Matching Couplets with He Changgong[1]

(1928)

The mill grinds the grain, the grain turns with the mill, the mill turns, the grain splits, and white rice comes forth; (He Changgong)

The lock locks the door, the door is opened by the lock, the lock opens, the door swings wide to welcome an old friend. (Mao Zedong)

[1] After the "Autumn Harvest Uprising," Mao Zedong formally reorganized Wang Zuo’s armed forces into the Second Regiment of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Revolutionary Army in Jinggangshan and appointed He Changgong as the Party representative. One day, while out for a walk, Mao saw an old peasant grinding grain in a mill and went inside to help. He Changgong came looking for him on some matter, and upon seeing the millstone grinding the grain, after a moment’s thought, he came up with the first line of a couplet. After hearing it, Mao said: "A brilliant couplet! A brilliant couplet! But the matching second line will be hard to compose! Let me think it over carefully." After returning to their station, Mao saw a guard opening a door with a lock, and the scene immediately stirred his thoughts. He said to He Changgong: "I think the first line you gave earlier can be matched like this." He then recited the second line. He Changgong (1900–1987), a native of Huarong, Hunan, graduated from the Hunan Provincial Changsha Class A Industrial School in 1918. In 1919, he took part in the May Fourth Movement and went to France that same year on a work-study program. In 1922, he joined the Chinese Socialist Youth League and transferred to the Communist Party of China that same year. He returned to China in 1924. In 1927, he participated in the Autumn Harvest Uprising. In 1934, he took part in the Long March. After the founding of the People’s Republic, he served as Acting Minister of Heavy Industry, Vice Minister of Geology and Party Secretary, Vice President of the PLA Military and Political University, Vice President of the Military Academy, and Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, among other posts.

In March 1944, the Jiaodong United Press published the Resolution of the Ninth Congress of the Fourth Army of the Communist Party of China under the book title Gutian Congress Resolution.