Ma Daren Hutong, located in Dongcheng District, Dongsi North Street, is the old name of the Ming and Qing dynasties and the Republic of China, because the Ming Dynasty lived here with an adult named Ma Ding, and this name was given; to the founding of New China, this hutong was renamed Yuqun Hutong. Like many deep mansion compounds in Beijing, there are celebrities in and out of many deep mansion compounds, the formerly known as No. 34 Ma Da Ren Hutong (now divided into Yuqun Hutong No. 14, Yuqun Hutong No. 18, Qianliang Hutong No. 15), in the late Qing Dynasty, the Republic of China also once had many celebrities living.
Chen Maoding, the creator of the "Huai Lou"
No. 16 Yuqun Hutong was once named "No. 34 Ma Daren Hutong". Who lived in the Ming and Qing dynasties is unknown, but in 1911, that is, the year of the Xinhai Revolution, it ushered in a new master, who was the counselor of the Qing Dynasty's ambassador to Britain, and the first diplomat, poet and scholar Chen Maoding, who translated Dumas's famous book "The Count of Monte Cristo" into a Chinese. Chen Maoding, a native of Minhou, Fujian, was known as the "Fujian Three Xieyuan" along with Zheng Xiaoxu and Lin Xu because he won the first place in the "Huihui Examination" in Fujian Province in 1889. The next year, he went to Beijing with his father and uncle to take the exam, and at the same time won the middle jinshi, and their deeds of "brothers, uncles, nephews, fathers and sons and fathers and sons and the same list of jinshi" have been spread as beautiful talk in the local area. He was an authentic scholar, and at the same time, he was also a stamina poet of the "same light body" school; because he always held important positions in the political arena of the late Qing Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty, experienced many major events, and reflected many in his poems, people at that time commented that his poems were "straight, hidden, and worthy of a generation of poetic history." Chen Maoding has another layer of identity, his great uncle, that is, Chen Baochen, a Puyi teacher known as the "last emperor". Courtyard 34 has a total of more than seventy rooms and is a large mansion. After Chen Maoding purchased it, he divided it into the east courtyard, the north courtyard, the middle courtyard, and the backyard, and then demolished the original main house of the middle courtyard, and ordered people to imitate the Western architectural style in the same place, build a two-story small building with arched doors and windows, a combination of Chinese and Western styles, lay sewer pipes and water pipes, equipped with toilets, bathrooms, and kitchens, and installed a telephone in the building, which belonged to the first batch in Beijing. Chen Maoding planted a locust tree on the south side of the small building, and every time at the turn of spring and summer, open the window, and the whole house can smell the flowers of the locust tree, and can see the blooming tender white locust tree flowers. Therefore, Chen Maoding named the place where he lived "Huai Lou", and his later published poetry collection was also called "Huai Lou Poetry Banknote".
Chen Maoding and Huai Lou
His two sons unfortunately died young, leaving only the eldest daughter-in-law and two daughters, and after the death of Chen Maoding, his descendants re-divided 34 Ma Daren Hutong in 1946. Among them, the daughter-in-law He Duanyi was divided into the north courtyard and the middle courtyard, the door number was changed to "Ma Daren Hutong A No. 34" (that is, no. 18 yuqun hutong), the eldest daughter Chen Xuan was divided into the east courtyard, the door number was "Ma Daren Hutong B No. 34" (that is, no. 14 Yuqun Hutong), the younger daughter Chen Ti was assigned to the backyard, and the door number was now No. 15 Qianliang Hutong, thus forming the existing pattern.
"A generation of talented women" Chen Maoheng
Chen Maoheng, the most proud female disciple of the famous historian and master of traditional Chinese studies Gu Jiegang, completed her thesis "Ming Dynasty Wokou Kaoli" during the Republic of China, which was praised by experts as "the best book in this field". After the founding of New China, Chen Maoheng's "Romance of Ancient Chinese History" written by Chen Maoheng according to the wishes of his mentor was even more read as a required reading list for students of secondary schools across the country and became a phenomenon-level work in the cultural circles.
Chen Maoheng was Chen Maoding's half-sister, and her brother only received a sister when he was thirty-one years old, so he was particularly fond of and cared for her. Growing up in Fuzhou, Chen Maoheng was admitted to the history department of Yenching University at the age of twenty-eight, and after graduation, she formed a relationship with Zhao Quancheng, the former president of the student union of the university, and chose to rent a flat dan hutong not far from the Beijing Library, and later moved to No. 9 Xiaoshizuo Hutong. The "Lugou Bridge Incident" broke out, Peiping fell, and the location where they lived became a Japanese garrison, so the couple had no choice but to burn books, including precious historical materials of the Anti-Japanese War, and move to the residence of their brother in Ma Daren Hutong. During the three years of living in the "Huai Lou", Chen Maoheng, in addition to frequently composing poems and singing harmony with his brother, helped Chen Maoding to compose more than 2,000 poems in his lifetime, which were compiled into volumes according to the chronicle, making great contributions to the publication of future poetry collections. In addition, she completed the translation of "The Count of Monte Cristo", which her brother had never finished, and later published it in the magazine "Shishu Monthly" founded by herself in Shanghai under Chinese the name of "The Story of the Island Xiong", to meet the world.
Chen Maoheng's husband, Zhao Quancheng, also a historian, was invited by President Cai Yuanpei to serve as an assistant researcher at the National Academia Sinica, but the Japanese invaded Peiping, the institute moved south, and Zhao Quancheng lost his job and had to go to Shanghai to seek work. In his spare time, he completed the publication of his masterpiece "Table of Geographical Evolution of the Qing Dynasty", which was also republished several times in the future, with a huge and far-reaching influence.
Soon after Zhao Quancheng and Chen Maoheng married, they had a son, named Zhao Zhihua, who was just over a year old when he moved to live in the "Huai Lou", because he was often sick and cried in Chen Maoheng's arms, and Chen Maoding also wrote a poem to remember this matter. But what they did not expect was that twenty years later, this boy who always loved to cry and make a lot of noise had become a top master of the national Go team.
Chen Maoheng and Zhao Zhihua in his arms
Historian Yao Congwu
Yao Congwu, a native of Xiangcheng, Henan, traces back to his student days and also takes the road of becoming a scholar and a bully. He first attended primary and secondary school in Henan, then was admitted to the preparatory class of Zhonghua University in Beijing, and a year later he was officially admitted to the History Department of Peking University, where he was classmates with Fu Sinian, Luo Jialun and Mao Zishui. In the autumn of 1920, with excellent results, he entered the Institute of Peking University for further study, with Hu Shi as a teacher; two years later, he was sent to study at the University of Berlin in Germany, which was twelve years. In 1934, as soon as Yao returned to China, he was hired as a professor in the History Department of Peking University, and from then on he devoted his life to research and teaching. Yao Congwu's only hobby in life is reading, just as his wife Chen Xuan said: "Books are his destiny, whoever loves books can be his confidant, and his money is books." ”
Yao Congwu and Chen Xuan met in August 1936 through the introduction of the master of traditional Chinese studies Wu Mi, and four months later, they held a grand wedding in the European and American Alumni Association, the witness was Hu Shi, the introducer was Wu Mi and Gu Jiegang, and the main marriage was Chen Daisun, who was later known as the "grandmaster of a generation" in the economic world. Chen Xuan, the eldest daughter of Chen Maoding, studied in the Philosophy Department of Yenching University and was a famous lady who was active among Peking Universities at that time, and after Yao Congwu married her, she moved to the east courtyard of Chen Residence, No. 34, Ma Daren Hutong.
Chen Xuan and Yao Congwu
From December 1936 to August 1937, the East Courtyard became the most frequent place for northerly students and teachers. According to the "Annals of Mr. Yao Congwu" compiled by Wang Deyi, once, in order to give students guidance on papers, Yao Congwu specially invited six senior students, Wu Xiangxiang, assistant teachers Deng Guangming and Liang Maoxiu, and Professor Fu Sinian of the History Department, to the apartment for an interview, and also let his wife run to Dongjiaomin Lane to buy a "cake baked in a French bakery", which shows the depth of his love and affection for students. After the "Lugou Bridge Incident", Yao Congwu followed the Southwest United University to Kunming, and it was not until June 1946 that he and Chen Xuan returned to Beiping. Yao Congwu did not live in his apartment for long before he was hired as the president of Henan University, leaving Beiping again in November 1946. Later, he went to Taiwan with his wife and two children, and served as a professor of history at National Taiwan University for twenty-one years, during which he cultivated a large number of talents, and he cultivated the most famous students, not Li Ao, who was arrogant and talented.
Ma Daren Hutong No. 34 was entrusted to Yao Congwu's good friend Mao Zishui to take care of it. Mao Zishui, who studied in Germany with Yao Congwu, became a professor of history at Peking University after returning to China, and later became the director of the Peking University Library, and was known as an "encyclopedic figure after May Fourth". He took his wife to Taiwan in 1949. After the peaceful liberation of Peiping, the mansion was taken over by the people's government and later renamed "Yuqun Hutong No. 14".
Mao Zishui and the child in the Chen mansion
Fang Zhi scholar Zhu Shijia
Zhu Shijia, a famous Fang Zhi scholar in China, a graduate student of the History Department of Yenching University, once studied under Professor Deng Zhicheng, and after graduation, he stayed in the library of the university as the director of the Chinese cataloging department. During his work at the Yanda Library, he published a book called "A Compendium of Local History of China", which successfully attracted the attention of Americans on the other side of the Pacific. In 1939, Zhu Shijia was invited to leave the country with four wives and children, went to the United States alone, studied for a doctorate in the United States, and worked in the American Archives for eleven years, during which he compiled the "Library of Congress Chinese Local History Catalog" through years of accumulated research, it can be said that with this book, he laid the position of the founder of China's local history in one fell swoop. In 1981, the China Local History Association was established, and two years later, Zhu Shijia was elected as the vice chairman of the association and enjoyed a lifetime reputation. In terms of family, it is now only known that he and a lady named Zhang Yunlan formed a happy couple; what is not known is that Zhu Shijia had a marriage before this.
Zhu Shijia graduation photo
Zhu Shijia's ex-wife is called Chen Ti, the youngest daughter of Chen Maoding, the owner of No. 34 Ma Daren Hutong, who can be good at poetry and painting, lively and beautiful, graduated from the North China Junior College, which has trained many great painters, and during his schooling, he met Zhu Shijia, who was a lecturer in the history department at Yanda University. They first rented a house in Di'anmen Nafu Hutong and lived together. Soon, Chen Ti became pregnant, and a couple had to complete the marriage in a hurry in 1934, when Zhu Shijia was twenty-nine years old and Chen Ti had just turned twenty-two. Later, two more children came one after another, so that the younger two felt great financial pressure, there was no way, Chen Ti had to re-run to his father Chen Maoding, so far, Zhu Shijia and Chen Ti from 1936 to 1939, they lived in the backyard of No. 34 Ma Daren Hutong, until Zhu Shijia went to the United States to study and work.
In 1950, Zhu Shijia returned to China to participate in socialist construction, returned to Ma Daren Hutong again, and found that the place had undergone earth-shaking changes.
The three children born to Chen Ti and Zhu Shijia were very successful when they grew up, among which the eldest son, Zhu Zuwei, became a famous philatelist because of his love of stamps, and served as a director of the National Philatelic Association and vice president of the Beijing Philatelic Association. (This edition of the photo is provided by Mr. Zhao Zhi of the National Museum of China, and edited by Li Zhengrong)