Chapter 17 order

"The communist army marched eastward in a team from the Hengshan Road area, with excellent discipline and order." This was a report by a special correspondent of "Shenbao" that had not yet been compiled at 4:00 a.m. on May 25, 1949. This eastward team did not encounter any battles along the way. In the early morning, the People's Liberation Army from Xujiahui to the eaves the size of Nanjing Road, sleeping in clothes, taught the Shanghai citizens the first lesson. Especially for Tang Weihong, who doesn't read newspapers, that day, when she just walked to the Ping An Cinema on Nanjing West Road, she saw the army lying on the side of the road in dust. The army is very different."

"At that time, where did we read newspapers? Reading newspapers was the job of the husband, and the wife only took care of the life of the family. The rest of the time was playing mahjong, dancing, and finding a good tailor to make clothes." At that time, she was just married and was not yet 20 years old. , has already lived the daily life of a Shanghai housewife with peace of mind. However, this mahjong table was not safe. At the end of 1948, relatives and friends around us left Shanghai one after another. "We didn't leave, but we felt that going abroad would not lead a good life."Since she was a child, she looked at the White Russian nobles in exile on Nanjing Road and Huaihai Road, "They were also relatives of princes and nobles in their own country, but when they were exiled in Shanghai, the women worked as waitresses in small bars or dancers, and the men sold soap along the street. ".When the soap was bought back, it melted into a little bit in the sun, and she gestured for the size with her hands.

Tang Weihong, who is now 82 years old but dressed very brightly, considers Shanghai to be a comfortable place, and family conflicts made her even more reluctant to leave Shanghai. "Our family is a big family, and I was a concubine. "She has sincere expectations for the Communist Party, "When the time comes, everyone will be equal, and it will definitely be better than the previous society." So, even though there were many people around trying to buy tickets to leave, and mahjong players were often dismantled and reorganized, she was determined not to leave, and just took her family's chartered car to send people off to Shiliupu pier every three days.The chaos at the pier did not interfere with her changing into a different cheongsam every time she went.

For several months, the section of the Bund from Nanjing Road to Shiliupu Wharf has become the most crowded place, "even the entrance of the always quiet Chinachem Hotel (now the Peace Hotel) was crowded with people." At the end of 1948, the U.S. Consul General in Shanghai advised the American expats to be careful about the current situation, and many American friends of the Tang family began to leave.By May 1949, there were only about 1,200 of the more than 5,000 Americans in Shanghai. "Belarus also left. They sat in groups on ships specially provided by the International Refugee Organization. It is said that they first went to the Philippines and then tried to find a way. The places where the Jews went were all kinds of things. Some went to Australia and some returned to Europe. Most of them went to United States."

At the beginning, the steamship company also provided ribbons, and the people on the shore and the people on the ship each held one end, "then there were no more, and there was a lot of chaos, only buzzing voices were heard."There were more and more people leaving, and even on the pier, I met several tailors from Hongxiang Company on Nanjing Road, where she often made clothes, and they also left Shanghai to take a boat to Hong Kong, "because their big customers have all left. , They told me that the people of Shanghai in the future will all wear people’s costumes, and their craftsmanship is useless.”

The sight of the pier made her, who lived in comfort, deeply feel the sadness of parting.The sharp decrease of foreigners is changing the appearance of Shanghai, but she still comforts herself that with Wing On Company, even if foreigners leave, "there will not be much shortage of imported products."Over the years, several shops such as Yongan on Nanjing Road have been keeping up with the fashion. "The glass stockings that were just introduced in the United States after the war became popular in Shanghai within a few months." Most of the upper-middle-class citizens who stayed in Shanghai shared the same ideas as her. Although the sound of gunfire from the suburbs could be heard on the mahjong table from the 21st, everyone still lived as usual. The "grain storage and vegetable storage" activities have saved many families from the threat of hunger. Tang Weihong said: "The pickles in my family were not eaten until 1950. My mother-in-law is a very good old lady in Ningbo. At that time, I really wanted to go out. Go eat for a change.” The second floor of the International Hotel serves Beijing cuisine, but with a Shanghai-style Beijing cuisine. Even in the few days when the PLA entered the city, Tang Weihong and her husband were still there, enjoying slices on silver plates. The roast duck came out. "In my impression, the International Hotel has never closed its doors."

It was under such circumstances that Tang Weihong went out as usual on May 25. "On the 24th, the Kuomintang army issued a martial law order and they were not allowed to go out. When I woke up on the morning of the 25th, it was already under the Communist Party." She still remembered that when she passed the Nanjing intersection of Tibet Road that day, she heard the festive bell ringing at the Muen Hall. The bell rang, and after 9 o'clock, most of the stores on Nanjing Road opened their iron gates as usual, and crowds of citizens watched curiously. The out-of-control army was in stark contrast. They walked on unfamiliar Nanjing Road, surrounded by skyscrapers and elevators they saw for the first time.

The 28-year-old Chen Wei also hurried across Nanjing Road that morning to a private radio station on Yan'an Road. She would not know that she was chosen by chance to announce the liberation of the city to Shanghai citizens. It was not yet full light.It was raining in Shanghai that day, and the sky was gray. At home, I could hear the noise on the street and the wheels rolling.As soon as she got on Nanjing Road, she excitedly went to shake hands with the PLA soldiers on guard, but the PLA soldiers with guns in their hands ignored her, a beautiful "bourgeois woman" in a cheongsam.

"Actually, I was the only underground party member of the Shanghai Broadcasting Orchestra at that time." It's just that the members of the same group didn't know her identity. Inside, basically all the music is played.” The six girls of the Radio Orchestra sang Chinese and foreign art songs on the radio, "many of them are Schubert's".This made them look very fresh in Shanghai at that time.What impressed her most was the episode "Lake Baikal" from a Soviet movie. Now 88 years old, she suddenly sang in a soft voice: "Lake Baikal is our mother. She warms the hearts of the wanderers. Free and suffering, I am wandering on the shore of Lake Baikal."

The movie told the story of a Soviet college student who gave up the opportunity to go to the United States and chose to teach music in Siberia. "At that time, the Soviet Union gave us the impression that it was an ideal country as shown in the movie."And in Shanghai at that time, many citizens thought so. After they sang this song on the radio, many listeners wrote to them, asking them to teach and sing repeatedly, "I finally had the opportunity to go to Lake Baikal. This song was the first thing that came to my mind.” In March 1949, Chen Wei was tasked by the Party to broadcast the People’s Liberation Army’s Announcement on Anmin as soon as the People’s Liberation Army entered the city. I didn’t expect that the day on the 25th would go well.”She still remembers that there was a lot of rain that year, and Shanghai's drainage system was not perfect at that time. "A lot of times, when we arrived in the studio, we hung up our shoes and broadcasted barefoot."At that time, there was a famous host named Bai He, who told everyone that these girls came in the rain and were singing for everyone with bare feet. The audience was very moved.

That day, I crossed Nanjing Road and arrived at Shanghai Radio Station on Yan’an Road, only to find that the station was under the jurisdiction of the People’s Security Team. Many of these team members were apprentices and shop assistants on Nanjing Road. As trainees, on the one hand, they are dissatisfied with society, and on the other hand, they are easy to accept revolutionary principles, so the underground party has developed many party members among the apprentices on Nanjing Road.” Without much censorship, Chen Wei successfully took a key position. At that time, Shanghai Radio Station had only one vice president surnamed Yang in charge of the work. "At about six or seven o'clock in the morning, we went to the small broadcasting room. I took two notices and said into the microphone very, very excitedly: Citizens, friends, and comrades of Shanghai, I have good news for you. , The People’s Liberation Army led by the Communist Party of China has successfully entered Shanghai, and Shanghai has been liberated.” "At this time, people from the Radio Orchestra also came. We also listened to the broadcast of Yan'an Radio Station, and they also taught songs. We learned to sing "Dongfanghong", and now we sang together." Many years later, Chen Wei's Mandarin is still crisp and pleasant to the ear, one can imagine how she was broadcasting back then. Not long after, they received calls from places north of Suzhou Creek that had not yet been liberated. Many people heard "Dongfanghong" for the first time in their lives. They said: "We have not yet liberated here. We are very excited after hearing the announcement , we must quietly wait for liberation at home and not disturb." Chen Wei, who finished the broadcast, walked out of the radio station, only to find that Nanjing Road has fallen into a crowded space. Although there are policemen maintaining order, these old policemen have lost their prestige. Cheerfully provocative: "Liberated, you still care about us?" "The traffic rules are set by the Kuomintang, go to hell with you." For a while, Nanjing Road was tightly blocked by cars, rickshaws and tricycles. "There are also some vehicles that have the Kuomintang XX bureau written on them, but the person sitting in the vehicle is obviously not the owner, and they probably picked up the abandoned vehicle." The police also obviously flinched and did not dare to manage. This situation did not improve until the establishment of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau on June 2. The first regulation promulgated by the new Public Security Bureau was the "Traffic Rules".