This is a very important historical photo. As for the photo, some organizations marked "Mao Zedong took a group photo with some members of the Central People's Government Committee (October 1, 1949)"; Some institutions marked "In October 1949, the Chairman, Vice Chairman and some members of the First Central People's Government Committee took a group photo"; Some institutions have marked "group photos of the President, Vice President and some members of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China"; Some books and materials mark the shooting time as September 1949. Of course, most of them are marked in October 1949.
Faced with the photo, people often have two questions: What is the date of taking the photo? Why is there no Vice President Soong Ching ling in the picture?
The shooting time is not September 1949
The first Central People's Government Committee of the People's Republic of China was elected at the last day of the first plenary session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference on September 30, 1949. In the afternoon of the same day, after the vote and before the statistics of the election results were released, at about 6:00, all the representatives attending the CPPCC meeting held a foundation laying ceremony for the Monument to the People's Heroes in Tiananmen Square. After that, he returned to the venue, reported the results of the invoicing, discussed and adopted the Declaration of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and other documents, and held the closing ceremony. After the meeting, all representatives went to Beijing Hotel for dinner.
If the group photo was taken in September, it could only be taken after the meeting ended on September 30. However, Soong Ching ling participated in the election, foundation laying ceremony, closing ceremony and other major events on that day. If she had arranged a group photo, she would have no reason not to participate. This situation also involves Liu Yazi and others. In addition, for a conference of this size (more than 630 people attended the conference on the same day), if there is a group photo session, it will generally be arranged in the conference procedures, and there should also be relevant photos circulated. However, after reviewing the agenda and daily procedures of the first plenary session, no group photo was arranged.
Moreover, from the group photo of the "Chairman, Vice Chairman and some members of the First Central People's Government", although the clothes worn by most people are not very clear, they are still obviously different from those worn on the last day of the first plenary session of the CPPCC. Zhu De, in particular, wore military uniforms with chest marks at the closing meeting, while in the group photo, he wore casual clothes. The background of the group photo is Zhongnanhai Hall of Diligence, but the venue of that day is Huairen Hall, which seems unreasonable. There is also a circumstantial evidence that Huang Yanpei has many records about group photos of the meeting in his diary, but there is no record in the diary of that day.
Based on the above analysis, the group photo cannot be taken in September 1949.
The shooting time is not October 1, 1949
At 2 p.m. on October 1, 1949, the Committee of the Central People's Government held its first meeting at the Hall of Diligence in Zhongnanhai. The main contents are: to declare the establishment of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China, and to accept the Common Programme of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference as the policy guideline of the Central People's Government; Lin Boqu was elected Secretary General of the Central People's Government Committee, Zhou Enlai was appointed Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Central People's Government, Mao Zedong was Chairman of the People's Revolutionary Military Committee of the Central People's Government, Zhu De was Commander in Chief of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, etc; The Announcement of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China was adopted. At 3 p.m., the ceremony to celebrate the founding of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China was held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
From the content of the meeting, it is really possible to arrange group photos after the meeting. However, from the perspective of time, it is impossible to hold a meeting at 2:00, take a group photo after the meeting, and then arrive at the Tiananmen Gate Tower before 3:00 to celebrate the founding ceremony of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China. After the ceremony, a military parade of nearly three hours was held, followed by a mass march of 300000 people. At 8 p.m., a banquet was held to welcome the Soviet delegation. Therefore, it is unlikely that the organizing committee members will take group photos on that day.
According to the meeting registration form and relevant video data, Song Qingling, Liu Yazi and others attended the first meeting of the Committee at 2:00 p.m. and the founding ceremony at 3:00 p.m. If a group photo is arranged, there is no reason why they should not attend.
In addition, it is very important to dress the people in the group photo. The clothes of Mao Zedong and others in the group photo are very different from those in the Tiananmen Tower when they participated in the founding ceremony. In the photo, Mao Zedong was wearing old clothes with obvious wrinkles, and the founding ceremony was wearing a woolen uniform without wrinkles; Liu Shaoqi wore dark clothes, and light clothes on the founding ceremony; Zhu De seems to be wearing dark casual clothes, while on the founding ceremony, he was wearing a new military uniform of tawny woolen cloth, which is unlikely to change into new clothes temporarily after taking photos.
One more detail is crucial. Due to time constraints and material shortages, only two extra large national flags were produced at that time, and they were hoisted in Tiananmen Square on October 1, 1949. Therefore, the national flag displayed at the first meeting of the Central People's Government Committee on that day was obviously smaller than the national flag displayed in the group photo, and the five small red flags on each wall lamp in the hall column were not national flags. Moreover, the green plants in the photos of the meeting site are also obviously different from those in the group photos.
Will it be taken on October 3?
At 8:30 p.m. on October 3, the second meeting of the Central People's Government Committee was held at the Hall of Diligence in Zhongnanhai. The meeting heard Zhou Enlai's report on the Soviet Union's recognition of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union; To study the principled position of the Soviet government to sever diplomatic relations with the former Kuomintang government, decide to establish diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and send ambassadors to each other, and appoint Wang Jiaxiang as China's ambassador to the Soviet Union. The meeting agreed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should issue a statement informing the former KMT government embassies abroad to stop their activities and wait for the handover. At 9:00, a party was held, and the Soviet art performance team performed songs and dances.
The information I can find about this meeting is relatively few, and there is no relevant report in the People's Daily in the following days (members of the Central People's Government Committee watched the performance of the Soviet art performance team, and the front page of the People's Daily on October 5 reported it). However, judging from the content and schedule of the meeting, the meeting is very short and compact. It is likely to be convened temporarily and kept confidential, so it is unlikely to organize a group photo on this day. At the same time, the time interval between this meeting and the first meeting is only one day, so it is less likely to put on oversized national flags and rearrange the scene.
It was probably shot on October 19
At 7 p.m. on October 19, 1949, the third meeting of the Central People's Government Committee was held at the Hall of Diligence in Zhongnanhai. The author believes that this photo was probably taken after the meeting, mainly based on the following analysis.
First of all, from the content of the meeting, it is very possible for the organizing members to take group photos after the meeting. Secondly, according to the Long Chronicle of Soong Ching ling, Soong Ching ling returned from southern Beijing on the 14th of that month and arrived at Xiaguan, Nanjing at 1:00 a.m. on the 16th, so he was absent from the meeting on that day. In the 43rd episode of the special film "The Footstep of the Republic - Archives of 1949" on the official website of the National Archives Administration, "The Central People's Government Committee Appoints Government Principals", there is "the minutes of the third meeting of the Central People's Government Committee". Liu Yazi, like Song Qingling, Long Yun, etc., is "absent" in the minutes of the meeting, and noted that "none of them is in Beijing". Once again, Huang Yanpei wrote in his diary that day: "Photography. Scattering at ten o'clock". It is very likely to refer to this group photo. Huang Yanpei had no record of "photography" when recording his participation in other meetings of the Central Government Committee. In the diary on the 21st day of the same month, there were two records about photography: one was the morning after the founding meeting of the Financial and Economic Committee of the Government Affairs Council of the Central People's Government, the forum, photography and dinner were held; One was the first enlarged meeting of the Government Affairs Council of the Central People's Government in the afternoon and evening, during which "photography and dinner" were held. Relevant photos can be seen.
There is also a very important small detail. In the group photo on the official website of the National Archives, there is a wall clock. Although it is rather vague, and it is not clear which is the hour hand and which is the minute hand, it is either 12:45 or 9:5, which is obviously impossible to be between 2:00 and 3:00. The rate is about 9:05, which coincides with the shooting time of the meeting, indicating that the group photo was probably taken at the third meeting of the Central People's Government Committee on the 19th. This also proves from one side that the group photo is unlikely to be the first meeting taken in the afternoon of the 1st.
On October 16, 1949, Luo Shen, the Soviet ambassador to China, took a group photo after presenting his credentials to Chairman Mao Zedong. From the perspective of group photos, the Hall of Diligence was renovated in order to welcome the first event of accepting credentials in the diplomatic history of New China. At this time, the background conditions for "group photos of the first Chairman, Vice Chairman and some members of the Central People's Government" were met.
Then, the first meeting of the People's Revolutionary Military Committee of the Central People's Government held on October 20, 1949, the founding meeting of the Financial and Economic Committee of the Government Affairs Council of the Central People's Government held on October 21, 1949, and the first expanded government affairs meeting of the Government Affairs Council of the Central People's Government left group photos. These increased the possibility that the "group photo of the first President, Vice President and some members of the Central People's Government" was taken on October 19, 1949.
(The writer is the director of the Research Department of the Cultural and Historical Museum of the CPPCC)
