Grief!
108-year-old Sichuan female Red Army Liu Wenzhi dies
Cover news interview two months ago, leaving the last precious information
In July this year, the West China Metropolis Daily and cover news reporter interviewed Liu Wenzhi.
West China Metropolis Daily-cover news reporter Chen Jing
On the morning of September 29, the West China Metropolis Daily and cover news reporters learned that Liu Wenzhi, a female Red Army from Sichuan who participated in the Long March with the Fourth Red Army, died in Chongqing at 4:08 pm on September 28, 2020, at the age of 108.
At 10 a.m. on the 29th, the reporter contacted Liu Wenzhi's daughter Xie Jiaxi. She said, "Mom left peacefully."
Four members of West China Metropolis Daily and the Cover News Reporting Group went to Chongqing on July 23 this year to visit and interview Liu Wenzhi.
Due to physical reasons, Liu Wenzhi was hospitalized at the time, and she and her children were interviewed.
West China Metropolis Daily and cover news have also become the last news media in the country to interview the female Red Army Liu Wenzhi, leaving behind the precious film and text materials of Liu Lao.
Mourn
Hometown people present wreaths
Liu Wenzhi’s mourning hall was located in the Shiqiaopu Funeral Home in Chongqing.
Inside the hall is solemn and solemn. The elegans in the center reads "Sorrowful tribute to Comrade Liu Wenzhi" in white letters on a black background, and the upper and lower lines next to it read: "Long March spears and bullets will end in history" and "Red Army's spirit is dedicated to the descendants."
In the front of the mourning hall, yellow and white chrysanthemums surrounded the portrait of Liu Wenzhi; in the middle of the mourning hall, the body of Liu Wenzhi was covered with party flags.
On both sides of the mourning hall, wreaths presented by all walks of life are placed.
Including Chongqing Municipal Party Committee, Chongqing Municipal People’s Congress, Chongqing Municipal Government, Chongqing Municipal Political Consultative Conference, as well as the hometown of the old Red Army Liu Wenzhi, Sichuan Tongjiang County Party Committee and County Government and other units and individuals, as well as the wreaths presented by West China Metropolis Daily.
pay tribute
Female Warrior in the Long March
In July this year, the reporter saw Liu Wenzhi in the ward.
Her daughter Xie Jiaxi said: "My mother is not in good health. Now I can only live in the hospital and receive corresponding treatment." The interview team presented Liu Wenzhi with a bunch of flowers, and after a brief interview, left the ward.
Later, in a conference room in the hospital, Liu Wenzhi's four children, Xie Jiabin, Xie Jiayin, Xie Jiaxi, and Xie Jiarong were interviewed by reporters.
Through the narration of several children, Liu Wenzhi's Long March story and her life experience are restored.
The interview in the afternoon lasted longer than originally planned. The third daughter Xie Jiaxi shed tears when she talked about the revolutionary course of her parents and grandparents in the family.
The children said, "Mum has always been very good to people, and she will help if she can help, so many people like her."
Unexpectedly, just in the past two months, while this group of interviews was still going on, Liu Wenzhi had passed away.
Here, I would like to express my deep condolences for the death of Liu Wenzhi's female Red Army, and pay tribute to the female Red Army soldiers in the Long March!
The 108-year-old Sichuan female Red Army Liu Wenzhi’s memories of the Long March:
After taking my brother through the Long March, I saved the entire platoon with a piece of salt
Liu Wenzhi (first from left).
(Data map)
□ West China Metropolis Daily-Cover News Reporter Chen Jing, Trainee Reporter Liu Kechen
On July 23, 2020, in the ward of the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, the reporter met Liu Wenzhi, a female Red Army from Sichuan who had participated in the Long March, and her children.
The old man has four children under his knees, namely the eldest Xie Jiabin, the second child Xie Jiayin, the third child Xie Jiaxi, and the fourth child Xie Jiarong.
The family has four generations, and there are 24 people in total.
At the age of 21, Liu Wenzhi joined the Red Army of Chinese Workers and Peasants and changed his life.
In the narration of her family, those tumultuous years came before our eyes.
Leave home to join the army
From child bride to female Red Army
Liu Wenzhi, also known as Liu Wenzhi and Liu Wenzhi, was born in October 1912 in a poor peasant family in Hongkou Town, Tongjiang County, Sichuan Province. She has 5 brothers and sisters. She is the eldest.
The hardships of the family made Liu Wenzhi a burden of life since he was a child. When he was a teenager, he became a child bride-in-law and worked hard every day.
Because he often has to work in the mountains, Liu Wenzhi has not entangled his feet.
Until the age of 20, she was still a farm girl who could only grow hogweed.
In 1932, a group of strangers in military uniforms came to Liu Wenzhi's hometown.
"My mother said that the people in the village were very scared at the time and they went out to hide. Later, everyone discovered that these soldiers were very friendly, did not beat or curse, and spoke very kindly. Someone told her that these people were the Red Army and came to speak for the poor. Yes." said Xie Jiaxi, Liu Wenzhi's third daughter.
In August 1933, Liu Wenzhi joined the Red Army.
"The family was poor at the time. My mother heard that the Red Army was here to help the poor, so she ran to the town to join the army without telling her family. Before leaving, my mother left her clothes, shoes and cut hair at home and did not take them away." Xie Jiaxi said .
Long March Road
Save the female platoon with a piece of salt
In January 1935, Liu Wenzhi's Fourth Front Army carried out the central order to launch the campaign in southern Shaanxi, leading the enemy to move north, and then returned to northern Sichuan.
At the end of March of that year, it successfully crossed the Jialing River and attacked westward by victory, liberating a large area of land between the Fujiang River and the Jialing River.
Subsequently, the Fourth Red Army embarked on an arduous and tortuous Long March.
At that time, Liu Wenzhi, who was serving as the platoon leader of the women's platoon, also left his hometown and followed the 4th Army of the Fourth Red Army to the west.
Along with her, there is another brother who is only 13 years old.
"My mother’s brother is called Liu Wenxue. We called my uncle, and later transferred to the Chengdu Railway Bureau. My uncle followed my mother through the Long March. Even if the road was very tired, my mother would still make fires, pull weeds, and cook for them. My uncle ate and took care of him all the way. My uncle later said that he would not finish the Long March without his mother." Xie Jiaxi said.
Along the way, Liu Wenzhi not only had to take care of his younger brother, but also wanted to lead his comrades to overcome various difficult circumstances.
In June 1935, the Red One and Four Front Army Maogong joined forces and began to travel north.
The women's platoon led by Liu Wenzhi began to climb over the Jiajin Mountain at an altitude of more than 4,000 meters.
The weather on the snow-capped mountains was unpredictable, and the soldiers shivered with cold.
Less than 3 miles from the top of the mountain, Liu Wenzhi's fellow Red Army female soldier Zhang Wen (formerly known as Zhang Xize) who was 7 years younger than her couldn't walk.
The platoon leader Liu Wenzhi hurriedly snatched what she was carrying and pressed them all on his shoulders, and then called the management section chief. The two continued to climb up with Zhang Wen's arms and finally climbed to the top of the mountain.
For Liu Wenzhi's Fourth Front Army, the most difficult journey in the Long March was pasture.
From August 1935 to August 1936, due to Zhang Guotao's wrong leadership, the Fourth Front Army of the Red Army passed through the grassland three times in a year.
The grassland has a harsh natural environment and lack of food. Many Red Army soldiers died on their way across the grassland.
But Liu Wenzhi managed to survive most of the female fighters in the platoon with a large piece of salt.
Before entering the grassland, Liu Wenzhi passed a salt mountain, and she dug a large pile of salt on her back.
There is a shortage of food on the grass. When they are hungry, the soldiers pull some weeds and cook them in the washbasins on their backs.
Liu Wenzhi is fully aware of the importance of salt and has taken on the heavy responsibility of salt distribution.
"Mom didn't dare to share the salt cubes with everyone, for fear that everyone could not control the amount and eat the salt soon. Every time she ate, even if there were no weeds and vegetables to eat, she would scrape some salt into everyone's bowl with a knife. , So that everyone has the strength to walk after eating." Xie Jiaxi said.
This inconspicuous block of salt saved the lives of the female soldiers.
The female platoon led by Liu Wenzhi had only two sacrifices until the end of the Long March.
Revolutionary couple
"If you don't fight, you don't know each other"
In October 1936, the Fourth Red Army and the Central Red Army joined forces in Huining, Gansu.
Liu Wenzhi was stationed in Gansu with the army and continued to make military uniforms, leggings, explosive kits and other military supplies for the army.
While working in Gansu, she found a life partner—Xie Yuanchang, a comrade-in-arms who walked the Long March with her. The two married in Gansu in 1937.
When it comes to the process of getting acquainted with parents, Xie Jiaxi said, there is still a little bit of "not getting acquainted".
"Dad was the leader of the quilt factory at the time, there were guards, and mother was the platoon leader. They also took a fancy to a straw house. Dad's guards and mothers and their women's platoons refused to give each other. I found the leader to judge, and finally the house was given to Women are in a row."
"As for how mom and dad got together and got married, they didn't say much." In 1952, Liu Wenzhi and Xie Yuanchang transferred to work in Chongqing Southwest Textile Bureau 611 Factory (later called the Fourth Heavy Cotton Factory) until they retired.
In 1989, Xie Yuanchang died of illness.
Wish fulfilled
She returned to Yan'an at the age of 100
In 1945, Liu Wenzhi arrived in Yan'an with the troops and stayed here for three years.
During the unusual three years, Liu Wenzhi developed deep feelings for this place.
In 2012, when Liu Wenzhi turned a hundred years old, he made a wish: "I want to see Yan'an." It turned out that when the husband Xie Yuanchang was still alive, the two had always wanted to return to Yan'an, but they never realized it.
After learning of the old man’s wish, the children and grandchildren began to plan. Liu Wenzhi’s eldest grandson Xie Tian suggested: “Everyone takes a leave and goes to Yan’an with the mother-in-law, and the mother-in-law has a wish.” Under the planning of the grandchildren, the whole family is young and old. More than 20 people drove to Yan'an with Liu Wenzhi.
After learning that he was going back to Yan'an, the old man was very excited. He didn't sleep well for several days and nights, and was too excited on the way to Yan'an.
"We originally prepared a nanny car so that the elderly can lie down and rest when they are tired. As a result, she did not lie down at all, nor did she get motion sickness. She also said she wanted to sit in the back seat and watch the scenery." Xie Jiaxi said with a smile.
When he reached Baota Mountain, Liu Wenzhi said that he had to go up the mountain to see the Yellow River anyway.
With the help of his family, the old man reached the top of the mountain.
Looking at the Yellow River rushing down the mountain, the old man sighed: "The pebbles on both sides of the river were gone, and the river channel was narrowed."
In Yan'an, Liu Wenzhi was very excited looking at the place where he had lived.
Xie Jiaxi recalled: "At that time, my mother was pointing around like a reviewing army, very excited, like a child."
The secret of longevity
Life indifferent to fame and fortune and peace of mind
During the interview, what Liu Wenzhi’s sons and daughters said the most was the old man’s kindness, honesty, and good attitude.
"My mother has always been very nice to people. She always thinks about helping others as soon as she can. She never embarrass others. She never makes small gestures behind her back. When working in the fourth heavy cotton factory, everyone liked her very much."
After transferring to the No. 4 Heavy Cotton Factory, Liu Wenzhi started as an ordinary administrator and became a cadre at all levels.
"Later, because of the need to set wages according to grades, my mother's actual wages have dropped compared to before. She has no complaints. She said that following the national policy, the grade should be determined according to the grade, and the reduction will be reduced." After too much life and death, she sees everything very openly and will not be angry about trivial matters. A good attitude is probably an important reason for her mother's longevity." Xie Jiaxi said.
Veteran file
Liu Wenzhi, female, born in October 1912, from Tongjiang County, Sichuan.
Joined the Red Army in August 1933.
Participated in the Long March with the Fourth Red Army and served as the platoon leader of the Women's Platoon of the Fourth Army of the Red Fourth Army.
In 1952, Liu Wenzhi transferred to work in the 611 Factory (the Fourth Heavy Cotton Factory) of Chongqing Southwest Textile Bureau.