The famous lady of the Republic of China, Yan Renmei
Yan Renmei (born 1915), a famous lady of the Republic of China, was born into a prominent family. Great-grandfather Yan Xiaofang was an aide to Li Hongzhang, who co-founded China's first bank, China Commerce and Commerce Bank, and served as the first president in Shanghai, and also founded the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce and many official and private enterprises, known as the "founding father" of the Ningbo Gang.
Yan Renmei (born 1915), a famous lady of the Republic of China, was born into a prominent family. Great-grandfather Yan Xiaofang was an aide to Li Hongzhang, who co-founded China's first bank, China Commerce and Commerce Bank, and served as the first president in Shanghai, and also founded the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce and many official and private enterprises, known as the "founding father" of the Ningbo Gang. Grandfather Yan Zi was the only son of Yan Xiaofang, known as "multi-talented and good, quite a father", famous for running a money house. His father, Yan Zhiduo, was the eldest grandson of Yan's parents, and he married Liu Chengyi, the granddaughter of Liu Yong of Xiaolianzhuang, the head of the "Four Elephants" of Nanxun in Huzhou. His grandfather was Liu Yong's third son, Liu Tiqing, a wealthy shanghai real estate businessman. She was initially married to Ma Guanliang, a young master in Suzhou, and resolutely filed for divorce because she could not stand Ma Guanliang's life cheating. Later, he married Li Zumin of the Li family, who had been doing business in Shanghai for generations, and the couple loved each other for a lifetime after marriage.
Yan Renmei, 94, was once a famous beauty in Shanghai Beach. Now she is blind, deaf, has thick hair, a clear voice, and looks to be in her 70s. Her head was surprisingly good, without a few strands of white hair. People asked her for a trick to cultivate hair care, and the old man smiled and said, "I don't know why, but this hair has grown like this anyway, and it is very obedient." In fact, when I was very young, I didn't have hair on my head..."
Yan Renmei's great-grandfather Yan Xiaofang was an aide to Li Hongzhang, who co-founded China's first bank, the China Commerce and Commerce Bank, in Shanghai, and served as the first president, and also founded the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce and many official and private enterprises, known as the "founding father" of the Ningbo Gang. Yan Renmei's grandfather Yan Zi was famous for running Qianzhuang, in addition to the famous Yuanfeng run silver number, but also operated two qianzhuangs in Yuanji and Deyuan, and undertook the Yuantong Haiguan Silver Number, the Wuhualou Gold Shop of the Shanghai City God Temple and the famous Old Jiuzhang Silk Village on Nanjing Road, all under his name.
Yan Renmei's father, Yan Zhiduo, married the granddaughter of Liu Yong, the granddaughter of Nanxun, who was the head of the "four elephants" in Nanxun( Nanxun has four elephants, eight cattle and seventy-two mound dogs, and the money was more than one million yuan) - Liu Yong's granddaughter as his wife, and the first child born was Yan Renmei.
Yan Renmei was born eight months later, and her mother was disappointed to see that the child born had no hair on her head. Grandfather, however, was extremely open and named it "Renmei", hoping that the longer it grew, the more beautiful it became. Yan Renmei's mother heard that her hair would grow when she shaved her hair, so she shaved yan Renmei's hair seven times within the age of two, but the effect was not great. When she was two years old, a relative who worked as a pediatrician took her to England and nursed her several times, and by the time she returned home, she was already hairy.
Yan Renmei lost her mother at the age of 6 and lived with her wife. When she was seven or eight years old, her stepmother's aunt became the principal of Qixiu Girls' School, and she went to school here.
When Yan Renmei was 10 years old, Wugu graduated from university and worked in the Chinese and Western Girls' High School, and she also transferred to the school. The Chinese and Western Girls' High School is a famous aristocratic school, with a total of 90 students in their grades, of which eight are the most grouped. In addition to Yan Renmei, those seven were all ladies of the rich and prestigious families, including Zhang Hanfen, daughter of Zhang Shouyong, vice minister of finance of the Republic of China, Huang Huibao, daughter of Huang Chujiu, Tang Minzhen, daughter of the Chinese ambassador to France, Lin Ying, a young lady of the Lin family, a wealthy merchant in Fujian, and Shen Youfen, granddaughter of the Xi family in Suzhou.
When she finished her second year of junior high school, the family had a runaway marriage. The shock of this incident to the Yan family can be imagined. Yan Renmei's father realized that this was all because of the girls' study, so he did not allow Yan Renmei to go to school again. Yan Renmei did not listen, his father was helpless, he had a problem, everything was more than 90 points, you can go to school again. Unexpectedly, Yan Renmei's third graduation examination of junior high school took the first place in the whole grade. But her father still didn't let her study, on the grounds that she had already been promised a family!
In 1929, Yan Renmei's sixth sister got married, and the Suzhou Xiaoma family also had people go. Xiaomajia Kaiyilong Qianzhuang, as well as pawnshops, rice shops and other industries, the family is solid. The Ma family sent word to someone saying that they had taken a fancy to Yan Renmei and wanted to marry her as a daughter-in-law. And repeatedly went to the door to propose to the relatives, no matter what the conditions were agreed. First, Yan Renmei is indeed very beautiful, and second, the Ma family's wife is seriously ill and urgently needs "Chong Xi". Yan Renmei's father thought that the Ma family was good, so he agreed. From then on, Yan Renmei was locked up at home and was not allowed to go to school.
Yan Renmei went on a hunger strike to protest, and indeed did not eat for two days. As a result, the grandmother brought the fifth aunt to "open" the door of the Yan family. The two sides almost quarreled. Without eating and getting angry all day, within a few days, Yan Renmei was sick, and the doctor said it was lung disease. Her grandfather had already moved to Hangzhou at that time, and hurriedly took Yan Renmei to Hangzhou for convalescence, and also built a glass room for her on the roof to bask in the sun. Yan Renmei stayed in Hangzhou for a year, and her health gradually improved. She and her father eventually reached a compromise – it was okay to marry, but to continue to go to school.
After marriage, Mrs. Xiaoma's illness really improved. But a year later, Yan Renmei became pregnant and could no longer go to school. Newly married young couples also specially hired British teachers to learn English and socialize at home. At that time, they often went out with Miss Zhao Si and her brothers and sisters-in-law. At that time, there were only two of the most innovative and fashionable Buick convertible cars on the beach, one was Miss Zhao Si's and the other was Ma's.
Although the Ma family has been in business for many years, it is still an old-fashioned family in essence, which is very different from the Yan family's advocating foreign affairs and paying attention to industry. One of the couples is a young master from an old-fashioned family, and the other is a new woman from a foreign family, and the two are incompatible in terms of ideology and concepts and living habits. Ma Gongzi is handsome and handsome, but lacks social experience, made some bad friends in the Ten Mile Ocean Field, and misbehaved in life, Yan Renmei could not stand it, so he resolutely filed for divorce.
In the old days, there were some inextricable links between large families. In the past, the old-fashioned family had to continue to make friends for several generations, and in Yan Renmei's generation, coupled with temperament, Yan Renmei and Song Xialing's eldest daughter Kong Lingyi became extremely good friends. Kong was a year younger than Yan, and the two talked about everything.
Kong Lingyi knew that Yan Renmei's marriage was not happy, so he often asked her to play at the Kong family and invited her to take the Kong family's boat to visit Hong Kong. On the boat, Yan Renmei learned French bread from a Western food master, and even Song Meiling especially liked to eat it. Yan Renmei called Song Yiling "Lady", and Song Xialing said: "You don't call me Lady, just like Ling Yi, call me Mommy!" The Sheng family (Sheng Xuanhuai's family), the Song family, and the Kong family all supported Yan Renmei's divorce and encouraged her to start her life again.
On the eve of the outbreak of the Pacific War, Yan Renmei's mother Sheng Guanyi left Shanghai, and the house at No. 15 Xinkang Garden was empty. Yan Renmei liked it very much, so he asked someone to repaint the decoration. At this time, the Japanese power in the concession was growing, and some Japanese officials went to high-end residential areas to find houses. Maybe Yan Renmei is too eye-catching, a Japanese named Yamamoto goes to see the house every day, Yan Renmei repeatedly said that the house is not rented, but Yamamoto is still stuck. He also called a traitor to spread the word, saying that Yamamoto was a high official, unmarried, and would not suffer losses when he married him...
Yan Renmei was so frightened that she did not dare to go to The Xinkang Garden again, but Yamamoto still did not give up. She lived in her mother's house, so she sent people to her mother's house to pester, she hid in her uncle's house, there were people stalking near her uncle's house, she hid in the Zhu family (the little aunt married to the Haiyan Zhu family), and as a result, she "led" the disaster water to the Zhu family, and relatives and friends were all panicked.
At this time, Kong Lingyi, Sheng Guanyi, and others all arrived in Chongqing, and Kong Lingyi entrusted people with letters to ask her to go to Chongqing and help her with all the formalities. But when it was time to leave, the Ma family did not agree to her taking her son. She was reluctant to let her son stay in Shanghai.
The Japanese are always entangled, staying in Shanghai is not the way, Yan Renmei's father, uncle, uncle and other people consulted, thinking that the only way is to let Yan Renmei hurry up and marry. Therefore, Li Zumin of the Li family in Ningbo Xiaogang was quickly introduced. Li Zumin is the sixth of the old fourth room of Li Jiakun's house, graduated from the economics department of Guanghua University, has a learned, human duty, has not become a family, or the owner of the big and medium match factory. When they met and talked, both sides were satisfied, and in case of accidents, the marriage was done after three months.
On the day of the wedding, afraid that the Japanese would come to make trouble, Li Zumin's side invited ten bodyguards, who hugged before and after, but also a mighty style. Now from their wedding photos, there are no groomsmen and bridesmaids, and ten bodyguards are impressively listed. After the marriage, the Japanese did not come to harass them anymore.
For the custody of the child, Yan Renmei fought with the Ma family for several years before liberation, and finally only obtained the right to visit. After the founding of New China, she sued again, and this time, the child returned to her side.
In 1951, in the campaign to donate aircraft cannons to the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, she not only took the lead in donating money, but also mobilized the donation of the families of large industrial and commercial households, because of her outstanding work, she was elected as the first people's representative of Xuhui District in Shanghai, and in 1956, the public-private partnership, Yan Renmei and his wife took the lead in joining, they were also members of the China Democratic Construction Association, and Liu Nianyi and his wife, Rong Yiren and his wife, and Sheng Kangnian and his wife in the industrial and commercial circles were good friends, and everyone often held meetings and dinners together.
After smashing the "Gang of Four", she herself also set up two industries, one is the "Overseas Chinese Friends Service Society" and the other is the "Overseas Chinese Star Nursery". In the 1980s, they could go overseas. Yan Renmei and his wife still do not forget to contact patriotic overseas Chinese and strive for overseas investment. She first went to New York to live in a relative's house, and two days later she was picked up by Kong Lingyi and lived in her house for two months. Later, he also went to Hawaii to visit Zhang Xueliang and Miss Zhao Si, and went to Washington to visit General Cai Wenzhi. Song Meiling never met anyone who came to visit the United States from the mainland, and although she did not meet Yan Renmei, Tokong Lingyi gave her a box of clothes.
It is reported that some relatives and friends later donated tens of millions of dollars to the mainland.
At the end of the 20th century, Mr. Li Zumin, who had been dependent on Yan Renmei for more than 50 years, died of illness. A few years later, her youngest daughter also died of illness. The children worried about her health and took her to Shenzhen to live with her second son's family, giving her warm and thoughtful care. Now, she has four generations and thirty-seven people, and her eldest great-grandchild is seventeen years old. Every New Year or her birthday, she always receives blessings from all over the world...