涂作潮陈列室匾额恭请千年名家王羲之、米芾、颜真卿、欧阳询、西汉无名氏和柳公权墨宝各一字。无名氏隐喻：挖掘再细,涂作潮的秘密仍有不露之处。
涂作潮（1903-1984）湖南长沙人，1917学徒木工，1920年湖南劳工会首批会员；1924年加入中国共产党；1925年参与发动五卅运动；就读莫斯科东方大学；1927年接受特工技术培训；1928年中共六大指定参加代表；同年开始10个月的无线电速成；1930年中央特科无线电机务员。全部学历9年，含4年半留苏
1931年独自完成了中国人民解放军无线电对抗的第一个硬件；1936年独自完成了西安事变前后使用的三部电台；1940年又独自发明了只需要一截细铜丝的无形收报机…1956年和两位同事一起，仅凭200元人民币就做出了辐射探矿仪样机。
这些业绩，在他日后笔下或口中，或轻描淡写，或避实就虚，或缄默不语。
这个1931年的中共中央代表，中央红军无线电队政委，50年后的1981年总算有了副部长级的住房待遇。然而在他为之奋斗一生的政权下，本人历经反党分子、行政降级、关押、牛棚、刑讯百余次累计逾千小时，最后无法就医，死于行政失误；他的妻子饱受摧残，形如枯槁；次子死于文革军管会监禁；长女饱受批判，几近崩溃；幼女受株连失业7年…
这里的1,500件/份档案和实物，详叙何事、何时、何地、为何、如何…证据指向，不难发现为什么1920年50多个成员的中国共产党能在1949年夺取4亿人口的天下。究其一生，信仰的力量难以估量。勤奋比学历重要，学历并不总是和成就成正比。充分发挥的主观能动性令有限的经费效率倍增……
见微知著，触类旁通，去假存真，温故知新，涂作潮陈列室目的所在。欢迎质疑、指正、批评。
Tu Zuochao (1903-1984) was born in Changsha, Hunan Province, China. He became a carpenter's apprentice in 1917 and a trade unionist in 1920. He joined the Chinese Communist Party early, in 1924 and was an activist in the May 30th Movement of 1925. That same year, he was sent to study at Moscow Oriental University. He began training for the CCP secret service in 1927, was a non-voting delegate to the CCP 6th national congress in 1928, and completed a 10-month radio class in 1929, which prepared him to serve as an underground radio engineer upon his return to China in 1930. He had only nine years of formal schooling, half of it in Russia.
Tu created the first radio counter-attack hardware for the People’s Liberation Army in 1931, and was the mastermind behind three transceivers used in connection with the famed Xi’an Incident in 1936. He also invented a spy signal receiver in 1940. With two others, he built a radioactivity detector prototype with budget of US$ 80 equivalent only in 1956.
He was modest and discreet and talked little about his achievements. In 1981, he finally earned high-level acknowledgment in the form of an apartment in a compound for retired officials. But he’d already suffered a great deal in China’s political partisan purges, being detained, tortured, and interrogated for long periods without access to medical care. His second son died in detention during the “cultural revolution,” his eldest daughter was tortured, and his younger daughter was jobless for 7 years due to family connections.
This exhibit provides the details of Tu’s life, the what, when, where, how and why. His story helps show how the CCP, with barely more than fifty members in 1920, was able to take over China with a population of 400 million in 1949. His saga also illustrates the strength of faith, diligence and initiative. And it shows the danger of a regime without constitutionalism and law will mistreat even its founders. The exhibit aims to keep history alive and offer new insights through the old. Corrections, criticisms and challenges are welcome.