When Lei Feng was born, it was the time of the Anti-Japanese War, when people were living in dire straits. Lei Feng once wrote in a diary, "My family was very poor, my father, mother, brother and brother-in-law, all died in the hands of national enemies and class enemies, this blood feud, I will always remember in my heart."
Lei Feng's grandfather was called Lei Xinting, who made his living by renting the landlord's fields, and worked hard all year long, but was still unable to maintain his family's livelihood, and finally fell seriously ill and became bedridden. At the end of the year, the landlord came to force the Lei family to pay off the rental debt before the year, Lei Xinting was unable to repay, grief and anger, his condition worsened, and he was forced to die in the sound of firecrackers at the New Year's Eve.
Lei Feng's father, Lei Mingliang, grew up farming with Lei Feng's grandfather, renting land from landlords. He took part in the famous Hunan Peasant Movement in 1929. Later, when the Revolution failed, Lei Mingliang went to work as a picker at the Renhefu oil and salt store in Changsha. He was forced by capitalists to transport goods to the river, and was severely beaten by criminals, and was seriously injured and spat out blood, and returned to his hometown to farm with his injuries. 1944 Lei Mingliang was dragged by Japanese invaders to work as a porter, and because of the severe beatings he suffered from resistance, and his spitting out of blood became more and more severe, and he had no money for medical treatment, and he died of his illness in the spring of 1945. Lei Feng's older brother, Lei Zhende, left home at the age of 12 to work as a child laborer in a factory in Tianjin, a few hundred miles away, and contracted consumption (tuberculosis). Due to his serious illness, he suddenly fainted at work next to a machine and was run over, injuring his arms and fingers, and was subsequently fired by his boss. Lei Zhende returned to his hometown with his disability and went to work as a child laborer in a printing and dyeing workshop. Due to overwork, his lung disease worsened day by day, and he had no money for medical treatment, and he also died in 1946.
Lei Feng also had a minor brother who also died of starvation and illness in his mother's arms.
When Lei Feng was 6 years old, he and his mom were the only two people left in the family. Lei Feng's mom was also a tortured and bitter person. She was the daughter of a blacksmith, and a few days after she was born, due to poverty, her parents could not afford to raise her, so they sent her to a nursery in Changsha, where a woman surnamed Yang in Jianjiatang took her home to raise her, and at the age of 6, she was given to the Lei family as a child bride. Later, Lei Feng's mother was abused by the landlord Tang Si Roller and killed herself.
Lei Feng became an orphan when he was less than seven years old. A neighbor's grandmother, Uncle Six, adopted him. In order to help his grandmother's family, he often went up to the mountains to cut firewood, but the local firewood mountains were all occupied by rich people, who did not allow the poor to cut firewood. One day, Lei Feng went to the Snake Mountain to cut firewood, and was seen by the landlady of the Xu family, who pointed at Lei Feng, cursed and demanded that Lei Feng bring the firewood to her house, and snatched the wood knife. Lei Feng cried and shouted and tried to take back the wood knife, but the landlady raised the wood knife and slashed Lei Feng three times on the back of his left hand, and the blood dripped down along the fingers and fell on the mountain road. ...... In August 1949, when Hunan was liberated, Lei Feng found a passing PLA company commander and asked to become a soldier. The company commander did not agree, but gave him a fountain pen.In 1950, Lei Feng became the head of the children's troupe and actively participated in the land reform. In the summer of the same year, the party secretary of the township government provided him with free schooling, and he later joined the Young Pioneers.
In the summer of 1956, he graduated from elementary school in the township government as a correspondent, soon transferred to Wangcheng County Party Committee as a civil servant, was named a model worker in the organization, and in 1957 to join the **** Youth League. the spring of 1958, Lei Feng went to Tuan Shanhu farm, only a week's time to learn to drive a tractor. In September of the same year, Lei Feng responded to the call to support Anshan Steel and went to Anshan, Liaoning Province to work as a bulldozer. In August of the following year, he came to the difficult conditions of the Bow Changling Coking Plant to participate in infrastructure construction, and had led his partners to fight in the rain to save 7,200 bags of cement from loss, which was reported in the Liaoyang Daily at the time. During his work in Anshan and the coking plant, he was named an advanced worker three times, a standard-bearer five times, a red-flag worker 18 times, and was honored with the title of "Youth Socialist Construction Activist".
In December 1959, the draft began, Lei Feng urgent request to join the army, coking plant leaders can not let him go. Lei Feng ran dozens of miles to Liaoyang City Military Service Bureau (now the People's Armed Forces Department) to show his determination to join the army. He was only 1.54 meters tall and weighed less than 55 kilograms, which did not meet the conditions for conscription, but because of his political qualities and experience and technology, he was finally approved to enlist on an exceptional basis. After joining the People's Liberation Army, he was organized into the fourth class of the transportation company of a certain department of the Engineering Corps, and served as the class leader. He served the people wholeheartedly and willingly did whatever was good for the people. He was awarded many merits, and was honored as the standard-bearer of saving and model **** youth league member. he joined the party in November 1960, and was elected as the people's representative of Fushun city. he was killed in August 1962 in the line of duty.
After being killed in the line of duty, on January 7, 1963, the Ministry of National Defense named his class "Lei Feng class", March 5, 1963, Comrade Mao Zedong's handwritten inscription: "Learn from Comrade Lei Feng". Zhou Enlai inscribed: "Learn from Comrade Lei Feng: the class position of clear-cut hatred and love, the revolutionary spirit of consistency between words and deeds, the ****productivist style of public service and selflessness, and the proletarian fighting spirit of defying the odds." Since then, the whole country, especially the youth to learn from Lei Feng fever. Since then, every year on March 5 has become a day for all people to learn Lei Feng.