Chapter 9 "My house can't be repaired"

At nine o'clock in the evening on November 13, 1973, the street lamps on the street blinked sleepily.The ancient city Huai lies quietly in the arms of the ancient canal. At this time, the phone in the duty room of the Huai'an County Party Committee rang crisply, and a deputy secretary of the County Party Committee who was on duty picked up the handset.It turned out that Comrade Wu Qingtong from the State Council Office called from Beijing.The person in charge said on the phone: "Recently, Premier Zhou heard reports that he wanted to mobilize the residents living in his house to move, and he was planning to renovate the house and open it up for people to visit. Please ask the county party committee to investigate whether there is such a thing and report it to the State Council Office Report." Why did Zhou Enlai pay so much attention to this trivial matter?This has to start from the beginning.

Zhou Enlai's former residence is located between Zhenhuai Tower in the center of Huai'an City and Wentong Tower in the northwest corner, at the junction of Consort Lane and Ju Lane.The former residence consists of two small courtyards connected from east to west.The gate on the east side of the courtyard faces east, facing Concubine Lane. There were originally thirteen houses with three entrances, among which the three in the third entrance were the places where Zhou Enlai was born and lived as a child; The place where Zhou Enlai studied in his childhood.The gate on the west side of the courtyard faces south, in Linju Lane. There were originally nineteen houses in three entrances, of which the third entrance had three halls in the southwest, which were the oldest main houses of the Zhou family; lived in the stepmother's house.Zhou Enlai lived here after he was adopted by the Chen family when he was young.Between the main house and the "pavilion room", there is a well.In the northwest corner of this courtyard is a large vegetable garden, where there used to be thatched huts.

These two courtyards were bought jointly by Zhou Enlai's grandfather Zhou Panlong and his second brother Zhou Haitong when he was a county magistrate in Huai'an.After buying this house, they settled down in Huai'an.Since Zhou Panlong had been an official for a short time, he was not very rich; they had a large population and no property, so their living space was not spacious.After Zhou Panlong passed away, the family became poor day by day.Zhou Enlai's father only did some small things outside, so he was unable to take his family members out to live. It was in this house that the world-famous Comrade Zhou Enlai was born in 1898.From the time he was born until he left his hometown at the age of twelve, he spent his childhood here except for three years at his grandmother's house in Qingjiangpu.Although Zhou Enlai's childhood life in his hometown was precious and colorful, it was hard, accompanied by resentment, injustice and tears.He loves the land and the people that nurtured him, misses those people and childhood friends who helped him grow up healthily, but hates the feudal family he was born into, and constantly analyzes and criticizes this feudal bureaucratic family, especially when he was alive. The whole process of dealing with the former residence has become a vivid teaching material for educating relatives, cadres, and revolutionary masses.

As early as the early days of liberation, the Huai'an County Party Committee carried out preliminary repairs on the houses that were about to collapse in Zhou Enlai's former residence.This expresses the wishes of the people in the hometown and the wishes of the people of the whole country. For such a place where great historical figures have been born and is full of revolutionary traditional educational significance, how can it be allowed to collapse!Failure to repair is dereliction of duty to the revolution.However, when Zhou Enlai learned about this incident from a letter from his nephew Er Hui in 1952, he immediately wrote to the Huai'an County Party Committee to stop future repairs, and quickly paid for the repairs with his own salary.

In 1953, before Zhou Enlai sent guards to escort his eighth aunt in Beijing back to Huai'an, he gave the guards several tasks, one of which was to ask the Huai'an County Party Committee to dispose of his old residence.The county party committee understood Zhou Enlai's noble character and self-disciplined revolutionary spirit, but they had reason to consider the feelings of the people in their hometown and the wishes of the cadres and masses across the country, so they later carried out major renovations to the three main rooms in the west courtyard.It was a main building of the whole old residence, and it was a little dangerous due to disrepair.

This incident finally reached Zhou Enlai.For this reason, Wang Ruxiang, the deputy magistrate of Huai'an County, was criticized when he went to Beijing in 1958.Zhou Enlai said: "I heard that you have renovated the house? This is not good! Didn't I keep sending you letters?" Wang Ruxiang said: "It has been repaired. Because Ercui is a soldier, we are taking care of the military family." Zhou Enlai shook Shaking his head, he said disapprovingly, "My house can't be repaired. If it's broken, it can be demolished. Bricks and wood can be used to build factories. I have the right to deal with it like this!"

On June 29, Zhou Enlai also specially wrote a five-page letter and asked Comrade Wang Ruxiang to forward it to the Huai'an County Party Committee. I think it is absolutely impossible, and I have asked the comrades in the office to report it to the record on the phone. "In the early days of liberation, the county government had rebuilt my house, and I was very disturbed. At that time, I considered handing over the old house to the public, but because my aunt was still there, I was afraid that the house would be taken by the public. It is even worse to commemorate, so it has been delayed until now.

"Now I'm taking this opportunity to send you money to repair the leaky part of the house first, and then hand over all the houses except Tao Hua's house to the public. Tao Hua will no longer collect rent. I will At the same time, write to Tao Hua and attach fifty yuan to this letter. If it is not enough, it will be sent again. "After the government took over the house, I made two requests: one is that this house must never be used as a souvenir to attract people to visit. If there is another person, it can be said that I wrote a letter denying that this is my birth house, and I It is opposed to inviting people to visit. In fact, I learned from my aunt's conversations in Beijing that the house where I lived with my widowed mother (referring to Zhou Enlai's stepmother) when I was young has already collapsed to the ground, so other people's rumors are not reliable. The second is that if the government has no other needs, it is best not to relocate the residents who originally lived in this house. Please handle the latter request at your discretion; the former request, no matter what, requires you to agree, otherwise, I will continue to write letters requesting until you agree."

Two years later, when Zhou Enlai met Liu Bingheng, another head of the Huaian County Party Committee, he mentioned this matter again.This time it was more serious.Zhou Enlai: "When Comrade Wang Ruxiang came in 1958, I told him to go back and dispose of my house. He 'lied' to me, and he still hasn't dealt with it, right?" Liu Bingheng explained in many ways.After Zhou Enlai listened to it, he explained again: "My house must be disposed of, and it must not be compared with Chairman Mao's old residence." The next day, Comrade Deng Yingchao had a special talk with Liu Bingheng about this matter, and said earnestly: "The Prime Minister has said many times that the house he lived in must be disposed of. It cannot be compared with Chairman Mao's old residence. If it is not demolished, it can be used again: run a kindergarten, run a library, or let people live in it. In short, it must be used. Get up, deal with it... This is the consistent opinion of the Prime Minister, and I completely agree with it." Finally, she said solemnly: "He is one of the leaders of the central government, and you are a party member, so you should listen to his correct opinions! "

After Liu Bingheng returned to Huai'an, he truthfully reported Premier Zhou Enlai's serious instructions to the county party committee, and the county party committee felt that it could no longer violate the spirit of the premier's instructions.After careful research, it was decided that the east house where Zhou Enlai was born and lived should be used as the county party committee study room and children's library; the west house should be used by the masses.After the implementation, he wrote a letter to Premier Zhou Enlai to report.Soon, the county committee received a reply from the State Council Office, saying that the Premier expressed satisfaction with the county committee's actions.

In August 1961, when Zhou Enlai received his niece and daughter-in-law Sun Guiyun, he asked in detail how the county party committee dealt with the old residence.Guiyun mentioned inadvertently that even though the former residence has been treated like that, people still often visit it.Premier Zhou Enlai attached great importance to this situation and said: "It's better to demolish it. After it is demolished, factories and schools can be built!" He also solemnly asked Sun Guiyun: "Don't tell me about the house I lived in, but tell the neighbors about it." , tell them not to speak." Time is advancing.The People's Republic of China is advancing.The prestige of Chairman Mao and our party is increasing day by day, and the prestige of Zhou Enlai is also increasing day by day.The people of the whole country love him, and the revolutionary people of the world respect him.Therefore, more and more people came to visit the former residence of Premier Zhou Enlai.By the way, on a special trip, or from a neighboring village, or from a distant city... However, what they saw at the gate of No. 3 Ju Lane was a wooden sign that read: Many pious admirers, with infinite reverence and nostalgia, and with irreparable regrets, reluctantly left in the constant review... This situation was finally fully understood by the Prime Minister.He is very disturbed.Over the years, many measures have been taken for this matter, not only did not realize their wish of "leaving no trace", but the number of visitors continued unabated.He has always regarded himself as a staff member under the leadership of Chairman Mao. How can he compare himself with Chairman Mao in the eyes of the masses? !He decided to take administrative measures to solve this problem once and for all. The day after the long-distance call from Beijing, the county party committee appointed a member of the Standing Committee to go to the old residence to find out the situation.Zhou Erhui, Zhou Enlai's nephew, reported that no one mobilized the residents to relocate; nor did they renovate the houses; most of the people who came to visit spontaneously were declined.That night, the county party committee truthfully reported the situation to the State Council Office. On the 17th, the Office of the State Council called again and officially conveyed Zhou Enlai's three instructions on dealing with the former residence: 1. Do not allow people to visit; 2. It is not allowed to mobilize the residents living inside to move; 3. Repairs are not allowed if the house is broken. The next day, the Standing Committee of the County Party Committee made a formal study and made three decisions according to Zhou Enlai's instructions: 1. Not to mobilize the residents living there to move; 2. Not to repair the house; Do not lead people to visit.And made a report to the State Council Office that night. On the evening of November 30, the State Council Office called again, saying: "Zhou Enlai is satisfied with the three points decided by the county party committee; we will send someone to check your implementation in the future." Five days later, the comrade in charge of the State Council Office called again. I asked the secretary of the county party committee about the implementation of the "Three Articles", and the answer was "I have seriously implemented it." After taking administrative measures, it should be said that the handling of this matter has come to an end, but it is not the case. On August 1, 1974, when Zhou Enlai met his niece and daughter-in-law Sun Guiyun, he asked face to face about the implementation of the "Three Points".Gui Yun reported: "It has been implemented, but outsiders have tried everything possible to come to the door, and there is really no way." Zhou Enlai thought about it for a while, and asked, "Is it okay to tear down the house and move to another place?" Comrade Deng Yingchao who was present expressed his support and said: "Demolish the house and we will pay for it." Gui Yun said: "The demolition of houses needs to be approved by the government, and it is not easy for us to decide." Zhou Enlai nodded.Finally, he asked: "You must persuade the visitors to go to Shaoshan to pay their respects to Chairman Mao's former residence." Gui Yun nodded knowingly.She fully understood what Uncle meant.Under my uncle's instructions, only Chairman Mao's portrait was hung in the house, never Zhou Enlai's photo, and even the family's life photo was put on the shelf.