Chinanews.com, Hangzhou, February 21. Question: Those who experienced it recalled 1972: The girl in red in Hangzhou and the president of the United States shook hands and became the highlight of the audience
The author is strictly Xie Panpan Wang Titi
Hu Ningfang, a 10-year-old girl from Hangzhou, Zhejiang, and Lu Hesen, a 40-year-old girl, did not know at the time, but they witnessed a great historical moment.
In February 1972, in order to improve Sino-US relations, US President Nixon paid his first visit to China, which was one of the most significant events in the history of international diplomacy in the 20th century, during which he visited Hangzhou for 21 hours.
50 years later, the reporter visited two witnesses of history in Hangzhou.
In February 2022, Hu Ningfang returned to the old place, holding the photo of that year.
Photo by Mao Yu
girl in red
On February 26, accompanied by Premier Zhou Enlai, Nixon came to Hangzhou and met Hu Ningfang's family by chance at Huagang Park.
Zhou Enlai held the hand of Hu Ningfang, who was only 10 years old at the time, with a smile on his face, and Nixon also bent down to get closer to her.
At this moment, it also became a touch of warmth in that cold early spring.
In September 1982, Nixon revisited Hangzhou Cheng Xuewu
The girl in red with two braids in the photo is now 60 years old, and her son is 32 years old.
In February 2022, on the 50th anniversary of the ice-breaking journey, she once again came to Huagang Guanyu Park, and she still remembers the past when she talks about it.
That day, Hu Ningfang and his parents and brother were playing in Huagang. Around 3:00 p.m. that day, Zhou Enlai and Nixon and his party were slowly approaching from a distance.
"Probably still more than ten meters away, Premier Zhou has already stretched out his right hand, walked quickly to me, and held my hand. It was incredible at the time. His big hand was very powerful." Later, the two leaders followed Hu Ningfang pulled up home.
"How old are you?" Premier Zhou asked kindly.
Nervous and excited, Hu Ningfang replied in a low voice: "10 years old." It turned out to be Hangzhou dialect.
The Prime Minister did not hear clearly and asked again.
Hu Ningfang's mother stood behind her and whispered, "Be louder."
It was only when the girl made a clear voice: "10 years old." This time in Mandarin.
Premier Zhou never let go of her hand, "Oh, Hangzhou people!"
Hu Ningfang also shook hands with the Nixons and Nixon. Nixon said a few words, but the shutters of the reporters were crackling one after another. Hu Ningfang didn't hear the translation. She remembered that Nixon's hands were "hairy", and she also remembered the smell of perfume on American clothes. .
Afterwards, the picture of Nixon chatting happily with the girl in red in Hangzhou was immediately shared with the world.
When Hu Ningfang returned home, teachers, classmates, relatives and friends came to hear the news, and they all shook hands with her, the little hands that witnessed history.
50 years later, she deliberately wore a red dress and asked reporters to take pictures of her again in the "old place" of Huagang.
Lu Hesen (left) and Hu Ningfang (right) took a group photo with redwood trees while watching fish in Huagang.
Photo by Jiang Yangye
Redwood
On February 26, Lu Hesen was also present at Huagang.
He was a cadre of the Zhejiang Provincial Foreign Affairs Office at that time, and he participated in the 21-hour reception of Nixon in Hangzhou.
"It turns out that you are the girl in red." After 50 years, Lu Hesen and Hu Ningfang returned to Huagang and met again in this place that was once the focus of the world.
Following the route of the year, they came to a small square near the Peony Pavilion in Huagang to meet an "old friend" - a tall and sturdy redwood.
The tree came from Nixon's hometown and was given to China as a presidential gift.
The redwood tree is a famous tree species in Nixon's home state of California and one of the oldest and tallest tree species in the world.
Lu Hesen recalled that Nixon smiled happily while looking at the redwood trees in Huagang.
According to Wang En, the former deputy director of the Hangzhou Botanical Garden, in 1982, when Nixon visited China again, he went to Hangzhou to visit the "green messenger". The friendship of the people of our country should last forever like a redwood tree.
According to statistics, the descendants of redwood trees have grown and multiplied in more than 100 units in 18 provinces and cities in China.
In 1972, the venue for ice-breaking negotiations between China and the United States in Hangzhou - the Octagonal Pavilion of the West Lake State Hotel (data map).
sleepless night
Nixon and his party stayed at West Lake Liuzhuang in Hangzhou, which became the West Lake State Guest House decades later.
Lu Hesen revisited his old place, and the past kept reappearing.
At that time, in order to let more people know about Hangzhou, the reception plan required that each room should be furnished with English tour maps and postcards.
Nixon's room was no exception. Lu Hesen personally placed a guide map of the West Lake and 8 postcards composed of important scenic spots in the West Lake in his study.
There are also walnut candies and Huangyan tangerines unique to Zhejiang in the room.
On the night of February 26, 1972, according to the "Zhejiang Foreign Affairs Chronicle": "After the banquet until the early morning of the next day, Vice Minister Qiao Guanhua and Kissinger continued to make a final agreement on the text of the Sino-US Joint Communiqué."
On September 9, 1982, Nixon, who revisited Hangzhou, said in his dinner toast: "The historic document "Sino-US Shanghai Communiqué" can also be said to be born in Hangzhou on February 26, 1972 and in Shanghai on February 28. announced to the world."
In 1972, the venue for ice-breaking negotiations between China and the United States in Hangzhou - the Octagonal Pavilion of the West Lake State Hotel (data map).
The octagonal pavilion of the West Lake State Hotel was the place where Qiao Guanhua and Kissinger talked all night.
The reporter visited the octagonal pavilion before. The area is very small, only about 15 square meters. It can only accommodate 6 single sofas, but there are several large glass windows facing the West Lake and Su Causeway.
That night, Lu Hesen and Zhang Hanzhi, the translator of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, were busy preparing gifts in Building 3 of the West Lake State Guesthouse.
The Longjing tea that Zhejiang gave to the American guests needed to be packaged and affixed with VIP namecard cards, but the card was not found, so it was replaced with a menu. There was no English typewriter, so Zhang Hanzhi wrote it in the room.
According to foreign reports later, after Nixon returned to China, when he reported on his visit to China at a meeting of the Senate and the House of Representatives, he used Longjing tea to entertain the attendees.
Lu Hesen felt that the hard work was worth it.
Today, 90-year-old Lu Hesen is in good health. He often comes to Huagang to visit the "old friend" of Sequoia.
Hu Ningfang later became a dance instructor. Sometimes she went to school to reminisce about the past with young people, and she also felt very satisfied.
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