【Introduction】Yesterday's National Day, the movie "Chosin Lake", which tells the hero of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, hit a box office of 400 million, accumulating more than 600 million in two days. The protagonist of today's series of visits to Nanjing West Road is also a patriotic story - the newspaper king Shi Liangcai.
Every building contains its own soul. After a century of accumulation, these souls are in harmony with the spirit of people and resonate with the pulse of history, and are presented with bricks and tiles, and finally outline the ten thousand styles of the city of Shanghai. Qiao Zhengyue, a well-known columnist on the history of cities and buildings, wrote "Reading Nanjing West Road" after "Reading Nanjing Road", starting from the Bund to Jing'an Temple, telling the historical story of the 33 buildings that have changed over the centuries on Nanjing West Road.
On the occasion of the Shanghai Tourism Festival and the 2021 National Day, the lecture hall will excerpt 7 buildings and her stories from the Chinese-English bilingual edition of Qiao Zhengyue's "Reading Nanjing West Road". The first two issues tell the architectural story of the German doctor Baolong building the "Tongji Hospital" and the pigment king Bei Runsheng building the "Lion Forest" Pei Villa, which combines Chinese and Western styles, and today, we come to pay tribute to the predecessor of the newspaper industry, Shi Liangcai.
"Reading Nanjing West Road" by Qiao Zhengyue, editor-in-charge of Du Juan Published by Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore, July 2021, priced at 72 yuan
Shi Liangcai was killed by agents in 1934, and his wife burned the guqin she loved together
One winter day in 1934, the sound of a sad piano was heard in villa 257 Hartung Road. Playing the guqin was Shen Qiushui, the wife of Shi Liangcai, the "king of newspapers." On November 13 of that year, Shi Liangcai was assassinated by Kuomintang agents on the Shanghai-Hangzhou Expressway.
"He is an important figure in the history of Chinese journalism. Shi Liangcai was an upright man who insisted on telling the truth to the public. Zhang Yaojun, a researcher at the Shanghai Archives, commented.
Among the reports about Shi Liangcai's death and memorial activities that year, a photo published in the Popular Pictorial was the most impressive.
The black-and-white photograph of the Popular Pictorial shows the spiritual hall set up at Shi Liangcai's Residence on Hartung Road and Shen Qiushui dressed in white. Ms. Shen stroked the seven-stringed guqin next to her husband's body to mourn, and the sound of the piano was miserable, and the mourners wept for it.
It is said that Shi Liangcai and Shen Qiushui are both obsessed with guqin, high mountain flowing water, and know each other. After Shi Liangcai was buried, Shen Qiushui, who had lost his beloved voice, burned the guqin, and lived in seclusion in the Qiushui Mountain Villa in Hangzhou, which Shi Liangcai had built for her, and spent the rest of his life.
When he took over, there were only a few thousand copies, and Shi Liang pushed the Declaration to the highest record of 150,000 copies
Shi Liangcai was the general manager of the Declaration. Before his death, the Declaration was the largest circulation Chinese newspaper in Shanghai.
Born in 1880, he participated in the imperial examination at the age of 20, and has since had a wealth of experience: in 1901, he was admitted to the Hangzhou Silkworm Academy to study, ran yangzheng primary school in Sijing, and later founded the first girls' sericulture school in Shanghai. From 1910 to 1915, he held public offices in the Songjiang Salt Bureau and the Shanghai Customs Clearance Office.
The work of this period made Shi Liangcai deeply disgusted by the deceit of the political circles. He turned to journalism in the hope of promoting social justice through the power of public opinion. Zhang Yaojun said.
In 1912, Shi Liangcai took over the "Declaration" and served as the general manager; at the same time, the commercial field also did a good job, investing in several banks, pharmacies, cotton mills and bookstores
In 1912, Shi Liangcai took over the "Declaration" and served as the general manager. Founded in 1872 by the American Mei Cha, the "Declaration" is one of the oldest newspapers in modern China, but the circulation of Shi Liang was only a few thousand copies when it was taken over.
Time has proven that he was a forward-looking and capable publisher. Shi Liangcai improved the operation of the newspaper, hired meritocrats, attached importance to advertising, cut expenses, and won the support of financial consortia in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Later, the Anti-War commentary of the "Declaration" greatly increased the influence and circulation of the newspaper.
On April 5, 1930, The China Weekly Review introduced that the "Declaration" had a daily circulation of 150,000 copies, making it one of the most influential newspapers in the country. Shi Liangcai himself became "one of the most outstanding figures in education, society and philanthropy in Shanghai, and the head of many universities, hospitals and charitable societies". At the same time, Shi Liangcai also did a good job in the commercial field, investing in several banks, pharmacies, cotton mills and bookstores.
Former residence Tongren Road French villa, Western-style colonnades, fireplaces, Chinese doors and windows, stone lions
Shi Liangcai's residence on Hartung Road (present-day Tongren Road) was a brick and wood French country-style villa with beige facades and a red tile roof.
Shi Liangcai's residence on Hartung Road (present-day Tongren Road) was a brick and wood French country-style villa decorated with ornate ceilings, beautifully patterned mosaic floors on the floor, fireplaces and large staircases made of beige marble
According to the Jing'an District Housing Management Bureau, the villa covers an area of 1222 square meters, with a height of three floors, and was built in 1922. The composition of the main façade is symmetrical and harmonious in proportion, with a sloped roof and bay windows, and an open gallery on the second floor. The gallery balustrade and the first-floor platform balustrade are exquisitely patterned and have traditional Chinese characteristics. The residence has both western columns, fireplaces and decorations, as well as Chinese-style doors and windows, and a pair of stone lions arranged in front of the door, a combination of Chinese and Western. Designed and built by Fengsheng Investment & Development Company, the first floor is a living room, a studio, a sun room, a dining room, a study, etc., a living room and bedroom on the second floor, and a bedroom on the third floor.
This small garden building has maintained its historic appearance, with ornate ceiling decorations, beautifully patterned mosaic floors on the floor, fireplaces and large staircases made of beige marble.
The small and delicate garden has a lush lawn and shaded trees. There is also a red building with traditional Chinese decoration in the courtyard, which is said to have been the prayer hall of historians and the place where ancestral tablets were stored.
Shi Liangcai was assassinated on the highway for exposing Chiang Kai-shek's anti-Japanese behavior and murdering the left wing
In January 1932, Shi Liangcai invited more than 20 people from the industrial and commercial and cultural circles in Shanghai to form a "Nongshen Club" to discuss current affairs, hoping to use newspapers as a propaganda weapon to boost morale and jointly resist foreign enemies. As Shi Liangcai's influence grew, his insistence on resistance and press freedom laid the groundwork for future tragedies.
"After Chiang Kai-shek murdered The Kuomintang leftist leader Deng Yanda in 1933, Soong Ching-ling wrote a letter of protest in English, the Chinese translation of which was published with the help of Shi Liangcai, infuriating Chiang Kai-shek, and the "Declaration" exposed the Kuomintang government's policy of non-resistance also damaged the image of chiang Kai-shek's regime and prompted him to make up his mind to get rid of Shi Liangcai." Zhang Yaojun said.
Designed and built by Fengsheng Investment & Development Company, the first floor is a living room, a studio, a sun room, a dining room, a study, etc., a living room and bedroom on the second floor, and a bedroom on the third floor
According to archival records, on November 13, 1934, Shi Liangcai, who was 55 years old at the time, returned to Shanghai by private car with Shen Qiushui, his son, niece, and a son's classmate surnamed Deng. After a short vacation at Shen Qiushui's residence in Hangzhou, they drove onto the Shanghai-Hangzhou Expressway.
When the car was driving between Hangzhou and Haining, it was stopped by a Buick convertible. There were 7 people in the car, they pierced Shi Liangcai's car tires, shot and killed the driver and Deng's classmates, and chased Shi Liangcai to a cabin on the side of the road, and killed him on the spot. His body was thrown into a dry tank. On November 14, 1934, the English newspaper Continental newspaper reported the case with photographs.
The assassination of Shi Liangcai shocked Shanghai, and people expressed condolences one after another, believing that it was a huge loss to the country. On December 23, 1934, more than 1,300 people attended a memorial service held at the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, and many famous people attended the memorial service or sent a message.
Shi Liangcai positioned the newspaper as serving the people and ushered in a new era
Wu Tiecheng, the mayor of Shanghai Special City, who presided over the memorial service, praised Shi Liangcai's lifelong career. He recalled that Shi Liangcai devoted his life to four social welfare work, and he was one of the pioneers of China's journalism industry, which is worthy of commemoration, and he also promoted the development of education and cultural undertakings. In general, he was interested in anything that was good for the well-being of the country and its people. During this period of Sino-Japanese hostility, he devoted his time and enthusiasm to maintaining peace and order in Shanghai, which should be particularly remembered.
According to a report in the Mainland Daily on December 24, 1934, Mayor Wu also pointed out that the local organizations in Shanghai should continue to carry out the tasks of promoting social well-being that Shi Liangcai had not yet completed, and these tasks were the long-term dedication of the deceased newspaperman.
In a paper entitled "NewspaperMen Running Newspapers-Shi Liangcai's Consciousness of Newspaper Subjectivity," Ye Chong, a doctoral researcher at Fudan University, commented that Shi Liangcai saw another way for the survival and development of popular newspapers, that is, positioning newspaper readers in the people, which is unprecedented in China. Before him, whether it was foreign missionaries, businessmen, Chinese officials or intellectuals, the various factions of forces ran newspapers to show the power of the party or to make money, and the role of newspapers as tools of mass communication was diluted.
"From this point of view, Shi Liangcai and the Declaration have ushered in a new era." He wrote.
【Excerpts from English】
At the quiet stylish garden villa at 257 Tongren Road, a mourning tune from a guqin (traditional string instrument) can be heard coming from the chic abode one wintertime day in 1934. The sorrowful lament is being played by the wife of Shi Liangcai (Shih Liang-ts’ai), a journalist, publisher and long regarded as China’s answer to “Joseph Pulitzer”.
Shi had been assassinated, on November 13, on his way back via the Hu-Hang Highway (between Shanghai and Hangzhou) by a Kuomintang secret agent.
“A significant person in Chinese journalistic history, Shi was a newspaperman with an upright heart who always tried to tell the truth to the public,” said Zhang Yaojun, a researcher of modern Shanghai history from the Shanghai Archives.
Among the Chinese and English newspaper reports of Shi’s death and memorial service, a small photo in a bilingual picture magazine named “Dazhong Huabao” was most touching.
The magazine published a photo showing the mourning hall of Shi’s Hardoon Road residence where his wife Shen Qiushui was seen in white attire playing guqin. It says “Mrs Shi is playing a mourning tune on a seven-string guqin before the body of Mr Shi. The tune sounded like sobbing and visiting mourners cried on hearing the tune”.
It is said Shi got to know Shen through her skills on guqin performance. Shen later burnt the guqin after the burial of Shi and lived a quiet, reclusive life in Qiushui Shanzhuang, a villa bestowed by Shi to her in Hangzhou.
(Tong Yiying is excerpted from "Reading Nanjing West Road", the subtitle is added by the editor, and the order has been adjusted)
For a series of reports on "Reading Shanghai," see the link at the end of the article, a group of stories about Shanghai architecture launched by last year's National Day Lecture Hall.
Author: Qiao Zhengyue
Source: New book "Nanjing West Road", masthead design: Pingyuanhai
Editor: Qian Yichen