Looking at the entire book, we will find that the title of the book "Shi Jianqiao's Revenge Case" seems to be somewhat inappropriate, and to be precise, this book is "starting from the Revenge of Shi Jianqiao".
In the discussion of this book, the author Lin Yuqin uses the Shi Jianqiao case as an introduction, exploring the political issues such as public opinion and the legal system behind this peculiar case.
In order to complete this discussion, Lin Yuqin also mentioned the Republic of China cases in the book, including the Liu Jinggui case and the Zheng Jicheng case. Therefore, the case of Shi Jianqiao avenging his father is not the core of what this article wants to discuss, and the discussion caused by it is the real focus.
We may not be unfamiliar with the Shi Jianqiao case, which was no longer mentioned in the current case of nearly a hundred years ago, but it is still continuing its influence through other forms, such as movies.
In the movie "Evil Does Not Pressure the Right", the prototype of Guan Qiaohong played by Zhou Yun is Shi Jianqiao; in another movie "A Generation of Grandmasters", Zhang Ziyi plays Gong Er, who is also based on Shi Jianqiao.
In fact, as early as 1935, when the Shi Jianqiao case occurred, various themes of art sprung up like mushrooms, and in these works around the case, Shi Jianqiao was portrayed as a "heroic woman of the Republic of China". The resulting public opinion also profoundly influenced the verdict of the case, and was one of the reasons for the sensation in the case.
First of all, to review the specific facts of the case, Lin Yuqin restored the revenge case in 1935 through research in the book.
The case dates back to the warlord melee in 1925, when the southeastern warlord Sun Chuanfang attacked Shandong and Shi Congbin, shi Congbin, the father of Shi Jianqiao, was ordered to fight. After Shi Congbin's defeat, he was beheaded by Sun Chuanfang and exposed for three days.
Shi Congbin's daughter remembered this blood vendetta and deliberately changed her name from Shi Gulan to Shi Jianqiao in an attempt to avenge her father.
One of the concerns of public opinion in Shi Jianqiao's revenge case is Shi Jianqiao's gender, she is a woman. Why would a daughter avenge her father? It should be known that Shi Congbin has male relatives such as sons and nephews.
People's attention to Shi Jianqiao's female identity has also become a major reason for Shi Jianqiao's exoneration. As for why Shi Jianqiao carried out the revenge plan, Lin Yuqin also discussed it in "Shi Jianqiao's Revenge Case".
From the death of his father in 1925 to the blade of the enemy in 1935, Shi Jian plotted for ten years. She originally planned to let her brother Shi Zhongliang carry out the assassination mission, but because Shi Zhongliang was not a soldier, it was difficult to get the right time for revenge; then Shi Jianqiao asked his cousin Shi Zhongcheng for help, but the latter did not take action; in 1928, Shi Jianqiao married Shi Jinggong, on the condition that he helped him realize his desire for revenge, and Shi Jianqiao's plan also failed.
In view of all the above, Shi Jianqiao became the sole executor of the revenge plan. In the final year of his revenge, Shi Jian followed Sun Chuanfang for a year and learned that Sun Chuanfang regularly participated in presiding over the chanting of Tianjin Jushilin.
On November 13, 1935, both Shi Jianqiao and Sun Chuanfang ushered in a fateful day, on that day Shi Jianqiao first went to Jushilin, and after confirming Sun Chuanfang's arrival, she returned home to take out her pistol, and during the chanting activity, she shot and killed Sun Chuanfang.
After successful revenge, Shi Jianqiao did not leave, but distributed a large number of mimeograph materials he brought to the crowd at the scene, and after the arrival of the police, Shi Jianqiao turned himself in.
At this point, this revenge case has been completed, but the subsequent trial of Shi Jianqiao has also attracted attention, Shi Jianqiao's female identity, filial piety to avenge her father, and her act of turning herself in on the spot have won her the support of public opinion, and eventually contributed to her amnesty.
In this judicial trial driven by public opinion, Lin Yuqin believes that a new public moral emotion has emerged - sympathy. One of the main themes of the book is to describe the rise of public compassion in the 1930s.
Lin Yuqin believes that whether at the scene of revenge or in the subsequent trial process, Shi Jianqiao showed an outstanding ability to use public opinion (the book writes that "this heroine showed an incredible ability to control the details of the performance and show herself in the media spotlight"), and she described her revenge act particularly justly, fully won the favor of public opinion and the support of public opinion, and finally tilted justice to her side in the trial.
At the same time, the form of public opinion with newspapers as the main medium also helped shape the image of Shi Jianqiao's "chivalrous woman", and at that time, there were even texts saying that Shi Jianqiao was a woman who had undergone professional training and was highly skilled in martial arts, which was more in line with people's expectations of the "chivalrous" persona. But in fact, there is no information that can be surfaced, Shi Jianqiao has received martial arts training.
Shi Jianqiao's act of revenge was shaped into a righteous act under the guidance of public opinion. But Lin Yuqin also pointed out in the book that "the justice represented by Shi Jianqiao is different from the traditional Confucian justice based on moral mutual benefit, and it is also different from the reformer's rule of law concept, which is rooted in 'chivalry'."
As a result, Shi Jianqiao's "modern chivalrous woman" personality was conclusively determined, and on this basis, Shi Jianqiao and public opinion further enriched this "chivalrous" personality, beautifying this image with "bold heroism, decisive self-confidence, and most importantly, the motive of loyalty and filial piety", so that Shi Jianqiao's image coincided with the virtues of the ideal country.
Of course, in the discussion of this book, Lin Yuqin believes that Shi Jianqiao's final pardon is not all the credit of public opinion, but the result of public opinion and the National Government at that time.
Public opinion describes Shi Jianqiao's revenge as karma, through the assassination of notorious warlords to achieve public justice, it is seen as an act of saving the country and an expression of chivalry (public justice), Shi Jianqiao's revenge case has been raised to another height, given the meaning of saving the country.
On the side of the Nationalist government, they also saw the revenge as a golden opportunity to control the narrative of the events by granting amnesty to the Assassins as national heroes. Lin Yuqin believes that the Shi Jianqiao case and the Zheng Jicheng case have become "powerful metaphors for the political function of the National Government in Nanjing".
Sun Chuanfang's unjust summary execution of Shi Congbin illustrates the moral and political chaos of the 1920s, and Shi Jianqiao's revenge dramatically demonstrates the return of normal order during the Nationalist government in Nanjing.
Thus, Shi Jianqiao's revenge case allowed the Nationalist government to use the assassin's filial piety as a means to gather public sympathy for the "new life" nationalism, and Shi Jianqiao's actions were no longer unjust and guilty, but regarded as the highest virtue, and even "national heroism".
Under this interpretation, Shi Jianqiao was portrayed as a "loyal, wise, brave, and righteous" chivalrous woman, meeting the dual expectations of public opinion and the national government, and also giving "power and moral legitimacy" to his revenge. Therefore, Shi Jianqiao was eventually pardoned.
Through a complete interpretation of this case, this book completes "an understanding of the culture of violence in the Republican period, and explains how cases such as Shi Jianqiao's assassination reconciled the debate about the role of moral violence in modern justice." ”
It is worth mentioning that Lin Yuqin's discussion of Shi Jianqiao's revenge case did not end abruptly because of Shi Jianqiao's amnesty, and the book also tells about Shi Jianqiao's encounter after the case ended, until Shi Jianqiao died of rectal cancer in 1979.
In the decades after the revenge case, the case was still brought up several times, and Shi Jianqiao himself and public opinion told the above story differently. And every time a different story of Shi Jianqiao is told, it is to deal with real problems and serve the current planning.
This once again proves that the truth of Shi Jianqiao's revenge case is actually not so important, and the discussion behind it, as well as people's different interpretations of it, have really affected real life.