Each of us is in awe of the national flag, but does anyone know who sewed the first national flag of new China slowly raised by Chairman Mao? Let's learn the story behind the stitcher of the first national flag of new China.
Since 1992, the society has always believed that the first national flag of new China was sewn by ordinary female worker Zhao Wenrui. But this is not the case. The Chinese Revolution Museum has a 'treasure of the town museum' - a five-star red flag. It was the first five-star red flag of new China raised by Chairman Mao Zedong by pressing the button on October 1, 1949.
Over the past 50 years, there have been different views on the birth of the first national flag of new China. One view is that it was sewn by an ordinary female worker named Zhao Wenrui in Beijing. But not long ago, the reporter learned from the relevant experts of the Chinese Revolution Museum that the national flag was not sewn by Zhao Wenrui. What really participated in the production was a CPC member named song Shuxin.
On September 18, 1999, in a residential building in probation Hutong, Xuanwu District, Beijing, the reporter met old song Shuxin, who was 80 years old.
Make 10000 national flags to welcome the birth of new China
Although the diabetes and gallbladder disease were somewhat teeter, memories of the past were very clear.
"I joined the Communist Party of China in 1946. At that time, Ming's identity was to do business. Secretly, I was doing publicity work for the Qianmen branch of the underground party in Beiyue district. "
After the liberation of Beiping in 1949, song Shuxin was assigned to work in the business section of Beiping state-owned Yongmao Industrial Company. At that time, the company was a department under the CPC Beiping Municipal Committee and the municipal government leading the production of the whole city, responsible for taking over the enemy and puppet industrial and commercial industries. In 1955, Yongmao company was changed to Beijing Textile Bureau.
In late September 1949, the first plenary session of the Chinese people's Political Consultative Conference determined the national flag, national anthem and capital of new China, and decided to hold the founding ceremony on October 1.
Subsequently, Yongmao company received an important political task: making 10000 national flags of three styles, large, medium and small.
"Why let Yongmao do it? This is because our company is directly led by the Beiping municipal Party committee and is politically reliable. After receiving the task, the company asked our business department to organize the supervision work.
"At that time, we also encountered a difficult problem. At that time, just after liberation, the industrial and commercial handicraft industry in Peiping had not been transformed. The equipment foundation of the handicraft industry was very poor. No printing and dyeing factory could undertake the printing and dyeing business of making 10000 national flags. So we decided to make the flag with red cloth, make five stars with yellow cloth, and then sew it with a sewing machine.
"After the method was determined, we began to organize the cloth. A section of more than 20 people, cycling and riding, almost ran all over the city's cloth stores, such as Rui Juxiang and fulinxiang, the time-honored brands of Ba Daxiang, not to mention buying yellow cloth, white cloth and red cloth. Finally, he sent someone to Tianjin to pull two or three trucks of cloth.
"With cloth, we found sewing clubs. Whether state-owned, private or individual, they are all making national flags. At the same time, our Yongmao company also set up a sales department at the front door to distribute national flags."
Cloth is bought here, sewn in the middle sewing club, distributed in the sales department over there, and a one-stop assembly line runs all night. Song Shuxin and his colleagues ate and lived in the company for a week, and finally completed the task of sewing and distributing 10000 national flags before October 1.
Mao Zedong raised the first national flag himself
Just as song Shuxin wanted to take a breath, a glorious and sacred task fell on his shoulder.
"It was the morning of September 29. As soon as I went to work, manager Zhen Shude found me and said that the municipal Party committee instructed Chairman Mao to personally raise an extra large national flag at the founding ceremony on October 1, 460cm long and 338cm high. The production task was handed over to our company. The leaders of the company studied and decided to let me complete it. Manager Zhen also said that this is a major political task. We must send the flag to the preparatory office for the founding ceremony before 3 p.m. on October 1. "
Song Shuxin told reporters that at that time, the organization required that the flag surface of the red flag must be red silk and the five pointed star should be yellow satin. Make two sides for selection.
"After receiving the task, I was excited and nervous. You think the party trusts us by giving me such a glorious task. Even if you die hard and tired, you must complete it!
'it's easy to find red silk, but when it was just liberated, yellow satins were not easy to see. After receiving the task, I rode my bike and ran all day. I ran all the cloth stores in the commercial areas such as Wangfujing, Dongsi, Xisi, Xidan and Qianmen, and said no.
'I can't find the Yellow satin. I'm in a hurry! The ceremony will be held in one and a half days. It's too late to buy yellow satins in other places! So I pinned my hopes on Rui Juxiang, the largest silk shop in Peiping city at that time. "
Early the next morning, song Shuxin went to Ruixiang again. He found an old employee, explained his intention and asked him to turn over the inventory. After about two hours, the old worker finally found the only roll of yellow Satin three meters long and less than two feet wide.
With all the materials, the rest is made. Because of the special specifications of this national flag, we must have a big case. After thinking for a long time, song Shuxin rode straight to a sewing club in an alley more than 100 meters north of Xidan and west of the road.
"It's probably called Xinhua sewing agency. The sewing club has a large desk, which can cover the national flag. A female technician in her thirties, after understanding my intention, assured me that she would do well.
'the flag was made overnight with a sewing machine. I watched as they worked. Halfway through, we found that the width of yellow Satin was not enough to make the largest five pointed star. We measure from left to right. There is always a corner to splice.
"According to this situation, I immediately reported to the company. After asking for instructions layer by layer, I finally agreed to our splicing scheme: connect a tip on one corner of the big five stars. After connecting the tip, if you don't look carefully, you can't see that the tip is a seam.
'There are two five-star red flags. One side is pointed, and the big Pentagram on the other side has an angle that moves slightly to the side. However, I can't see it. If I measure it with a ruler, I can find the distance between angles, which is a little worse than the standard. "
When the two national flags were sewn, it was the morning of October 1. After neatly wrapping the two national flags, song Shuxin hurried to the preparatory office for the founding ceremony on the west side behind the Tiananmen Gate Tower.
The comrades of the preparatory office were very satisfied after acceptance. At this time, a comrade in his fifties with a southern accent approached song Shuxin with a smile and asked cordially, "young comrade, are you a party member?"
Song Shuxin replied, 'yes.'
So the middle-aged man patted song Shuxin on the shoulder and said, "you have made a contribution to the party!"
"At that time, I was too excited to say anything." Song Shuxin recalled: "I heard afterwards that this middle-aged comrade was Comrade Ye Jianying, then mayor of Beiping city and director of the military control commission."
During the interview, song Shuxin's second daughter told reporters that when she was a child, there was a red satin work permit under the glass table of her desk at home all year round. This work permit is the work permit for the founding ceremony issued by the preparatory office to song Shuxin in order to facilitate song Shuxin to send the national flag to the preparatory office. Unfortunately, however, this work permit, which song Shuxin cherished very much, was lost during the cultural revolution.
At 3 p.m. on October 1, 1949, 300000 soldiers and civilians gathered in Tiananmen Square to participate in the founding ceremony. Chairman Mao Zedong pressed the button on the Tiananmen Square to start the electric flag raising device under the central flagpole of the square. The first five-star red flag of new China rose like a red sun in the majestic March of the volunteers and the sound of salute. Looking at the red national flag, Chairman Mao blurted out, "well done!"
Song Shuxin told reporters that the raised national flag was the red flag with five star tips stitched under the supervision of song Shuxin. At that time, marshal Nie Rongzhen instructed the soldiers protecting the red flag to tie it with a rope and hide it on the side of the flagpole. If the electric flag raising device fails, be ready to use manual flag raising at any time to ensure that it is safe.
On Zhao Wenrui's flag making
Zhao Wenrui's statement that he sewed the first national flag of new China by hand originated from an article entitled "deeply loving embroidering the national flag -- Zhao Wenrui, the stitcher of the first five-star red flag", published in Beijing daily in 1992.
The article said that before liberation, Zhao Wenrui was a middle-aged woman who lived by sewing and washing. After liberation, under the introduction of the people's government, she entered the art supply agency and became a worker.
For Zhao Wenrui's sewing of the national flag, the article reads as follows: '& hellip& hellip; On September 21, the first session of the CPPCC was grandly held in Huairen Hall. A few days later, a comrade from the Preparatory Office of the conference came to the art supply agency, found Zhao Wenrui, gave her a five-star flag pattern on a red background, the size and requirements of the production, and said, & lsquo; This is the pattern of the national flag of the people's Republic of China just adopted by the CPPCC. You can finish the task of making the first five-star red flag& rsquo;& hellip;& hellip;
"Zhao Wenrui bought a large amount of red and yellow Satin from Ruixiang silk shop outside Qianmen. She thought carefully and repeatedly about how to cut and sew well. According to the instructions on the national flag system announced by the CPPCC, she cut out two big five pointed stars and eight small five pointed stars with yellow satin and pasted them accurately on the positive and negative sides of the red silk flag, with the five corners aligned. There was no big enough table in the room, so she lay on the floor and sewed it tightly. "
'on October 1, the founding ceremony, Zhao Wenrui and the crowd rushed to Tiananmen Square early in the morning& hellip;& hellip; At 3:10 p.m., when the first five-star red flag was rising, she couldn't help looking up. Her blood was boiling, her heart beat violently, and her eyes were blurred by rustling tears. She was excited and proud. The first five-star red flag she sewed became a glorious symbol of the birth of new China. "
Expert identification
In the interview, experts from the Chinese Revolution Museum told reporters that there are differences between the flag sewn by Zhao Wenrui and the flag raised by Chairman Mao in their collection.
The most important thing is that the national flag in the collection is obviously sewn by machine, not made by hand.
On the contrary, the characteristics of the first national flag provided by song Shuxin are consistent with the national flag in the collection. First of all, a tip of the big Pentagram does have stitching marks; Secondly, song Shuxin said that in order to make the national flag more secure, the workers of the sewing Club sewed two white belts at both ends of the white cloth bag. But after reading it, the preparatory office thought it was not among the requirements, so it removed the leucorrhea. This can be seen from the needle eye at the white cloth bag of the national flag in the collection; Thirdly, song Shuxin reflected that on the afternoon of the founding ceremony, there was a drizzle in the sky. At that time, the red silk cloth was easy to fade, so the color spots with large raindrops should appear on the first national flag, which is also consistent with this.
Experts from the Chinese Revolution Museum said that every bit of evidence showed that the first national flag of new China raised by Chairman Mao himself in the collection was not