In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, when Empress Dowager Cixi was bowing to the government, it is said that there were many strange and unjust cases. Among these cases, the "Zhang Wenxiang Stabbing Horse Case", "Yang Naiwu and Xiao Cabbage Case", "Taiyuan Strange Case" and "Famous Yang Yuelou Unjust Case" are the most sensational.
Therefore, these four cases are collectively called the four strange cases of the late Qing Dynasty.
Empress Dowager Cixi stills
However, compared with the "Taiyuan Strange Case", the case is like a novelist telling a story, and there is no clear historical record. Compared with the "Zhang Wenxiang Horse Assassination Case" and the "Yang Naiwu and Xiao Cabbage Case" behind the hidden power struggle of the Ruling Class of the Qing Dynasty, although there is no "strange" in the case of the "Famous Yang Yuelou Unjust Case", the protagonist of this case, Yang Yuelou, was a popular Peking Opera martial artist at the end of the Qing Dynasty, so this case not only caused fierce controversy in the folk, but also triggered people's criticism of traditional concepts or feudal etiquette at that time.
Therefore, what I want to tell you today is the beginning and end of the case of the "Famous Yang Yuelou Unjust Case" and why the "Famous Yang Yuelou Unjust Case" is not only an unjust case, but also a love tragedy poisoned by the feudal ritual law.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="01" > the beginning and end of the unjust case of Yang Yuelou</h1>
It is said that during the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, the disciple of Zhang Erkui, a famous actor in Hui opera, once performed for Empress Dowager Cixi, and Yang Yuelou, a Peking opera martial artist who was called "Wen wu shuangbi" with Yu Yusheng, went to Shanghai to perform.
At that time, Shanghainese people watched Beijing opera, originally just to watch a gimmick, look at a lively. However, Yang Yuelou came to Shanghai and played Sun Wukong in "An Tianhui", turning over one hundred and eight heels in a row when he appeared, but he did not leave the same place, and he poured a lot of audiences in Shanghai when he boarded.
In addition, his body singing skills are superior, and his appearance is even more heroic and masculine, so he has won the admiration of Shanghai opera fans, especially many female opera fans. For this reason, Yang Yuelou won the "Golden Gui He Ru Dan Gui You, beautiful people are all insignia." Generally, Beijing tune is not preferred, only for the reputation of coveting Yang Yue Lou".
However, in the winter of the twelfth year of Tongzhi, Yang Yuelou triggered a lawsuit because of his marriage with a wealthy merchant woman.
At that time, Yang Yuelou continuously performed plays such as "The Palace of the Vatican" showing the love between men and women in Jin Guiyuan, a famous theater in Shanghai, and under the stage, there was a Guangdong Xiangshan woman named Wei Abao, who and her mother watched Yang Yuelou's performance for three consecutive days.
For some reason, this seventeen-year-old Wei Abao, who was in his prime, suddenly developed a crush on Yang Yuelou. Therefore, she wrote a letter of her own, not only detailing her longing for Yang Yuelou in the letter, but also expressing her intention to get engaged.
After writing the letter, Wei Abao, along with his own Nian Geng, eight characters and letters, sent someone to deliver Yang Yuelou and asked him to meet.
But after Yang Yuelou received the letter written by Wei Abao, he was suspicious and afraid in his heart.
Why?
Because a rich lady with a noble status, but she saw a drama, this is something that Yang Yuelou never thought about. Moreover, the Qing Dynasty was influenced by the Tang Law and implemented the rule of "good and unworthy do not marry", Yang Yuelou, as a dramatist who was in a lowly place, with his identity and status, how could he match Wei Abao, a rich woman?
Therefore, Yang Yuelou did not dare to go to the appointment.
And Wei Abao?
She saw that Yang Yuelou did not go to the appointment, and after handing over her affectionate letter to the other party, she did not get any reply from the other party, so she fell ill with love, and suddenly fell ill in bed and became increasingly ill.
And because Wei Abao's father was a tea merchant, and his person had been doing business in other places for a long time and was not in Shanghai, Wei's mother, who was distressed about her daughter, decided to go along with her daughter's wishes, so she sent someone to inform Yang Yuelou and asked him to ask a matchmaker to propose marriage.
Perhaps it is the most difficult to dispel the grace of the beauty, or perhaps it is touched by Wei Abao's sincerity, Yang Yuelou learned of Wei Abao's situation, after some consideration, finally agreed to Wei Mother's request, not only came to the door to answer the contract but also signed a marriage certificate.
However, just when he performed the dowry ceremony and began to prepare for the marriage, this matter was learned by Wei Abao's uncle, who resolutely blocked it on the grounds of the etiquette of "good and ungodly unmarried".
When Wei Mu saw the situation, she secretly consulted with Yang Yuelou and asked him to imitate the old customs of Shanghai to rob relatives. But did not think that Wei Abao's uncle, after consulting with the gentlemen and merchants in Huxiangshan, actually prosecuted Yang Yuelou for kidnapping and theft.
On the day of Yang Yuelou and Wei Abao's wedding in their new residence, the county magistrate and patrol arrested Yang Yuelou and Wei Abao, and seized seven boxes of clothes and jewelry (rumored to be worth about 4,000 gold) from Wei's mother and daughter.
On the way to take Wei Abao to the county court, according to the "Declaration" at that time:
"Wei Abao's car sat in it, telling the heavens and the earth and the red clothes of the ancestors had not yet gone." The spectators along the way are like clouds. ”
After coming to the county hall, Ye Tingjue of Shanghai Zhixian County, who was in charge of hearing the case, also happened to be a native of Xiangshan, Guangdong, so he hated Yang and Wei and punished them severely. Without interrogation, Ye Tingju ordered Yang Yuelou's tibia to be struck one hundred and fifty times (killing the stick).
In this way, Yang Yuelou was tortured, but only confessed to having adultery with Wei Abao, and bribed and colluded with the other party's nursing mother Wang Shi to abduct Wei Abao.
Wei Abao, on the other hand, not only did not have a word of remorse, but insisted: "Marry a chicken with a chicken, there is no different ambition", and was slapped two hundred times.
After the execution, Wei Abao's mother voluntarily surrendered, saying that she and her husband agreed to the marriage of their daughter, proving that the two did have a marriage contract first.
However, Ye Tingju was not allowed to overturn the case, but ordered Yang Yuelou to be temporarily taken into custody and waited for Wei Abao's father to return home before the verdict was carried out.
However, Yang Yuelou, as one of the most popular Peking Opera artists at that time, as soon as his case came out, it immediately spread throughout the streets of the market and caused a sensation in public opinion. At that time, people were talking about Yang Yuelou, as a well-known celebrity, who was actually committing such a dramatic "affair case".
At that time, Wei Abao's father, a tea merchant surnamed Wei, not only belonged to the liang family and also donated official titles, but was a businessman with a certain status and a wealth of family assets.
Yang Yuelou married the daughter of a good family as a dalit, which not only violated the law of "good and unworthy do not marry", but was also prosecuted by officials for the crime of abduction and theft. Even though his marriage to Wei Abao had the proper form of a ming media marry, Ye Tingju of Zhixian county severely punished him for the crime of kidnapping and theft, and this kind of unconventional thing aroused people's interest, so there was a lot of public opinion for a while.
After waiting for Wei Abao's father to return, he chose to support the county order Ye Ting to re-sentence the case. Therefore, Wei Abao insisted on marrying Yang Yuelou, so she was sent to Puyu Hall, and the ending was regrettable (another story is that she was sentenced to choose another marriage match).
The nursing mother Wang Shi, who helped the two complete their marriage, was sentenced to show the public for ten days in front of the county court. Wei Abao's mother, influenced by rumors such as fornication, died of illness in shame and anger.
As for Yang Yuelou, he was sentenced to a heavy sentence for "abduction", and later when the case was sent to Songjiang Province for review, the Nanqiao County Order, who was on behalf of the trial, ordered him to be beaten 200 times and forced him not to retract his confession (according to the data, For Yang Yuelou's sentence, Ding Richang, who was then the inspector of Jiangsu, also expressed his approval and reported the case to the Punishment Department).
Later, coinciding with the birthday of the emperor in March of the thirteenth year of Tongzhi, there was a singing in the palace. Cixi was dissatisfied with the repertoire arranged by the Shengping Bureau, so she talked to Li Lianying about Yang Yuelou.
When the Guangxu Emperor ascended the throne and ordered a general amnesty for the world, Yang Yuelou was determined to be "a case of forgiveness although the sin is deserved, but it can be forgiven", so he released his staff after eighty years.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="02" > social controversy caused by the "unjust case of the famous Yang Yuelou"</h1>
As I mentioned earlier, although there is no "strangeness" in the case of the "famous Yang Yuelou unjust case", the protagonist of this case, Yang Yuelou, was a popular Peking Opera martial artist at the end of the Qing Dynasty, so his case caused a fierce debate among the people at that time.
So, what are the social controversies about the "famous Yang Yuelou unjust case"?
According to the data, the people who argued about this case at that time can be roughly divided into three factions, namely: the severe punishment faction, the sympathetic faction and the neutral faction.
The views of the three parties were based on the feudal etiquette law of "good and unmarried" and the "Great Qing Laws", which were recorded in the "Declaration" at that time.
Among them, the heavy punishment faction believes that Yang Yuelou's behavior belongs to abducting women and coveting money. Even if Wei Abao's father was not in Shanghai, her mother would not have the right to decide her marriage. During The period when Father Wei was away, Uncle Wei Abao, as the male representative of the family, had the responsibility to take care of the food on his behalf. As for the torture suffered by Yang Yuelou and Wei Abao, it was entirely his own fault, and the severe punishment of the two was a righteous act to save the world wind and turn the tide.
The sympathists believe that Yang Yuelou and Wei Abao have only committed the crime of "marriage for good and lowly" or "peace and adultery" at most, and according to the "Great Qing Laws", the staff is eighty.
As for Wei Abao's right to decide on marriage, it is believed that Wei Abao's mother has the right to preside, and the marriage between Yang and Wei belongs to "being ordered by the mother, dispatching a matchmaker, having a marriage certificate, and obtaining a dowry", which can be described as a ming media marrying, even if it violates the "good and lowly do not marry", it should also be responsible for Wei Mu. As for the torture and punishment suffered by these two people, it is believed that Yang Yuelou's crime was not a case of murder or theft, and could not be punished with a heavy sentence, and the county order Ye Tingju's sentence on the two people was a punishment that was arbitrary and indiscriminate.
The remaining neutrals, because of the limited information, the views expressed by them are not known.
epilogue:
After understanding the beginning and end of the case of the "famous Yang Yuelou Unjust Case" and the controversy that arose among the people at that time about the case, I would like to briefly talk about my views.
First of all, according to the facts of the case, for the Cantonese rich woman Wei Abao's love for Yang Yuelou, until now, it is equivalent to a rich woman chasing a popular "star". Although eye-catching, the two are free love without violating morality and the law.
Secondly, as one of the most popular Peking Opera artists at that time, Yang Yuelou's social status did belong to the list of untouchables at that time. For Wei Abao's bold show of love, on the one hand, he did not expect that there would be rich families who would look at him, on the other hand, he actually felt that he was not worthy of each other.
When he did not dare to go to the appointment, the other party fell in love with the disease, and after learning the situation, Fang knew that the other party's affection could not be described as deep. If this is the case, he himself has not married, and it is rare to meet a person who really likes himself, why not marry?
However, in the case of mutual affection between the two parties and the consent of the woman's mother, although Yang Yuelou had a legitimate form of marriage, it was limited by the feudal etiquette law of "good and unmarried", and the marriage between the two was first blocked by the woman's uncle, and later by the malicious torture of the feudal officials. As a result, Yang Yuelou was wrongfully convicted of "abduction and theft" and was sentenced to exile, and Wei Abao also had a miserable end.
This makes people have to say that the "famous Yang Yuelou unjust case" is not only an unjust case, it is also a love tragedy poisoned by feudal etiquette.
As for the controversy that arose at that time over the "unjust case of the famous Yang Yuelou", to be honest, even the so-called "sympathists" could only argue for it, and could not provide actual help to Yang Yuelou. Because they were limited by the feudal etiquette law of "good and unmarried" and the "Great Qing Law".
Although Empress Dowager Cixi, who clarified Yang Yuelou's grievances, identified Yang Yuelou as a "case of remission", she also believed that Yang Yuelou deserved it, so the people involved in the creation of the case were not affected in the end.
However, after Yang Yuelou was released, he joined the Sanqing class of Cheng Changgeng, the "originator of Peking Opera", and after becoming the helmsman, he entered the Shengping Bureau in 1888 and was enshrined in the inner court, and later married Shen Yuechun, who sang Suzhou commentary, and had an only son, Yang Xiaolou.
And Wei Abao, it is said that the final whereabouts are unknown.
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