As the last feudal dynasty in China, the Qing Dynasty also had many unbelievable events on the road to its demise, which are still unexplained.
The first strange phenomenon: the strange performance of Lushun Peking Opera actors
In 1894, the Sino-Japanese War broke out, and the Japanese captured Arthur and carried out a brutal massacre of the city. However, in the midst of the blood and wailing, the Jixian Teahouse Theater in Xinjie heard melodious Peking Opera singing and gongs and drums.
When the Japanese army broke into the theater, they were stunned by the scene in front of them: on the stage, more than a dozen young actors, expressionless, mechanically performing Peking Opera like puppets. They are between 10 and 15 years old, and together with the staff in the theater, there are more than 200 people in total.
What's even more bizarre is that these actors seem to be completely unaware of what is happening around them, and they ignore the Japanese intrusion and continue their performances. It is reported that these operas were invited by Lushun officials from Tianjin and Beijing, and after Lushun was breached, the officials fled one after another, and only these operas were trapped in the theater.
Seventeen daring actors tried to get out of the theater to find out, but all of them died outside the theater. The rest of the actors chose to continue performing until the last moment of their lives.
The second strange phenomenon: Shashi officials knew nothing about the Sino-Japanese War
Shortly after the end of the First Sino-Japanese War, Japanese diplomat Horiguchi arrived in Shashi, Hubei Province, to prepare for the opening of the consulate. However, he found that none of the local officials understood his intentions.
Horiguchi was surprised, hadn't they received an official letter from Beijing? After some inquiry, he learned an even more shocking fact: these Qing Dynasty officials actually knew nothing about the Sino-Japanese War, which had just taken place!
You must know that the Qing Dynasty court set up a special newspaper for officials, which is equivalent to today's newspaper, to let them know about national events. However, the ignorance of such a major war only shows that they have completely lost their sense of responsibility to the country and the people, and only cares about pleasure and ignores the orders of the imperial court.
The third strange phenomenon: the people of the sun carried the German soldiers ashore
In 1897, Germany forcibly occupied Jiaozhou Bay and sent 120 soldiers to sail to the coast of Rizhao in Shandong Province in four small boats. When the German soldiers landed ashore, they were surprised to find that the local people did not react to their arrival, and some even offered to help them.
The missionaries told the people in Chinese that if they could carry the German soldiers ashore, they would be paid. Hearing this, many civilians really rolled up their trouser legs and carried the German soldiers ashore without hesitation.
In this way, the German army occupied the county seat of Rizhao without any resistance. The German general, Captain von Falkenhein, wrote in his diary: "We took the city of Rizhao with a bag of cigarettes, and everyone was in disbelief. We walked at a leisurely pace, so happy and carefree. ”
These three strange phenomena reflect the decay and degeneration of social life in the last years of the Qing Dynasty.