Ancestral worship is a tradition of the Chinese nation. It is widely known that digging up ancestors’ graves is an extremely unethical act.
On the Chinese mainland, there are many reports and discussions on newspapers and online platforms about the alleged actions of Chiang Kai-shek digging up Mao Zedong’s ancestral grave. Some even claim that Chiang Kai-shek sent people to dig up Mao’s grave three times, while on the other hand, it is said that Mao Zedong reciprocated with kindness by protecting Chiang Kai-shek’s residence and tomb.
Did Chiang Kai-shek really dig up Mao Zedong’s ancestral grave? And who dug up Chiang Kai-shek’s mother’s grave and then treated the remains disrespectfully?
Today, let’s delve into this piece of history.
Chiang Kai-shek’s mother’s name was Wang Caiyu. Despite being born into a wealthy and educated family, her life was full of hardships. After marrying three times and becoming a widow twice at a young age, she married Chiang Zhaocong, who was 24 years her senior, and had two sons and two daughters, one of whom died in infancy. Chiang Kai-shek, the second son, was born from this marriage.
Unfortunately, ten years after their marriage, Chiang Zhaocong passed away, leaving Wang Caiyu widowed while still in her twenties. Chiang Kai-shek’s half-brother from the same father demanded a separation of assets. Thus, Wang Caiyu, Chiang Kai-shek, and his sister, Chiang Ruilian, lived on the portion of the family estate they were allotted.
In the tumultuous years towards the end of the Qing Dynasty, Wang Caiyu managed the family estate and raised the two children. Being an orphaned mother was not easy, but Wang Caiyu’s bond with Chiang Kai-shek was deep. She strongly supported Chiang Kai-shek’s enrollment in military school and encouraged him to prioritize righteousness over personal matters after he joined the revolution.
In June 1921, Wang Caiyu passed away, and Sun Yat-sen penned a eulogy in her honor.
In November 1921, Wang Caiyu was laid to rest. From then until April 1949, every Qingming Festival, Chiang Kai-shek would return to his hometown to pay respects at his mother’s grave.
The construction of Wang Caiyu’s tomb began in 1923 and was completed in 1930.
The grand structure of Wang Caiyu’s tomb included a stone archway, a pavilion, a tomb pavilion, an octagonal pavilion, the tomb itself, and a pebble path.
The four large characters “Tomb of Chiang’s Mother” on the tombstone were handwritten by Sun Yat-sen.
According to the book “Chiang Kai-shek’s Later Biography: Chiang Kai-shek’s 26 Years in Taiwan,” which was published on the mainland, Chiang Kai-shek, who had retreated to Taiwan, was deeply concerned about the safety of his ancestral home and tomb. In the mid-1950s, there were rumors that Chiang’s ancestral home and tomb had been flattened, causing Chiang Kai-shek great distress.
In the spring of 1956, Chiang Kai-shek received a letter forwarded by Zhang Shizhao in Hong Kong on behalf of the Communist Party of China. The letter proposed a third round of cooperation between the Nationalists and Communists to achieve reunification and emphasized that “the tomb in Fenghua remains intact, the flowers and plants in Xikou are unharmed.” This prompted Chiang Kai-shek to begin tentative contact with Beijing.
Having a relationship with Chiang Ching-kuo, as well as with Zhou Enlai and Shao Lizi, leftist literati Cao Juren became a secret messenger between Chiang Kai-shek and Beijing. Cao Juren even made a special trip to Xikou, where he visited “Ci An,” the tomb of Chiang Kai-shek’s mother, taking photographs.
However, during the Cultural Revolution, Chiang Kai-shek heard that some Red Guards had gone to his hometown in Xikou and destroyed his mother’s grave, which made him very angry. He instructed his children and grandchildren to avenge this “family shame.” Talks between the two sides were interrupted.
According to an article written by a local in Xikou, the hometown of Chiang Kai-shek, in April 1968, more than 30 Red Guards from Yuyao High School arrived in Xikou and found the district party secretary Zhang Zhengshu, demanding the destruction of the tombs of the Chiang Kai-shek family.
Knowing the gravity of the situation, Zhang Zhengshu did not dare to make a decision. He stated that he needed to seek approval from superiors before taking action, but he received no response. He sent a telegram to the State Council, but still did not receive any instructions.
The Red Guards from Yuyao High School, carrying red flags, brand new pickaxes, and mauls, ordered Zhang Zhengshu to carry two boxes of kerosene and lead the way to the Chiang family’s ancestral grave.
They first arrived at the tomb of Chiang Kai-shek’s first wife and Chiang Ching-kuo’s mother, Mao Fumei. The Red Guards dug up the grave, smashed the stone slabs, broke open the coffin, and poured kerosene over it. They also shattered the tombstone into two pieces.
The Red Guards did not stop there. They continued their march towards the tomb of Chiang Kai-shek’s mother, Wang Caiyu.
Upon reaching the tomb, they used pickaxes to open the tomb mound and expose the lotus stone slab on top. The corners of Wang Caiyu’s coffin were suspended with four copper rings underneath the lotus stone slab, not resting on the ground.
The Red Guards then fiercely used mauls to smash the lotus stone slab. When the lotus stone slab finally broke, the wooden coffin made of nan wood thundered to the ground.
The coffin was opened, revealing Wang Caiyu’s clothing in good condition, although her body had decayed, her hair was intact, a piece of jade was placed on her chest, and a ring was present.
Without hesitation, the Red Guards overturned, smashed, and set fire to the coffin.
According to the local in Xikou, on that day, upon hearing that Wang Caiyu’s tomb had been desecrated, he and his friends went up the mountain and saw shattered coffins, clothing mixed with soil, smoldering with white smoke, and scattered skeletons in the surrounding hills. He stated that the Red Guards’ atrocities surpassed even those of the Japanese soldiers at the time.
He mentioned that Mao Fumei died in December 1939 due to a Japanese bombing raid. After the Japanese occupation of Xikou, out of curiosity, they wanted to see what was buried in Mao’s tomb and attempted to open it.
The Japanese informed the Chiang family members and, after offering incense and rituals, they opened the tomb only to find nothing special, so they filled it back up.
After the war, Chiang Ching-kuo repaired Mao Fumei’s tomb.
The destruction wrought by the Red Guards in this episode left nothing of Mao’s ancestral tomb untouched.
Not long after the Red Guards burned down the tombs of Chiang Kai-shek’s first wife, Mao, and Chiang Kai-shek’s mother, another group arrived in Fenghua to demolish the tomb of Chiang Kai-shek’s father and brother, while also dismantling the shrine and archway of Chiang Kai-shek’s mother’s tomb.
Since Wang Caiyu was not buried with her husband, her resting place was named “Ci An.” The shrine is where people rest and gather during ancestral worship. The main hall consists of five rooms.
According to the informant, the structure of “Ci An” was very sturdy. Even though people used tools to pull down the roof beams, three out of the four pillars supporting the roof inside the house, earmarked for destruction, remained standing. It was only when the fourth pillar was pulled down that the house collapsed.
Subsequently, individuals from Fenghua aimed to dismantle the archway of Wang Caiyu’s tomb because of its sturdy build, resorting to the use of explosives.
After the shrine and archway were destroyed, the wood, stones, bricks, etc., were quickly taken away by people. The secretary of a village branch nearby mentioned that the four pillars from the archway were planned to be used to build a bridge.
Following this, the “Xikou People’s Commune Revolutionary Committee” sent a congratulatory telegram to Mao Zedong, claiming to have “turned the tomb of the Chiang Kai-shek family into flat land and planted crops” as per Jiang Qing’s instructions.
According to official Chinese media, after the destruction of the Chiang family’s ancestral tomb by the Red Guards, Zhou Enlai instructed the repairment of the tomb and, to serve the purpose of “united front,” took photos to pass on to Chiang Kai-shek through intermediaries.
However, as per the whistleblower, this never happened. Even until Zhou Enlai’s death in 1976, the Chiang family’s ancestral tomb was never restored and remained in a state of “turned into flat land and planted crops.” The restoration of the Chiang family’s residence and ancestral tomb took place in the early 1980s.
The newly rebuilt Chiang family’s ancestral tomb now stands as an empty grave, devoid of coffins, human remains, or any belongings. On the other hand, once Chiang Kai-shek’s brother’s tomb was excavated, it was never restored.
While Wang Caiyu’s tomb was reconstructed, all the original furnishings inside were missing. Those antique pieces of furniture were made of precious redwood. Those responsible for the reconstruction found out that most of those furniture pieces had been taken to Ningbo and were being used as office furniture in the offices of the Ningbo Municipal Party Committee and Government.
After negotiations, some of the furniture was retrieved and intended to be transported back to the Chiang residence in Xikou the next day. However, upon opening the truck in Ningbo the next day, the workers were shocked to find that the high-end redwood furniture, which had been stored together, had largely been replaced with inferior quality wood furniture. The whereabouts of the original high-end furniture from the Chiang residence became a mystery and remained unknown.
The rooms in the Chiang residence now contain either newly made lower-quality furniture or collected, purchased, seemingly inferior imitations of the high-end furniture.
Mao Zedong’s Red Guards desecrated Chiang Kai-shek’s ancestral tomb.
So, did Chiang Kai-shek dig up Mao Zedong’s ancestral tomb?
According to a native of Chiang Kai-shek’s hometown, many people knew that at the time, it was the warlord He Jian, who was the governor of Hunan province, who ordered the digging of Mao Zedong’s ancestral tomb.
Upon hearing the news, Mao immediately dispatched people to instruct the relatives to “disguise” the ancestral tomb. He Jian’s men were misled and ended up digging up several unrelated graves of the Mao family, but not Mao Zedong’s ancestral tomb. In other words, Mao Zedong sacrificed the graves of other families to protect his own parents’ resting places.
The narrative that Chiang Kai-shek dug up the ancestral tomb was actually created by Mao Zedong himself. Mao’s ancestral tomb is located in Huxieping, Shaoshan, Hunan. According to reports on the mainland website, Mao Zedong once casually stated while reading the county annals of Shaoshan, “Chiang Kai-shek wants to dig up my ancestral tomb.”
However, this statement seems to suggest that Mao’s ancestral tomb was never actually excavated.
In reality, even after leaving the mainland, Chiang Kai-shek never touched Mao’s ancestral tomb, thus upholding the moral baseline in China.
During the Cultural Revolution, not only was Chiang’s mother’s tomb desecrated, but countless historical sites were destroyed, and even the tomb of Confucius, the ancient sage and teacher, was not spared.
The Red Guards marched to the Confucius Mansion, chanting Mao Zedong’s quotations in unison: “Anything reactionary, you don’t hit, will never fall; like sweeping the floor, if the broom doesn’t reach, the dust will not vanish by itself.”
The Communist Party of China completely severed the inheritance of the Chinese people and their traditional culture, leading to a decline in moral values and a myriad of social problems.
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