The task of the historian is to distinguish between the real and the false, the certain and the uncertain, and the suspicious and the unacceptable. - Goethe
Is the girl in the picture above beautiful?
Her name is Xu Mojia, and she was born in shanghai in the twelfth year of the Republic of China (1923) to a large family. As a teenager, she was invited by the film company to be an actress because of her outstanding appearance, but she was soon pulled home by her mother, because at that time it was considered inappropriate for Miss Qianjin, who came from a famous family, to act in movies.
Later, Xu Mojia married the son of a large family, and gave birth to four children one after another, living a happy and prosperous life. Because she was not famous for being an actress, her peerless beauty was not known to the masses, and she walked through her life so obscurely.
In 2013, Xu Mojia, who was 90 years old, died. When her grandson was sorting out the relics, he found photos of his youth, and just when a magazine was collecting old photos of the beauties of the old Shanghai of the Republic of China, he sent them. Unexpectedly, Xu Mojia, who has since died, surprised the world because of her youthful beauty, and was even more popular on the Internet, and was praised as "the first beautiful woman of the Republic of China".
Here are the gorgeous dividing lines...
Another great beauty was also famous in her later years, and even became a feature of local attractions, she is Yang Binglian, the "last lady of China's press".
The picture above is a photo of Yang Binglian when she was about 90 years old, and it can still be seen that she must have been a big beauty when she was young. Someone restored her appearance to youth, and it was like this:
Yang Binglian was born in the eleventh year of the Republic of China (1922) to a poor family in Guzhang County, Xiangxi Province, and made a living by selling miscellaneous goods such as needles and threads. At the age of 13, he was forced to marry Zhang Ping, the "Demon King of Xiangxi", and since then he has become the "Lady of the Pressed Village" of the bandit leader, giving birth to more than ten children one after another, and also living a life without worry.
In fact, Yang Binglian is the third wife snatched by Zhang Ping, and she claims that she has lived a very happy life in this marriage and is loving as a husband and wife. But according to local recollections, Zhang Ping was a grumpy bandit, and his first wife could not stand his punches and kicks and committed suicide...
In the 29th year of the Republic of China (1940), Zhang Ping joined the Kuomintang and became a squadron leader in the Guzhang County Police Station, often not in the cottage. But he would come back every five minutes and knock on the door in the middle of the night. In this regard, Yang Binglian's explanation is: "He is looking at my loyalty or disloyalty, whether I am looking for wild men." ”
Zhang Ping has always been the commander of the Kuomintang's major general division, and during his reign in power, he often led the team to burn and loot the people without evil, and set up a lot of harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, in order to get more money and sell large tobacco soil... Even the local people made up a slip of the tongue: "The sky sees Zhang Ping, the sun and the moon are unknown; the earth sees Zhang Ping, the grass and trees are not born; people see Zhang Ping, nine deaths and a lifetime." ”
Although Yang Binglian was dissatisfied with what her husband had done, she could not interject a word and could not stop it at all. All she could do herself was to do some atonement behind his back, for example, nearby villagers had to pay opium taxes, and she quietly issued false vouchers to some villagers who had not paid enough, saying that they had paid enough; some people cut off their grain, and she asked people to send grain to relief...
In 1950, Zhang Ping, who committed the most heinous crimes, was arrested, shot and shown to the public. As the wife of a bandit, Yang Binglian, because she was usually very good to the people, was fortunate to be spared the disaster of destruction and survived. She was only 28 years old at the time, and she has never been widowed since...
In the 64 long years that followed, Yang Binglian made a living by hard work, opening grocery stores and mahjong halls, and raised her children to adulthood alone. In her later years, because of the development of the Internet, she became popular because of her identity and extraordinary appearance as "China's last living lady of the press", and even became a featured figure in local tourist attractions, and many tourists would take photos with her.
On December 13, 2014, Yang Binglian died at the age of 92.
The late novelist Jin Yong once lamented: "No one has ever seen how beautiful Xi Shi is, and I think she should be like Xia Mengcai." ”
Old photos of Summer Dreams
Today, Xiaobian also wants to say: "How beautiful Xi Shi really is, none of us can see it." But if she was like Xu Mojia when she was young, and like Yang Binglian in her old age, she would be worthy of her name. “