She is Zhang Qingfang, the eldest daughter of the famous Kuomintang general Zhang Lingfu, and her biological mother Wu Hailan was killed by her father when she was less than two years old, but when her mother's family finally found her after the founding of the People's Republic of China, they found that she had no resentment towards her father, but with a kind of respect and admiration - what is going on?
Zhang Lingfu's youthful past
Zhang Lingfu, as one of the generals who left his name in the Kuomintang, from the second national revolution in the Republic of China period, to the War of Resistance against Japan, and finally died in the War of Liberation, I believe many people have heard of this name before.
But what may surprise many people is that the name "Zhang Lingfu" is not his original name, his original name is "Zhang Zhonglin", and the reason for the name change is closely related to the "wife murder case" throughout this article.
Born in 1903 in Chang'an County, Shaanxi Province, Zhang Lingfu was never imagined to be a sensational accomplishment in his childhood and youth, for no other reason than his poor family, and even when he was admitted to the history department of Peking University at the age of 20, he was forced to drop out because he could not afford to pay the tuition.
And it was also when Zhang Lingfu was 20 years old that the family decided a family affair for him according to the traditional rules, which was his first wife Xing Fengying.
Xing Fengying is a gentle and kind woman, who meets the traditional definition of "good wife", but at this time, new ideas are spreading in China, and Zhang Lingfu is also young and vigorous, so he only passively accepted this family affair and did not take the initiative to have any intimacy with Xing Fengying.
Soon after this, Zhang Lingfu joined the Whampoa Military Academy and graduated as a fourth-term student, starting a lifetime of military life.
Zhang Lingfu's military talents were also reflected in the wars in which he participated: he first participated in the Second National Revolution, and then was responsible for the pursuit of the Red Fourth Front Army in the Kuomintang's "encirclement and suppression" operation, and was appreciated by his superior, Hu Zongnan, for his achievements, which also laid the groundwork for his future protection by Hu Zongnan.
The sensational "Ancient City Wife Murder Case"
In 1933, when Zhang Lingfu was 30 years old, he was introduced to Wu Hailan, who was only eighteen or nineteen years old at the time, on the way to lead the troops to fight.
Wu Hailan, who is beautiful and lively as a young man, captured Zhang Lingfu's heart at once, he has had no contact with his first wife for many years and has no children, so he directly decided to divorce Xing Fengying and marry Wu Hailan as his wife.
At first, the married life of the two can be described as honey and oil, and soon gave birth to a daughter - Zhang Qingfang, the eldest daughter of Zhang Lingfu. But everything took a turn for the worse after three years of marriage: in 1936, the sensational "Ancient City Wife Murder Case" occurred, and everyone couldn't believe that Zhang Lingfu actually shot his wife Wu Hailan.
After the case, Wu Hailan's brother Wu Zheng filed an appeal as soon as possible, and went to Xi'an, where the crime occurred, to redress his sister's grievances. The local women's federation also paid attention to the matter for the first time, and at this time, Zhang Xueliang's wife Yu Fengzhi was staying in Xi'an, and she quickly brought the news back to Nanjing and told Chiang Kai-shek's wife Song Meiling. At this point, this incident really alarmed the Central Committee of the Kuomintang.
For the Kuomintang generals who had such a bad influence, Chiang Kai-shek immediately ordered to send people to escort Zhang Lingfu to Nanjing for trial. This time, Hu Zongnan did not obey this order, although he had no way to protect Zhang Lingfu from escaping, but he still won him the freedom to go to Nanjing on his own, without having to be mistreated by the prisoners during the fatigue of the journey.
After arriving in Nanjing, the court immediately synthesized the facts and bad influence of Zhang Lingfu's murder and sentenced him to death. However, just a few days before the execution, Zhang Lingfu contracted malaria, seized the opportunity of the treatment to appeal, and then successfully commuted his sentence to 10 years.
Speaking of which, I have to mention the mystery of the reason why Zhang Lingfu killed his wife. There are two main schools of speculation that have been circulated to this day: the "disloyalty" theory and the "communist" theory, and the two theories seem to be divergent, but in the end they reach a subtle unity.
The first is the "theory of infidelity", which was also a common speculation at the time. There is a story that Zhang Lingfu once heard his subordinates say that he "saw Wu Hailan going in and out of the movie theater with other men", and he has always been a hot-tempered and resolute person, so without confirming it, he went home and impulsively shot Wu Hailan.
In contrast, the "communist theory" was more reasonable, because it was a period of "encirclement and suppression," and any disturbance could cause changes in the situation.
At this time, Zhang Lingfu mentioned to his subordinates that military documents were lost, suspecting that his wife Wu Hailan had stolen secrets and passed them on to the Kuomintang for "encirclement and suppression" - another point, Wu Hailan's brother Wu Zheng was indeed an underground party worker, so it seems more reasonable for Zhang Lingfu to kill his wife because of suspicion during the critical period of the war.
However, there is a similarity between these two theories, that is, they both lack empirical evidence, and in the end, Zhang Lingfu successfully appealed and was successfully exempted from the death penalty, it is not difficult to speculate that these two reasons may be "smoke bombs" released to the outside world, covering up each other: if the "disloyal theory" is true, then the "common theory" is to cover up Zhang Lingfu's irritable personality and make his behavior understandable;
If the "communist theory" is true, then military secrets are involved, and the Kuomintang side is naturally more inclined to talk about the facts of the case and move closer to the murder in order to avoid the deeper reasons.
Zhang Qingfang's strong growth
In any case, the verdict of the "Wife Murder Case in the Ancient City" has been decided, and Zhang Lingfu also changed his original name Zhang Zhonglin at this time - this name has become a "wife murderer" that the people talk about, changed his name to Zhang Lingfu, and retained Zhong Lin as the character. Before he was officially imprisoned, Zhang Lingfu was allowed to return to his hometown.
Zhang Lingfu and Wu Hailan's daughter, Zhang Qingfang, was sent to Zhang Lingfu's hometown at the time of the crime, where she was taken care of by her father. Zhang Lingfu returned to his hometown this time and unexpectedly found that his first wife Xing Fengying did not break up with him because she divorced her, but had been helping to take care of this little daughter who was less than two years old in the countryside, reducing a lot of burden for the old father.
Perhaps it was the worry about the uncertain future after being imprisoned, or perhaps it was moved by Xing Fengying's kindness and gentleness, after Zhang Lingfu's family visit ended, Xing Fengying became pregnant with his child, and gave birth to his eldest son Zhang Juli a year later.
Zhang Qingfang was sent to the countryside when she was a child and has been raised by Xing Fengying, it can be said that Xing Fengying's adoptive mother is more like a "mother" in her mind.
Although Zhang Lingfu had a short period of warmth with Xing Fengying before being imprisoned, after being released from prison to continue his military career, he did not take Xing Fengying and this son and daughter to raise him, but soon after being introduced by his subordinate Liu Guangyu, he married his third wife Wang Yuling (one said "Ling").
So Xing Fengying raised this son and daughter alone, and pulled them to grow up, and the hardships can be imagined. The most admirable thing is that Xing Fengying did not treat Zhang Qingfang harshly because she was not her biological daughter, or gave up on her in the most difficult time, but let her get the same love and attention as Zhang Juli.
Zhang Qingfang and Zhang Juli, who grew up in such an environment, were deeply influenced by their mothers, were considerate of their mother's difficulties, and worked hard to subsidize their families when they were teenagers.
Soon after Zhang Lingfu returned to the team, the horn of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was blown all over the land of China, and the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China also put aside their previous suspicions and joined hands to fight against foreign invaders. It was during this period of time that Zhang Lingfu made contributions several times, participated in a series of battles such as the Battle of Songhu, the Battle of Nanjing, and the Battle of Changsha, and contributed his own strength to the resistance against Japan.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the beginning of the War of Liberation, Zhang Lingfu was still on the front line. The Chinese Communist Party had an attitude of cherishing his talents, and hoped to absorb this Kuomintang general who had contributed to the fight against Japan rather than fighting, but this matter did not succeed in the end, and Zhang Lingfu was also killed in the Battle of Menglianggu, and his life of ups and downs came to an end.
At the 2005 commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Central Military Commission and the State Council fully affirmed Zhang Lingfu's contribution to the War of Resistance against Japan, and his eldest son Zhang Juli received an anti-Japanese commemorative medal on his behalf.
Looking back on the past, the light boat has passed over the Ten Thousand Mountains
It is worth mentioning that Wu Hailan's father Wu Xuebing and brother Wu Zheng were full of concern and worry about Zhang Qingfang after the case, and Wu Xuebing mentioned many times that he was worried that Zhang Qingfang was also killed by Zhang Lingfu, so the family has been mobilizing all their relationships to find Zhang Qingfang as much as possible, wanting to confirm her safety and personally take care of her growing up.
But the world makes people, because Zhang Qingfang originally lived in the countryside with her adoptive mother Xing Fengying, the news was blocked, and Zhang Lingfu did not take Xing Fengying and her children to her side after being released from prison, Xing Fengying did not get more attention in the news and rumors, which made the Wu family unable to get news of Zhang Qingfang for a long time.
It wasn't until a few years later that Wu Zhengqing's daughter, Wu Zhengqing, read by chance that someone had rewritten the "Wife Murder Case in the Ancient City" while reading the newspaper, and according to the subsequent description of Zhang Qingfang's life in the article, she finally learned about her situation: Zhang Qingfang had been living with Xing Fengying, and took over her work in the factory after Xing Fengying retired from the factory.
Wu Zhengqing, who was excited, immediately decided to go to Xi'an to find this cousin, and finally recognized her with the help of Zhang Qingfang's colleague Shi Suying, and the persistence of three generations of the Wu family was moving.
But the point that everyone is most concerned about is Zhang Qingfang's attitude towards her biological father Zhang Lingfu: she has not resented Zhang Lingfu because she killed his biological mother Wu Hailan, but is more indifferent, and she also respects her father's military industry. For the Wu family, this is undoubtedly a "betrayal", but combined with Zhang Qingfang's growth experience, her attitude is actually not surprising.
First of all, Zhang Qingfang grew up in the countryside since she was a child, and her biological father and mother actually did not leave a deep impression on her in this regard, but were more like two "strangers" who were related by blood.
Moreover, Zhang Qingfang was raised by Xing Fengying since she was a child, Xing Fengying was able to take care of his old father and this daughter who had no blood relationship with him in the countryside after divorcing Zhang Lingfu, she was very kind, with the generosity of repaying grievances with virtue, Zhang Qingfang, who was brought up by such a mother, must have a similar personality, and will not be a person who let resentment affect his life.
Moreover, although the Wu family has paid a lot to find Zhang Qingfang, from a practical point of view, Zhang Qingfang was not raised by them, so they naturally do not have deep feelings for their biological mother Wu Hailan and even the family members who took her.
The sensational case of that year, for a little girl who was still babbling, she could not understand such a heavy fact, and in her growth process, she had actually experienced the tyranny and ferocity of the Japanese invaders, so it was very natural to respect and admire her biological father's achievements in resisting Japan.
Bibliography:
[1] The reactionaries in "The Southern Expedition and the Northern War" The famous anti-Japanese generals Zhang Lingfu and Ji Peng, the humanities and history of the country
[2] Zhang Lingfu, Lu Hanzi, the Twelve Disciples of Jiang Gong, National Humanities History
[3] Zhang Lingfu and Wu Yuan as I know them, the essence of literature and history