Text/Gibb
In other words, as long as the Shanghai Beach in the Republic of China period is mentioned, many friends will definitely ring a song in their minds: Wave Running! Waves! Thousands of miles, the river never stops! This song "Shanghai Beach" is a classic of the times.
However, the theme we want to talk about today is not this song, but a figure who once played a role in the old Shanghai Beach - Hengshe Du Yuesheng. As long as it comes to that period of history, the name "Du Yuesheng" absolutely cannot be crossed, why say so, because Mr. Du is so famous.
To be fair, China has been an official ideology since ancient times, and attaches great importance to people's high and lowly, Du Yuesheng was born in poverty, and can go from a small red guy in Gaoqiao Town who is illiterate and illiterate, mixed into a Shanghai beach magnate who turned his hand into a cloud and covered his hands for rain, which shows his history of struggle, which is really admirable.
Mr. Rao Hanxiang, the elder of the League in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty, once commented on Du Yuesheng: Three thousand guests under the Chunshen Gate, five feet south of Du Cheng. You can see how highly it is rated! However, it is such a stormy figure who has been at the peak of his life, and in his old age, his life is very miserable.
Du Yuesheng's life has ups and downs, which can be summed up in a classic sentence: fighting with the sky, fighting with the earth, fighting with people, the fun is endless! In that chaotic world, no matter how dangerous he faced, Du Yuesheng could be murdered, which was inseparable from his superb behavior in the world, and even now, it was commendable.
In Shanghai, the Republic of China, fish and dragons are mixed, there are too many people who have received Du Yuesheng's help, "high and low, chicken and dog thieves" have everything, and the people who receive assistance are distributed in various fields, among them, the most important people are Dai Kasa and Zhang Xueliang. At the peak of Du Yuesheng's life, his momentum and fame were extremely rare.
After Du Yuesheng reached the peak of his life, he began to "turn from prosperity to decline", in the vernacular, it began to decline.
Du Yuesheng, this person, can indeed be regarded as a generation of tyrants, but he cannot escape this fate. At the most critical time for Du Yuesheng, he judged the situation and finally made an extremely difficult decision: in April 1949, he abandoned all his family business and fled to Hong Kong with his family.
When Du Yuesheng moved to Hong Kong, a Du Mansion was re-established. Du Yuesheng was not familiar with Hong Kong, and no one knew his identity except for a few old friends he had ever met. After the fall, Du Yuesheng is very aware of his situation, and this place in Hong Kong is his final destination.
However, there is still one thing that has been bothering him, and that is "money". The reason is very simple, when Du Yuesheng was on the beach, with the casino and the big tobacco house, the money he amassed was not only tens of millions.
Du Yuesheng has a characteristic of this person, that is, he is very affectionate, whether he is a high-ranking official or a prominent official, or a three-way sect and nine streams, as long as someone borrows money from him, he will almost always borrow. The IOU of the casino, the IOU of the big smoke house, and the IOU of other people's borrowing money add up to enough to fill a safe.
After the fall, Du Yuesheng was already more than half a hundred years old, but he still spent money like dirt and could not go in, causing the Du Mansion to fall into a financial crisis. Until Du Yuesheng's death, all his possessions were only about $100,000.
After Du Yuesheng's fifth aunt, Meng Xiaodong, learned of this matter, she was surprised: How can this be, how can this be enough?
Before his death, Du Yuesheng not only asked his disciple Lu Jingshi to distribute the inheritance to him, but also made a very important decision, that is, to burn all the IOUs hidden in the safe.
This is to burn all the real gold and silver, Du Yuesheng's decision, let his family feel surprised, incomprehensible, strongly discouraged, Du Yuesheng saw that his family was very reluctant, roared angrily: I burned these IOUs, is saving your life!
Du Yuesheng said to his family: Those who once borrowed my money have everyone, some may have died long ago, some may be exiled to the end of the world, I do not want after my death, you all become people who want to be in debt, and all the friendships I have made have been lost.
Those who can remember my goodness, even when you are in distress, will lend a helping hand, those who are ungrateful, even if you go to collect debts, they will turn their faces and not recognize people, and may even invite the disaster of killing, great grace is like a great vendetta, you must always remember this truth.
After Du Yuesheng finished his account, he died of illness in Hong Kong on August 16, 1951, at the age of 63. Finally, after many considerations, Du Yuesheng's body was finally buried in Taipei, and the direction of his grave was facing Shanghai Beach to comfort his homesickness and reminiscence.
References for this article: "Du Yuesheng Biography", "Republic of China on the Beach", "Du Yuesheng Legend", "Baidu Encyclopedia Related Terms - Republic of China Shanghai, Du Yuesheng, Du Yuesheng's Later Years, etc."