Because the TV series "That Year the Flowers Bloomed and the Moon Was Round" was once broadcast on satellite channels, the name Zhou Ying has also become a household name. Historically, Zhou Ying is said to be the daughter of Empress Dowager Cixi and the richest woman in the late Qing Dynasty. So, what is the final outcome of this person?
Zhou Ying profile
There is a big gap between Zhou Ying in the TV series and Zhou Ying in history. For example, in the TV series, Zhou Ying is described as a woman who runs the rivers and lakes, but in history, Zhou Ying was born into a famous family, not from the rivers and lakes.
1. Zhou Ying's beginnings
In fact, strictly speaking, Zhou Ying is not a self-made person. Because Zhou Ying's husband, the Wu family, is a tycoon in itself. Zhou Ying's misfortune lies in the early death of her husband, and the Wu family has no successors, and can only hope that Zhou Ying will maintain the operation of the Zhou family.
In fact, there is a characteristic of the rich and powerful in old China - that is, the combination of landlords and capitalists - the so-called landlords, because in the past, rich people had the tradition of buying land in the countryside. Contemporary Chinese like to buy a house, but in fact, it is also a deformation of this tradition.
Zhou Ying is a shrewd woman. Therefore, after Zhou Ying inherited her husband's family business, through her own means of operation, the Wu family became a premier family in Shaanxi.
2. Zhou Ying sponsored Empress Dowager Cixi
In old China, wealth alone could not be considered rich.
Because the power of the old China was the most sacred resource. Many wealthy merchants, after having money, would consider finding allies in the imperial court or the government. The reason is simple: there is money but no power as a guarantee, then the money is not actually his own - for example, Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty, because he hated the rich people in the world, he carried out a large persecution of the rich merchants of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhou Ying lived in the chaotic world of the late Qing Dynasty and of course knew all this very well. In fact, the elders before the Zhou family had a tradition of spending money to donate officials from the Qing government. The purpose of this donation is to make a name for himself and ensure that his wealth is not taken away by other magnates.
However, if the magnate really wants to take away your wealth, even being a petty official will not help.
Of course, Zhou Ying knows this truth, so Zhou Ying also needs to consider finding power support for herself through some means. It just so happened that the social development at that time allowed Zhou Ying to find an opportunity.
It was 1900, and the contradictions between Empress Dowager Cixi and the Eight-Nation Alliance escalated, and eventually the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing, and Empress Dowager Cixi fled to Xi'an. Zhou Ying was the richest man in Guanzhong at the time, so she needed to receive Empress Dowager Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor. At this time, Zhou Ying resolutely donated a large amount of money to Empress Dowager Cixi.
Many people may read this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make friends with the powerful, so Zhou Ying is just lucky to do so. In fact, this was wrong, because this was not the case at that time, and at that time, whether Empress Dowager Cixi could return to Beijing was still a question.
When Empress Dowager Cixi declared war on the Eight-Power Alliance, the southeastern provinces declared mutual protection of the southeast, and even prepared to elect a president to represent the southern provinces and the great powers—this was actually no different from semi-independence.
In the north, the Eight-Nation Alliance also had the idea of deposing Empress Dowager Cixi and dividing up China. Therefore, when Cixi fled, it is still unknown whether the Qing Dynasty can continue. Once the Qing Dynasty was gone, then the money donated by Zhou Ying was basically nothing.
Therefore, we can see Zhou Ying's boldness from this, of course, we cannot deny his luck.
In 1901, Empress Dowager Cixi signed the Treaty of Xinugi and Zhou Ying again sponsored a large sum of money for the Qing government. These two sums of money excited Empress Dowager Cixi—especially the first one. You know, things under this day, the icing on the cake is easy, but there is less charcoal in the snow. Zhou Ying's donation is typical of charcoal in the snow, so Empress Dowager Cixi is very grateful. To this end, he also gave Zhou Ying some titles.
After Zhou Ying had the sponsorship of Empress Dowager Cixi, she was naturally more smooth. However, Zhou Ying was too hard to run the family business, and finally died in 1910, when Zhou Ying was in her forties.
Zhou Ying's posthumous affair
However, although when she was alive, she wanted the wind to be windy and the rain to be rainy, but what happened behind Zhou Ying could be described as desolate.
1. There is no successor
When Zhou Ying's husband died, her husband and Zhou Ying did not leave any descendants. Therefore, Zhou Ying could only choose Wu Huaixian, who had succeeded Wu In the courtyard of the Wu family, as her adopted son.
However, raising a son is not easy. Conflicts between biological mother and child are still frequent, not to mention the relationship between the adoptive mother and the adopted son.
At first, when Wu Huaixian was a child, Zhou Ying's relationship with this young son was not bad. However, as her son grew older, Zhou Ying and Wu Huaixian clashed because of their different ideas.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, in fact, Chinese's thinking changed because of the influence of Western forces and social changes. As a young man, Wu Huaixian accepted some new ideas. These new ideas put him and Zhou Ying's thoughts in conflict.
In the end, Zhou Ying even reported Wu Huaixian to the Inspector Yamen, claiming that Wu Huaixian was not filial piety.
2, behind the desolate
Wu Huaixian, with the mentality of temporary tolerance, chose to apologize to Zhou Ying. It is said that if the biological mother and son make trouble like this, there may be a relaxation of the relationship. However, Zhou Ying was not Wu Huaixian's biological mother after all. Therefore, after Zhou Ying's death, Wu Huaixian began to take revenge on Zhou Ying.
For example, according to the rules, Zhou Ying should be buried with her husband. However, in order to retaliate against Zhou Ying, Wu Huaixian claimed that Zhou Ying did not give birth to a male to the Wu family, but chose to bury Zhou Ying in a desolate and remote place. This means that Wu Huaixian's attitude will not give Zhou Ying any funerary goods.
However, Zhou Ying certainly did not know this. However, in the eyes of onlookers, Zhou Ying's ending is also tragic enough!