During the Mid-Autumn Festival in 1984, Beijing's autumn was high and clear, and the streets and alleys were full of joyful and peaceful weather. In an ordinary old mansion in Dashiqiao Hutong, Xicheng District, an old lady over eighty years old gathered more than a dozen people from the whole family to gather together.
Today, she is about to announce an important decision.
The children all looked eagerly at the old lady in charge of the family, if nothing else, because they had learned that the old lady had just taken over from Japan the inheritance left by her husband, which was equivalent to more than 3 billion yuan.
Don't? Is the old lady going to give everyone a share of these huge possessions? Thinking of this, everyone looked at the old lady excitedly.
But the old lady's mouth surprised everyone very much, she said:
"I will donate eighty percent of this property to the state to atone for my husband's sins."
80 percent, that's 2.4 billion yuan. According to a 1984 report by xinmin evening newspaper, a dual-career family in Beijing earned about 100 yuan a month; I checked Beijing's GDP in 1984, which was only 21.66 billion yuan, and the 2.4 billion yuan donated by the old lady was an astronomical amount at the time.
Early the next morning, his son came to the Beijing municipal government with the old lady and offered to donate a huge amount of 2.4 billion yuan to the state. The staff who received them were stunned to hear the old lady say these words!
Octogenarian
The old lady donated a huge amount of money
The news immediately spread throughout the city of Beijing
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Her neighbors were all stunned, why? Because the old lady usually has a very poor life, she has to work as a cleaner and sew clothes for others to subsidize the family, how could they think that the old lady still has such a large amount of money hidden in her hand.
Since she has so much money, why is her life still so stressful? Where did she get this money? Why donate to the government, and why do you say that it is to atone for your husband's sins?
This legendary old lady is called Zhao Biyan, and her story has to start from her husband Zhao Xinbo and the sensational "huge property dispute case" in Japan!
Zhao Biyan and his son Zhao Chongguang
First, the hardcore traitor Zhao Xinbo
Zhao Xinbo, born in 1890 in Wanping County, Hebei Province, came from a very poor family when he was young. In order to beg for food, he served as a guard of the Qing Court Janissaries in his youth, and later entered the provincial Tianjin Beiyang University to study.
In 1911, the Xinhai Revolution broke out, Puyi was forced to abdicate, and the Qing Dynasty perished. Because Zhao Xinbo was very good-looking, he got an errand with a Danjiao actor in the Beijing Civilization Theater Troupe.
During the troupe performance, a kabuki of a prince and nobleman took a fancy to him, a woman named Wang Biyan, who often went backstage to find him, and gradually, the two fell in love.
In 1913, the Second Revolution broke out, and Zhao Xinbo enthusiastically threw himself into the Great Revolution, during which he also joined the Kuomintang. However, the times were unlucky, and after the defeat of the revolution, he was wanted by the government and had to flee to Dalian in anonymity.
Wang Biyan has a lot of money in her hands, she can't bear to watch Zhao Xinbo live like this, in order to change the status quo, the two who are passionately burned by the fire of love decide to elope and go to Japan to study.
From the Qing court janissaries, to college students, to revolutionaries, and then to international students, Zhao Xinbo's life was extremely extraordinary, but what he did not expect was that
This suggestion of lover Wang Biyan completely changed Zhao Xinbo's life.
In 1915, the two boarded a giant ship bound for Japan and began their careers studying at Meiji University in Japan. The two were married in Japan, the wife had money in her hands, and Zhao Xinbo's life in Japan was windy and quiet.
Red sleeves add incense to the night reading,
It's so uncomfortable to get away with it.
I thought that the life of this kind of fairy lover could last for a long time, but a flying disaster shattered all this. In 1921, due to the misdiagnosis of Japanese doctors, Wang Biyan, who was suffering from gynecological diseases, died on the operating table.
Zhao Xinbo is a seed of infatuation, after his wife's accidental death, he felt that life suddenly had no meaning, became muddy, for a while, even thought of taking a light life with his wife.
Under the enlightenment of his friends, he was able to emerge from the shadows, and in order to forget the pain, he found a job as a lecturer Chinese at the Army University.
Because of his hard work, he was noticed by the Japanese military and deliberately trained him.
Just half a year after the death of his wife, Zhao Xinbo returned to the country once, secretly vowing not to marry his wife for life, but like a changed person, openly published a marriage notice in the newspaper, at this time, the protagonist of this article, Zhao Biyan, walked into Zhao Xinbo's sight.
Zhao Biyan, whose original name was Geng Weifu, was born in Shenyang, Liaoning Province in 1900, and received a good education from a privileged family. It just so happens that she and Zhao Xinbo's sister are classmates, and she has seen the handsome Zhao Xinbo before, and she also knows the story of him and his wife, so she is very fond of Zhao Xinbo.
Geng Weifu
After seeing Zhao Xinbo's marriage notice, Geng Weifu was like a demon, frantically pursuing Zhao Xinbo, who was 10 years older than her, and seeing that Geng Weifu looked sweet and had a good family situation, Zhao Xinbo quickly opened another relationship.
In June 1921, the two were preparing to get married, and Zhao Xinbo gave Geng Weifu a very unexpected condition, marriage was OK, but Geng Weifu had to change his name to his ex-wife's name - Bi Yan.
Hearing such a strange request, Geng Weifu was also very awkward, but she was naïve and kind, she still agreed to Zhao Xinbo's conditions, so Geng Weifu became Zhao Biyan. After getting married, the two returned to Japan together.
After Zhao Biyan arrived in Japan, she studied at the Ochanomizu Girls' Normal School in Tokyo and bore Zhao Xinbo a son, named Zhao Zongyang. When Zhao Zongyang was 3 years old, he accidentally lost sight in his left eye and later changed his name to Zhao Chongguang.
In 1925, Zhao became the first Chinese to obtain a doctorate in law from Tokyo Imperial University in Japan. During this period, he also became acquainted with the Japanese junior officer Seishiro Sakagaki and Kenji Doihara, who later caused great disasters to the Chinese nation.
As the saying goes, raising soldiers for a thousand days, when using soldiers, the Japanese have long coveted northeast China, and have made great efforts to cultivate Zhao Xinbo, so naturally they want him to do things for Japan.
In 1926, Zhao Xinbo was recommended by the Japanese legation in China, Honjo Fan, to return to northeast China and was appointed by the warlord Zhang Zuolin as the legal adviser to the security headquarters of the three eastern provinces. In July of the following year, he was appointed to the Treaty Amendment Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Beijing government.
After the outbreak of the "918" incident, Zhao Xinbo led the establishment of the "Liaoning Provincial Local Maintenance Committee" and issued the Declaration of Independence, and later he became the mayor of Fengtian (present-day Shenyang) with the support of the Japanese.
The high-ranking state of puppet Manchukuo
Relying on his connections, Zhao Xinbo learned from the top level of the Northeast Army that the Chinese army was not prepared to resist the policy, and immediately reported it to the Kwantung Army's secret service agency, Takasaki Seishiro, and the Japanese Kwantung Army quickly occupied the entire northeast accordingly, and Zhao Xinbo also persuaded some senior generals of the Northeast Army to surrender, making great contributions to Japan's invasion of China.
During this period, Zhao Xinbo became a hardcore traitor, defending the interests of the Japanese at every turn. In order to prepare for the establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo, he actively planned and played a major role.
Zhao Xinbo threatened Puyi, who had not made up his mind, and sent him two boxes of fruit, which were loaded with bombs, and Puyi was frightened and scattered, and immediately gave in and became the "emperor of puppet Manchukuo". Even the "national name" of "Manchukuo" and the pseudo-capital name of "Xinjing" were all named by Zhao Xinbo.
Puyi
Zhao Xinbo, who received strong support from the Japanese Kwantung Army, was extremely powerful in the "puppet manchukuo", and he not only devoted himself to serving the Japanese, but also amassed wealth from it, accumulating huge wealth, and filling ten large boxes with gold treasures alone.
Later, Zhao Xinbo was reappointed from mayor of Fengtian to president of the "Manchukuo" Legislative Yuan, and after the reorganization of the Legislative Yuan, it was demoted to the Secretariat Hall. Zhao Xinbo was denounced by Japanese businessmen because of his perennial wealth collection, and lost the favor of the Japanese Kwantung Army.
In 1933, the clever Zhao Xinbo saw that he was staying in "pseudo-Manchukuo" again, and his wealth might not be guaranteed, so he resigned from his official position, and he led his family to live in Japan in discouragement.
Although politically defeated, Zhao Xinbo, who had a huge fortune, achieved great success in business, in addition to a large amount of gold and other hard currency, he made a lot of money by selling medicines to export to China. Zhao Xinbo also frantically bought land and buildings in Tokyo, Japan, and hoarded a large amount of real estate.
A large part of the land and shops bought by Zhao Xinbo are near Ginza, the most prosperous place in Tokyo, where the huge assets in Zhao Xinbo's hands have doubled several times in a few years.
In order to hide his eyes and ears, Zhao Xinbo hung these assets under Zhao Biyan's name.
The advantage of this kind of investment is that the value is super fast, just like the 10,000 yuan set of courtyards in Beijing in the 80s, of course, no money can not afford to buy, but rich people as long as they hoard a few sets, ten lifetimes can not spend, now Beijing's courtyard, which set can not be in the unit of hundreds of millions.
During this period, due to his wealth, Zhao Xinbo also took his wife Zhao Biyan to participate in the activities held by the Japanese emperor, was received by the Japanese emperor, and often participated in activities between Japanese nobles.
In 1938, Zhao Xinbo, who had a good relationship with Kenji Toihara, was once again used by the Japanese as an adviser to the "North China Political Affairs Committee", and they tried to control the Chinese with traitors.
Before returning to China, Zhao Xinbo specifically found his Japanese friend Yainosuke Suzuki to help him take care of his assets in Japan, but he also took the most important property title deeds and land titles into his hands and brought them back to China.
Zhao Xinbo, who returned to China, was caught in a stalemate between the Sino-Japanese War, and although he was very worried about his assets in Japan, due to the tension of the war, he and his family never had the opportunity to return to Japan.
In 1945, Japan was defeated and surrendered, and a large number of traitors and puppet troops were arrested by the Nationalist government and imprisoned. Zhao Xinbo was too famous, did not escape the wanted, and was arrested and imprisoned, but he was very cunning, and before the Kuomintang government could try, he bought the prison director with a gold bar, secretly escaped, and luckily picked up a life.
However, his good fortune soon ended, and after the founding of New China, Zhao Xinbo, who had committed many evils, was imprisoned by the people's government and put into a detention center.
Zhao Xinbo, who knew that he was deeply guilty, died in fear in the detention center of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau before he could wait for trial.
Zhao Xinbo
2. Transnational property disputes
In China, the traitor is the most spurned person in the country, and if anyone has a traitor, generations of people will not be able to lift their heads. After Zhao Xinbo's death, his wife and children became street rats.
Later, after experiencing the "anti-special hoe rape", "three anti-five anti" and other movements, in order not to be implicated by Zhao Xinbo, Zhao Biyan changed back to her mother's family geng surname, burned the real estate title and everything related to Zhao Xinbo, she and her son hid their names, stayed in an ordinary old mansion in Dashiqiao Hutong, Xicheng District, Beijing, and lived for decades.
On weekdays, Geng Biyan relies on his son's meager salary of tens of yuan to support himself. Due to the frequent natural disasters at that time, Geng Biyan and his son's family often lived a life of full and hungry.
In desperation, Geng Biyan, who is more than 60 years old, won a job as a cleaner from the street office, got up early and swept the street greedily, helped people sew some clothes, in order to earn more money to subsidize the family.
Although Zhao Xinbo died, his story did not end, where did the property he invested in Japan go to?
Since the Zhao Xinbo family had not returned to Japan for decades and had not heard from him, his client in Japan at that time, Yasuke Suzuki, became greedy.
Whoever is in charge of these "ill-gotten gains" will be impressed, and why? Although Japan was defeated, the Japanese government did not change the dynasty, and the real estate land purchased by Zhao Xinbo was still valid.
After decades of development, the shops, buildings, and land near Ginza in Tokyo have risen to sky-high prices, and the 27,500 square meters of land that Zhao Xinbo bought that year, including the shops and buildings on it, rose to astronomical figures in the early 1960s, with a total value of nearly 2 trillion yen.
When Yanosuke Suzuki sent people to find out that Zhao Boxin was dead, he wanted to take these assets for himself, so he sold some of the shops without authorization and lived a life of leisure and prosperity. He also allowed the Japanese underworld to illegally occupy these lands, and Zhao Boxin's estate became a local sweet potato, and everyone wanted to share a piece of the pie.
Ginza, Tokyo, Japan
This matter spread more and more widely in Japan, and finally spread overseas, and people with hearts in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia pretended to be Zhao Xinbo's family and went to Japan to impersonate this part of the assets. Someone even blinded his left eye in order to take advantage of the opportunity.
The police station in Tokyo, Japan, is getting busier, dealing with these counterfeit cases all day long, and figuring out the identities of these people every day. One of them, a counterfeiter surnamed Ma, was identified by the police and locked up.
In order to atone for his sins, he entrusted someone to find Chen Kunwang, president of the Chinese Overseas Chinese Association in Japan, for help, and also told Chen Kunwang all the reasons for this, and informed Zhao Xinbo that his wife and children were still alive and were currently in Beijing.
Involving such a huge asset dispute, Chen Kunwang attached great importance to it, and he reported the situation to China
Liao Chengzhi, director of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Committee of the Council of Ministers and president of the China-Japan Friendship Association.
At that time, the asset valuation was equivalent to more than 3 billion yuan, and Liao Zhongkai would not wait to look at it, and after he reported the incident to the main leaders of the country, he personally led someone to investigate the ins and outs of the money.
Through the investigation of the public security department, Liao Chengzhi targeted Geng Biyan in Beijing's Xicheng District. In the autumn of 1963, a Hongqi car stopped in front of a dilapidated courtyard in Dashiqiao Hutong.
After Liao Chengzhi and the staff entered the courtyard, they saw an old lady packing up her things in the courtyard, so they asked her kindly: "Are you Geng Biyan?" ”
"Yes!" The old lady was puzzled, not knowing what was going on with the gay man who looked like a leader looking for him.
"Are you the Zhao Biyan of that year?" When the old lady heard this question, her face turned white in an instant, and she felt that the government had discovered her true identity, and she did not dare to answer.
When Liao Chengzhi saw this, he already understood that the old lady in front of him was the person he was looking for, and he said: "Don't be afraid, your husband Zhao Xinbo has been punished, his business has nothing to do with you, and he came to you today to help you recover the assets left in Japan!" ”
When Zhao Biyan heard that he had not come to arrest her, he completely put his mind at ease and said, "I am Zhao Biyan, but the asset vouchers that I bought in Japan that year were all destroyed by me, can I still get them back?" I don't have any thoughts about this money now, if I can really get it back, I will use it to atone for my husband's sins! ”
Liao Chengzhi said: "You are a citizen of the People's Republic of China, no matter what, the government will get these assets back for you!" ”
After confirming Zhao Biyan's identity, Liao Chengzhi, while letting people collect evidence in China, entrusted Chen Kunwang to find a lawyer in Japan and fought a lawsuit with Yanosuke Suzuki, hoping to return the property belonging to Zhao Biyan.
Liao Chengzhi
Since China and Japan did not establish diplomatic relations at that time, Zhao Biyan could not come up with real estate, land titles and other proofs, and Suzuki Yanosuke had the heart to covet these assets, he lied that these things were handed down from the ancestors and had nothing to do with Zhao Biyan, so the lawsuit fell into a stalemate.
A number of Japanese news media have reported on this sensational property dispute case, and the Tokyo court has repeatedly asked Zhao Biyan to appear in court in Japan, but for various reasons, Zhao Biyan has not been able to make the trip.
Year after year passed, and the lawsuit dragged on until 1973, when Yainosuke Suzuki died, and the lawsuit was put back on the agenda.
At the end of 1973, the Japanese court sent a final notice to Zhao Biyan that if Zhao Biyan still could not appear in Japan to resolve the case before the end of 1976, then the court would conduct a trial in absentia, which would be very unfavorable to Zhao Biyan and the property belonging to her would probably not be recovered.
In view of this situation, the State Department
The Overseas Chinese Affairs Office sent someone to talk to Zhao Biyan and encouraged her to go to Japan to fight for her property.
In the spring of 1976, with the help of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council and other units, 76-year-old Zhao Biyan received state-funded funds and flew to Japan to fight the transnational lawsuit.
Of course, this appearance in court was not calm, not only Zhao Biyan, the real "Li Kui", but also two fake "Li Kui" from Macao and Malaysia, who appeared in court at the same time, and several other scammers fled due to lack of heart.
In this trial, because there were too many "Zhao Biyan" who appeared, the real Zhao Biyan had forgotten many details because of the long time, and the words were inconsistent and inconsistent, and the reporter took pictures of her, and she actually hid aside in fright.
Decades of hard life have transformed Zhao Biyan from a noble lady into an old woman with a wrinkled face, and she lacks useful evidence in her hands, and Zhao Biyan's performance of all this makes it difficult for judges to believe that she is Mrs. Zhao Xinbo, who has often been in and out of the Japanese imperial family and has seen the Japanese emperor.
The Japanese court was unable to distinguish who was the real Zhao Biyan for a while, and the lawsuit was suspended indefinitely.
Fu Zhiren (right) and Zhao Biyan
Third, things have turned around
In 1979, with the continuous acceleration of the process of China's legal system and the continuous improvement of various legal systems, this huge asset dispute case once again entered the attention of relevant departments, and Geng Biao, then head of the Central Foreign Affairs Leading Group, and Ji Pengfei, minister of foreign affairs, once again made important instructions.
The staff of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office found Fu Zhiren, a lawyer who was very famous in the Chinese legal circles at that time, and as Zhao Biyan's lawyer, he was fully responsible for recovering this huge amount of assets.
In fact, the core of this matter is how to prove the relationship between Zhao Biyan and Zhao Xinbo, as long as you get this evidence, the case can be taken down!
As the Chinese government pushed the lawsuit forward, Hong Konger Li Yue colluded with the Japanese Okazaki Shinzo to lie in Japan that Zhao Biyan had died in 1965 in an attempt to inherit Zhao's inheritance as his son-in-law.
But where did he know that Zhao Xinbo didn't have a daughter at all, where would he have a son-in-law? In the end, Li Yue was recognized and confessed to the law.
After Fu Zhiren accepted the case, he first spent a few days communicating with Zhao Biyan and Zhao Zhongguang in detail to understand the specific details of that year, and then took relevant personnel to run in Changchun, Beijing, Dalian, and Shenyang for more than half a year, collecting 19 detailed and reliable witness testimonies.
In addition to the testimony of these witnesses, not only zhao Xinbo's subordinates, but also the change of Zhao Biyan's household registration, Fu Zhiren also found a "heavyweight" witness, Emperor Puyi's sister "Three Grids" Jin Ruixiu, who was already a member of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
As Puyi's younger sister, Jin Ruixiu often went in and out of the activities of the "pseudo-Manchukuo" high society, and was also very familiar with Zhao Biyan. Under the arrangement of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, Jin Ruixiu and Zhao Biyan met, and soon, Jin Ruixiu confirmed Zhao Biyan's identity.
The next day, the major media in Beijing published the news that the two old men met to tell the old story, and the message conveyed was very clear, that is, to tell the Japanese that Zhao Biyan in Beijing was Zhao Xinbo's wife.
Zhao Biyan and "three grids" Jin Ruixiu
Everything was ready, just before preparing to go to Japan to appear in court, the 80-year-old Zhao Biyan was seriously ill and could not fly to Japan in person.
What to do? Since the old lady was sick, she could only be replaced by her son, and now the problem has arisen, and it needs to be proved that Zhao Chongguang is Zhao Xinbo's son, and the core evidence must be found again.
To this end, Fu Zhiren worked hard to find the hospital where Zhao Chongguang was born in Japan, and he also asked Zhao Zhongguang to publish a "search notice" in a Japanese newspaper to find his classmates who were studying at Akabane Elementary School.
Surprisingly, because this case is too famous in Japan, the search notice quickly helped Zhao Zhongguang find japanese elementary school classmates, and found 11 as soon as he found them.
Fu Zhiren once again obtained 11 crucial pieces of evidence, and now everything is ready for the Japanese trial.
In April 1984, the court received all the information and evidence provided by Zhao Chongguang and held a hearing on the case. Accompanied by Fu Zhiren, Zhao Chongguang was very well prepared, and in the course of his five court appearances, he answered the judge's questions in detail and accurately, in stark contrast to his mother's last performance in court.
When Zhao Chongguang appeared in court for the last time, all of his 11 elementary school classmates testified in court, this time, the case was finally recognized by the Japanese judge, Zhao Chongguang's identity was proved, then the identity of his mother Zhao Biyan was undoubtedly asked.
On September 7, 1984, the Japanese court rendered a judgment:
"After reviewing the many pieces of evidence provided by the complainant, it is now determined that Zhao Biyan in Beijing is indeed the wife of Zhao Xinbo, so the custodian authority of the client, Yainosuke Suzuki, is revoked and Zhao Biyan personally manages his own property."
At this point, this sensational transnational asset dispute case has finally been justly adjudicated, and Zhao Biyan has also regained the management rights of her own assets of more than 3 billion yuan. After the case was won, the popularity of the country soared, and the domestic news media reported on it, which also caused a sensation in society.
4. Donate huge sums of money to atone for your husband's sins
Zhao Biyan went from being a noble lady to relying on cleaning the streets to make ends meet, and then to becoming the richest man in China with 3 billion yuan, the ups and downs of life are really unpredictable. In that era when "ten thousand yuan households" were even rich, even if the top ten rich people in China were added together, they could not come up with so much money.
But Zhao Biyan was not lost because of this, she knew that this money was ill-gotten wealth, and she also knew that this money would be difficult to get back without the help of the Chinese government!
At that time, her husband, as a hardcore Japanese traitor, did many things to hurt the motherland and the people, snatched up a lot of people's fat and people's ointment, and recovered more than 3 billion yuan, which was so hot that the old lady had already made arrangements in her heart to use it to atone for her sins.
So, what happened at the beginning of this article happened. During the Mid-Autumn Festival in 1984, she brought her children and grandchildren together and solemnly arranged the use of the money in the form of a will. She said to the children:
"Children, more money is a scourge, and I didn't want to fight for this property, but that would be too cheap for the Japanese." I have experienced disasters in my life, but I have finally survived to this day, and the state tolerates and helps me, not only helping me to recover the money, but also letting me personally deal with the money.
When your father and grandfather did something that harmed the country, I wanted to atone for his sins, and I wanted to give 80% to return to the country. ”
After learning of the old lady's arrangement, Zhao Chongguang first raised his hand to support, in order to help them get back this money over the years, Zhao Chongguang knows how much hard work the country has paid for this, and also knows that the state just wants to help them get back their rights and interests, and did not intervene in the right to use this money, but the more so, the more it reflects the greatness of the country.
After receiving support from her family, she donated 80 percent of the huge amount to the state. And the remaining 20%, she donated most of it to the "Chinese Culture and Education Foundation", the children only got a very small part, and she did not take anything.
Under the influence and influence of his mother, Zhao Chongguang did not splurge because of his sudden wealth, but more to do things that were beneficial to society, and he later joined the China Zhi Gong Party and retired from the Beijing Civil Affairs Bureau in 1985.
Zhao Biyan led the whole family through the most difficult years with tenacity and hard work, and now she has donated the huge amount of money recovered to the country, and a big stone pressed on her heart has finally been unloaded, as the family of a hardcore traitor,
She and her family were finally able to lift their heads and walk on their waists.
After doing all this, Zhao Biyan and her children and grandchildren returned to a peaceful life. During her illness in her later years, the state did not forget her credit, arranged her to recuperate in the Sino-Japanese Friendship Hospital, and spent the last few years of her life with the treatment of high-ranking cadres.
In 1989, Zhao Biyan died of illness in Beijing at the age of 89. Before she died, she said: "In this life, she is very content. ”
There is no doubt that her husband committed unforgivable crimes during the War of Resistance Against Japan, but she donated most of her assets to the country, which is also to atone for some crimes for her husband, and this kind of profound and righteous behavior is also worthy of the respect of the world!
However, without a strong state, these rights cannot be discussed! Only when the country is strong can the interests of the people be guaranteed!