Zhao Yiman’s deeds have been a household name and known to women and children since the early 1950s with the screening of the movie “Zhao Yiman”. Especially the will left by Zhao Yiman to her son Ning’er before her death is familiar and fresh in people’s minds. But few people know about her husband – Chen Dabang.
Ning’er, named Chen Yexian, had been raised by his uncle Chen Yueyun and spent his childhood in the accompanying capital of Chongqing before being identified with his real father, Chen Dabang, at the age of 12. Chen’s daughter, Chen Hong, moved to Chengdu in the early 1980s and is the only descendant of Zhao Yiman and Chen Dabang still in the country. Chen Hong said in an interview with us: Soon after grandpa and grandma got married in Moscow, grandma went back to China alone because of her work, and grandpa stayed in Moscow, then went to France to run a newspaper with Wu Lao (i.e. Wu Yuzhang – editor’s note), returned to Chongqing during the war, and worked at the People’s Bank of China’s head office in Beijing after the Communist Party stole the government. There are words written by him.
After a lot of investigation, the legendary life of Chen Dabang finally came to light, based on the clues provided by Chen Hong. The “Academician Chen” of Moscow
Chen Dabang was born in 1900 in Changsha County, Hunan Province, to a family of scholars, the eighth in line in the Chen family. Chen’s family is related to Ren Bishi’s family, and Chen Dabang studied with Ren Bishi in Changsha when he was a child. Chen Dabang had a younger sister, Chen Zongying, who was a female worker in a textile factory in Changsha, and was arranged by both parents to marry Ren Bishi as a child. After joining the revolution, Ren Bishi was sent to the Soviet Union in 1921 to study at the Oriental University, and upon his return to China, he worked at the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai. In order to take care of Ren Bishi’s work, Chen Zhenying was transferred to Shanghai to marry Ren Bishi by arrangement of the party organization.
After the formation of the First Communist Party Cooperation, Whampoa Military Academy was established in Guangzhou. Both Ren Bishi and Chen Zongying felt that this was a good opportunity to train revolutionary cadres, so they wrote a joint letter to their hometown in Changsha to mobilize Chen Dabang to join the revolution and apply for the Whampoa Military Academy. After receiving the letter, Chen Dabang followed the path directed by his sister-in-law Ren Bishi and, with the help of the Hunan Party organization, enrolled in the Whampoa Military Academy in 1926, becoming a cadet of the sixth class, and joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1927. “After the April 12 coup, the party organization decided to send him to Moscow to study at Sun Yat-sen University.
At that time, the purpose of sending Party members to study in the Soviet Union was both to preserve revolutionary forces and to train revolutionary cadres. There were dozens of people who left with Chen Dabang, and the trainees were organized into groups of 10, with Chen Dabang designated as the group leader. In Chen Dabang’s group was a Sichuan girl named Li Shuning. She was a native of Yibin, Sichuan. In early 1927, she was elected by the Sichuan Party organization to join the Women’s Brigade of the Wuhan Branch of the Whampoa Military Academy and joined the Chinese Communist Party in the same year. After Wang Jingwei’s “July 15” coup, she was evacuated to Shanghai, where she was selected by the Shanghai Party organization and sent to Moscow to study at Sun Yat-sen University.
Li Shuning was originally a lady of the house, and after joining the revolution, she was physically fit at the Wuhan Military Academy. However, when she went to Moscow for the first time on a sea vessel, how could she withstand the bumps and bruises? Li Shuning vomited a lot because of seasickness, but thanks to the careful care of the team leader Chen Dabang, she became grateful to him. After entering Zhongshan University, Li Shuning’s Chinese name was changed to Li Yichao and her Russian name was Kosmachova. Li Yichao had never studied a foreign language in China, and when she first entered Sun Yat-sen University to learn Russian, she did not learn it in the right way, and her progress was slow. Chen Dabang was a gifted and intelligent student, who got good grades in Russian, French and English, and was able to apply them. According to the recollection of Liu Puqing, an old man who studied at Zhongshan University, Chen Dabang was also one of the “twenty-eight and a half” (i.e., twenty-eight and a half Bolsheviks, a term created at the “Ten Days Conference” of Zhongshan University held in the summer of 1929), who became famous in Zhongshan University.
Chen Dabang was a stable and politically mature person. With his help, Li Yichao kept both of them out of the sectarian whirlpool at Sun Yat-sen University. They spent a long time together and were so in love that they were married during the International Labor Day on May 1, 1928, with the approval of the university. After Li Yichao became pregnant, she left the Soviet Union and returned to China through organizational arrangements, and was engaged in secret Party work in Jiangxi, Hubei and Shanghai, and after the September 18 Incident in 1931, Li Yichao volunteered to be sent to the Northeast to participate in the anti-Japanese struggle. After arriving in Northeast China, Li Yichao changed his name to Zhao Yiman to meet the needs of the anti-Japanese struggle.
Director of Paris Printing House
After Li Yichao’s return to China, Chen Dabang remained at Sun Yat-sen University, and in 1929, when Sun Yat-sen University was disbanded, Chen Dabang remained in the Soviet Union as the director of the Chinese printing department of the Moscow Foreign Press, specializing in the printing business of the Chinese Communist delegation to the Communist International, and had extensive contacts with the Soviet printing community.
In 1935, Wu Yuzhang founded the newspaper “The Salvation Times” in Paris, France. Through the Chinese Communist delegation, Chen Dabang was transferred to Paris to head the printing business, and became the director of the printing department of “The Salvation Times” and the head of the printing plant. Chen Dabang was familiar with the printing business and knew French. He soon made many friends in the Paris printing community and with their help, overcame many difficulties and ensured the printing quality of the Times of Salvation. Therefore, Wu was very positive about Chen Dabang’s ability in the printing business. The Times of Salvation was published in Paris for 152 issues, and each issue and each article was soaked with Chen Dabang’s heart and soul. When he read the “Letter to All Compatriots for Anti-Japanese Salvation” (the “August 1 Declaration”) over and over again, he was overjoyed to foresee that the situation of the war in China was bound to change significantly.
However, he could not know that his wife, Li Yichao, who changed her name to Zhao Yiman, was also a commander of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Army and became a famous anti-Japanese hero who died on the execution ground of the Japanese invaders.
In February 1938, the Chinese section of the Communist International decided to move the Times of Salvation to the United States for printing and publication, and ordered Wu Yuzhang to return home first to make the necessary preparations. Chen Dabang remained in Paris, waiting to receive a new assignment. This wait was four years. There was no news about the plan to publish the newspaper in the United States, so Chen Dabang had to rely on his own craft to make a living by running a printing business. When it became clear that it was no longer possible to publish newspapers in the United States and that members of the Chinese Communist delegation to the Communist International were being evacuated, Chen Dabang left Paris in 1942 and returned to China.
The “King of Printing”
Chen Dabang’s fifth brother, Chen Yueyun, started a paper printing company in Changsha, Hunan Province, and moved it to Wuhan after the Northern Expeditionary War began. Chen Yueyun’s paper printing company was a contact point for Chen and Ren, and dozens of people from the two families were scattered all over the country, some of them were abroad, so they mainly contacted each other through this paper printing company, which actually became a secret transportation station for the Chinese Communist Party. Li Yichao returned to China and engaged in secret Party work, and gave birth to a son named Ning’er in Yichang, Hubei. Before going to the Northeast to join the resistance, she sent Ning’er to Wuhan with Chen Zongying and entrusted him to the Chen Yueyun couple to raise. Before leaving the Chen family, Li Yichao took a picture of Ning’er with her in her arms and wrote a letter to Chen Dabang, expressing her longing for her husband and informing him that she had placed Ning’er in the foster care of her fifth brother.
After the outbreak of the war against Japan, Wuhan fell, and Chen Yueyun’s paper printing company moved to the wartime capital of Chongqing with the wave of internal migration from the fallen areas. By this time, the company had changed its name to “China Printing Works” and was located at No. 3 Guanjing Lane, Zhonghua Road, Chongqing, with a registered capital of 1 million French francs. Due to Chen Yueyun’s careful management, the China Printing House, with its strong economic and technical strength, became quite influential in the printing industry in Chongqing. The Southern Central Bureau of the Communist Party of China, with Zhou Enlai as its secretary, had also received help and support from the China Printing Works in printing the Xinhua Daily, the Masses magazine and other publications in Chongqing.
After Chen Dabang returned to China, he moved around to Chongqing. At Chen Yueyun’s home, relatives reunited after a long time. The fifth brother and sister-in-law first called Ning’er to Chen Dabang and asked him to call his father. Ning’er was already twelve or thirteen years old, and his height was comparable to that of his father. Chen Dabang pulled Ning’er to his side and looked left and right, searching for the memory of that photo. Seeing Ning’er growing up healthily, Chen Bangda was grateful to his brother and sister-in-law for their careful upbringing. He stroked Ning’er’s head and asked softly, “Has mommy gotten a letter?” The child bowed his head and did not say anything. Fifth sister-in-law let out a long sigh and did not say anything. Fifth brother instructed fifth sister-in-law to take Ning’er away, and he and eighth brother entered the inner room and talked with each other.
Chen Dabang already had a premonition of unpredictability. When the two sat down, Fifth Brother said slowly, “After Yichao and his sister sent Ning’er here, they never came back.” He paused, looked at his brother, and continued, “When I was in Wuhan, I heard that she went to the northeast, and there has been no news since. Did she write to you?” Chen Dabang said, “After sending a photo of Ning’er when she was two years old, there has been no correspondence either.” After Chen Dabang received the photo sent by Li Yichao, he kept it with him to soothe his longing until he left for Paris, when he was afraid of losing it or being searched by the enemy.
Brother 5 went on to say: “I heard later that she was killed by the Japanese. Since she didn’t correspond with you for so many years, she must be no longer alive. It’s good that Ning’er is so old.” Chen Dabang’s eyes moistened as he listened. The fifth brother comforted him and said, “Now that you are back, don’t go away, if there is a suitable one, prepare to renew your room.” Tears slowly fell from Chen Dabang’s eyes, and finally he couldn’t help but cry out loud. Fifth sister-in-law and Ning’er came in, fifth sister-in-law took out a handkerchief and wiped her tears, Ning’er snuggled up to her father and also cried out.
In 1950, the film “Zhao Yiman” was soon finished and released in theaters nationwide. Since then, the deeds of the anti-Japanese heroine Zhao Yiman have been spread all over the country. In May 1953, Zhou Enlai had a letter from Yibin, Sichuan on his desk, inquiring about the whereabouts of Li Yichao, who had worked in the central government in Shanghai. Zhou Enlai looked at it again and again, but could not remember who this Li Yichao was, so he asked his office to forward the letter to the All-China Women’s Federation to find out for him. After reading the letter, Cai Chang, president of the Women’s Federation, and Liu Yaxiong, vice minister of the Ministry of Labor, also did not know the situation of Li Yichao.
Chen Zongying, who worked in the General Office of the CPC Central Committee, was aware of Li Yichao, but she could not link the two names together. Ning’er, who had grown up and graduated from the diplomatic department of Renmin University and was assigned to work at the Beijing Engineering College, knew that his mother, Li Yichao, was a martyr who died for the revolution, but could hardly imagine that his own mother was the Zhao Yiman of the movie.
On January 2, 1955, Li Yichao’s sister Li Kunjie wrote to Chen Zongying, telling her that Li Yichao’s comrades and the Northeast Revolutionary Martyrs Memorial Hall had confirmed that Zhao Yiman was Li Yichao, the wife of Chen Dabang and mother of Ning’er, and that she wanted to know about Chen Dabang and Ning’er. Chen Zongying was very surprised to receive the letter and immediately wrote back to tell Chen Dabang and Ning’er about their situation. The two families, separated by more than 20 years, began to exchange messages. Ning’er learned that Zhao Yiman was his own mother’s news, saw his mother’s will left to her before the heroic death, copied it word by word, and carved the three words “Zhao Yiman” into his arm, determined to follow his mother’s legacy, loyal to the people, and serve the motherland.
At the end of 1957, when Chen Dabang returned from the Soviet Union and learned that Zhao Yiman was his wife, Li Yichao, he had mixed feelings. In order to express his nostalgia for his beloved wife, he was invited by the “Zhao Yiman Memorial Hall” in Yibin, Sichuan Province, to write a heartfelt reminiscence. This reminiscence is still intact and displayed in the exhibition case for people to visit.
Of course, this is all an afterthought. Back then in Chongqing, Fifth Brother did his best to relieve Chen Dabang’s grief and asked about his situation abroad. Chen Dabang talked most about printing, especially about the latest printing technology he had mastered in the Soviet Union and France. Brother Wu was pleased to hear this and said, “I think you should not do anything else when you come back, but simply work with me on printing.”
Chen Yueyun was very popular with his customers for his business philosophy, which did not focus on profit-making, but put support for the resistance against Japan first. Under the existing conditions, Chen Dabang adopted the new technology learned in the Soviet Union and France to improve the speed and quality of printing, which led to a rapid increase in the number of customers and the expansion of the business of Chinese printing houses. The two brothers became famous and were known as the “Kings of Printing”.
Chief of the Printing Bureau of the People’s Bank of China
On October 27, 1950, Ren Bishi, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Secretary of the Secretariat, died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Beijing. Chen Dabang, as a relative of Ren Bishi, rushed to Beijing to offer his condolences. During the trip, he met Wu Yuzhang, an old leader who had run a newspaper in Paris, and Dong Biwu, who had worked in the Southern Bureau in Chongqing for a long time. Dong was the founding father of the People’s Bank of China and had gone to great lengths to improve the quality of the printing of the yuan. Both old men knew Chen Dabang’s printing business well and jointly recommended him to Nan Han Chen, the governor of the People’s Bank of China. At that time, Nan Han Chen was preparing for the currency reform, and it was the right time to hire people, so he approved the transfer of Chen Dabang to the Printing Bureau of the People’s Bank of China Head Office as the head of the comprehensive section, specifically responsible for the printing work of RMB.
Soon after Chen Dabang was transferred to the People’s Bank of China, the currency reform work had already started in earnest. Currency reform was one of the most important means to curb inflation. Shortly after the establishment of the Chinese Communist Party, the State Council held the sixth meeting of the State Council to listen to the report of Chen Yun, director of the Finance and Economics Committee, on the issue of prices. Zhou Enlai pointed out at the meeting that the recent inflation was due to the expansion of the areas we had “liberated” and the large number of tickets issued, so of course prices would rise. The meeting decided to set up a special group to study the problem of inflation.
The new government’s financial and monetary system was gradually developed during the war years. The People’s Bank of China was proclaimed amidst the smoke of the Communist civil war and began issuing RMB, which became the financial backbone of the nation’s construction. However, since the first set of RMB was printed under the conditions when the war was not completely over, there were many shortcomings, such as: a wide variety of coupons (62 versions in 12 denominations), large denominations (up to 50,000 yuan), poor quality of paper, serious damage to the face of the coupons, single text descriptions, low content of anti-counterfeiting technology, easy counterfeiting, etc. In order to solve these problems, the People’s Bank of China started to issue RMB in the midst of the war. In order to solve these problems and further improve the monetary system, the Central People’s Government made the decision to reform the coinage system.
In January 1950, the General Bank of the People’s Bank of China reported the first set of RMB reform plan. However, this program was delayed to be approved. In May of that year, Chen Yun gave this instruction to the reprinting plan reported by the General Bank of the People’s Bank of China: “The matter should be prepared, but only prepared, not hastily. We must pay attention to the unity of the paper, the appropriateness of the pattern, the color of the equipment, the drafting of the secret symbol, the size of the face, the size of the ticket, all must be carefully studied before deciding.”
The reason for not starting the Renminbi reform program is that after Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai led a delegation to the Soviet Union, they were thinking of asking the Soviet Union to print the Renminbi on their behalf. The printing of currency, which is a top state secret, is a prudent matter that generally does not allow other countries to interfere. The first time the Chinese Communist Party was founded, it was restricted by various conditions, so it was difficult to pass the technology of printing money. In addition, the U.S. and Chiang often used counterfeit banknotes to import to cause trouble, thus improving the quality of RMB, especially the anti-counterfeiting technology, could not be solved domestically. In this regard, when the Chinese delegation contacted the Soviet Union, it made a request for the Soviet Union to print the yuan on its behalf, which was accepted by the Soviet side. As a result, the People’s Bank of China established the Printing Division of the Foreign Operations Bureau at its head office, and Chen Dabang was promoted from the head of the General Section of the Printing Bureau to the head of the Printing Division of the Foreign Operations Bureau, and went to the Soviet Union secretly as a special member (plenipotentiary) of the Foreign Operations Bureau of the People’s Bank of China to deal with the printing of banknotes.
Secret envoy to Soviet Union for printing banknotes
In early April 1952, Ye Jizhuang, deputy director of the Finance and Economics Committee of the State Council of China, Nan Hanchen, governor of the People’s Bank of China, He Xiaochu, deputy director of the Printing Bureau of the People’s Bank of China, and Chen Dabang, a special member of the Foreign Affairs Bureau, went to Moscow as secret envoys, together with Zhang Wentian, our ambassador to the Soviet Union, Gao Baoquan and Wen Ning, to discuss RMB printing matters with the Soviet side headed by Soviet Minister of Finance Zverev. On April 6, in the office of the Soviet Minister of Finance, China and the Soviet Union held special negotiations on the printing of RMB on behalf of the Soviet Union. Our government requested the Soviet side to print on its behalf a total amount of 4 billion yuan, with four types of printed denominations, including 100, 50, 10 and 5 yuan. The Soviet side verbally promised that the principle issues related to the printing of RMB would be solved by the Soviet Minister of Finance Zverev, while the technical matters would be solved by the Soviet Timber Export Company of the Ministry of Foreign Trade. On the Chinese side, He Xiaochu and Chen Dabang stayed in Moscow to negotiate with the Soviet side on the specific technical issues of printing currency. Chen Dabang stayed in Moscow and negotiated with the technical staff of the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Trade Timber Export Company for many times, reaching a consensus on technical issues and laying the foundation for the formal signing of the agreement on printing banknotes.
On August 15, 1952, Zhou Enlai led a Chinese delegation to Moscow for bilateral negotiations on Soviet assistance to China’s first five-year plan economic construction projects, which also included asking the Soviet Union to print RMB. When Zhou Enlai and others returned to China, they left Li Fuchun, Ye Jizhuang, Chen Dabang and others to continue consultations on the issue. on September 22, Zhang Wentian, Li Fuchun and others met with Zverev again, with Chen Dabang and Soviet technicians present. At this meeting, the two sides quickly reached a consensus on the number of various coupons, printing requirements, and delivery deadlines, and reached a formal agreement to entrust the Soviet side with the printing of the RMB, with the agreement taking the end of 1954 as the delivery deadline.
The central leadership attached great importance to the reprinting of the RMB. Mao Zedong personally reviewed the design and printing plan submitted by the head office of the People’s Bank of China and proposed two important changes: first, the Chinese characters of the line name “People’s Bank of China” should be arranged from right to left instead of left to right; second, the image of himself should not be printed on the face of the ticket. Zhou Enlai conveyed Chairman Mao’s two instructions, stressing that they must be done in accordance with Chairman Mao’s instructions, and reviewed the drawings of each ticket plate one by one, putting forward many important revisions, including: the main scene on the face of the coupon drawing of the peasant woman is too old and should be painted in a healthier way; the image of the soldier is not brave enough, still holding an American carbine in his hand, which is inappropriate; the car drawing is an American car assembled in China, which should be changed to avoid foreigners It should be changed to prevent foreigners from misunderstanding. But Premier Zhou did not give any instructions on the text on the ticket. The bank governor, Nan Hanchen, had difficulty in deciding and hastily took Wang Wenhuan, the head of the printing bureau, to ask the Premier directly for instructions. Premier Zhou emphasized, “The banknotes represent the image of a country and cannot be sloppy.” Nan Hanchen immediately suggested that there was no more suitable font yet, and it would be better to make adjustments on the basis of the first version. The first time the company was in the market, it was a good idea to have the first edition.
The domestic printing preparations are progressing well. The company has been working closely with the domestic printing bureau to prepare for the printing technology. The list of items submitted by China to the Soviet Union in the existing archives shows that the domestic production of RMB sample plates, including the national emblem, the governor’s seal and deep line pattern stencil, the set of flower painting samples, the great unity of all nationalities, stone carvings and Dunhuang photos, the full set of decorative and textual lead plates, ticket samples, specifications and sizes, etc., are all available. However, after the Soviet technicians received the domestic RMB sample plates, they inspected them and concluded that the Chinese domestic design did not meet the technical requirements and that only a new plate could be printed. While Chen Dabang was negotiating with the Soviet side for the sample plate technology, China was planning to change its plan for printing banknotes.
Inscribers of Chinese characters on the Renminbi
In mid-November 1952, a telegram issued by Zhou Enlai himself proposed that the original 100 yuan and 50 yuan denominations be cancelled and “denominations of not more than three and five yuan be adopted”, and the total amount be increased from 4 billion yuan to 4.5 billion yuan, requiring delivery at the end of 1953. The company’s main goal is to provide the best possible service to its customers. That evening, in the office of the Soviet Minister of Finance, Zverev, Kumykin and Ye Jizhuang had a long talk about the feasibility and possible problems that might arise after the change of plan.
The focus of this conversation was on the rebranding of the ticket. China proposed to change the face value of the yuan, and the Soviets argued that the domestically produced Chinese ticket plates did not meet the technical requirements for printing banknotes and should be re-made by Soviet personnel. In this regard, Ye Jizhuang, after the Chinese Embassy in the Soviet Union requested instructions from China, received a telegram issued by Premier Zhou Enlai himself, agreeing to have the Soviet personnel redesign the plates with the assistance of Chinese technicians. In the process of redesigning the plate by the Soviet personnel, it was impossible to make the plate because there was no ink draft for the Chinese character inscriptions used in the new version of the RMB. After consulting with China, the reply was that the technical staff could make flexible treatment while maintaining the original style as far as possible. So, Chen Dabang, who is a master of Wei and Li calligraphy, wrote all the Chinese characters on the new version of the RMB, including the line name of the People’s Bank of China.
In October 1954, Ambassador Zhang Wentian formally informed Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov that the new ten-yuan note would cost 2 billion RMB.
The new printing of 2 billion yuan of ten yuan notes, totaling 200 million sheets, has to be redesigned after the review of the design samples, so the design samples need to be delayed until December this year before they can be handed over to the Soviet side, so please consider whether the delivery deadline must also be extended accordingly.
The company’s main goal is to increase the number of copies of the five dollar bill by 2 billion yuan, or 400 million copies.
In fact, the pattern of the ten dollar bill, “after several revisions”, approval, drawing to the official final draft, the Soviet side several times to urge, until February 1, 1955 to deliver the Soviet side. The delivery of the pattern lengthened the time, which made it more difficult to make the plates, print them and deliver them on time. Through the joint efforts of the Chinese and Soviet technicians, the plate making and printing tasks were completed on schedule and with high quality. The new ten-yuan note was only provided with a pattern by the domestic authorities, and the technical staff of the Soviet Union worked together to make the technical processing of the plate, and the text on the pattern was handled flexibly by Chen Dabang with reference to the printed banknote pattern, while ensuring that the original style remained unchanged.
The entire printing and transportation of banknotes was carried out under absolute secrecy. The Soviet mint was never open to the public, but carried out the task of printing banknotes in the name of the timber company. The handover between China and the Soviet Union took place on the train at Manzhouli railway station, with delivery during the day to avoid accidents. For the handover, 10 people opened 10 carriages at the same time, 10 in the morning and 10 in the afternoon, finishing in one day. Chen Dabang negotiated with the Soviet personnel and carefully checked the implementation in accordance with the instructions of Governor Nan.
At the end of September 1953, the first train with boxes of RMB left Moscow, and by 1957, when the last batch of ten yuan notes arrived in Manzhouli, the Soviet Union’s work of printing RMB on behalf of the Soviet Union lasted for five years, and China and the Soviet Union handed over nine batches of RMB in Manzhouli, with a total amount of 8.5 billion yuan, of which 950,000 more RMB 3 yuan notes were printed than originally planned, amounting to 2.85 million yuan.
On March 1, 1955, a total of 10 types of Soviet-printed RMB 3 yuan and 5 yuan coupons and domestically printed 2 yuan, 1 yuan and angle and cent coins were issued for circulation. 10 yuan coupons were also issued on December 1, 1957. The printing and issuance of the second set of RMB played an important role in curbing inflation and ensuring the successful realization of the First Five-Year Plan and the development of the national economy thereafter.
The calligraphic art of Chinese characters inscribed by Chen Dabang during the plate making process has been used until the third, fourth and fifth sets of RMB and is still clearly visible today.
A regret that remains in history
It was a great thing to have the Soviet Union print the RMB on behalf of the Soviet Union to improve the quality of printing and to prevent counterfeiting more effectively. However, as the political situation in the Soviet Union changed and the relationship between China and the Soviet Union became tense, the Soviet Union took advantage of the RMB version in its hands to issue banknotes without authorization and disrupt the Chinese financial market. The collection and exchange of these notes would cease and they would no longer be in circulation. At the same time, the domestic political campaign against the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union reached its peak after the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, and many cadres with certain ties to the Soviet Union were branded as “Soviet agents” and were brutally criticized.
Chen Dabang committed two major “heinous crimes”: first, he was a member of the “Twenty-eight and a Half” and had worked for a long time in the Communist Party’s delegation to the International Committee of the Communist Party of China, so he was branded as Wang Ming’s “deadly party”. The second was “internal and external collusion” with the “Soviet revisionists” who “tampered” with the inscriptions on the RMB and “defected to the enemy and betrayed the country”. At this time, the secrets of the RMB printing were no longer secret, and most of the people who participated in the criticism of Chen Dabang knew about it. Chen Dabang was persecuted to death in 1966. Before he died, he told his children to trust the masses, trust the Party, and believe that your father is innocent, and that the inscription on the reprint of the RMB was approved by the leadership. Ning’s son broke into Zhongnanhai with a letter of complaint to seek justice for his father, but was branded as an “active counterrevolutionary” and hanged himself.
On March 1, 1979, the State Council rehabilitated Chen Dabang and held a memorial ceremony at the Babaoshan Cemetery.
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