On September 23, 1994, Mr. Xie Wuchang, a Taiwanese writer, sent me a fax, which was a report from the cultural section of Taiwan's "Minsheng Bao" the day before, and the huge headline in seven bold characters surprised me: "Han Jingqing Quietly Gone"!
The report begins with the words:
Han Jingqing, the widow of Liang Shiqiu, a senior in the literary world, was sent to Ren'ai Hospital for emergency treatment due to a stroke at the end of last month, and died on August 10 at the age of 66...
I couldn't believe it. Because in April 1994, Han Jingqing's voice when she shook my goodbye at the Hengshan Hotel in Shanghai still seemed to echo in my ears: "After the summer, come to Shanghai for the Mid-Autumn Festival." At that time, she still looked so strong. Han Jingqing is her stage name, her real name is Han Derong, a native of Huangpi, Hubei. His father, Han Hui'an, is a local wealthy man who was once the president of the Hubei General Chamber of Commerce. At that time, there was too much money. Han Huian has eight wives, including "Mrs. Suzhou", "Mrs. Guangdong" and even "Mrs. Japanese". Although there are many wives, there are not many children. He had only one son and one daughter. His son Han Dehou was born to his eldest wife Chen Fushan. The daughter Han Derong was born to the third wife. The third wife's surname is Yang, a native of Qingdao, a doctor, originally opened a clinic in Hankou, and Han Huian often went to see a doctor, so he took a fancy to her. On the day of the Chongyang Festival in 1931, she gave birth to her daughter in Lushan Villa. Han Huian originally hoped to have a son, so he gave his daughter a male name "Derong". This Han Derong later became a singer and took a stage name of his own, "Han Jingqing".
At the age of six (about due to the different methods of calculating age, Han Jingqing's self-reported age seems to be one year younger than her actual age. She moved to Shanghai from Hankou with her father and "Suzhou mother" (second wife) Tang Huizhen. Along the way, they took the Han family's own steamer, and after arriving in Shanghai, they took the Han family's car. In Han Jingqing's words, after such a long journey, the soles of the shoes have never been dirty!
She loves to sing, and despite the fierce opposition of her family, she embarked on the road of singing stars. In August 1946, she was elected as the "Singer Empress" of Shanghai. He left Hong Kong in 1949 and became a movie star there. Later traveled to Taiwan. In 1974, she met Liang Shiqiu, who was widowed not long ago, fell in love, and married Liang Shiqiu the following year. Liang Shiqiu died in Taiwan in 1987.
Taiwanese newspaper reports that Han Jingqing was 66 years old is inaccurate. In fact, she was only sixty-three years old. A woman's age is often a sensitive issue, especially for women like her. When I interviewed her, it was difficult to ask her directly. I remember that she once said that her life was bitter, because she belonged to the sheep---- the girl belonged to the sheep and had a bad fate; She also said that her birthday was Chongyang Festival. Based on this, I calculated her exact birthday: belonging to the sheep, which means born in the year of Xin Wei, and used the perpetual calendar to calculate the ninth day of the first September of Xin Wei year, which is October 19, 1931 AD.
She laughed and said that it was the first time I had found out her "age secret", because even she didn't know her Gregorian birthday - she always celebrated her birthday on the Chongyang Festival. Since then, in addition to her birthday at the Chongyang Festival, she also has a birthday every October 19th, and laughingly called this "Ye Yonglie's birthday calculated for me with his 'Frankenstein'"!
I deeply regret her sudden passing. I quickly dialed her relatives in the mainland, and none of them knew about her death. I quickly wrote another report, faxed it to Shanghai's Xinmin Evening News, and published the news of her death in Taipei on the same day.
In her later years, she came to Shanghai from Taipei every three or five days. She often stayed in a hotel not far from my house and had a close relationship with me and my wife. She was very attentive. I remember, on New Year's Day 1991, she was in Shanghai and called me to ask my wife and I to spend the New Year. She knew that I had undergone surgery for retinal detachment, had just been discharged from the hospital for seven days, and had to recuperate according to the doctor's advice, and specially arranged to have a dinner party in a five-star hotel just a stone's throw away from my house, so as not to shake Lu Yao in the car. As soon as we met, she gave me a special gift - a milky white light bulb. She said she had brought it from Taiwan specifically. This bulb has a soft light and does not hurt the eyes when reading. The light bulb was small, reflecting her concern for me. That day, we talked late into the night and had a great night.
She knew that I liked books and newspapers, and saw an advertisement for "Taipei Pay, Mainland Newspaper" in Taiwan's "China Times Weekly" from Taiwan's newspaper, and immediately ordered me a copy of "China Times Weekly". Since then, I have been able to receive Taiwan's China Times Weekly in Shanghai on schedule and keep abreast of various trends on the other side of the strait.
Liang Shiqiu and Jiang Qing
She is a very interesting person. She was in Taipei and used to call me late at night or early in the morning. At this time, she said, the phone bill was discounted. However, when she started a call, she rarely ended the call within ten minutes, and sometimes even had to talk for hours on the phone. I know that she is used to the nightlife of a singer, and early in the morning is the best time to sleep. I said, Mrs. Liang, why did you get up so early for the discount? With a few fewer words, won't the same savings on phone bills? She laughed and said that as soon as she made a call, she forgot the time!
In addition to calling me often, she also wrote to me often. Her letters are not long and she likes to write them on colorful letter paper or greeting cards. She likes to take pictures, and she always likes to clip a few recent photos in her letters, and there is always an "inscription" behind the photo. She practiced calligraphy, so she wrote quite beautifully. The "Tomb of Professor Liang Shiqiu" in front of Liang Shiqiu's tomb is her handwriting. Once, she suddenly sent me a package of things by courier. When I opened it, there was no letter, just a pile of strangely shaped thick cardboard. I pondered for a long time and realized that this was a puzzle photo. After careful stitching, it was clear that it turned out to be a large photo of her. I put the picture in the frame and hung it. Just then, she called from Taipei and asked what I received? I replied that your "jade photo" is "overlooking" the wall! She burst out laughing, laughing so hard.
Her letters, written casually, are full of truth:
Yonglie: Thank you for your parting gift, I would never have imagined that today, when the human relationship is as thin as paper, I can be lucky to make friends like you and his wife, which makes me feel that the warmth is still alive in the world. At the same time, I have also received your spiritual support in me, and I will definitely walk with you more for a third of my life, learn more from you, and increase my blessings. I am budgeting for the day I return to Shanghai again, "parting is the beginning of re-meeting", it has been ten days since I parted! That is, the distance between goodbyes has been ten days closer! I will definitely come back around the Mid-Autumn Festival. Shanghai is my hometown and I love this place and the people of this place, especially your family.
Attached are the two of them. Two stickers for the eldest brother and the younger brother. Congratulations to Lian. And I wish the eldest brother and the younger brother health and happiness
Qing August 24, 1990
Later, the "eldest brother" my eldest son went to the United States. When the Spring Festival came, she sent quick bags to her "eldest brother" and put them in various snacks. She said that the child is away and always homesick for the New Year, and he should be comforted.
Later, the "little brother" - my second son, also went to the United States. She learned that my wife and I were going to the United States to visit our "eldest brother" and "younger brother," and specially came to Shanghai from Taipei to see us off.
Later, we got to know each other very well and liked to tell jokes when we met. I often call her "so pitiful" - because she used to fill in the lyrics herself and sang a song in Taiwanese called "Han Jingqing is so pitiful". She often referred to herself as a "widow" – once, at a hotel in Shanghai, two service ladies commented behind her back: "Who is she?" "Liang Shiqiu's widow!" She heard this, and she told me in the tone of the two young ladies, and she laughed loudly. As a result, "widow" became her joking name for herself. Later, she wanted to invite my wife and I to visit Taiwan. She saw a cowhide sofa in the living room at my house, and she said that she would also buy a cowhide sofa and welcome us to stay at her house in Taipei. However, at this time, she suddenly passed away.
Mrs. Liang and I had never known each other.
Recall that on November 3, 1987, Mr. Liang Shiqiu died of illness in Taipei. At that time, I was looking up materials in the Hong Kong and Taiwan Reading Room of the Shanghai Library. Mr. Yao, the administrator, said to me: "In the past few days, Taiwanese newspapers have published a large number of articles commemorating Liang Shiqiu's death. His words reminded me. So, I borrowed various newspapers in Taiwan in those days and copied all the commemorative articles about Liang Shiqiu.
After returning home, I carefully studied these articles, which made me change my view of Liang Shiqiu.
However, reading many articles commemorating Liang Shiqiu in Taiwan gave me a real understanding of Liang Shiqiu. I learned from those articles that Liang Shiqiu's eldest daughter, Liang Wenqian, was in Beijing, and in March 1988, I went to Beijing to interview her. She once went to the United States to visit her father Liang Shiqiu (for a while Liang Shiqiu lived in Seattle, USA), talked about many things that Liang Shiqiu did not know about, and also talked about her biological mother's death in an accident in the United States and Liang Shiqiu's remarriage to Han Jingqing in Taipei.
I wrote the reportage "Liang Shiqiu's Dream", which describes Liang Shiqiu's deep longing for his homeland in Taiwan in his later years and his later life. This reportage was published in the sixth issue of Shanghai Literature in 1988 and won the "China Chao" Reportage Award. I sent "Liang Shiqiu's Dream" to Han Jingqing in Taipei. Han Jingqing's address was told to me by Liang Wenqian, Liang Shiqiu's eldest daughter, and there will be no mistake. However, after the letter was sent, there was no reply for more than a year. I think that perhaps this bulging letter sent from the mainland (containing the publication of "Liang Shiqiu's Dream") was confiscated by the relevant departments in Taiwan; It may also be that Han Jingqing did not like this work and ignored it.