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"you can only cook live fish for me. if the soviets send dead fish, throw it back to them and say i only eat live fish."

in 1948, the liberation war entered the stage of all-out counterattack. the people's liberation army was about to defeat the chiang kai-shek dynasty, and the establishment of a new regime was on the agenda. under such circumstances, chairman mao believed that it was necessary to go to the soviet union in person to exchange views with stalin, so he asked stalin to visit the soviet union.

however, in the face of chairman mao's request, stalin agreed at first, but then repeatedly postponed it for various reasons. why did stalin reject chairman mao?

the reason was simple, because the communist party led by chairman mao was not yet the ruling party at that time. if chairman mao's visit was accepted, once discovered by spies, it would give chiang kai-shek and western countries a handle to "interfere in china's internal affairs." it was for this reason that stalin suggested that chairman mao temporarily postpone his visit to the soviet union, and at the same time said that if chairman mao did not come, they could send a member of the politburo of the central committee of the soviet communist party to china for secret negotiations.

chairman mao also understood this logic, so he did not insist again and again, but agreed to stalin's suggestion and designated the meeting place - xibaipo, hebei, the seat of the cpc central committee.

on january 26, 1949, soviet politburo member mikoyan departed from moscow and flew to china. on january 31, mikoyan arrived at shijiazhuang airport, where zhu de and ren bishi greeted him. after getting off the plane, mikoyan took no time to rest and drove to xibaipo. at about 1 p.m. on the 31st, mikoyan and his team finally arrived in xibaipo. before mikoyan got off the car, he saw a man leading the way to greet them, and that man was none other than chairman mao.

after getting off the car, chairman mao extended a hand to mikoyan, and mikoyan shook mao zedong's hand tightly. after greeting each other, they began to have an in-depth conversation.

chairman mao analyzed the current domestic situation in china, put forward the concept of foreign policy after the establishment of the new regime, and made an analogy: "if our country is compared to a family, its house is too dirty... after liberation, we must clean up our house seriously... our true friends can come into the house early... this is also a kind of courtesy..."

after the conversation, chairman mao hosted a banquet for mikoyan. he had always been frugal, but in order to entertain guests from afar, he specifically instructed the kitchen to prepare the best wine and food.

but when the dishes came, mikoyan was dumbfounded. he couldn't believe it. chairman mao lived in this small place, ate these "best food and wine", and beat chiang kai-shek into a state of chaos? mikoyan had met chiang kai-shek. at that time, chiang kai-shek hosted a banquet for him in nanjing. he ate a full banquet and drank high-end foreign wine. how could chairman mao be so "shabby"?

mikoyan suddenly remembered the gifts he brought and quickly asked someone to bring them to the table: canned fruit, soviet "national liquor" vodka, scotch whisky, etc. chairman mao was not interested in these, but just thanked him politely. after the banquet began, mikoyan was not sure how to eat the food, but was very interested in shanxi fenjiu, and frequently raised his glass to toast chairman mao.

chairman mao didn't like drinking. compared with mikoyan's alcohol tolerance, there was a huge gap. premier zhou wanted to dissuade him, but chairman mao took the initiative to ask mikoyan to drink with him, and it was difficult for him to stop him. chairman mao knew that he was no match for mikoyan.

in order not to offend mikoyan, chairman mao came up with an idea. he raised his glass and said to mikoyan: "mr. mikoyan, we chinese have a saying: 'eat spicy food and drink spicy food'... today, let's drink wine and eat a chili pepper. for every glass of wine we drink, we eat a chili pepper. whoever can't do it will admit defeat. what do you think?"

chairman mao picked up the wine glass and drank it first as a toast, then picked up a red pepper and ate it whole. mikoyan also picked up a glass of wine, drank it all, then picked up a red pepper, took a bite, and was about to swallow it when he suddenly felt a burning sensation at the corner of his mouth. he instinctively wanted to spit out the pepper in his mouth.

but when he saw chairman mao's relaxed expression, he thought to himself that he could not admit defeat, and forced himself to swallow the chili. he finally swallowed the first bite of the chili, but chairman mao raised his glass again, drank the second glass of wine, and picked up the chili and chewed it with relish.

mikoyan was not to be outdone and drank from the glass. however, when he finished the second pepper, he could not help coughing and his face turned red. chairman mao raised the third glass and drank another pepper. mikoyan waved his hand to stop him: "no, no, you can't drink like this, comrade chairman, your rule is unfair."

chairman mao smiled and asked: "why do you say it's unfair? you have a glass of wine and a chili pepper, and i also have a glass of wine and a chili pepper." mikoyan smiled and said: "i am not used to eating your chili peppers, but you are used to eating them, so this is unfair." chairman mao smiled and replied: "how about this, comrade mikoyan, drinking is my weakness, eating chili peppers is your weakness, we both use our weaknesses to compete, i drink a glass of wine, you eat a chili pepper, how about this?" mikoyan immediately waved his hand and said: "no, no, we can't drink like this."

chairman mao said: "in that case, let's switch. you drink a glass of wine and i eat a chili pepper. how about that?" this proposal was exactly what mikoyan wanted. he smiled and said: "okay, it's settled. no one can regret it." "once a word is spoken, it can't be taken back!" chairman mao agreed. at first mikoyan was very confident. he thought that with his drinking capacity, he would definitely make chairman mao admit defeat. but as time went on, he drank slower and slower, while chairman mao ate the chili peppers at the same speed as before.

at the end of the dinner, mikoyan was already drunk and unconscious, while mao zedong ate 35 peppers that night. a few days later, chairman mao entertained mikoyan. this time, mikoyan did not dare to compete with chairman mao in drinking. he slowed down his pace and tasted it, and kept saying "laobaigan is better than vodka and does not make you drunk." a few days later, mikoyan ended his trip to xibaipo and was about to take a plane back to the soviet union. chairman mao hosted a banquet for him again. chairman mao specifically instructed the kitchen to make a braised fish from hutuo river for comrade mikoyan to taste.

after the banquet started, chairman mao asked shi zhe to introduce the fish from the hutuo river. but when mikoyan saw the braised fish, he asked, "is this fish dead or alive? i don't eat dead fish." premier zhou quickly explained, "comrade mikoyan, this fish was caught from the river. of course it was alive when it was caught, but now it's cooked. it can't be eaten if it's not cooked!" mikoyan shook his head and said, "no, we in the soviet union never eat dead fish. dead fish are not fresh." liu shaoqi also interrupted and said, "it's winter now. the fish will not go bad. the fish meat is very tender and does not affect the taste."

but no matter how much he was persuaded, mikoyan insisted that he would not eat dead fish. at this time, chairman mao was a little unhappy and immediately said: "if he doesn't eat it, bring it down for me to eat." shizhe did not translate chairman mao's words, and mikoyan did not notice chairman mao's expression, and the matter was over. at noon on february 6, chairman mao came to mikoyan's residence to see him off. mikoyan shook chairman mao's hand and said: "i hope you can visit the soviet union soon. comrade stalin will be very happy."

on the way to shijiazhuang airport, mikoyan said to shi zhe: "comrade mao zedong has far-sighted vision, brilliant strategy, extraordinary wisdom, and is a great leader." in december 1949, after the founding of new china, chairman mao led a delegation to visit the soviet union. the purpose of this visit was twofold: one was to celebrate stalin's birthday, and the other was to hold talks with stalin, sign the sino-soviet friendship treaty, and strive for soviet support for the construction of new china. after they arrived in moscow, they were warmly welcomed by the soviet side, and chairman mao and stalin reached a basic sino-soviet friendship and mutual assistance agreement.

at that time, because they were worried that chairman mao might not be used to soviet food, the delegation also brought a chef with them. chairman mao strictly ordered the chef: "you can only cook live fish for me. if the soviets send dead fish, throw it back to them and say that i only eat live fish."

sure enough, a few days later, the soviets sent a basket of fish. after checking, the chef found that the fish were dead. he remembered what chairman mao said and immediately shook his head and waved his hands to refuse. the soviets did not understand chinese. after finding a translator, they understood what was going on. they quickly promised: "we will catch a live fish right away!"

after a while, they really brought a basket of live fish, and the chef accepted it. soon, everyone in the soviet union knew that "chairman mao was very particular about eating fish, and he would not eat fish unless it was live." khrushchev was deeply impressed by this incident.

later, after he came to power, chairman mao visited the soviet union for the second time in 1957. he specifically instructed the reception department, "mao zedong is a difficult person to deal with. he will not eat anything except live fish. you must send him live fish." in the eyes of some people, chairman mao's insistence on "not eating dead fish" was really making a fuss over nothing, and he was showing a "childish temper", which was unbecoming of a great man.

but in my opinion, this is precisely the greatness of chairman mao: he always kept the country's sovereignty, dignity and interests in his heart and placed them in the highest position. it was chairman mao who truly gave the chinese people backbone and truly made the chinese people stand up.