Han Jiaozhuan, a poor child with high ambitions
In 1875, a distant guest came to the home of Han Hongyi in Wenchang County, Hainan Province, who was the younger brother of Han Hongyi's sister-in-law Song Shi, and according to the generation, the children called him cousin.
My uncle was born poor, and in his early years, in order to earn a living, he had to go to the United States to do hard labor, and was one of the more than 10,000 Chinese workers who went to the United States to build railways. He saved some money and opened a shop in Boston that sold Silk and Tea, a specialty of China, and the business was booming. In recent years, my uncle has had some difficulty in running the shop alone, and he wants to find a relative to help him take care of it. Another reason for my uncle's trip was that he was middle-aged and had no children under his knees, and he had thought of inheriting incense by taking a child.
Song recommended three sons of her husband's older brother Han Hongyi to her younger brother. Han Hongyi was a descendant of Han Qi, a famous minister of the Song Dynasty, who fled the war and moved to Hainan Island during the Southern Song Dynasty, and became a commoner in Han Hongyi's generation. In his early years, Han Hongyi's family was well-off, because of his enthusiasm for public welfare, his life became worse and worse, and the eldest son Han Zhengjun and the second son Han Jiaozhun had to cross the ocean to make a living on Java Island.
The uncle initially wanted to take Han Hongyi's eldest son Han Zhengjun to the United States, met the Han brothers, changed his mind, Han Jiaozhun was far more intelligent and clever than his brother Han Zhengjun, and was full of interest in the strange United States, so the cousin took away Han Jiaojun, who was only 12 years old.
Han Jiao's nickname was Ah Hu, and he followed his cousin to Cuba and later to Boston, USA. The cousin held a solemn succession ceremony, officially adopted Han Jiaojun as a stepson, and changed his name to Song Gaosheng.
The cousin trained Song Gaosheng as his own son, and taught him to plan to plate, bookkeep, plate and inspect goods, because Song Gaosheng's English was not smart, in order to make him better deal with the locals, the cousin hired an English teacher for him.
The English teacher hired by his uncle not only taught Song Gaosheng to speak English, but also took Song Gaosheng to visit the Boston Revolutionary War Memorial site and tell him the story of Lincoln's liberation of black slaves, and Song Gaosheng received initial democratic ideological enlightenment from this English teacher.
Song Gaosheng, who has a lively and cheerful personality, has made many American friends in Boston, and also met Wen Bingzhong and Niu Shangzhou, two official-funded students sent to the United States by the Qing Dynasty.
Wen Bingzhong and Niu Shangzhou were among the first young children to stay in the United States, and there were very few Chinese shops in Boston, so they often went to Song Gaosheng's uncle's shop to buy tea, and three teenagers of similar age became familiar with them.
The acquaintance with Wen Bingzhong and Niu Shangzhou broadened Song Gaosheng's horizons, and the people he knew before were either working or doing small business, saving a little money and opening a small shop were the goal of a lifetime. After knowing Wen Bingzhong and Niu Shangzhou, Song Gaosheng realized that there could be a higher level of life pursuit.
Wen Bingzhong and Niu Shangzhou told Song Gaosheng that you can't be a clerk all your life, you should go out to study and increase your knowledge, you can do more things.
Song Gaosheng was touched by what they said and went to consult with his adoptive father. His adoptive father, who had always cared for him, was not at all accommodating in this matter. In the eyes of his adoptive father, Song Gaosheng is enough to keep the grocery store he has worked so hard to run, and going to college is a waste of money.
Song Gaosheng had already made up his mind to go out to study, and one late night in the early winter of 1879, Song Gaosheng fled his adoptive father's house and got rid of his adoptive father's control over him, he wanted to study, he wanted to control his own life.
The ideal is very full, the reality is very bone. Song Gaosheng ran out of his adoptive father's house, not only failed to go to school, but his life became a problem. He wandered for months when he met a well-meaning man named Charlie Jones, who recommended Song Gaosheng to a Norwegian captain, who became a small sailor on a smuggling boat.
Song Gaosheng expressed to the captain his desire to study, the captain remembered that after eight months of song Gaosheng's service, he recommended Song Gaosheng to Father Lee Kaud, and with the help of Father Lee Kaud, Song Gaosheng finally realized his dream of studying, and he came to Trinity College, the predecessor of Duke University. In honor of the well-wisher Charlie Jones, Song Gaosheng took the religious name Charlie Jones Song, which is customarily called "Song Charlie" in China.
Song Charlie studied very hard, and completed the preparatory course in only one year.
In 1882, Son Charlie went to Vanderbilt University Seminary, and in 1885, Song Charlie graduated with honors, received the title of Superintendent and Pastor Xi, and was sent to China as a missionary.
Depressed poor pastor Song Charlie
In January 1886, Song Charlie arrived in Shanghai and began a missionary career.
His missionary path was very unsmooth.
American missionaries looked down on him and went out as missionaries reluctant to take him with them. In the eyes of The Patriarch Lin Lezhi, Song Charlie was a "Chinese who lost his national identity" Song Charlie and he wanted to visit his parents on Hainan Island, but Lin Lezhi did not allow it.
In the eyes of Chinese, Song Charlie is a fake foreign devil who wears a suit and speaks English, and there are often children who follow Song Charlie, running and jumping while shouting "fake foreign devil, fake foreign devil." ”
In order to integrate into the embrace of the motherland as soon as possible, Song Charlie wore braids, put on a robe and a horse coat, and changed his name to Song Jiashu, the characters were dazzling, and his appearance looked exactly like ordinary Chinese. However, his missionary path was still not smooth, he could not speak Shanghainese, nor could he understand Soft Nong Wu, so he could only stumble with a teacher to learn to speak Shanghainese.
Just when Song Jiashu was depressed, he met Niu Shangzhou again. Niu Shangzhou and Wen Bingzhong have returned to China after completing their studies, Niu Shangzhou is serving as a deputy in the Jiangnan Manufacturing General Bureau, and when he meets Song Jiashu in the motherland, Niu Shangzhou is very surprised. For Song Jiashu's plight, Niu Shangzhou, who has had a lonely study abroad, understands it very well.
Niu Shangzhou suggested that Song Jiashu become a family, and if he had a home, at least he had a foothold, and this person he had thought about was his wife's sister Ni Guizhen.
Ni Guizhen's father, Ni Yunshan, is a priest, and her mother, Xu Shi, is a descendant of the late Ming thinker Xu Guangqi, Ni Guizhen is now 18 years old, because her parents are open-minded, she did not wrap her feet, went to school like a boy, and just graduated from Peiwen Girls' High School last year.
Song Jiashu took the opportunity of Ni Guizhen to sing hymns in the church, secretly looked at Ni Guizhen a few times, only to see ni Guizhen's beautiful face, generous and generous, and his heart was very satisfied.
Over there, Wen Bingzhong and Niu Shangzhou did the work of their father-in-law and mother-in-law, talking about how Song Jiashu could make progress and how to work hard. Ni Guizhen's parents had a good impression of Song Jiashu, and two sons-in-law tried their best to protect the move, and the marriage was quickly settled.
In the summer of 1887, Song Jiashu married Ni Guizhen, and they held a new wedding ceremony in the church.
In the second year of marriage, Song Jiashu became a formal pastor, but his salary was still very low, only 15 yuan per month, a person's life can still cope, after the birth of the eldest daughter Song Xialing, this salary to maintain the life of a family of three is very difficult, as well as his contradictions with Lin Lezhi and the discrimination in the church, he is determined to resign from the mission and concentrate on business.
Song Jiashu's friendship with Sun Yat-sen
Song Jiashu showed a talent for business very early on. When he first began to preach, the patriarch Lin Lezhi sent him to build a church in Kunshan and asked him to raise funds, Song Jiashu was not familiar with the land, how to raise funds? He came up with a way to do business, and he used small boats to smuggle goods between Kunshan and Shanghai, and finally raised enough money to build a church. Later, he was sent to the town of Shippo as a missionary, but he still used business methods to raise funds to build a church school, a children's paradise and a medicine clinic.
In the process of mission, Song Jiashu found that Chinese Bible was very scarce, and many parishioners wanted to buy it, song Jiashu realized that this was a business opportunity, and he decided to open a printing factory
Song Jiashu took out the dowry of his wife Ni Guizhen, and the two brothers-in-law Wen Bingzhong and Niu Shangzhou also supported him with a sum of money, Song Jiashu bought a house in the French Concession in Shanghai, opened a printing factory, and printed the Bible, and later he also used the printing of the Bible as a cover to help Sun Yat-sen and other revolutionaries print many revolutionary books.
This printing plant was the first enterprise opened by Song Jiashu, who later became the manager of a flour mill and gave a number of enterprises to run the contemporary office. Because Song Jiashu was good at dancing with long sleeves, he soon made a fortune and accumulated a wealth of four or five hundred thousand taels of silver.
If we look at the photos of the life of the Song Qingling sisters when they were teenagers, we will find that the life of the Song family is rich and not luxurious. Because a large part of the money earned by Soong Ka Shu was used to fund Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary activities, and only a small part was used for family living expenses.
Song Jiashu and Sun Yat-sen met about 1894, Sun Yat-sen and his friend Lu Hao went northeast, planning to write to Li Hongzhang, the minister of Beiyang, to explain the strategy of saving the country and saving the people, passing through Shanghai, and being introduced to Song Jiashu.
Song Jiashu was very much in favor of Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary ideas, and the two became lifelong friends at first sight. They often had long-time conversations at Song Jiashu's printing house to exchange views on the future of the country.
Revolution not only requires blood and ideals, but also needs a lot of funds, Sun Yat-sen ran for the revolution, had no time to accumulate wealth, in the early days of his revolution, Song Jiashu's financial support was one of the main sources of his revolutionary funds. Song Jiashu not only spent a lot of money to support Sun Yat-sen's revolution, he personally went to the United States to collect donations from overseas Chinese and raised $2 million for Sun Yat-sen.
Song Jiashu and Sun Yat-sen have known each other for more than twenty years, and no matter whether Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary activities are at a high or low point, whether Sun Yat-sen is the president or is hunted down, Song Jiashu has always shared honor and disgrace with him, and even accompanied Sun Yat-sen to exile in Japan. In a letter to friends, Sun Yat-sen said Soong Ka-shu's support for him "has remained unchanged for twenty years."
In 1912, when Sun Yat-sen was inaugurated as the Provisional President of the Republic of China, Song Jiashu and his family sat in the front row at the swearing-in ceremony, and Sun Yat-sen expressed his gratitude for Soong Ka-shu's support for his revolutionary activities.
He did not support his daughter's marriage, but still supported Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary cause
Song Jiashu and Ni Guizhen gave birth to three sons and three daughters, and he and Ni Guizhen continued the educational idea of equality between men and women in the Ni family, treating boys and girls equally. Although Song Jiashu is busy with work, he never gives the education of his children to the nanny maid, but does it himself, reading with his children, playing games with his children, and subtly educating children in daily life.
Song Jiashu regards educating children as a means of saving the country, and he is not educating his children for himself, but cultivating talents for the motherland.
He said:
"As long as one out of a hundred children becomes a superhuman great talent, there are four million superhumans in China, are you afraid that you can't be saved?" At present, most families in China cannot raise their children wholeheartedly, and I dare to be the first in the world. ”
Before sending their children to the United States to study, Song Jiashu told the children: "Dad wants you to go to the United States, not to let you see the Western scenery, but to make you extraordinary people." It's a tough, thorny road, and be prepared to pay the price. No matter how hard it is, it will not end your pursuit. ”
During the children's studies in the United States, Song Jiashu was afraid that the children would lose contact with the motherland, often wrote letters to the children, introduced them to the domestic situation, recommended Chinese history and culture books to them, and also cut out some important contents of the newspaper and sent them to the children, so that they could still understand national events when they were abroad.
After the victory of the Xinhai Revolution, Song Jiashu immediately sent a five-color flag to his sons and daughters studying in the United States, and Song Qingling's classmates said that Song Qingling, when he received this new flag, jumped on a chair excitedly, pulled down the dragon flag symbolizing the Qing Dynasty, stepped on it with his feet, and hung up the five-color flag of the republic.
In 1912, when Sun Yat-sen was inaugurated as the provisional president of the Republic of China and needed a foreign secretary, Soong Ka-shu recommended his eldest daughter, Soong Ia Ling. Sun Yat-sen went to Shanghai several times and lived in Song Jiashu's home, and Sun Yat-sen's children went to the United States to study, and it was Song Jiashu who assisted him in handling enrollment matters.
In 1914, Song Yiling prepared to marry Kong Xiangxi and recommended his sister Song Qingling to replace him, and Song Qingling traveled from the United States to Yokohama, Japan, to serve as a secretary to Sun Yat-sen in exile in Japan. Soong Ching Ling and Sun Yat-sen developed feelings in their long-term relationship, but their love was fiercely opposed by Song Jiashu and Ni Guizhen.
Song Jiashu can't accept the fact that his friend has become a son-in-law, and he puts Song Qingling under house arrest in his bedroom, wanting Song Qingling to change his mind. Just as Song Jiashu, who wanted to study more than 30 years ago, escaped from his adoptive father's house, Soong Ching Ling also escaped from home with the help of his sister and servants and married Sun Yat-sen in Japan.
When Song Jiashu and his wife Ni Guizhen found out that their daughter had escaped, they immediately bought a ticket and chased her to Japan, shouting outside Sun Yat-sen's residence: "I want to meet the prime minister who stole my daughter." Sun Yat-sen came out of his residence and asked Song Jiashu what was going on.
Song Jiashu suddenly realized that he could not be impulsive, he had to control his emotions, and if he did something irrational, it would be a loss to the cause of the Chinese revolution. He bowed to Sun Yat-sen and said, "My daughter, who does not understand the rules, has been entrusted to you. After saying that, he left with tears in his eyes.
It turned out that Song Jiashu's worries were superfluous, and after Soong Ching-ling married Sun Yat-sen, he fell in love with him, and until Sun Yat-sen's death, his eyes had been looking at Soong Ching-ling affectionately.
Although Song Jiashu and his wife were dissatisfied with Soong Ching-ling's marriage, they still gave Soong Ching-ling a supplementary dowry after returning to China: teak furniture, quilts embroidered with Baizitu and Su embroidered clothing, and he still supported Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary cause as before.
Song Jiashu became worse and worse due to overwork, and died of illness in Shanghai on May 3, 1918, at the age of 55.
Song Jiashu's life is more legendary than his three daughters. The son of a poor farmer from Hainan Island, he went to Southeast Asia with his brother to earn a living as a child, and went to South America and the United States with his cousin as a teenager to make a living. He seized every opportunity and rose from the bottom, not only having a lot of wealth, but also good at using wealth to make his wealth exert its maximum energy.
Song Jiashu's short life was successful in every way. In business, he danced with long sleeves; revolutionary, he was determined; to his wife, his loyal husband; to his children, he was a loving father.
Because of his efforts, his descendants got rid of poverty and achieved a class leap, and he single-handedly shaped the prototype of the Song Dynasty, but unfortunately, he did not witness the glory of the Song Dynasty, nor did he witness the decline of the Song Dynasty.
Song Jiashu bought eight tombs in Shanghai before his death, hoping that in the future six children would be buried with him and the family would be reunited in the kingdom of heaven, but he did not expect that his children were scattered, and only his second daughter Song Qingling had fallen back to her roots and would always accompany her parents.