In the late Qing Dynasty, modern newspapers and periodicals were introduced to China and gradually occupied an important position in the circles of Chinese public opinion. During the Xinhai Revolution, the public opinion war in the Shanghai press circles was even more exciting than the military war between the Revolutionary Army and the Beiyang Army. In view of the role of newspapers, countless Chinese people have devoted themselves to the cause of running newspapers. Among them, Shi Liang is a figure worthy of great attention, and the "Declaration" he ran was the most influential newspaper in the Republic of China period. So, what kind of legendary story does this former newspaper king have, and how to evaluate him?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="45" > from running a school to running a newspaper</h1>
Shi Liangcai (1880-1934), formerly known as Jia Xiu, changed his name to Shi Liangcai because Of Zhang Xiao's evaluation of "recruiting by quantity". Born in Yangbanqiao Village, Longdu Township, Jiangning County, Jiangsu Province (present-day Jiangning District, Nanjing), Shi Liangcai lost his mother at the age of 7, and his father, Shi Chunfan, a medicinal material merchant, opened the Shi Tai He Tang Chinese Medicine Pharmacy in Sijing Town, Songjiang, Shanghai, when he was 9 years old, and Shi Liangcai moved to Sijing Town. In the twenty-fifth year of Guangxu (1889), Shi Liangcai was demoted to an appendage, so he gave up the business of examination and turned to a new study because of the fault of impersonating his nationality (Shi Liangcai was originally from Jiangning, Jiangsu Province, but was suspected of passing off as a Candidate in Shanghai). In the twenty-seventh year of Guangxu (1901), the Xiangtai and Nan goods stores in Sijing Town accidentally caught fire due to the clerk, and the adjacent Shi Tai hetang Chinese Medicine Pharmacy was also burned into a pile of rubble, and Shi Liangcai's family fell in the middle of the road. In order to reduce his father's pressure, in the autumn of that year, Shi Liang was admitted to the free Hangzhou Silkworm Academy (now Zhejiang Sci-Tech University). After graduating in the 29th year of Guangxu (1903), he went to Shanghai to be hired by Wang Peisun's "Shanghai Wang's Yucai Academy" as a teacher of physics and chemistry, and at the same time taught in the School of Ordnance Engineering, Wuben Girls' School, and Nanyang Middle School.
In the thirtieth year of Guangxu (1904), Shi Liangcai married Pang Mingde, who had a marriage contract since childhood (Father Pang and Father Shi were co-investors in the Shitai hetang Chinese Pharmacy, and according to Pang Mingde's niece Pang Rongdi, Pang Shi was a cousin), and with the help of Huang Gongxu, the richest man in Jinshan and principal of Minqiang Primary School, he founded the "Shanghai Girls' Sericulture School" with the help of Huang Gongxu, the richest man in Jinshan and the principal of Minqiang Primary School, which opened the precedent of women's vocational education in China. In the thirty-first year of Guangxu (1905), Shi Liangcai and his friend Huang Yanpei initiated the establishment of the Jiangsu Academic Affairs Association in Shanghai. At this point, Shi Liang began to have a small reputation in the education circles of Jiangsu and was regarded as a rising star. His achievements in running the school also enabled him to have contacts with the upper echelons of Shanghai, providing him with good social conditions and even financial support for his future development.
In the thirty-third year of Guangxu (1907), Jiangsu Province's self-financing construction of railways was approved by the Qing court, and the Jiangsu Provincial Railway Company was immediately established, and Shi Liangcai was promoted to be a director of the company. Soon, because the British forcibly lent money to the Qing government to build a railway in a vain attempt to achieve the purpose of controlling China's right of way, the people of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces were indignant and launched a vigorous campaign to refuse money to protect the road. As one of the leaders of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Baolu Movement and a director of the Jiangsu Railway Company, Shi Liangcai performed well in the Baolu Movement, thus winning a good reputation in the Shanghai gentry business circles. Since then, his contacts with the upper class in Shanghai have further developed, and he has formed a friendship with representative figures of the gentry and business circles such as Zhang Xiao, Tang Shouqian, Wang Qingmu and others. At the same time, he also had contacts with the revolutionaries.
Three years after the reunification (1911), after the outbreak of the Wuchang Uprising, revolutionaries everywhere responded positively. Zhang Zi, the leader of the Jiangsu branch of the League, approached Shi Liangcai with the intention of using the Women's Silkworm School as a position to attack the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau (later abandoned this proposal due to military considerations). Through Zhang Zi's introduction, Shi Liangcai became acquainted with Chen Qimei, the head of the Shanghai military government after the revolution. Shi Liangcai also participated in the revolutionary activities in Jiangsu, and he often discussed the revolutionary plan with Zhang Xiao, Cheng Xuelou, Ying Jizhong, Zhang Yuanji, and so on. After the Wuchang Uprising, representatives of independent provinces gathered in Shanghai and held a meeting at Zhao Fengchang's residence "Xiyin Hall" on Nanyang Road, and Shi Liangcai was one of the regular customers of the "Xiyin Hall".
After the victory of the Xinhai Revolution, Shi Liangcai served as the organizer of the Shanghai Tax customs office and the Songjiang Salt Bureau. Soon, Yuan Shikai became the president and practiced an authoritarian dictatorship. This made Shi Liangcai have no intention of mixing in the official arena and preparing to turn to the press.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="15" > patriots and patriot newspapers</h1>
In the autumn of 1912, Shi Liangcai changed his official to a businessman and purchased the Declaration from the Xi Zimei and Xi Zipei brothers for 120,000 silver dollars. There have always been many theories about this newspaper change case. Among them, the most rumored one is that Shi Liangcai borrowed the wealth of the famous prostitute Shen Qiushui to acquire the "Declaration". Shi Liangcai's friend Feng Yaxiong once talked about this matter: "At that time, Shen Huizhi (i.e., Shen Qiushui), a famous prostitute in Shanghai, had a benefactor, Tao Junbao, who was directly subordinate to the alternate Dao in the west, and was entrusted by Duan Fang to an important military post in Nanjing. During the Xinhai Revolution, Tao came to Shanghai with hundreds of thousands of yuan of his embezzled military salaries, stayed in Shen's brothel, carried two bags of money and clothes with him, and handed them over to Shen for temporary preservation. Chen Yingshi (i.e., Chen Qimei) discovered that Tao had taken the opportunity to divide Zhenjiang and make himself the governor of Zhejiang, but in the name of negotiating with the public, he invited Tao to the military palace, and Tao was invited to go there, and as soon as he arrived, he was shot. Shen Huizhi smelled of consumption, deeply afraid that the money and goods stored by Tao would be detected by the authorities, and it was like a needle all day long. Shi Liangcai and Shen Huizhi met each other, and when they heard of Tao's death, they went to Shen to inquire. Shen told the truth and asked Shi Dai to seek a safe strategy. Shi Shen was silent, Shen chased after it, and Shi Kuzheng said: "This matter is not handled properly, there is indeed a disaster for the family, and now I am for your sake, I can't take care of everything, I will take the risk." With my position in Shanghai's political, business, and academic circles, I can say and do it. Since the authorities will check the package in the future, you can rest assured. I'm here to keep you safe. Shen Qiushui was extremely grateful, and because Shi Liangcai was young and handsome, he entrusted himself with his body and voluntarily brought his wallet with Shi Liangcai, which was the source of wealth that Shi Liangcai had entered the "Declaration".
As for shi liangcai's claim that he had obtained a huge amount of money from Shen Qiushui, Zhang Shizhao, who knew the inside story, seemed to be dissatisfied.
First, in 1912, When Tao Junbao was suffering from malaria, he had neither the time nor the energy to prostitute himself. Even if Tao Junbao temporarily stored military salaries at Shen Huizhi, his quota was very limited. Chen Qimei, who was the governor of the Shanghai Army, even kidnapped the banker Song Hanzhang to withdraw money, saying that Tao Junbao left a huge amount of 120,000 yuan in Shen Qiushui and Chen Qimei did not notice, which seems somewhat implausible. Moreover, Shen Huizhi has a number of prostitutes at the same time, and the source of her wealth will not be limited to Tao Junbao.
Secondly, Zhang Shizhao said: "At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Su Songtai Dao Cai Naihuang was in Shanghai to take the governor of Liangjiang, Duan Fang, and thus offered a plan to buy declarations with 80,000 taels of silver from the public treasury to control public opinion. Therefore, the great newspaper business that the Xi and Zi Pei brothers had been running all their lives was turned into an organ publication at the end of the Qing Dynasty. From his words, it can be seen that at the end of the Qing Dynasty, the "Declaration" was already an official thing, but it was still taken care of by the Xi brothers. At the same time, after the Xinhai Revolution, Zhang Shizhao served as an adviser in the Governor's Office of Jiangsu, and got along well with Cheng Dequan, the Governor of Jiangsu Province, and Ying Dehong, the head of civil affairs, and one day Ying Dehong once told him that the "Declaration" belonged to the civil administration of the province, but because of the lack of suitable candidates, it was "unlucky". The implication was that he intended to let Zhang Shizhao take over the Declaration. However, Zhang Shizhao was not interested in taking over the newspaper at that time, and later changed to Shi Liangcai. Zhang Shizhao said: "I remember this matter clearly, dare to assert that the declaration is an official property, the amount is not the responsibility of the supervisor, if it is already used, in the law should be the prison guard self-theft." In addition, Zhang Shizhao also pointed out that after Shi Liangcai took over the "Declaration", Celebrities such as Zhang Xiao, Zhao Fengchang, zhuang Yunkuan and so on were listed as shareholders. In this way, the rumor that Shi Liangcai acquired the Declaration for 120,000 silver dollars is not credible. At that time, the "Declaration" should have belonged to the Governor's Office of Jiangsu, and Shi Liangcai was able to take over, most likely because of the impetus of the former constitutionalists Zhang Xiao, Zhao Fengchang, and others; otherwise, Tao Junbao's brother and brother were all powerful figures at that time, and how could Shen Qiushui and Shi Liangcai be allowed to hide and enrich themselves.
However, no matter how many doubts exist in the acquisition of the "Declaration", at least after Shi Liangcai took over, it is an indisputable fact that the "Declaration" is thriving and reaching the peak. In this regard, it is undoubtedly the blessing of the "Declaration" and the fortune of the republic of China newspaper industry. Here are two examples to support:
(1) In 1915, when Yuan Shikai plotted to restore the imperial system, he sent people to Shanghai with a huge amount of ocean to contact Shi Liangcai, hoping that the "Declaration" would make some publicity in public opinion to help him ascend to the throne. At that time, Shi Liangcai was in an economic predicament, but Shi Liangcai was not only unmoved, but also exposed it in the "Declaration" on September 3, and published a number of articles by Liang Qichao against Yuan's claim to be emperor, so as to clarify his views.
(2) Shi Liangcai made the "Declaration" and had a dialogue with Chiang Kai-shek, which is well known to the Chinese people. The famous newspaperman Xu Zhucheng wrote in his book "Old Stories of the Sea", Chiang Kai-shek said: "If you set me on fire, I have a million soldiers under me!" Shi Liangcai replied, "I also have a million readers!" It is rumored that Jiang threatened with "I have a million male soldiers", and Shi countered with "I have a million readers".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="46" > difficult national fortunes and unfortunate historical talents</h1>
After the September 18 Incident, Chiang Kai-shek adhered to the compromise policy toward Japan that "outside the country must first be at home," and Shi Liang resolutely opposed this. On the one hand, he donated funds to the anti-Japanese salvation movement, and on the other hand, he wrote a large number of articles attacking Chiang Kai-shek in the "Declaration". Therefore, Shi Liangcai's great name was prominently listed on the blacklist that Chiang Kai-shek intended to get rid of.
In the summer and autumn of 1934, Dai Kasa personally led his personnel to Shanghai on the orders of Chiang Kai-shek to arrange the assassination of Shi Liangcai. They searched for house surveillance in the concession near the Shi Tsai Newspaper House and its residence. However, in view of the lesson of the Yang Xingfo case (at 8:00 a.m. on June 18, 1933, at the gate of the "National Academy of Central Research of the Republic of China" on Yalpe Road (now South Shaanxi Road) in the French Concession of Shanghai, Yang Xingfo, vice president of the Academia Sinica, took his son Yang Xiaofo and prepared to go out in a car, and when Yang Xingfo's car was driving out of the gate of the Academia Sinica, the four assassins who had scattered and ambushed here in advance took out pistols and shot more than ten shots at Yang Xingfo in the car, and Yang Xingfo and the driver were shot), they were afraid of leaving traces and did not move for a long time. Later, through the gang members, the agents got to know Shi Liangcai's car driver Huang Jincai, and from Huang Jincai's mouth, they heard that Shi Liangcai would take his family to Hangzhou for convalescence due to gastrointestinal diseases. Therefore, Dai Kasa decided not to act in the concession and instead poisoned his hands on the way to Hangzhou.
In October, Shi Liangcai went to Hangzhou, and Dai Kasa decided to start in Hangzhou, so he and zhao Lijun, the leader of the action team, rushed to Shi Liangcai to arrange it in the Qiushui Mountain Villa of Hangzhou's apartment. But later, Dai Kasa felt that it was inappropriate to start in Hangzhou, because Zhao Wenlong, the director of the Hangzhou Municipal Police Bureau at the time, was Dai Kasa's subordinate, so if the murder occurred, it would not bring pressure to the local police station to solve the case. In order not to get themselves into trouble, they chose to assassinate outside the city. So Dai Kasa sent Wang Kequan, deputy leader of the action team, Li Ada, Xu Jianye, and a total of 6 other people to carry out the task, and the driver Zhang Bingwu drove an old-fashioned Buick brand convertible to the predetermined location.
In order to make this mission successful, a few days before Shi Liangcai returned to Shanghai from Hangzhou, the agents began to rehearse the assassination scene many times. After many simulated operations, they finally decided to carry out the operation at the place where the Shanghai-Hangzhou Highway passes through Bo'ai Town, the fourth district of Haining County, from the four-mile road of Wengjiabu.
On October 13, 1934, Shi Liangcai returned to Shanghai from Hangzhou. At about 3 o'clock, when the car drove to the vicinity of Wengjiabu, it was blocked by a car crossing the road. After Shi Liangcai's car was forced to stop, the agent disguised as the overhaul of the car immediately pulled out a pistol and shot at the tires of the car, and the other two agents quickly ran to Jia's car and shot at the driver and Deng Zuqian, a classmate of Shi Liangcai's son in the front seat. They shot the driver, one to prevent him from running away in his car, and the other to kill him. When the guns flew, Shi Liangcai's father and son realized the danger, so they hurriedly jumped out of the car and fled. The agents did not know who Shi Liangcai was, so they pursued and killed the two separately. The agent who hunted down shi Yonggeng, the son of Shi Liangcai, fired more than twenty bullets in a row, but still did not hit Shi Yonggeng. With his young and agile body, Shi Yonggeng rushed into the nearby field and successfully escaped; Shi Liangcai, because of his poor health, fled in a panic and hid in a nearby hut. Two agents also chased after them. Shi Liangcai saw this and fled through the back door again, and in a moment of panic, he jumped into a small pond that dried up behind the house. When the agents who were pursuing him found out, they shouted, "Here," beckoned their companions to come over, and shot into the pool. One of the bullets hit Shi Liangcai in the head, and Shi died instantly. Then another agent who caught up with him, just in case, chased after him and fired another shot. The murderers saw that their purpose had been achieved and whistled away.
Mrs. Shi Liangcai and her daughter were also sitting in the car at the time, but because the agents pursued and killed Shi Liangcai's father and son, they managed to escape. After Shi Yonggeng was out of danger, he trembled and called people nearby to return to the accident site, borrowed a truck, and transported the three bodies of his father, driver and friend back to Hangzhou.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="47" > a rambling summary</h1>
During the Republic of China period, revolutionaries running newspapers, newspaper boys selling newspapers, people reading newspapers, and the government banning newspapers and periodicals became a regular phenomenon in China's public opinion circles. Shi Liangcai became the helmsman of China's public opinion circles by chance. However, because he was just patriotic, he was shot and killed, which is really an unfortunate thing for China. Time is like a white colt passing through the gap, and the history of its own people is gradually covered by the yellow sand of history. I only hope that when people look back on history, they will not forget this former newspaper king and his legendary story.
bibliography:
[1] Pang Rongdi, Selected Studies of Historical Talents, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press, 2014.
[2] Fang Quanlin, editor-in-chief; Pang Rongdi, Shi Liangcai, Modern Newspaper Giants, Shanghai Education Publishing House, 1999.
[3] He Yangming, editor-in-chief: A Study of Historical Talent, Zhejiang University Press, 2019.