Wake up（358）

 

358

 

Life will always get old.

Liu Xiaosheng said to Lao Pantou: We are all getting old, and life is only 30,000 days. You know that Deng Xiaoping, Chen Yun, and Li Xiannian killed Zhao Ziyang after the 1989 Movement. Why did they suddenly let Jiang Zemin take over? What are Chen Yun and Deng Xiaoping thinking when they grow old? What did you do again?

Of course, Old Pan couldn't answer.

Liu Xiaosheng said: When talking about Chen Yun and Deng Xiaoping, most people always think that Chen Yun is the second child and Deng Xiaoping is the boss. In fact, Deng Xiaoping in history was once a subordinate of Chen Yun. From August 1952 to early 1953, many leaders were transferred back to Beijing. Deng Xiaoping, who was the first to return to Beijing, was appointed Vice Premier of the State Council and Deputy Director of the Finance and Economics Committee, and later served as Minister of Finance. Deng Xiaoping was actually working under the direct leadership of Chen Yun at that time. For Deng Xiaoping's partner, Chen Yun once commented: Comrade Xiaoping is both internal and external, and he can handle a task with ease, and he knows economics without a teacher.

Time is like running water, and the years can't stay.

Chen Yun and Deng Xiaoping got old, and they began to think about the replacement of old and new in the party. Chen Yun, Deng Xiaoping, and Li Xiannian have always been hovering over the question of the replacement of old and new leaders within the party...

In the autumn of 1986, with the death of several veteran revolutionary comrades, Chen Yun and others suffered a great psychological blow.

First, the founding general Han Xianchu died of illness in Beijing, followed by the two founding marshals Liu Bocheng and Ye Jianying! The death of these three leaders with high prestige in the party, the country and the army has brought a great psychological blow to Chen Yun and other leaders of the older generation.

On October 11, Chen Yun and Li Xiannian attended the farewell ceremony for General Han Xianchu's body. Chen Yun is no stranger to General Han Xianchu, and the two had formed a deep friendship on the revolutionary battlefield.

Regarding Han Xianchu, Chen Yun said in his letter:

Comrade Han Xianchu participated in the revolution in his early years. He was a soldier and horse all his life. He has experienced hundreds of battles and made outstanding military exploits. He is worthy of being a proven and loyal communist fighter of our party. I am deeply saddened by the early death of Comrade Xian Chu. The party and the people will never forget him!

However, Chen Yun and other revolutionaries of the older generation had not yet come out of Han Xianchu's grief. Then they learned that Marshal Liu Bocheng had passed away due to illness. On October 16, Chen Yun and Li Xiannian went to the Great Hall of the People to attend the "Comrade Liu Bocheng Memorial Service" hosted by Deng Xiaoping himself.

Liu Bocheng is not only a respected founding marshal, but also a good brother of Chen Yun and Li Xiannian in the revolutionary ranks.

The death of Liu Bocheng also caused Deng, Chen, and Li to be in "deep grief". However, this month, Marshal Ye Jianying also died of illness.

With grief, on October 29, Chen Yun, Li Xiannian and others came to the Great Hall of the People again to attend the memorial meeting hosted by Deng Xiaoping.

After going through the memorial services of Liu Bocheng and Ye Jianying successively, Chen Yun, Deng Xiaoping, and Li Xiannian all dragged their feet heavily, feeling extremely exhausted both physically and mentally...

It was after all this that Chen Yun, Deng Xiaoping, and Li Xiannian always had an idea in their minds: They should step down from their leadership positions as soon as possible!

You must know that Chen Yun and Deng Xiaoping were both over 80 years old at that time, and Li Xiannian was also close to 80 years old. For this reason, in 1986, Chen Yun invited Deng Xiaoping and Li Xiannian to have a secret long talk at home.

At 10 o'clock in the morning, Li Xiannian first came to Chen Yun's office. After the two shook hands and greeted each other, Li Xiannian walked to the sofa on the right and said, "I will sit here, and he (referring to Deng Xiaoping) will sit there. You two sit together."

At that time, Chen Yun and Deng Xiaoping had a habit of talking, and the person who was talking at the house would sit on the right side.

Then Chen Yun said: "At Ye Shuai's memorial service the day before yesterday, I heard that many comrades fainted. My legs were also weak, and the secretary helped me to stay alive."

After hearing this, Li Xiannian nodded, "I'm dizzy too, and I'm about to collapse if I stand for another 10 minutes."

After talking for about three minutes, Deng Xiaoping came to Chen Yun's home. After the three people shook hands and greeted each other, Deng Xiaoping sat down in the middle seat, took out a document from the right pocket of his Mao suit, and said, "Let's study this matter today."

When the three of them were making preparations, the three secretaries took this opportunity to take a few photos of them. You know, it is very rare for these three old people to get along alone.

At this time, Li Xiannian said to the three secretaries who were taking pictures: "Is it okay?" After the secretaries went out, Chen Yun's guard Zhao Tianyuan finally left the office and closed the door.

The conversation this time was secret, except for the three of them, no one knew the content of the conversation, and even the staff around them didn't know exactly what was discussed.

Later, it was Chen Yun who said publicly that this secret conversation was mainly to discuss their "retirement" issue! Regarding this conversation, Deng Xiaoping once said: "Comrade Chen Yun's thinking is very correct."

As soon as Zhao Tianyuan walked to the duty room, he heard the electric bell ring, and he turned back quickly and opened the office door. After seeing Zhao Tianyuan coming in, the three old people said loudly: "Cigarettes, bring the cigarettes."

After hearing the chief's words, Zhao Tianyuan hurried out to ask Deng Xiaoping's police officer Zhang Baozhong for cigarettes. After the other party learned of this incident, he immediately took out a pack of 10 "Panda" brand cigarettes in a hard box that had already been unpacked from his pocket.

After Zhao Tianyuan took it, he opened the lid of the cigarette box as he walked, handed the cigarettes to Deng Xiaoping, closed the door and came out.

Later, Zhao Tianyuan took in two ashtrays and two boxes of matches. After Chen Yun saw it, he said, "You don't need to let Chairman Li, just put one."

For this reason, Zhao Tianyuan went to work in the duty room after putting down the ashtray.

At 11:25, the conversation between the three ended. Zhao Tianyuan walked into the office quickly after hearing the phone ring. At this time, Li Xiannian had already stood up from his seat, and the three old men had another conversation.

After Deng Xiaoping and Li Xiannian left, Zhao Tianyuan counted and found 6 filter cigarette butts in the ashtray: within 80 minutes, Comrade Xiaoping smoked 6 cigarettes. One can imagine the depth of their conversation.

After Chen Yun had talks with Deng Xiaoping and Li Xiannian, he did not appear in public. According to the habit of previous years, the leaders of the party and the country will have activities during the New Year's Day and the Spring Festival, and the news media will also report on them. In 1987, the two important festivals of New Year's Day and Spring Festival, Chen Yun did not show up...

This has aroused all kinds of speculation from the outside world! Chen Yun himself is also clear about the public opinion from the outside world. In mid-March 1987, Chen Yun, who had not been out for a long time, quietly came to Hangzhou from Beijing to recuperate.

Entering April, according to national regulations, the first Sunday in April is Arbor Day. To this end, the leaders of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China arranged a unified and public event to participate in the National Voluntary Arbor Day.

The tree planting activities of the central leaders started with Chen Yun in Hangzhou. Of course, in addition to participating in the Arbor Day, Chen Yun also has another meaning of refuting rumors: he is healthy and fine!

Even so, Chen Yun still wanted to step down from the central leadership position as soon as possible.

On October 9, 1987, Chen Yun attended the enlarged meeting of the Politburo and listened to the explanation of the personnel arrangement of the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of China by relevant staff.

Originally, when they planned to be in the 13th National Congress, they completely retired and no longer served as the central leadership.

However, after discussion by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and other comrades in the party, everyone unanimously opposed it. Everyone's opinion was: only agree with their "half-retirement" and still hold certain positions.

Soon after, Chen Yun ceased to be the first secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. The colleagues of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection couldn't understand Chen Yun's decision. In order to let everyone understand his thoughts, Chen Yun explained: In the past 10 years, Comrade Xiaoping, Comrade Xiannian and I jointly agreed to retire together at the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. This is the need of the party's cause.

Neither the colleagues of the Central Committee nor the members of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection agree with the "retirement" of the three elders. The wishes of the three were not fulfilled, so they had no choice but to adopt a "half-retirement" method, first retiring from the front-line leadership positions of the Central Committee at the 13th National Congress. Since then, Chen Yun has served as the head of the Central Advisory Commission.

The five-year period from 1987 to 1992 was the five years in which Chen Yun went from "half-retirement" to complete "full-retirement".

During the five years that Chen Yun served as the head of the Central Advisory Committee, people rarely saw him in the public eye. In Chen Yun's view, since he has already decided to retire, he should do so thoroughly: he does not want to interfere too much with the work of the frontline leaders of the central government.

Of course, although Chen Yun is very low-key, people will always think of him at the important historical juncture of the party and the country, because he still has a high prestige inside and outside the party.

But after all, it is "half-retired". After serving as the director of the Central Advisory Committee, Chen Yun paid more attention to his working methods. Except for some important matters that require him to "make decisions", Chen Yun chooses to let go of the daily work of the Central Advisory Committee and let Deputy Director Song Renqiong take charge of it.

Although Chen Yun no longer presides over the daily work of the Central Advisory Committee, he still pays close attention to some major issues of the party and the country.

After the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, comrades from the State Council found through research:

The situation of reform and opening up and economic construction in the coastal areas is getting better and better, especially the substantial increase in foreign investment, and the introduction of foreign capital and foreign exchange earnings through exports have shown a better and better momentum. For this reason, it is proposed that the economic development of my country's coastal areas is facing an opportunity. If the correct development strategy can be adopted, the economic development level of the coastal areas may be greatly improved in the future.

After Chen Yun learned of the news, he attached great importance to it. For this reason, he specially listened to the report of the responsible comrades of the State Council on issues such as the economic development strategy of the coastal areas.

After listening to the report, Chen Yun said directly: "I completely agree, you must let go of your courage and do it."

Chen Yun's opinion has an important influence on the central government's formulation of economic development strategies for coastal areas.

After the development strategy for the coastal areas was finalized, the Spring Festival of 1988 ushered in. Chen Yun's first public appearance in the news media since he became the director of the Central Advisory Committee was also during this Spring Festival.

For Chen Yun, an old man, the leaders of the central government have never forgotten him.

On February 15, 1988, Li Peng and Hu Qili made a special trip to Chen Yun's residence to congratulate Chen Yun on the Spring Festival on behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council.

Chen Yun greeted everyone in the living room, and said: "You have heavy responsibilities, I wish you success in your work and a happy holiday." After everyone sat down, Li Peng reported to Chen Yun the recent work situation of the State Council.

When leaving, Chen Yun said to them: "You are young and have hope. You can do a good job, and you should do a good job." News media such as Xinhua News Agency and "People's Daily" compared this New Year's greetings Detailed coverage. Through this report, people also know: Chen Yun's strong support for the collective work of the new central leadership!

After the Spring Festival, Chen Yun also entered his 84th year. When he first entered the age of 84, Chen Yun told the staff around him: Some elderly people are taboo to say that their age is 73 or 84, and they think it is unlucky to say this number. They often say 72 when they are 73, and say 72 when they are 84. Say 83. The old man doesn't care, I'm a materialist, can people not die? Death or immortality does not depend on artificially saying auspicious or unlucky, it is a natural law.

Chen Yun, who had already lived a long life, became even more detached after "half retreating". With Song Renqiong in charge of the daily work of the Central Advisory Committee, Chen Yun can be greatly relieved.

In mid-March 1988, Chen Yun went to Hangzhou again to recuperate. In his later years, Chen Yun was more accustomed to the climate in Hangzhou, and the humidity in the south was of great benefit to the treatment of Chen Yun's condition. Here he can not only recuperate his body, but also deeply feel the atmosphere of reform and opening up in the eastern coastal areas of our country. This time in Hangzhou, Chen Yun stayed for 2 months. During his recuperation period, he thought more about the agricultural issues in the economically developed coastal areas.

At the end of his recuperation, relevant leaders of Zhejiang Province and Hangzhou City said they would visit him collectively, and Chen Yun agreed. In this conversation, Chen Yun first talked about his worries about China's food problem for a period of time, and further raised the issue of leading cadres studying philosophy.

Chen Yun believes that if you want to avoid detours, you must explore carefully and "cross the river by feeling the stones"!

After the conversation, Chen Yun returned to Beijing from Hangzhou, and talked with Li Peng, Tian Jiyun and others about his thoughts.

After the Fourth Plenary Session of the Thirteenth Central Committee, Chen Yun and Deng Xiaoping's thoughts were: despite their wish to "retire completely".

At this time Deng Xiaoping was 85 years old, and Chen Yun was 84 years old. After careful consideration by other leading comrades, they finally agreed to Deng Xiaoping and Chen Yun's request for "full withdrawal".

Deng Xiaoping's "full withdrawal" will be resolved at the Fifth Plenary Session of the 13th CPC Central Committee to be held two months later. And Chen Yun's position is the director of the Central Advisory Committee, and the term of this Central Advisory Committee will not end until the 14th National Congress of the Party is held three years later.

In this way, the date of Chen Yun's full retirement was set in 1992! This also means that Chen Yun will work in this position for another three years, and during this period, he will make suggestions on the formulation and implementation of the party's guidelines and policies. During this period, Chen Yun also used his talents to "escort" the development of the country.

Following the convening of the 14th National Congress from October 12 to 18, 1992, Chen Yun finally completed the transition from "half-retirement" to "full-retirement" and began to live the life of an ordinary Communist Party member. . After retirement, Chen Yun puts himself more in the position of an ordinary person to live and think.

In the autumn of 1992, not long after Chen Yun arrived in Shanghai, he received a piece of news: Shanghai's water resources were seriously in short supply! After hearing the news, Chen Yun became quiet for a few days and began to think about how to solve this problem. He called the staff around him and said to him, "Please help me calculate, how much water do urban residents need to defecate in a flush toilet in a day?"

According to the calculated results: under normal circumstances, each person defecates once a day, urinates 6 to 8 times, and uses about 10 kilograms of water for each flush, which requires about 80 kilograms of water per day. If the toilet is changed into a urinal when urinating, only 2.5 kilograms of water is needed for flushing each time, so that 50-60 kilograms of water can be saved per person per day. After the calculation, the result is indeed different. Due to the unreasonable design of the toilet, a flush toilet must be used for defecation, which causes a waste of water resources. From the consideration of water saving and economical and practical, it is possible to transform the flush toilet.

After Chen Yun learned of this result, he said to the staff around him: "It seems that our country has great potential for water conservation!" Afterwards, Chen Yun urged relevant parties to develop water-saving toilets immediately. Living in big cities like Shanghai and Beijing with serious water shortages, Chen Yun has personally experienced the importance of saving water. As long as it involves the common people, Chen Yun is very concerned about it. He once proposed to the leaders of Shanghai that we should start from the reality of Shanghai and study measures to save water, so as to avoid the situation that the people have no water available.

Chen Yun was born in a poor family. In addition to living a very frugal life, he has always had a strong sense of frugality, and he pays more attention to frugality in his later years. In his later years, Chen Yun always needs to use eye drops because of his health. The doctor once suggested to him: when instilling eye drops, use a sterile cotton ball to wipe.

It turned out that before, Chen Yun always liked to wipe with a handkerchief when applying eye drops. The doctor was worried that he would get an infection, so he made a suggestion for this. Chen Yun felt that this change was too wasteful, because the cotton balls were thrown away after one use. He proposed to the staff to save the used tampons and use them for other purposes after disinfection.

Unexpectedly, after a few months, he was still thinking about whether it was too wasteful to use tampons. He called the staff and asked them to calculate how many cotton balls he used in a year? How much did it cost? The staff counted the cotton balls accumulated after use, and calculated an economic account according to his request: he used about 250 grams of cotton balls a month, worth 7-8 yuan, and spent no more than 100 yuan a year . After hearing this, Chen Yun thought that the expense was not a small waste, so he instructed the staff around him again: Be sure to keep the cotton balls and use them for other purposes after disinfection.

Those who praised Chen Yun said: Since the reform and opening up, Chen Yun has always been used to thinking about issues from the perspective of the masses or ordinary people, whether he is in a leadership position or has stepped down. For him, all personal matters are small, the interests of the people are big, and people's lives are no small matter. Chen Yun has always emphasized: the solution to the immediate problems of the masses must be discussed among the masses and found among the masses!

Opponents of Chen Yun said: Chen Yun was not clean when he was the first secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. It is well known that Deng Xiaoping did not live in Zhongnanhai. At that time, Hu Paobang and Zhao Ziyang, the first and second in command in front of the stage, did not live in Zhongnanhai either. Only Chen Yun and Li Xiannian lived in the depths of Zhongnanhai. Compared with Li Xiannian's home in Zhongnanhai, Chen Yun's home was several orders of magnitude higher in terms of size and grade, and the cost of expansion and renovation was astronomical back then.

Wang Ruoshui once said that at that time there was a lot of discussion within the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, Li Chang, then the third secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, euphemistically conveyed the "reports from the masses in the party" to Chen Yun, and Chen Yun has been hated ever since.

Hu Jiwei mentioned another example of Chen Yun's "specialization". During the tenure of Liao Zhigao, Dingnan’s predecessor in the Fujian Provincial Party Committee, the special supply for Chen Yun in Fujian Province was already carried out by the section chief of the Ninth Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security. Seasonal fruits and several local products. After Liao Zhigao stepped down, he was transferred back to Beijing by Chen Yun to serve as an advisor to the Central Committee's Organization Department. After Dingnan took office, Fujian Province's special supply to Chen Yun continued in accordance with "conventional practice". Dingnan arrived and discussed the matter with Hu Yaobang and others in Beijing. It is considered to be detrimental to the party and Chen Yun's image. At that time, Chen Yun was not only a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, but also the first secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. Suing the first secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection for "specializing in life" isn't it "breaking ground at the age of Tai Sui"? Chen Yun attacked the high-level cadres who opposed the "special supply". Dingnan, Hu Ping, Li Chang, and Wang Zhaoguo were all punished. Opposing the "special supply" system that "specializes" not only offended Chen Yun, but also offended a large number of CCP veterans. Even Deng Xiaoping, who was actively advocating the reform of the cadre system at the time, felt that this was "unnecessary".