Couplet Presented to Comrade Chen Yun[I]
(1959)

When the state is in turmoil, one longs for a good general;
When the family is poor, one misses a virtuous wife.

[I]
In June 1959, Mao Zedong went on an inspection tour to Hunan. While sharing his thoughts with Wang Renzhong and others, he was moved by the rampant spread of the "boastful wind" and recited this couplet. When Chen Yun was in charge of economic work, he sought truth from facts, first arranging the market and then arranging capital construction, so that the national economy developed healthily. As the country went through three years of hardship, Mao Zedong missed Chen Yun. Mao also told the story of Cao Cao, after his defeat at Red Cliffs, longing for Guo Jia.
Chen Yun (1905–1995), a native of Qingpu, Jiangsu (now part of Shanghai), was originally named Liao Chenyun.