Not long ago, I talked with my colleagues about the matter of Wuchang in my hometown, where not only did the first shot of the Xinhai Revolution be fired, but also the qing dynasty that ruled for more than two hundred years, but many well-known figures emerged in the hot land of Wuchang in modern times, among which the most famous figures were a pair of sisters born in Wuchang, that is, the Sisters Deling and Rongling, who had served as female officials before Empress Dowager Cixi.
Wuchang
Speaking of the DeLing and Rong Ling sisters, we must first introduce their father Yu Geng, the word Lang Xi. His surname is Xu, a Hanjun Zhengbai banner man, Yu Geng's father served as a county commander in Jiangsu, he was smart when he was young, he read ten lines and down, over-the-eye recitation, twelve years old in the Shun Tianfu Guozi Supervision, hou Yu Geng's not only good writing, but also the speed of writing is very fast. However, due to the fact that the war report was not according to the truth, he liked to exaggerate, and was dismissed from his post, but later because the article was well written, he was used and went to Wuchang, Hubei Province, as an alternate prefect.
Yu Geng
During the Wuchang period, his daughter Deling was born, and Yu Geng was appointed by Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Huguang, to preside over the tax collection of customs (an institution that collected tariffs) in Shashi (present-day Jingzhou), and also handled foreign affairs and teaching cases. The sisters naturally followed their father to Jingzhou and Shashi, where they spent their childhood and adolescence.
Just when they were teenagers, Yu Geng was appointed as a Japanese minister, so the whole family accompanied them, went to Japan to live, three years later, Yu Geng returned to China to serve as a servant and a young secretary, the following year was sent to Paris, France, as a minister in France, the sisters came to France to study, foreign life for many years, they have learned Japanese, English and French and other languages, but also learned modern dance, followed some famous masters to learn, more importantly, many years of foreign life, so that the sisters broadened their horizons, enriched their experience, and have a deep understanding of modern Western civilization , came into contact with the qing dynasty at that time closed the country completely different outside the world.
Just when Deling was 17 years old, she grew into a Tingting Yuli Miaoling girl, her father returned to China, she also followed back to China, when the "Gengzi Great Change", the door of the country was opened by guns, Cixi, who was the supreme leader of the Qing Dynasty at that time, in order to further understand the West and facilitate dealings with foreign envoys and ladies, learned that Yu Geng's two daughters were fluent in foreign languages and Western etiquette, and were gifted, so they ordered Lady Yu Geng to bring the two sisters, Deling and Rong Ling, into the palace to see.
When Empress Dowager Cixi saw these sisters, she was very happy and ordered that the sisters Deling and Rongling be left by her side as the "Imperial Palace" and serve as a personal "interpreter" (i.e., translator). The Deling sisters often read foreign newspapers for Empress Dowager Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor, opening a door to the outside world for the Qing Palace. Under the influence of the Deling sisters, Cixi has a certain understanding of Western culture.
As the "returnees" faction, the sisters became the chief secretary of the Qing Dynasty at that time, and their greatest advantage was that they could speak fluent English, French and Japanese, and when Cixi received foreign envoys and envoys' wives, they naturally became indispensable translation assistants, coupled with many years of foreign life, and they were the daughters of diplomats, who were well versed in the etiquette and social skills of Western countries.
To this end, Cixi was specially gracious, allowing her to wear Western-style dresses to live in The Inner, and the sisters also voted for Cixi's favor, accompanied By Cixi in makeup, watching plays, learning cars, watching flowers, appreciating dogs, etc., in the way of women, "parental short", instilling Western knowledge in casual conversations between women, so that Cixi yearned for a "new life", and later fell in love with photography, French cosmetics, oil paintings, etc. Undoubtedly, De Ling and Rong Ling became the most glorious pair of sister flowers in the late Qing Dynasty.
Recalling the scenery of the sisters in the past around Empress Dowager Cixi, Deling's book depicts it very vividly: in the courtyard of the Leshoutang where the empress dowager lived, a big red carpet was laid, on the one hand, Yuan Shikai's western band invited from Tianjin, and on the other hand, the eunuch's middle band. The empress's throne was placed in the middle of the corridor, and the emperor sat next to her, flanked by the empress and the Fujin and Gege of the various royal palaces. Rong Ling danced Spanish dance, Greek dance and self-choreographed Chinese Ruyi dance for everyone, and everyone was very happy to see it... That much-anticipated confidence and brilliance has probably become a beauty that the dancer Yu Rongling will never forget for the rest of his life.
At the end of prosperity, it is just a dream, the dust of history is coming, and no matter how powerful it is, it has finally become a dream bubble. After receiving a telegram from her father in March 1905, the sisters immediately decided to leave Beijing for Shanghai, with a desperate mood, when Deling was parting, Cixi and Guangxu went to see her off, Cixi also told her to come back early, because she was not willing to cry when she turned around, Guangxu just held back the tears and said goodbye to her in English. When I was saying goodbye, I would never see him again.
Waving their hands to go, with worries, who expected that life was full of caravanserais, a wave of the hand was a farewell, a year after leaving the palace, they got the news of the death of Guangxu and Cixi. After another three years, the qing dynasty collapsed, the Chinese imperial system ended, and the actual ruler of the Qing Dynasty, who had been proud of the world and turned clouds and rains, was destined to be weathered into a stone-carved history along with the dynasty she led. The sisters were glad that they could still swim out of the whirlpool of chaos, otherwise, they would be victims of the times.
Since then, the cheerful laughter of this pair of sister flowers, who once had bright eyes and bright teeth, has spread to every corner of the imperial palace at the end of the Qing Dynasty. They enjoy the admiring eyes of others and are full of hope for the world. At that time, they always thought that the road was still very long, and there was no obstacle in life. However, time passed, the years were hurried, and the sisters' once lively deep palace compound finally fell silent, and the carved beams and jade bricks should still be there, but Zhu Yan changed.
As the sisters left the Qing Palace, the fate of the two gradually went against the grain, and when Deling stayed in Shanghai, he met the deputy consul of the US Consulate in Shanghai, Dieus White, and soon became the earliest foreign-married daughter in the late Qing Dynasty. After White stepped down from the U.S. consulate, he remained in China and became a journalist. After she went to the United States with her husband, she began to write down in English what she saw and heard in the court, "The Second Year of the Qing Palace", signed as "Princess Deling", showing the life of the Qing Palace to the world, which was popular at home and abroad for a time.
Later, Sardus, the only son of Deling and Scheideus White, died and divorced her husband. She has visited relatives in China twice to collect creative materials, and has also performed English Qing Palace dramas in China, and personally starred in Cixi. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, she participated in activities such as "China Night" and "Bowl of Rice Movement" in the United States many times to support China's anti-war cause. After learning of the situation, Deling began to raise funds and medicines through various channels and sent them back to the anti-Japanese base areas, and has been quietly working hard for the independence and prosperity of the Chinese nation, and she has done a lot of work for the victory of the War of Resistance.
Unfortunately, on the eve of the total victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, on November 22, 1944, De Ling, who was working as a Chinese teacher at the University of California, Berkeley, went to the classroom as usual this morning with a stack of courseware, and when he crossed the road, he was knocked down by a speeding truck, and died on the spot, and the blood-stained books and papers on the scene were scattered on the ground. When the police could not contact her family, they helped her learn that one of her sons had died, and her husband left her and lived alone in the hotel for two years. Eventually, the prosperity was over, and he was buried on the top of a desolate hill.
Deling's sister Rong Ling married Tang Chaobao, the nephew of Tang Shaoyi, the premier of the Beiyang government, and obtained an official position in the Beiyang government. Life after marriage is quiet and peaceful. Rong Ling is still a well-known high-class lady of the Republic of China, but not as eye-catching and sought after as she once was in the imperial palace of the late Qing Dynasty. The only thing that remains unchanged is the elegant aristocratic temperament, which has not changed through the vicissitudes of the years. From her slender body and obsession with rhythm, you can vaguely see the style of the dancers. She was also once known as the "Queen of Dance".
It is reasonable to say that being born noble, being a famous person, having a wide range of knowledge, and having a real talent and practical learning, in today's people's thinking, there should be a happy and happy ending, but unfortunately, the sky does not go according to people's wishes, and the creation is also interesting. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Rong Ling's husband Tang Baochao died, leaving her alone and widowed. With the subsequent political storm, her identity as a "remnant of the late Qing Dynasty" and the "petty bourgeois mood" of loving dance have become rongling's original sin. Crazy people flocked to her house, confiscated the remaining calligraphy and painting antiques in the house, and several spacious and beautiful main rooms were also "confiscated". These people sneered, so that the "princess" could also experience the taste of the four walls of the family.
In the later criticism meeting, such a high composition of her, suffered unimaginable torture, and finally in countless times of criticism meeting, two legs because of the dance too good to dance legs were broken alive, there is no possibility of dancing, dragging broken legs, she is already old, how difficult it is to rely on the support of others, but people who have contacted her have said that Rong Ling is very optimistic about life, she is still seriously alive, grooming and wearing never sloppy, sitting on the small bed in the dilapidated house with disabled legs, but still high-spirited, with light in her eyes.
Rong Ling's attitude towards life and life has made many people praise "beauty is never late, and the decline is still aristocratic", however, there have been several sad things in the world, and Yamagata is still cold. In the last few years of Rong Ling's life, due to her special status, no one to accompany her, her leg injuries were so serious that she could only rely on "crawling" to survive, desolate, tired and shrinking the house to the end... At this point, in addition to my heartache, I looked up at the sky outside the window, and tears covered my eyes.