What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
In 1991, Zhang Yimou's film "Hanging High with a Red Lantern" won the Silver Lion Award at the Venice International Film Festival, making the film more famous in China. In this movie, it tells the story of a college student named Song Lian in the Republic of China period, who married into a feudal landlord family and competed with the old man's three-room wife and the favored Yahuan to fight for the wind and jealousy.
In feudal society, the status of women was very low, just like the words of the first text, several wives, including Song Lian, were just the clothes of the old master. Moreover, in ancient times, there was also a very large difference in status between the wife and the concubine. For example, the queen usually runs the harem, and in this movie, the eldest wife has always been in a position that has not wavered.
In the Republic of China period, there were many tragedies like "The Big Red Lantern Hanging High". The life of Tan Yanmin's mother is a complete tragedy. Even after her death, her family did not allow her coffin to come out of the main door, if it were not for Tan Yanmin's bravery and fearlessness, her mother would have come out of the side door to be buried, and she would be humiliated until death!
Father of feudalism
Tan Yanmin's father, tan zhonglin, was born in 1822, and in 1856 he passed the jinshi examination, so Tan Zhonglin was quite proud. Since then, Tan Zhonglin has made steady progress all the way, and has achieved the position of governor of Liangguang at the highest level, which can be described as a monstrous authority.
Tan Zhonglin's life was a life of mixed reputation, on the one hand, he built a school to help the people, and also taught the people the art of sericulture weaving to help the people settle down. But at the same time, he was also a supporter of feudal rule, because he had always been highly valued by the imperial court, so he always opposed various changes, and was a well-known die-hard conservative in the imperial court.
By 1895, he had become the governor of Liangguang, and had bloodily suppressed the revolutionary uprising led by Sun Yat-sen and killed the revolutionary Lu Haodong. In his view, this kind of revolution is an act of usurpation of the throne, a rebellious atrocity that violates the courtesy of the monarch and the people.
Strive to fame
And a big official like Tan Zhonglin is naturally indispensable to affairs. He saw the beauty of a maid in his house and immediately took her into a concubine. But as a high-ranking official, not to mention his own wife, even if it is several other concubines, it is quite promising.
Therefore, this lady who is a squire is often bullied. When eating, they can't be on the table, and they have to wait for Tan Zhonglin and the whole family to finish eating before they can pick up the scraps of the group and fill their hunger. Although she became Tan Zhonglin's concubine, she still lived the life of a maid.
And this situation, after she gave birth to Tan Yanmin in 1880, has hardly changed. In the feudal etiquette system, there has always been a preference for sons over women, although Tan Mu has not received any good treatment, but Tan Yanmin, who is a male, has been well taken care of since childhood.
When Tan Yanmin was 5 years old, the Tan family sent him to a private school. Tan Zhonglin also asked him to refine Xiao Kai, and every 3 days to write an article, every 5 days to write a poem, so Tan Yanmin's childhood was very hard, but he was not tired at all.
Because Tan Yanmin often saw his mother being bullied, he vowed to grow up and become strong as soon as possible, so as to protect his mother and let her mother no longer be bullied by others. Therefore, when Tan Yanmin was 11 years old, he was praised by the Guangxu Emperor at that time.
In 1902, he won the title, and in 1904 he was the first jinshi, better than his father Tan Zhonglin. Therefore, Tan Yanmin became more and more liked by Tan Zhonglin, and Tan Yanmin's mother naturally rose to the top, at least able to eat at the same table.
Lying in a coffin
But even so, the Tan family still can't look at the mother and son who are not very good, although they don't say anything about Tan Zhonglin's face, but privately they still isolate Tan's mother and make some small moves to trip her up. In 1905, Tan Zhonglin passed away, and the power of the family fell to Tan Yanmin's eldest brother, and he was even more fearless in treating Tan's mother.
In 1916, Tan Yanmin, who had already served as the governor and overseer of Hunan Province, received the news of his mother's illness and died, so he rushed back to the Shanghai mansion. Tan Mansion is located behind the Tan Family Ancestral Hall, so Tan Mu must pass through the ancestral hall to come out of the funeral. However, the Tan family's rule was that the concubines could not come out of the main entrance, and even if Tan Yanmin had already paid homage to the governor at that time, the Tan family was still unwilling to sell this face.
In a fit of rage, Tan Yanmin lay down on the coffin himself and asked the people who supported the spirit to carry the coffin out of the funeral, and when they reached the door of the clan word, the Tan family stopped the coffin and forced Tan Yanmin to go to the side door to give his mother a funeral. Tan Yanmin lay still on the coffin, but said loudly: "I am already dead, you hurry to carry me out of the funeral!" ”
At that time, Tan Yanmin's status, official position and reputation were the highest in the entire Tan family at that time, and according to the ancestral system, if Tan Yanmin died, he was completely able to get out of the main gate. When the Tan family saw Tan Yanmin's behavior, they knew that he was already furious, so they hesitated and gave way, and finally the people who supported the spirit carried Tan Yanmin and his deceased mother out of the main gate of the ancestral hall together!