Chapter 67 4. Details about the founding of the country

September 21, 1949. The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference was held in Huairen Hall, Zhongnanhai. Huairen Hall is the dormitory of the Empress Dowager Cixi in the Qing Dynasty, also known as the Hall of Yiluan. When the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Beijing, Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu fled to Xi'an, and this place became the headquarters of the Allied Forces.One night, a fire suddenly broke out here, and all the buildings were destroyed. After Cixi came back, she spent another 5 million taels of silver to rebuild the hall.The hall is magnificent, not only has the characteristics of Chinese buildings, but also is equipped with Western-style buildings, named Fozhao Building.After Cixi's death, it was renamed Huairentang.

After the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China took office in Zhongnanhai, many large-scale meetings were held here.After the hard work of comrades preparing for the CPPCC meeting, a new atmosphere has appeared here.The interior is freshly painted, the outdoor colorful flags are fluttering, and various chandeliers complement each other and are dazzling. When people walked in, they first saw the huge monogram hanging above the rostrum: "The First Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference".The emblem of the Political Consultative Conference hangs on the backstage of the rostrum.

Below the emblem hang huge portraits of Mao Zedong and Sun Yat-sen.There are Chinese People's Liberation Army flags on both sides. Mao Zedong, with a red face and a radiant look, stepped onto the rostrum amidst applause. The meeting was chaired by Zhou Enlai.He first explained: "Delegates attending today's meeting came from 46 units and regions across the country, with a total of 510 official representatives, 77 alternate representatives, and 75 specially invited people, a total of 662 people. In addition, there were journalists from many friendly countries. .” There was warm applause from the audience.

Mao Zedong said in his opening speech—— Gentlemen, Delegates: The Political Consultative Conference, longed for by the people of the whole country, is now open! Our meeting included more than 600 delegates, representing all the democratic parties, people's organizations, the People's Liberation Army, regions, ethnic groups, and overseas Chinese throughout China.This shows that our meeting is a meeting of the great unity of the people of the whole country... Our meeting is called the Political Consultative Conference because we held a Political Consultative Conference with Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang three years ago. ... The current Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference is held on a new basis. It has the nature of representing the people of the whole country, and it has won the trust and support of the people of the whole country.Therefore, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference declares itself to exercise the functions and powers of the National People's Congress.In its agenda, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference will formulate the Organic Law of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, formulate the Organic Law of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China, formulate the common program of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and elect the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Committee to elect the Central People's Government Committee of the People's Republic of China, formulate the national flag and national emblem of the People's Republic of China, determine the location of the capital of the People's Republic of China and adopt the same year name as most countries in the world.

Dear gentlemen, we have a common feeling that our work will be written in the history of mankind, and it will show that the Chinese, who account for a quarter of the total number of mankind, have stood up since then.The Chinese have always been a great, brave and industrious nation, but they have fallen behind in modern times.This backwardness is entirely the result of being oppressed and exploited by foreign imperialism and the reactionary government of the country.For more than a hundred years, our ancestors have never stopped fighting against internal and external oppressors with indomitable struggle, including the 1911 Revolution led by the great Chinese revolutionary forerunner Sun Yat-sen.Our ancestors instruct us to fulfill their legacy.This is what we are doing now... The people's democratic dictatorship and unity with international friends will enable us to achieve rapid success in our construction work.A national-scale economic construction effort is ahead of us.Our excellent conditions are that we have a population of 475 million and a land of 9.6 million square kilometers.There are many difficulties before us, but we are sure that all difficulties will be overcome by the heroic struggle of the people of the whole country.The Chinese people already have extremely rich experience in overcoming difficulties.If our ancestors and ourselves were able to survive the long and extremely difficult years and defeat the powerful internal and external reactionaries, why can't we build a prosperous and prosperous country after victory?As long as we maintain the style of hard work, as long as we are united as one, as long as we uphold the people's democratic dictatorship and unite with our international friends, we will be able to win swiftly on the economic front.

With the arrival of the climax of economic construction, there will inevitably be a climax of cultural construction.The era when the Chinese were considered uncivilized has passed, and we will appear in the world as a highly cultured nation. Our national defense will be strengthened and no imperialists will be allowed to invade our land again.On the basis of the heroic and tested People's Liberation Army, our people's armed forces must be preserved and developed.We shall not only have a strong army, but also a strong air force and a strong navy. ... Mao Zedong's speech aroused strong repercussions at the venue.

On September 27, the General Assembly passed the Organic Law of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the Organic Law of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China, and the plans for the capital, year, national anthem and national flag of the People's Republic of China. 1. The capital of the People's Republic of China is set at Beiping, which will be renamed Beijing with immediate effect. 2. The year of the People's Republic of China adopts the AD, and this year is 1949. 3. Before the national anthem of the People's Republic of China was formally enacted, "March of the Volunteers" was used as the national anthem.

4. The national flag of the People's Republic of China is the five-star flag on a red ground.It symbolizes the great unity of the Chinese revolutionary people. The determination of the capital, year, national anthem, national flag, and national emblem is also quite complicated. At the group meeting on September 25, Mao Zedong participated in the meeting when everyone submitted their opinions for discussion. Regarding the national anthem, he said: "You all think that "March of the Volunteers" is the best national anthem. Let's settle this!" Ma Xulun, who sat across from him, said: "Our sixth group all agreed to use "March of the Volunteers" as the national anthem, and fully agreed with the chairman's opinion, but some people asked to change some lyrics."

Zhou Enlai looked at him and said, "Why don't you just use the old lyrics, so that you can arouse your emotions. If you revise it, you won't have that emotion when you sing it." Mao Zedong also went on to say: "Although the whole country is about to be liberated after the arduous struggle of our people, they are still surrounded by imperialism. We must not forget the oppression of imperialism on our country. We must fight for China's complete independence and liberation, and we must carry out arduous struggles. Therefore, It’s better to keep the original lyrics.”

Everyone stopped arguing and applauded and agreed. Regarding the national flag, Mao Zedong said: "In the past, we always wanted to mark the characteristics of China on the national flag, so we drew a horizontal line to represent the Yellow River. In fact, the national flags of many countries do not necessarily have any characteristics of the country, and the Soviet Union's ax and sickle may not necessarily Representing the characteristics of the Soviet Union, any country can have the same ax and sickle; the national flags of Britain, the United States and other countries have no characteristics of the country. The national characteristics can be shown on the national emblem. Based on agriculture and agriculture, it united the petty bourgeoisie and the national bourgeoisie and achieved it through common struggle. In the future, we will work together to carry out socialist construction. I think this pattern reflects the reality of the Chinese revolution and shows the great unity of our revolutionary people. Now To be united, and to be united in the future, I think this pattern is a better national flag pattern."

Everyone applauds unanimously. Regarding the national capital, everyone agreed to establish the capital of Beiping and change its name to Beijing. Another controversy arose when discussing the issue of chronology.Some people advocate using the era of the People's Republic of China; some people advocate starting from the establishment of the Republic of China by Sun Yat-sen; Mao Zedong smiled and said: "Let me say a few words. The common people want to use other calendars, and we have no choice. We can't formulate laws to punish them. In the past, the Republic of China was used, and the common people used Jiazi years. They still used it. But, Our government still has to make a decision: which era name to adopt." Huang Yanpei went on to say: "There is no requirement for a year name. The chairman is right. We have to decide on one. I have checked that only a few countries in the world adopt their own era, and most of them adopt the AD era. Of course, some people say, Adopting the year of AD is based on the year of the birth of Jesus, which is the year name of Christendom. According to our investigation, many countries that do not believe in Christianity also adopt the year of AD. Now AD has become a common year name used by international customs. A few countries use it The era of the country, but when writing to the year of the country, it is often necessary to add the year of AD, which is very troublesome." Zhou Enlai looked at Mao Zedong and asked, "What's your opinion, Chairman?" Mao Zedong took a puff of a cigarette and said jokingly, "Even that Jesus is not bad! Jesus is not the same as today's imperialist aggression by some countries through the promotion of Christianity." In the end, everyone agreed to adopt the AD calendar. Regarding the national emblem, everyone was dissatisfied with the pattern designed at that time.In the end, Mao Zedong said: "The national flag has been decided, but whether the national emblem can be decided later, there is no suitable one!" At that time, no suitable national emblem pattern was collected, so it was not determined.The national emblem was not hung at the founding ceremony held later. The national emblem we see now was decided at the Second Session of the First CPPCC held in Zhongnanhai in 1950, and then submitted to the Central People's Government for approval. At that time, the interpretation of the national emblem pattern was as follows: (1) The form and color conform to the requirement that "the national emblem must be solemn and magnificent". (2) The main content of the new national emblem is Tiananmen Square, and the national emblem expresses the significance of the revolution and the leadership of the working class.You can also save the name of the country.Tiananmen Square symbolizes the political struggle of the people since the "May 4th Movement" and the new China announced here, which is in line with the "Chinese characteristics" of the regulations. (3) The gears and wheat and rice are used to symbolize workers and peasants. Using both wheat and rice also implies a vast territory and rich resources. The ribbons tied together to symbolize the workers and peasants' alliance are also in line with the provisions of Regulations A and B. In September of the same year, Chairman Mao Zedong officially issued an order of the Central People's Government: The pattern of the National Emblem of the People's Republic of China and the description of the pattern proposed by the Second Session of the First National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference have been adopted by the Eighth Session of the Central People's Government Committee.Special announcement. On September 29, the General Assembly adopted the "Common Program". On September 30, the Political Consultative Conference continued in Zhongnanhai. The conference elected Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De, Zhou Enlai, Song Qingling, Zhang Lan, Li Jishen and other 180 people as members of the first National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Mao Zedong was elected chairman of the Central People's Government. Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi, Soong Ching Ling, Li Jishen, Zhang Lan and Gao Gang are the vice chairmen. The meeting adopted the Declaration of the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, passed the tribute message to the Chinese People's Liberation Army, passed the decision to establish the People's Heroes Monument, and decided to hold the foundation stone laying ceremony of the People's Monument in Tiananmen Square. On the afternoon of the closing day of the meeting, people came to Tiananmen Square to hold the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Monument to the People's Heroes.There were more than 3000 participants. Lin Boqu presided over the ceremony, and Zhou Enlai delivered a speech on behalf of the CPPCC Presidium: "The first plenary session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference called on the people to commemorate the dead and encourage the living, and decided to build a monument to the people's heroes in Beijing, the capital of the People's Republic of China. Now, in 1949 On September 30, all our representatives held a groundbreaking ceremony for this monument outside Tiananmen Square." Lin Boqu declared his condolences to the dead heroes of the people. Afterwards, he announced that he would ask Chairman Mao Zedong to read the inscription on the monument. Mao Zedong walked to the microphone and read out in strong Hunan dialect: "In the past three years, the people's heroes who died in the People's Liberation War and the People's Revolution will live forever!" "The heroes of the people who died in the People's War of Liberation and the People's Revolution in the past thirty years will live forever!" "It goes back to 1,840 years. Since then, in order to oppose internal and external enemies and strive for national independence and people's freedom and happiness, the people's heroes who died in the previous struggles are immortal!" Then Mao Zedong and everyone swung the shovel and shoveled the soil to lay the foundation. That night, the first grand state banquet was held in Zhongnanhai. At the meeting, Mao Zedong toasted with representatives from all parties.The atmosphere was warm and the scene was touching. Since then, the Chinese Communist Party has entered a new era.