Five historical little-known facts:

1. Kong Rong, who let the pear; died saving his wife and children to escape—The story of Kong Rong letting pears at age 4 has been passed down for generations, but his act of sacrificing his wife and children to save his life at age 43 is rarely known. Kong Rong offended Yuan Shao for loyalty to the Han Dynasty and was attacked by Yuan's army. Fearful of damaging his image as a calm and unflappable scholar, he pretended to remain composed, drank wine, and recited poetry, never leading the troops. Until the enemy breached the city, he escaped under the protection of his guards, leaving his wife and two sons to die for him.

2. Cui Qi, 1998 Nobel Prize in Physics laureate; Yang Lan asked: “What would have happened if you hadn’t gone out to study when you were 12?” Yang Lan perhaps guessed Cui Qi would answer: “I would never become famous, maybe I’d still be farming in rural Henan.” Cui Qi’s response was much more surprising: “If I hadn’t gone out, my parents wouldn’t have died during the three years of hardship.” Cui Qi wept with regret.

3. In 1960, during a major famine in China, young and healthy people ate only 3 liang (about 100 grams) of rice daily, which was insufficient, leading to cannibalism. Moutai distillery couldn’t brew with rice, so Premier Zhou Enlai approved 2,200 tons of grain for Moutai to produce liquor! During this period, millions of people in mainland China starved to death. However, the production of Moutai from 1959 to 1961 did