The granddaughter of Confucius the 77th generation, the sister of Kong Decheng, the 31st generation of Yansheng Gong, the aunt and grandmother of Kong Decheng, the president of the Confucius Foundation, and the member of the 6th, 7th and 8th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, died of illness at 8:50 a.m. in Beijing on November 15, 2021 at the age of 104. In Jining, the hometown of Confucius, a number of writers had many years of contacts with the elderly Kong Demao and had a deep understanding of the Confucius Government, and they told the Qilu Evening News Qilu Yidian reporter about the hundred years of ups and downs experienced by this descendant of Confucius.
In his later years, Kong Demao was interviewed by reporters at home. (Expansion Pack)
Qilu Evening News Qilu one-point reporter Zhang Xiangyang
Born with the "golden spoon" From an early age, the tutoring is very strict
"The master of each generation of KongFu was called Yan Sheng Gong, who was a Zhengyipin official during the Ming and Qing dynasties, wore a robe and jade belt when he was in the upper dynasty, and was the first of the hundred officials of the Wen and Wu Dynasties, and his status was very prominent. When the ladies in the Confucius Mansion grew up, they were also married to the imperial relatives. The famous writer Yang Yitang wrote. Yang Yitang is a member of the Chinese Writers Association, deputy director of the Cultural and Historical Committee of the Jining Municipal Cppcc Committee, and has published a long historical novel "Dakong Fu" and a historical monograph "Sacrifice kong Dadian", and he has a relatively in-depth understanding of Confucius.
It should be said that the grandfathers and ladies in the Confucius Mansion were all born with the "golden spoon", but fate did not favor Kong Demao's sisters and brothers too much. Kong Demao was born in 1917 in Kongfu, Qufu, she is the second daughter of Kong Lingyi, the 30th Generation Yan Sheng Gong, her older sister is Kong Deqi, and her younger brother is Kong Decheng, the 31st Yan Sheng Gong Kong Decheng. The birth mother of the three brothers, Wang Baocui, was adopted as a concubine by her father because she was a concubine of the Tao clan in the main chamber, so the situation was not very good. In 1920, 17 days after giving birth to Kong Decheng, their biological mother, Wang Baocui, died of puerperal fever.
Ordinary people may think that the grandfather and lady in the Confucius Mansion must be dressed in fine clothes, pampered, and commanding. In fact, there are many etiquette rules in the Confucius House, the Upper and Lower Confucius House has very strict requirements for the grandfathers and ladies in their infancy, and the Kong House has very strict requirements for the grandfathers and ladies in their infancy.
According to Mr. Yang Yitang, the sacrifices and banquets of confucius are extremely extravagant, the sacrifice is "bifeng must be clean", and the dishes of Confucius house include Manchu and Han full table, bird's nest shark fin, etc., which can be described as good color and fragrance. However, the usual three meals a day in KongFu are coarse tea and light rice, the little grandfather, the lady and the lady are at the same table, ordinary dishes, plus salty paste, pancakes, sweet potatoes, pickles and so on. The requirements when eating are very strict, children are not allowed to be picky eaters, and what dishes are clipped is what they are, and they are not allowed to put them back.
The children of Confucius House are also very simple, two young ladies Kong Deqi and Kong Demao live in a room in the front hall building of the House of Confucius House, which is also a very simple bed, using the blue background white flower soil cloth sheets laid by the Lu Southwest farmhouse, and the quilt is a flower cloth quilt. Confucius has a special garment factory, but the children usually wear the same as the peasant children, like Kong Deqi and Kong Demao sisters only wear blue cloth coats, black cloth shoes, only in the New Year and festivals can wear new clothes, after the festival to take off. One year at the end of the Year, to take off the new clothes, the little sisters are reluctant to take off, and are criticized by adults until they change into old clothes.
Yang Yitang also wrote: "In the archives of the Confucius Palace, there are still diaries from Kong Decheng's sisters and brothers when they were young. There is no rest day in the Confucius Private School. Ten days off for one day. However, teachers often do not implement it and often add lessons. Classes can only be dispensed with during the festivals, tomb sweeps during the Tomb Sweeping Festival and the New Year. The almost harsh education enabled each generation of Yan Sheng Gong and ladies to be familiar with the subset of scripture history, and the calligraphy, poetry, and painting were also outstanding. ”
Group photo of The three sisters and brothers of Kong Demao when they were young. (Expansion Pack)
Sister marriage unfortunate Sister brother and sister are on opposite sides
In 1934, at the age of seventeen, Kong Demao became a bride, and she married the Ke family in Beijing, ke Changfen, the younger son of the famous scholar Ke Shaochen, who served as the compiler of the Qing History Manuscript and served as the acting curator and chief editor after the death of Zhao Erxun, the curator of the Qing History Museum.
According to Yang Yitang, although the two families are scholarly and door-to-door, what greets Kong Demao is an unexpected and miserable life. Ke Shaochen had three sons, the eldest son Ke Changsi and the second son Ke Changji, both of whom were famous oracle bone philologists, but the younger son, Ke Changfen, was a clumsy disciple who was neither a weapon nor a quarrel, and although he already had a pair of children, he sought flowers and asked for willows, ate, drank and gambled. When he returned home, he asked his wife for money, and he sold all the treasures that Kong Demao had married. What is even more infuriating is that Ke Changfen also ran to Tianjin to become a pseudo-policeman during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
"I wrote in "Dakong Fu" that before the founding of New China, Kong Demao's life was very difficult, she pawned all the gold and silver headdresses, and there was a gold hairpin that she was really reluctant to pawn, so she cut it down little by little to pawn it. In order to survive, she makes her own sprouts to sell. With no income, she earned some money by washing clothes for the kiln workers. It can be said that she has completely become a person living at the bottom. Yang Yitang said.
Kong Demao's sister Kong Deqi's fate is also very unfortunate, she married the younger son of the famous calligrapher Feng Shu in the late Qing Dynasty in Beijing, but this Feng Gongzi was only keen on chasing dramas, Kong Deqi was depressed after marriage, and committed suicide at the age of twenty-five, which made people sigh.
In 1949, Kong Decheng went to Taiwan, and the sisters and brothers have been separated from each other ever since...
Kong Demao (left) at the wedding. (Expansion Pack)
Forty-two years after separation, the sisters and brothers met again in a foreign country
Li Musheng, a well-known writer in Shandong, and Kong Demao were friends forgetting their years, and they were surprised to learn of The death of Ms. Kong Demao, which reminded him of his interactions with her for decades. He recalled: "In the early 1980s, Kong Demao was finally able to return to his hometown of Qufu with dignity and see her family's Confucius Temple. At that time, I was interviewing her as a reporter for Jining Daily and established a connection. Since then, she has returned to Qufu once a year, and we have all met, sometimes to write interviews, sometimes not to write to know that she is back, and also to meet, like old friends. ”
One of the most memorable things about Li Musheng is that in 1990, when Kong Demao was 73 years old, he finally met his younger brother Kong Decheng, who had been separated for 42 years.
In 1990, Kong Demao learned that his brother was going to give a lecture at Rizor University in Japan, so on the afternoon of November 24 of that year, under the arrangement of Japanese friends, he and his son rushed to the lecture hall of Rizawa University in Japan to wait for the younger brother who came to give a lecture. When mr. Kong Decheng, 70, taught Confucius's Analects, he could not have imagined that his sister and nephew, who had been separated for forty-two years, were sitting in the back row. When the lecture was rested, Kong Decheng realized that his sister was close at hand, and the sisters and brothers hugged and cried together for a long time. Kong Decheng's tears spilled on his sister's back; the sister whimpered and wiped the endless tears with a scarf. After she met her brother Kong Decheng, the last Yanshenggong in Japan, Li Musheng and the photographer Kong Xiangmin went to Beijing to interview her, and wrote a newsletter to be published in Wen Wei Po.
Life is extremely simple Personality is warm as jade
Kong Demao and his son lived in an ordinary house in the dormitory of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in Ganjiakou, Beijing, and lived a simple and plain life. On one wall of her living room hangs a painting with the words "Wind and rain a glass of wine, the heart of the country and mountains", and the payment is "Brother Decheng in Taipei", which was personally inscribed by Mr. Kong Decheng and sent to his sister.
Writer Yang Yitang said: "It is worth mentioning that Kodak, the son of Kong Demao, has been serving his mother and taking good care of him, so that the old man has a high life expectancy of 104 years old, and this filial piety is the inheritance of excellent family style." Some people call Kong Demao the last nobleman, not because of how much wealth and status she has, but because of her ethics and cultivation, and her gentle personality. ”
Li Musheng told reporters: "She later rebuilt the tomb in KongLin for her parents, and I went to interview her; she came to Qufu to visit her nanny at that time, and there were also texts written in the newspaper. She also often sent the first day cover issued by the CPPCC meeting..."
Later, Li Musheng collaborated with the calligrapher Lü Jiande to make a rice paper version of the Analects. "Lü Jiande wrote in small letters and translated me into the vernacular, published by Yangzhou Guangling Book Company, and written by Ms. Kong Demao. In 2009, I wanted to write a long article on her life, and then went to the dormitory of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in Beijing to interview her, so I wrote a "The Last Nobleman". In the summer of 2014, Li Musheng, together with Sun Wei, Sun Xu, Meng Qiang and other friends, planned to publish the book "Jining Contemporary Cultural Celebrities" and went to Beijing again for interviews. I remember that she was helped out of the bedroom by her son Kodak, and before anyone could hear, "Mu Sheng is coming... Today, old man Kong went, and his voice and smile are still reminiscent of the original.
Edit: Zhenglong
Source: Qilu Evening News