On this day, 66 years ago, on June 25, 1959 (May 20, 1959 in the lunar calendar), Mao Zedong returned to his hometown of Shaoshanchong, where he had been away for 32 years, to visit the graves of his parents. Photo: Mao Zedong returned to his hometown On June 25, 1959, accompanied by Wang Renzhong, First Secretary of the Hubei Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, Zhou Xiaozhou, First Secretary of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, and Luo Ruiqing, Minister of Public Security, Chairman Mao returned to his hometown of Shaoshanchong, Xiangtan County, Hunan Province, where he had been away for 32 years. Shaoshanchong is a beautiful place in Hunan. Tourists come from all over the country. The reason why people come here is more to visit the former residence of Mao Zedong, a famous person born here. In June 1959, Mao Zedong returned to Shaoshan to be at a neighbor's house. On the morning of June 25, 1959, Mao Zedong's special train departed from Changsha to Xiangtan. After arriving in Xiangtan, Mao Zedong changed into a gray Jim sedan and, accompanied by staff and local officials, returned to his hometown of Shaoshan, where he had been away for 32 years. The next morning, the sky had just begun, and many people were still asleep. Mao Zedong did not notify anyone, except for a guard on duty at the time. He walked briskly, wading through knee-deep weeds, climbed the mountain beam from the hillside, and walked westward along the road. After a while, the entourage who chased after him also followed behind. On June 26, 1959, Mao Zedong bowed in front of his parents 'tomb. A comrade from the Provincial Public Security Department rushed from behind said,"This is the way to the cemetery of Chairman Mao's parents." Sure enough, Mao Zedong stopped solemnly in front of an ordinary tomb newly built of loess that was not too high. He silently meditated in front of the tomb for a moment, and looked around left and right as if looking for something. On June 26, 1959, Mao Zedong stood in front of his parents 'tomb. Mao Zedong and his party arrived in Shaoshan the evening before and left in a hurry in the morning. They didn't know that he would visit his parents' tomb early in the morning and had no preparation beforehand. While he was in trouble, Director Shen Tong immediately found a bunch of pine branches nearby and handed it to the chairman. The chairman presented it in front of the grave with satisfaction and then bowed three deeply. A few minutes after Mao Zedong used pine branches to visit his parents 'graves on June 26, 1959, he whispered a few words with attachment. The guard did not hear clearly what the chairman said at that time, but later learned that what he said was: "The predecessors have worked hard and the future generations will be happy. I will come to see you next time. "In June 1959, Mao Zedong returned to Shaoshan and walked hand in hand with Mao Yuju, the first teacher of his youth. When talking with Luo Ruiqing that night, Mao Zedong said," We Communists do not talk about superstitions, but the parents who gave birth to me and the teachers who taught me must not be forgotten." "In June 1959, Mao Zedong returned to Shaoshan and walked hand in hand with Mao Yuju, the first teacher of his youth. In June 1959, Mao Zedong returned to Shaoshan to take photos of the tomb of Mao Zedong's parents in Shaiguping next to his former residence. The tomb of Mao Zedong's parents. Mao Zedong's mother Wen Suqin (Wen Qimei) and his father Mao Yichang (Mao Shunsheng) In October 1919, Mao Zedong and his father Mao Yichang (second from left), uncle (third from left), Brother Mao Zetan was in Changsha In 1919, Mao Zedong and Mao Zemin, Mao Zetan and his mother took a photo with Mao Zedong's grandfather's tomb Mao Zedong's great-grandfather's tomb Mao Zedong's great-grandfather's tomb. You can clearly see the monument erected by Mao Zedong's father Mao Yichang's tomb Mao Zedong's great-grandmother's tomb Extended reading: The vicissitudes of Shaoshan, Mao Zedong's former residence: Changes in the situation in Shaoshan, Mao Zedong's former residence, when Mao Zedong died, he might not have imagined that Shaoshanchong, the small mountain village where he was born, would undergo several changes and transform rapidly. From 13 tile-roofed houses, it has become a "Mao Zedong City" jointly built by the whole country with key investment at the three levels of the central, provincial and local governments. In Mao Zedong's heart, it was still his hometown. Figure 1-Mao Zedong's dying wish in Shaoshan, Mao Zedong's hometown, became more and more emotional in his later years. A few hours before his death, Mao Zedong was still thinking about returning to Shaoshan. At that time, Mao Zedong was already in bed for a long time, but he decided to go home. He even said that if anyone disagreed with his return, his body would be sent back... Taking into account Mao Zedong's emotional and physical condition, the central government could only persuade Mao Zedong to recuperate at ease on the one hand, and make preparations to escort Mao Zedong back to Shaoshan to recuperate. In July 1976, Mao Zedong's special plane "Viscount" repeatedly flew between "Beijing-Changsha" and "Changsha-Beijing" to obtain flight data for Mao Zedong, who was seriously ill, to return to Hunan. On September 8, 1976, Zhang Pinghua, the first secretary of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, called and said to the person in charge of Shaoshan Dishui Cave in a serious tone: "Please prepare. I will come to Dishui Cave to inspect the work tomorrow. The central government arranged for Chairman Mao to return to Shaoshan on September 15 to prepare for recuperation at Dishuidong Hotel for a period of time. Therefore, I hope that you will be fully and solidly prepared to welcome the chairman's arrival..."However, late at night, the dedicated line that is on duty 24 hours a day rang again, and a suppressed voice came from the other end of the microphone: " Secretary Zhang Pinghua will not come tomorrow. "Before the people in Dishui Cave were fully aware of the meaning of this call, at 4 pm the next day, the Central People's Radio released an astonishing news to the world: " Chairman Mao Zedong has passed away!" In the end, Mao Zedong failed to return to Shaoshan again in his lifetime, to the "home" that he had said many times in 1959, 1966, and 1976. Although Mao Zedong's dying wish in the mountain village sheltered by the great man could not be realized, this small mountain village located in Qingtian Township, Xiangtan enjoyed great glory after the founding of New China because of the birth of Mao Zedong. After the peaceful liberation of Xiangtan County in 1949, the level of Shaoshan gradually increased. In 1950, a township was established, and Shaoshan became the third district of Xiangtan County, which belongs to Xiangtan City. By 1961, it had become Shaoshan District of Xiangtan County. During the "Great Leap Forward" period, the surrounding areas of Shaoshan, like other areas in the country, were suffering from hard labor and hunger, while Shaoshanchong was cared for by various resources such as pesticides and fertilizers. Due to "the support of all parties and their own efforts", during the Cultural Revolution, Shaoshan's industry and agriculture "both developed steadily." In 1968, 50 "Fengshou 35" tractors purchased with state loans were delivered to Shaoshan. During this period, the state invested and successively established medal factories, cotton mills, agricultural machinery factories, and cement factories. At this time, Hua Guofeng, who later became the president of the country, was serving as secretary of the Xiangtan Prefectural Committee. He set off the first round of construction upsurge in Shaoshan history. In 1964, Hua Guofeng mobilized all forces in the region to build the Mao Zedong Exhibition Hall in just 100 days. The following year, Hua Guofeng served as commander-in-chief and built the 240-kilometer-long Shaoshan Irrigation District Project. At the beginning of 1967, in order to facilitate pilgrimage to Shaoshan from all over the country, when railways were still rare, the state invested 9.93 million yuan to build the Shaoshan Railway. At that time, Xiangtan, Ningxiang, and Xiangxiang counties organized more than 30,000 migrant workers to carry out construction, and many mining factories across the country undertook processing orders for equipment needed for railways. At the end of that year, the Shaoshan Railway was opened to traffic. Since then, there are Shao 1, Shao 2, Shao 3 and Shao 4 trains to and from Shaoshan from Changsha and Zhuzhou respectively every day. Even Beijing once operated 1/2 trains directly to Shaoshan. At the end of 1968, Shaoshan District reached the peak of its administrative system and was exceptionally upgraded to a prefecture-level district, directly under the jurisdiction of Hunan Province. A "Mao Zedong City" Mao Zedong died in 1976, and the "Cultural Revolution" ended in the same year. Since then, China began to transform into a socialist market economy. In the process of social transformation, Shaoshan's status has changed. In February 1981, Shaoshan District directly under the jurisdiction of Hunan Province was abolished and downgraded to Shaoshan District of Xiangtan County. This became a low tide period in Shaoshan's history. The "evacuation incident" deeply hurt the hearts of many people. Even the Mao Zedong Memorial Hall was troubled, and some people chose to leave. The number of commentators has been reduced from hundreds during the peak period to about 40. In April of that year, Shao 3 and Shao 4 trains were stopped. Four years later, Shao 1 and Shao 2 trains also stopped. In addition, the care indicators and subsidy policies such as fertilizers, pesticides, and seeds that Shaoshanchong originally enjoyed also ended around 1986 with the liberalization of prices. In the 1980s, Shaoshan City was depressed. However, since the 1990s, Shaoshan has seen a turning point. On June 25, 1991 (note: the anniversary of Mao Zedong's founding of the Shaoshan Special Branch of the Communist Party of China), with the approval of the State Council, a pocket city of Shaoshan City (county-level city) with an area of 210 square kilometers and a total population of about 100,000 was established. Shaoshan City is directly administered by Hunan Province and administered by Xiangtan City. Not only that, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Mao Zedong's birth in 1993, the central government and Hunan Province jointly developed a series of gift projects, and Shaoshan achieved its second construction boom. This year, Mao Zedong Library, Mao Zedong Poetry Stele Forest, Shaoshan Martyrs Cemetery, and Mao Zedong Bronze Statue Square were successively built or laid. On December 6, 1993, the bronze statue of Mao Zedong lying on a truck was transported into Shaoshanchong. Two weeks later, Jiang Zemin, then General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, personally unveiled the bronze statue of Mao Zedong. With the surge of Mao Zedong fever in 1993, the number of people visiting Shaoshan reached 1.5 million. Since then, on the first day of the New Year and the birthday of Mao Zedong every year in Shaoshan, the two visits have never stopped. In 2003, on the occasion of the 110th anniversary of Mao Zedong's birth, Hu Jintao, the new General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, personally came to Shaoshan on October 1 of that year. He said that Shaoshan is a revolutionary holy land and is yearning for the people of the world. Shaoshan must be built well. In 2005, the central government decided to build three major patriotic education demonstration bases in Shaoshan, Jinggangshan and Yan 'an. More and more central leaders are coming to Shaoshan to inspect. From January to October 2009, a total of 14 party and state leaders came to Shaoshan, far more than the eight in 2008. Among the members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, only two have not been to Shaoshan. Many Hunan provincial leaders come every year. With the attention of the central government, Shaoshan encountered unprecedented development opportunities. Since 2005, 15 major cities across the country, including Shenzhen, Xiamen, Qingdao, and Changchun, have participated in the "joint construction of Shaoshan". Over the past few years, more than 40 projects have been launched in "joint construction", and more than 200 million yuan of funds have been injected into Shaoshan. Almost all projects are related to Mao Zedong and his family: portraits and photos of Mao Zedong, statues of Mao Zedong's youth, Mao Zedong's poetry wall... Today, Shaoshan has completely gotten rid of the imprint of small towns, and the Urban area has expanded from less than 1 square kilometer at the beginning of the city to about 3 square kilometers. Every corner here reminds people that this is "Mao Zedong City" and this is Mao Zedong's hometown. Figure 2-Mao Zedong Memorial Square