Hongyan Nursery

Hongyan Nursery

About sixty or seventy meters west of the office building, on a hillside, there is a single-story house with earthen walls and a traditional Sichuan rural-style timber frame. The house faces south, overlooking a deep ravine and high mountains. In front of the house is a small stone-paved courtyard, and including the main room and two side wings, there are a total of five rooms covering a floor area of 127 square meters. This place was originally the workers' housing for Rao Guomu’s “Dayou Farm.” Starting in 1942, the nursery of the Southern Bureau and the office was established here.

This nursery was established under the direct care of Comrade Deng Yingchao. In order to allow comrades at the Southern Bureau office who had children to focus on their work, and to ensure that the next generation received a good education and grew up healthy, in early 1942, Deng Yingchao instructed Southern Bureau staff members Guan Ping, Zhang Debì, and others to first set up a “childcare mutual aid group” here. It gradually developed into a full-fledged nursery on this basis. Dozens of Hongyan children passed through this nursery over time, including: “Little Locomotive,” “Little Airplane” (son of Xu Dixin), “Little Letian,” “Little Leimei” (children of Rong Gaotang), “Egg” (son of Chen Jiakang), “Guangguang” (son of Shen Guang), “Light Bulb” (son of Cai Shubin), “Beibei” (daughter of Liu Chengqing), “Little Roosevelt” (son of Tong Xiaopeng), “Little Churchill” (daughter of Shi Ximin), “Hillside” (daughter of Hua Gang), “Big Fish,” “Two Fish” (sons of Yu Jiangzhen), “Goldfish” (daughter of Luo Qing), “Little Tiger” (son of Long Feihuang), “Square” (son of Lai Zulie), “Stubborn” (son of Kang Yimin), among others. Comrades such as Zhou Enlai and Deng Yingchao often visited the children here in their spare time and played with them. Deng Yingchao adored “Little Letian” and referred to herself as “Big Letian,” while Zhou Enlai jokingly called himself “Super Letian.” He even composed a humorous poem titled “Inscription on the Picture of the Two Letians”: *Big Letian holds Little Letian,* *Laughing and playing all day long.* *One day without Little Letian,* *Big Letian misses him so much.* This poem, “Inscription on the Picture of the Two Letians,” along with a photo of Deng Yingchao holding “Little Letian,” was later published in the “Hongyuan” wall newspaper run by the Southern Bureau and the office, and became widely celebrated at Hongyan.

Source: Chongqing Hongyan Cultural Development Management Center Author: Liu Liqun