 1934. in october 1934, he participated in the long march. in june 1935, the central red army headquarters led the main force and the central organs from luding hualinping and entered tianquan county through xingjing county, sichuan. just as mao zedong passed chahegang, sanhe township, xingjing county, enemy planes flew over and circled and strafed in the sky. at that time, mao zedong was marching on the small road on the left and had no time to hide. hu changbao hurriedly helped mao zedong run to the small woods on the right. unfortunately, he was hit by a dive bomb from an enemy plane and died heroically. facing the soldiers who sacrificed to defend themselves, mao zedong couldn't help but shed tears.

mao zedong's adventures before the autumn harvest uprising

the author has found many related works about the risks that mao zedong encountered in history, which mentioned that mao zedong had faced the threat of death more than a dozen times: the venue of the first national congress of the communist party of china was raided, he was wanted by the enemy in his early years, he was in danger in shaoshan, he broke out of the jinggangshan siege, he broke out of the xingguo siege, he was in danger on the long march, the enemy planes bombed the venue, the japanese air raid on yan'an city, hu zongnan attacked northern shaanxi, the enemy planes attacked chengnan village, the assassins in peking, the enemy agents conspired to bomb the special train, the shelling of tiananmen square, and the dangers on the road to inspect the south in his later years. however, some of these can hardly be truly called adventures, and mao zedong himself told about the adventures before the autumn harvest uprising in 1927, in addition to the many life-threatening adventures on the battlefield that he talked about with snow.

a few days before the autumn harvest uprising in 1927, mao zedong, according to the decision of the last joint meeting of the hunan provincial committee of the communist party of china and the front committee, went to anyuan, liuyang and other places to inform the uprising team before the uprising. as a result, on the way from liuyang to anyuan to do work, he was unexpectedly caught by the local landlord's militia and was about to be escorted to the tuanfang bureau. the situation was very urgent. at this critical moment of life and death, mao zedong remained calm, used clever strategies, dealt with the enemy, and finally turned danger into safety.

mao zedong still remembered this incident vividly, and later he mentioned it in a conversation with snow:

while i was organizing the army and running between the hanyeping miners and the peasant armed forces, i was caught by some militias that were in collusion with the kuomintang. at that time, the terror of the yuan kuomintang reached its peak, and hundreds of suspected communists were shot. the militias were ordered to take me to the militia headquarters to be executed. i borrowed a few dozen yuan from a comrade and planned to bribe the escorts to release me. the ordinary soldiers were mercenaries, and there was no particular benefit for them to shoot me. they agreed to release me, but the captain in charge did not allow it. so i decided to escape. however, i didn't find an opportunity until i was less than 200 meters away from the militia headquarters. i broke free and ran into the fields. i ran to a high ground with a pond below. there was tall grass around, and i hid there until sunset. the soldiers were chasing me and forcing some farmers to help them search. many times they came very close, and once or twice i could almost touch them with my hands. although there were five or six times i had given up any hope and thought i would be caught again, somehow i was not discovered by them. finally, as it was getting dark, they gave up the search. i immediately crossed the mountains and traveled all night. i had no shoes and my feet were badly scratched. on the way i met a friendly farmer who gave me a place to stay. later he led me to the neighboring county. i had seven dollars with me, which i used to buy a pair of shoes, an umbrella and some food. when i finally arrived safely at the peasants' armed forces, i only had two copper coins left in my pocket.

“bullets can kill people”

mao zedong's account of his adventures was not just a confession of heroism; he also knew the value of life. however, revolution was bound to involve bloodshed, and any historical progress inevitably came at a price.

on october 1, 1959, the national day, mao zedong met with wilcox, the general secretary of the central committee of the communist party of new zealand, on the tiananmen gate tower. in a brief conversation, he implicitly opposed the idea of ​​"peaceful transition". based on historical lessons and his judgment of the world situation, mao zedong once again proposed to "prepare for both situations" in this conversation. mao zedong told his guests: the chinese communist party has led the people in a long period of armed struggle and overthrown the three mountains. now that they have political power and an army, it is possible to peacefully transform the national bourgeoisie. "if we only look at the fact that the national bourgeoisie in china now accepts peaceful transformation and insist that the chinese revolution is a peaceful transition, what is the difference between that and a blind man mistaking the trunk of an elephant for the entire elephant?"

then mao zedong modestly said: "i am not a genius military strategist or strategist. i just know three more principles than those who memorize dogma: people need to eat, they need to walk with their feet, and bullets can kill people."

"people need to eat, they need to walk with their feet, and bullets can kill people." is this a profound truth? isn't it just common sense? perhaps wilcox didn't quite understand what mao zedong meant by these words, and he bid farewell to mao zedong with doubts.

the second meeting between mao zedong and wilcox was on may 22, 1963. mao zedong had to go on an inspection trip that day and time was very tight, so as soon as wilcox got off the plane, he was taken to the great hall of the people by the relevant party and told that mao zedong wanted to meet him.

wilcox was very excited when he heard that mao zedong wanted to meet him. after a few pleasantries, he asked mao zedong if he still remembered the words he said on the tiananmen tower four years ago. mao zedong replied that he remembered and gave a detailed explanation of the words.

"people need to eat" means that soldiers are also people. if they don't have food to eat, they can't fight and can't survive. therefore, commanders must pay attention to logistics. however, during the fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign, the "left" opportunist leaders who commanded the red army did not understand this basic common sense. they only knew to ask the troops to fight, but didn't know to ensure that the soldiers at the front had food to eat and clothes to wear. how could they not fail when they commanded the war?

"walking on foot" means that the red army had no cars or airplanes at that time, and the troops were mobilized entirely on foot. the troops often had to cross mountains and ridges, braving the bombing and strafing of enemy planes to rush on the road. but the commanders at that time did not understand this. they looked at the map to command, pulled out the small flag representing the troops from one place and inserted it in another place, and thought that they had completed the task of mobilizing the troops. they could "mobilize" a troop for dozens or even hundreds of miles on the map without any effort. the troops transferred according to their orders had to walk for many hours or even many days. when they arrived at the destination, they were already exhausted, but the enemy was waiting for them. how could they not lose the battle?

"bullets can kill people" means that these unrealistic military commanders seem to think that enemy bullets cannot kill red army soldiers. after a unit has fought hard with the enemy for several days and nights on the front line, it needs to withdraw to rest. however, the commanders still use this unit as a fresh force and order them to "attack hard and pursue victory." under such poor command, how can the fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign be victorious?

after explaining this, mao zedong went on to say, "i have never been to a military school. some people scolded me for 'commanding a war with a copy of the art of war'. in fact, i had never even read the art of war before. i heard that someone scolded me like that, so i tried to get a copy to read. those who believed in foreign dogmas gave blind orders, and many comrades sacrificed their lives for them. it was a bloody lesson! we had to embark on the long march because we were defeated. today, when we praise the victory of the long march, we must not forget the lesson that 300,000 people were reduced to only 26,000 or 27,000."

talking about life and death

in 1961, after mao zedong swam in the yangtze river in wuhan, he talked with british field marshal montgomery and mentioned his own life and death without hesitation, which led to the question of "successors". obviously, mao zedong was prepared for this.

in 1964, mao zedong also talked about the issue of life and death at a meeting of military cadres. he said: "when the atomic bomb falls, there is only one way to see marx. people will die when they get old. if people are burdened with too much, death is a good way to get rid of it."

in may 1965, mao zedong met with ho chi minh in changsha. during the conversation, mao zedong proposed to ho chi minh that he could visit vietnam secretly. ho chi minh welcomed this, but was worried about his safety because the united states was bombing vietnam at that time. the stubborn mao zedong said: "i just want to see the bombing, i want to go to the place where the bombing is happening. i haven't seen bombing for several years."

ho chi minh listened to mao zedong and said, "i will invite you when the situation gets better." mao zedong said unhappily, "i will not go when the situation gets better. i just want to go now. in the past, i was bombed dozens or hundreds of times by the kuomintang, japanese and american planes, but they didn't hit me. now, i want to visit you, even if it's close to you. i can go secretly." ho chi minh immediately said, "you are too conspicuous, and vietnamese children will recognize you." mao zedong said, "you can just disguise yourself as a chinese expert." ho chi minh replied, "no matter how you disguise yourself, you can be recognized. i will invite you when the time is right."

in the end, mao zedong failed to achieve his wish. in his lifetime, he never visited any other country except the soviet union.

after the september 13 incident in 1971, mao zedong's body began to age noticeably. his spirit and mentality also quietly changed. an inexplicable sense of loneliness and vicissitudes always surrounded his thoughts. he began to talk about life and death with people frequently, including in conversations with foreign guests.

in november 1973, in a conversation with the australian prime minister, mao zedong said: "neither zhou enlai nor i can see the end of the chinese revolution."

in april 1975, dong biwu passed away. mao zedong, who had attended the first national congress of the communist party of china with dong biwu, was filled with emotion. soon after, when he met with kim il-sung, he said with sadness: "comrade dong biwu passed away, the premier was ill, and comrade liu bocheng was also ill... i am 82 years old this year, and i am dying. i rely on you... god invited me to drink soju." in may, mao zedong talked with a doctor and mentioned that "god may send me an invitation" and said in an ancient poem, "there are strange children under the tent of wind and clouds, and there are many tears in front of the drums and horns." then he explained: "this is how i feel at this moment."

in october 1975, mao zedong said in a conversation with us secretary of state kissinger: "i am an exhibit for visitors to visit. i will die soon. i have received an invitation from god." kissinger immediately replied: "don't accept it so early." mao zedong smiled and said: "okay, i will obey the doctor's orders." doctor means a doctor in english. here, mao zedong used it as a pun. kissinger is a doctor, and only doctors can control diseases. in december, us president ford and kissinger visited china. during the meeting with them, mao zedong said to ford in a humorous way: "your secretary of state interferes in our internal affairs. he doesn't want me to see god. he dares to disobey god's orders. god invites me, but he doesn't let me go."

in 1976, mao zedong met with nixon's daughter and her entourage while seriously ill. during the brief conversation, mao zedong said: "a person's burden is too heavy, and death is a relief."

a long talk with the head nurse

in his later years, mao zedong talked about his life and death many times. mao zedong's head nurse wu xujun's recollections were the most detailed.

after luo ronghuan passed away in 1963, mao zedong had a long talk with wu xujun, which was also the most concentrated talk about mao zedong's views on life and death. many years later, the book "the real mao zedong" edited by li min and others recalled:

on december 16, 1963, comrade luo ronghuan passed away. mao zedong went to beijing hospital to bid farewell to luo ronghuan's body. since then, he has rarely spoken, and he has not slept well or eaten well for several days, and he seems to be worried. at this time, he wrote a poem "mourning comrade luo ronghuan".

one day, he couldn't sleep and chatted with wu xujun. recalling the past, he talked about his mother. "i like my mother. she is a kind rural woman who treats people sincerely." he leaned on the bed and said to wu xujun, smoking non-stop. wu xujun sat at the foot of his bed and listened. "although she didn't know how to build relationships with the masses, she was a very good person and respected. when she died, many people came to her funeral and lined up in a long queue. it was different from when my father died. my father was harsh on people. i can never forget this." "weren't you there when your mother died?" "can't i listen to what others say if i'm not here?" "how can you be good to your mother?" wu xujun asked curiously. mao zedong shook his head and said, "i am not qualified as a son. i can't be loyal in life and filial in death. i am just that kind of person." "it's not your fault. you devoted yourself to the revolution so early, sought the truth, and made such a great contribution to the liberation of the whole of china. it can be regarded as filial piety to your mother." wu xujun comforted him. ...

mao zedong continued to smoke and pondered for a while. he suddenly said, "don't be with me when i die." "don't be kidding. if there really comes such a day, how could i not be with you? i will do a good job of disease prevention. if you have a minor illness, i will give you timely treatment and care to prevent you from getting a serious illness." "no, i must not have you by my side when i die." mao zedong said firmly, "before my mother died, i told her that i couldn't bear to see her suffering. i wanted her to leave me with a good impression. i want to leave for a while. mother is a reasonable person and she agreed. so until now, the image of my mother in my mind is healthy and beautiful, just like when she was alive. now you understand why i don't want you to be with me. i want to give you a perfect impression and not let you see my suffering."

"let's not talk about death all the time," wu xujun said. mao zedong said stubbornly, "i am such a strange person. the more others want to avoid something, the more i want to talk about it. i almost died many times during the war, but i didn't die. people say i am lucky. but i don't believe it. i believe in dialectics. dialectics tells us that there is life and death, victory and failure, right and wrong, progress and retreat. winter is over and spring comes, summer is over and autumn comes, and so on. don't you study these?" wu xujun said, "the scope of our research is relatively narrow, not as broad as the chairman said. to be precise, we study more about human birth, aging, illness and death. in medicine, some of us are still behind other disciplines. although birth, aging, illness and death are only four words, there are still many subtle, complex and endless problems in this category. for example, how to improve the rate of eugenics. how to prevent aging and slow down the aging process. how to find a preventive and therapeutic measure for difficult and incurable diseases. how to reduce the mortality rate. these problems need to be further studied and need to be solved."

after listening to wu xujun's words, mao zedong laughed. he put out his cigarette and said, "you said it well. you admit that birth, aging, illness and death are manifestations of life in different periods. well, according to this scientific law, i will die just like comrade luo ronghuan, and we will be cremated after death. do you believe it?" wu xujun was not mentally prepared for such a sudden question. wu xujun was shocked and did not speak for a long time. "what's wrong with you?" mao zedong asked. "chairman, let's not talk about this issue, let's change the subject." mao zedong became serious and said in an affirmative tone: "don't avoid the problem. the topic cannot be changed, and i still have to explain this issue to you thoroughly. give you some time to prepare yourself. there is a book "formal logic" on my bookshelf. you can take it and read it. we will continue the discussion tomorrow."

the conversation ended like this. wu xujun found "formal logic" on his bookshelf and went back to the lounge to read it to prepare for the "exam". mao zedong always kept his word, so you can't fool around. the next day, after wu xujun had his first meal with mao zedong, it was already afternoon. wu xujun left the table and sat on the sofa. he asked: "how is your book? let's continue with yesterday's conversation." wu xujun said: "this book doesn't have many pages. i have finished reading it. i feel like i have indigestion. i don't quite understand some of the questions." "what is formal logic?" he asked like a strict teacher. wu xujun recited to him several prepared definitions of formal logic. after listening, he said: "then give an example based on concepts, judgments, and reasoning to test whether you can use what you have learned." wu xujun did not expect him to ask such a question. after thinking for a while, he said: "all metals are conductors. copper is a metal, so copper can conduct electricity." mao zedong nodded: "well said, please give an example in connection with the issue we talked about yesterday." wu xujun thought that she had never thought of mao zedong and death. her job was to ensure his health and longevity. in addition, emotionally speaking, wu xujun did not want him to die at all. china needed him too much. wu xujun could not use the cruel "formal logic" on this issue, so she said frankly: "i can't give an example for what we talked about yesterday." mao zedong looked at wu xujun's embarrassment and said: "well, let me give you an example." he said with some pride, counting his fingers: "people will die. this is a concept. based on the concept, you make a judgment that mao zedong is a person. it seems that this judgment is correct. then, based on the judgment, you can reason. therefore, mao zedong will die."

mao zedong went on to say, "i have imagined that there are only five ways for me to die. i told montgomery this when i met him in wuhan two years ago. first, someone shoots me to death. second, it is inevitable that the train will overturn or crash. third, i swim every year and i might drown. fourth, i could be killed by tiny bacteria. we cannot underestimate these invisible things. fifth, i could die from a plane crash." he smiled and said, "the central committee has set a rule for me not to take a plane. i think i will take one in the future. in short, at the age of seventy-three or eighty-four, you can go to hell even if the king of hell doesn't invite you." after that, he laughed happily.

wu xujun felt very heavy in her heart after hearing these words, and she couldn't laugh at all. she said, "can we not say these unlucky words?" "you are a bit superstitious." he pointed at wu xujun's nose and said, "you are a natural scientist, you should understand the seriousness of natural laws."

he said, "when i die, you can hold a celebration party. you should dress up beautifully, preferably in bright red or flowery clothes, and attend the celebration with high spirits and a cheerful face. then you can go on stage and speak openly." "what should you say?" wu xujun asked blankly. "you can say: comrades, today's conference is a victory conference. mao zedong is dead. we are all here to celebrate the victory of dialectics. it's good that he died. if no one died, the earth would not be able to accommodate confucius until now. it's metabolism. 'a thousand sails pass by the side of a sunken boat, and a thousand trees bloom in front of a dead tree.' this is the law of the development of things."

after a pause, he said to wu xujun seriously: "i ate a lot of fish when i was alive. after i die, i will be cremated and my ashes will be scattered in the yangtze river to feed the fish. you can say to the fish: fish, mao zedong has come to apologize to you. he ate you when he was alive, now you can eat him, and when you are fat, you can serve the people. this is called the law of conservation of matter."

"no, absolutely not." wu xujun shook his head and said, "i usually listen to you in everything, but i can't listen to you on this matter, and i won't do it!" mao zedong stopped smiling and looked unhappy. he said, "you have worked with me for so long and are so close to me, but you can't understand me. i advocate cremation, and of course i can't be an exception. i signed the agreement." "what other agreement did you sign, and with whom?" wu xujun asked in surprise. "i signed it with the comrades of the central committee in huairen hall. if you don't believe me, go check it out. it will be very beneficial to follow this. leaving my body will increase the burden on the people." wu xujun learned afterwards that there was indeed such a proposal.

such a long passage of memoirs fully demonstrates mao zedong's view on life and death in his later years. his calmness, open-mindedness and wisdom embody the demeanor of a great man of his generation.

on april 27, 1956, at a meeting held in the huairen hall of zhongnanhai in beijing, mao zedong proposed: "all people should be cremated after death, leaving no remains and no tombs." during the break of the meeting, the secretary delivered the proposal to mao zedong. after discussing the significance of funeral reform, the proposal required everyone who supported cremation to sign, and mao zedong signed first. subsequently, zhu de, zhou enlai, liu shaoqi, deng xiaoping and other comrades inside and outside the party, a total of 136 people, signed one after another. after hearing the news, some leaders who were not in beijing at the time or did not attend the meeting also expressed their agreement to this proposal to the central government or relevant departments.

on february 10, 1959, chen yun wrote a letter to yang shangkun, director of the general office of the central committee. he said: "a few years ago, at a plenary meeting of the central committee, members voluntarily signed to be cremated after death. i did not attend the meeting and did not sign. i am in favor of cremation, so i am writing this letter as my signature. at the same time, i am in favor of autopsy, because it does no harm to the deceased and is beneficial to medicine. therefore, if the doctor thinks that some organs need to be dissected after my death to confirm whether the diagnosis and medical treatment at that time were correct, please let the doctor dissect them."

the above-mentioned proposal for cremation was later included in the sixth volume of mao zedong's manuscripts since the founding of the people's republic of china, published by the central literature publishing house, under the title "proposal for the implementation of cremation", and was annotated as "printed based on the original preserved in the central archives". the full text is as follows:

people go from birth to death, this is the law of nature. after death, people should be properly placed and mourned in appropriate forms. this is human nature. there are various ways to bury the dead in the history of my country and in all nations of the world. the main methods are burial and cremation, and burial is the most widely used. however, burial occupies arable land and wastes wood. in addition, the feudal ruling class of my country has made lavish burials and long mourning a ritual, which often makes many families go bankrupt because of burying the dead. cremation does not occupy arable land, does not require coffins, can save the cost of burial and burial, and does not hinder the commemoration of the dead. although this method is only used by a few people in ancient and modern china, it should be admitted that it is the most reasonable way to place the dead, and it has been widely practiced in some countries. therefore, we propose that a small number of people, first of all, the leading staff of state organs, should be cremated according to their own wishes after their death. for the convenience of cremation, in addition to the existing crematoriums in beijing, shanghai, hankou, changsha and other places, we suggest that the state can also build some modern crematoriums in some large and medium-sized cities and other appropriate places. we believe that the way to bury the dead should respect people's voluntary will. the way to promote cremation among the people must be gradual and must be completely based on the principle of voluntariness, without any coercion. the vast majority of chinese people have a long-standing habit of burial. when people are willing to continue to practice burial, the state cannot interfere; existing graves cannot be treated roughly. the graves of martyrs and ancient graves that have become historical monuments should be protected. for ordinary graves with owners, when it is necessary to move them, the consent of the family members should be obtained. all state agency staff who support the cremation method, please sign at the back. anyone who signs means that he must be cremated after his death. the later deceased must ensure that the earlier deceased realizes his wish to be cremated.

as for the fact that mao zedong was not cremated but buried in the chairman mao memorial hall after his death on september 9, 1976, this was a choice made in that special historical era. in 1980, deng xiaoping said to italian journalist oriana fallaci when he met with her: after the smashing of the "gang of four", the construction of the chairman mao memorial hall was against chairman mao's own wishes. in the 1950s, chairman mao proposed that all people should be cremated after death, leaving only ashes, not bodies, and no tombs. chairman mao was the first to sign. we all signed. senior cadres of the central committee and senior cadres across the country almost all signed. the signature book is still there. all these things done after the smashing of the "gang of four" were considered from the idea of ​​seeking relative stability.