Yu Geng was a courtier at the end of the Qing Dynasty and a powerful Qing diplomat, he was originally a Han Chinese, but because he knew many Chinese words, he was valued by Cixi and became a Han chinese who entered the flag. Yu Geng was intelligent and talented, and at the age of 16, he was elected as the Yougong of the Guangxu Dynasty, and his first official position after entering the army was to serve as the behind-the-scenes counselor of the Governor of Liangguang, and later, Yu Gengguan became the Western envoy of the Qing Dynasty stationed in Japan and France.
Yu Geng had 2 daughters and 2 sons in his lifetime, and his two daughters were taken abroad by Yu Geng to live abroad for several years, Yu Geng's eldest daughter Yu Deling later became the imperial translator of Empress Dowager Cixi, while the younger daughter Yu Rongling was even more fortunate - not only was she trusted by Cixi like her sister, but also was given the title of "Lord of Shanshou County" by Cixi herself, enjoying supreme glory.
But good luck has not always favored Yu Rongling, a female official of the Qing court who is deeply influenced by Western culture, she experienced a tortuous emotional life, and finally entered the palace of marriage with her husband who had the rank of major general. However, she loved dancing all her life, but in her old age, she broke her legs, and in the face of a cruel fate, Yu Rongling chose to be strong and smile right, and used optimism and open-mindedness to let herself live out the true aristocratic spirit.
Born in the late Qing Dynasty diplomat's house, the Jewel of Dance
In 1889, the family of Yu Geng, the foreign minister of the late Qing Dynasty, ushered in the birth of the fourth child, this baby girl was born white and cute, and her father Yu Geng named her Yu Rongling. Yu Geng, his father, who specialized in diplomacy, was originally from the Han Dynasty, but because of his special talent, he was included in the flag organization of the Qing court and became a nobleman of the Manchu Qing Dynasty White Banner Han Military Banner, and the official was a member of the Sipin Commandery.
Therefore, we can also say that Yu Rongling was born in an aristocratic family in the late Qing Dynasty, and has enjoyed a good life treatment since childhood, with an elegant and noble temperament.
Yu Rongling has an older sister, named Yu Deling, the sisters are only 3 years apart, enlightened parents for the sake of their daughters' future, have sent the sisters to Japan and Paris, they not only learned Western culture and etiquette, but also learned fluent English and French.
Compared with her sister's calm atmosphere, the lively and active Yu Rongling learned Japanese dance and Western modern dance with a strong personal hobby, and also integrated Eastern and Western dance styles and concepts with each other, and then introduced new ideas, becoming a dance pearl unparalleled in that era.
"Oriental Butterfly Dance Queen" that can integrate Eastern and Western cultures
Yu Rongling's initial budding dance ambition was inspired by a geisha performance in Japan. In 1895, Yu Geng was assigned by the Qing court to Japan as a minister, Yu Geng went to Japan by the way to take his 6-year-old daughter Yu Rongling, he hoped that his daughter could broaden her horizons from an early age, and feel the freshness and impact from foreign cultures.
In Japan, the little Yu Rongling is very obedient, she obeyed her father's arrangement and quickly became familiar with Japanese culture and etiquette, but for the Japanese tea ceremony and flower arrangement techniques, Yu Rongling did not have much interest, until one time, she followed her father to watch a Performance of a Japanese Geisha, Yu Rongling could not hide her excitement and shouted to her father: My favorite is dance, please allow me to learn to dance with the teacher!
At first, Yu Geng bluntly refused his daughter's request, because in the Qing Empire, the status of dancers was very lowly, not a good way out and future for a woman. Yu Rongling is a persistent girl, she secretly figured out the dance steps of the geisha, and soon learned the essence and connotation of the geisha dance.
Yu Geng saw that his stubborn daughter really had some dancing talent, so he no longer obstructed his daughter's learning of dance. Yu Rongling first learned the basic techniques of Japanese dance from the dancers of the Japanese Momijikan, and then followed the Japanese ceremonial officials to deeply study and practice Japanese classical dance.
Five years later, the 11-year-old Yu Rongling came to Paris, France with his father's transfer, and under his mother's arrangement, Yu Rongling was able to learn from isadora Duncan, a famous American dancer and founder of modern dance. Yu Rongling's dance foundation is very solid, and such a rare dance student is quickly recognized and praised by Duncan.
Subsequently, Yu Rongling learned dance skills under Duncan's door, and also played a female role in the ancient Greek mythological dance drama created by Mr. Duncan, Yu Rongling loved dance from the heart, a little talent plus a lot of hard work, quickly helped her become the unparalleled dance master of that era.
In 1902, Rong Ling participated in a number of song and dance plays in Paris, including exotic dance elements such as Spain and Greece. After the performance, Yu Rongling's performance was widely acclaimed, and he was praised by foreign media as "the butterfly dance queen of the East".
The following year, because Yu Geng ended his diplomatic journey, Yu Rongling followed his father back to his homeland, and at that time, Yu Rongling's "good name" had already passed into the ears of Empress Dowager Cixi, so Yu Rongling soon became one of the former female officials of Empress Dowager Cixi after returning to China.
Yu Rongling loved to develop the dance industry, Cixi was also happy to watch new dance performances from time to time, with the permission of Empress Dowager Cixi, Yu Rongling began to create dances in the Forbidden City, in 1904, Yu Rongling carefully choreographed "Ruyi Dance" and other dances mixed with Chinese and Western cultures won the unanimous praise of the Qing court princes and nobles, Cixi was very happy to personally propose a title, and named Yu Rongling the lord of Shanshou County.
In the palace, he fell in love with the little eunuch, and after leaving the palace, he was rejected by Zhuangyuan and eventually married to the major general of the Republic of China
Yu Rongling was already famous in the Forbidden City before she was 20 years old, and as an oriental court dancer, she also made an indelible contribution to the diplomacy of the Qing Dynasty with her excellent physical expression and dance ideological connotations.
But when all young girls always have the first opening of their love sinuses, Yu Rongling always lives carefully in the deep palace with many rules, and after a long time, she also longs for some freshness in the strict palace forbidden life.
Soon, Yu Rongling's beautiful eyes reflected a tall and handsome figure, this decisive and handsome person was not a bystander, it was Xiao Dezhang, the most important personal eunuch in front of the Cixi Imperial Palace.
Yu Rongling and Xiao Dezhang were able to meet often because they often served Empress Dowager Cixi closely, and as they came and went, these two young people who seemed to be young people of similar age developed a special ambiguity.
The secret love affair in this palace is full of blushing and heartbeat, they enjoy the sweetness of love while praying that this relationship can be maintained forever, but the abnormal performance of the daughter Yu Rongling is still discovered by the father Yu Geng.
Soon, Yu Geng learned from the side that Rong Ling and the eunuch were in love, in order to prevent his daughter from continuing to be wrong on this road, Yu Geng did not hesitate to pretend that he was seriously ill, and he completely took the 2 daughters out of the Forbidden City. With the complete isolation of the living environment, Yu Rongling was never able to see Xiao Dezhang again, and the relationship between the two was over.
Later, Yu Geng's friend introduced Liu Chunlin, the last ruler of the late Qing Dynasty, to Yu Rongling, and under the expectations of everyone, Yu Rongling also decided to marry Liu Chunlin. But the final result was greatly unexpected by Rong Ling: Liu Chunlin refused to marry Yu Rongling, and the reason he gave was that his origin was too cold to be worthy of the excellent Yu Rongling.
In 1912, Yu Rongling met Tang Baochao, the nephew of the Prime Minister of the Republic of China as a major general, the young man and woman had the experience of studying in a foreign country, so there were many common topics between them, and a few months later, Yu Rongling and Tang Baochao held a grand wedding in Paris, France, and married a close couple.
In his later years, he suffered ten years of turmoil, and his legs were broken, but he was still optimistic
After the fall of the Qing Dynasty until the beginning of the founding of New China, Yu Rongling never stopped pondering the artistic connotation of dance, in order to conform to the trend of the times, she also choreographed many dance dramas that reflected the diligence and wisdom of working people, and then actively participated in public welfare performances. At that time, she was over 40 years old, and even though her husband died prematurely, Yu Rongling, who lived alone, still chose to be active on her beloved stage.
During the turbulent period of ten years, Yu Rongling, who was usually lonely and arrogant, was soon regarded by the neighboring neighbors as a "bourgeois faction" and "feudal remnant", and those who were "indignant" broke into Yu Rongling's home, smashed it randomly, destroyed the Yu family's ancestral collection of books and calligraphy and paintings, stole valuable things, and finally ruthlessly broke Yu Rongling's legs, and then threw it into the stables.
Probably no one can know how Yu Rongling spent the first few days, her legs were broken, isolated, and her house was raided, but Yu Rongling did not succumb to fate at the lowest point of life, but firmly raised her usual elegant head in the midst of chaos and misery.
In order to survive, she chose to ask the government for help, and the government learned that Yu Rongling was in a difficult situation, so she sent someone to send the Yu family the necessities of life, and also hired a nanny for Yu Rongling for a period of time in order to take care of Yu Rongling's early recovery of health.
Yu Rongling has no children, and her later life is embarrassing and desolate, but even when she reaches the moment when she can only rely on crawling to survive, she still cleans herself up and does not allow her hair to be slightly scattered.
On January 16, 1973, Yu Rongling died of illness in Beijing, and after a lifetime of elegance, she finally left the world with not only those rich dance techniques, but also an aristocratic spiritual outlook that was extremely respected and admired.
Yu Rongling's life, sweet and sweet to the extreme, bitter and bitter, she uses her own actions to convey a valuable value to the world: no matter how fickle the external environment is, as long as you are not willing to lower the noble posture, then you will always live calmly and confidently, and you can burst out the essence and true meaning of life at any time.