"He is an old dog who barked for a hundred years and did not wake up China...", Mr. Ma Xiangbo said to the students so lonely on his centennial birthday that he commented on his life.
The old man's life was full of legends. After experiencing five emperors, meeting six presidents, scattering family property, and taking it as their duty to save the country, they still did not see the dawn of China's rejuvenation in the end, and the final old age was full of regrets.
In 1840, Ma Xiangbo was born in Danyang, Jiangsu. Because his father was both a merchant and a doctor, the family was very wealthy and a well-known squire in the local area. His parents were catholics, and his good character of being charitable and generous to others deeply affected the young Ma Xiangbo, making him have feelings of compassion for heaven and man from an early age.
At the age of five, he was sent to a private school to study, and Ma Xiangbo was talented and intelligent, and at the age of 12, he entered the key famous xuhui public school. When Xianfeng was eight years old, his family also moved from Jiangsu to Shanghai to settle down. In the ninth year of Tongzhi,000, he studied philosophy and theology at the Xujiahui Catholic Seminary and obtained a doctorate in theology, and was also ordained a priest by the church. Because of his outstanding learning, when Tongzhi was thirteen years old, the 31-year-old Ma Xiangbo was transferred to the principal and teaching affairs of Xuhui Public School.
Xuhui Public School
Soon, a vigorous foreign affairs movement began. As the principal of Xuhui Public School, Ma Xiangbo also has a voice in the education field. Therefore, Li Hongzhang co-opted Ma Xiangbo and him to carry out the foreign affairs movement together. Ma Xiangbo has always advocated "learning from the West to use the East", and the two immediately hit it off.
One of the important aspects of the foreign affairs movement was the preparation of the Beiyang Marine Division. But at that time, the corrupt Qing Dynasty had no extra money to allocate to the Beiyang Marine Division. Just when Li Hongzhang was in a hurry, Ma Xiangbo stood up and offered for the first time to borrow money from the United States to start a Chinese bank to raise funds for the foreign affairs movement. Li Hongzhang agreed to this novel request. Subsequently, Ma Xiangbo, with his fluent English and church knowledge, actually successfully borrowed $500 million from the United States.
Unfortunately, the stupid Cixi felt that this was a conspiracy between Ma Xiangbo and the United States, and rejected the huge amount. In the end, the Beiyang Marine Division was completely destroyed in the Sino-Japanese War due to lack of funds.
After the end of the war, Li Hongzhang and Ma Xiangbo insisted on signing an unequal treaty such as the Treaty of Maguan. Ma Xiangbo followed Li Hongzhang, mainly because he was proficient in many foreign languages and could act as an interpreter. Ma Xiangbo and foreign representatives exchanged words at the negotiating table to fight for the greatest interests of their motherland. However, the common people at that time did not care about the causal exchanges in this regard, and only knew that all the officials who signed the "Maguan Treaty" were sinners.
The scene of the signing of the Treaty of Maguan
Li Hongzhang and the people accompanying him were scolded very badly, because Ma Xiangbo was a Christian, and he knew many foreign languages, so he was directly labeled a traitor and a lackey by the people. The mother who was far away in Shanghai was so angry that she fainted when she learned of this incident, and the strong mother immediately said that she would never forgive this "traitorous thief" son, and even the last dying side did not want to see Ma Xiangbo.
Ma Xiangbo, who was rebellious and separated, how could he not have imagined that he was bent on saving the country and why he had ended up in such a situation? And all of his reform proposals for the imperial court were ignored. Disheartened, Ma Boqian abandoned his political pursuits and devoted himself to education. Because he also had an epiphany: the key to self-improvement is still to cultivate talents.
Destroying his family to run the school, Ma Xiangbo donated all the 3,000 mu of land under his name to be a student of Central and Western University, and made a note that he would never regret it. After donating all his family property, Ma Xiangbo was penniless. After a long time, Ma Xiangbo, who felt that he had little time, said to his little granddaughter: Child, I did not leave you a penny, you hate grandpa and do not hate... Before he could say anything, he hugged his granddaughter and cried. Although patriotic, how can you not love your family? In the end, there is still a sense of guilt for the family.
In the 28th year of Guangxu, the "Ink Bottle Incident" occurred at Nanyang College, and a large number of students chose to withdraw from Nanyang College because they were dissatisfied with the authoritarian dictatorship of the school. Mr. Cai Yuanpei loved to have children like sons, so he discussed whether Ma Xiangbo could take in some students. Taking this opportunity, Ma Xiangbo, with the help of the church, founded Aurora College. Liang Qichao sent a praise: This is the first time to see a complete and organized private school in my motherland, and I want to be ecstatic.
Ma Xiangbo took a group photo with Aurora teachers and students
However, the good times did not last long, because Ma Xiangbo believed that believing or not believing in religion was the freedom of students, so there was no missionary in the school. This goes against the will of the Church. The old man was expelled from the Aurora College by the church in just two years.
The students of Aurora Public School knew what happened to the old principal and decisively chose to withdraw from the school to support the old principal. Looking at the students' withdrawal signature books, Ma Xiangbo burst into tears. In order to live up to the support of the students and to be able to receive an education as soon as possible, the 65-year-old began begging around on crutches, lobbying rich officials, and finally, with the help of many patriots, opened fudan university in the abandoned governor Yamen, which will eventually shock China.
Fudan Public School in 1920
An old man, more than a hundred students, a broken house, a blackboard, classes started here. The 66-year-old Ma Xiangbo was full of energy, and although the students in the audience were standing, they were not tired, and everyone was listening carefully to the teacher's lectures. This was the spirit of China's progressive youth at that time.
Because of his high moral standing, Sun Yat-sen invited him to be the mayor of Nanjing, participate in the Senate, and serve as the president of Peking University, founding the Fu Jen Society (the predecessor of Fu Jen University) and the Bacon Girls' School.
In 1914, bad news came, ma Xiangbo's wife and son died in the shipwreck, leaving only his daughter-in-law and granddaughter. The loss of his wife and son in old age was another heavy blow to Ma Xiangbo. Ma Xiangbo's students raised 10,000 yuan to give to Ma Xiangbo as a widowed daughter-in-law's young grandson. But Ma Xiangbo entrusted this money to the Qiming Girls' High School for education funds. The daughter-in-law understands her father-in-law very well, and she admires her father-in-law's personality and goes out to work and support her family.
Unfortunately, with the restoration of Yuan Shikai, the good signs of China's progress came to an abrupt end. Ma Xiangbo stood up and scolded Yuan Shikai as a thief in the world. His friends feared that Ma Xiangbo would be retaliated against by Yuan Shikai and persuaded him to go into hiding.
Later, with the fall of Yuan Shikai, the Japanese invaders began to trample on China's land again. The 91-year-old Ma Xiangbo actively resisted the Japanese, disregarding his elderly body and marching around to give speeches. When the street sold words, a word 30, a couplet of 50 a stroke actually raised 100,000 righteous funds, immediately donated to the northeast anti-Japanese army.
Ma Xiangbo's love for the country has been deeply engraved in his bones. And has made saving the country his life's work. It is a pity that Mr. Ma Lao still did not see the Japanese invaders expelled from our country. In 1939, Mr. Ma Died in Shanghai at the age of 100.
In these hundred years, there are more than 70 years of time the old man has been working hard to save the country. But looking back on his life, he obviously gave everything for his country, but it seemed that he had not achieved anything. In the face of the students, the centenarian could not help but cry that he was a dog, barking for 100 years, and did not wake up China.
Mr. Ma Lao, fudan public school that was dilapidated at that time, has now become a world-renowned Fudan University. The poor and weak country is now the world's second largest country in terms of GDP. The people live happily, and there will never again be a time when they will not have enough to eat, nor will they be devastated by war again. You will be glad that you know under the spring. We will always remember your merits, you are a well-deserved soul of Fudan in our hearts, the people's educator!