Human character is inseparable from the surrounding environment, and good habits can only be cultivated by being exposed to positive influences.
If a person is in a positive environment for a long time, he will be gradually nurtured by the environment, and he may also become a person with noble character and profound thoughts.
Education is profoundly influenced by environmental factors, as we can see from the story of Meng's mother's three moves, who moved three times in search of a better environment. In the late Qing Dynasty, a similar story appeared in the home of Sheng Xuanhuai, the richest man in China.
Sheng Xuanhuai was a wealthy man in the late Qing Dynasty, not only setting 11 "China's best", but also owning a family of as many as 270 maids. These maids enjoyed a relatively egalitarian atmosphere, and the children of two of the maids became prominent figures during the Republican period.
One became Zhao Yidi, the confidant of the young marshal Zhang Xueliang, and the other became Chiang Kai-shek's partner Song Meiling. So, how did these two maids raise such an outstanding daughter? What kind of unique charm does Sheng Xuanhuai's home contain?
The late Qing Dynasty was rich and prosperous
Sheng Xuanhuai was born in 1844 in Wujin, Jiangsu Province, to a family full of books. His grandfather, Sheng Long, was an official with a strong background who served as the governor of Zhili Prefecture; His father, Sheng Kang, was a Jinshi and the first, and the official went to Hubei to be a political envoy.
According to common sense, he seems destined to follow in the footsteps of his ancestors and enter the official career through the imperial examination.
Indeed, in the first half of Sheng Xuanhuai's life, everything seemed to be developing according to this trajectory, and he was awarded the title of Xiucai at the age of 22, and he was also qualified to participate in the higher-level township examination.
At this time, the road to the imperial examination suddenly became bumpy, and the three consecutive township examinations failed to meet their wishes, and it is conceivable that frustration arose. The door of fate was not closed to him, and thanks to his father's old friendship with Li Hongzhang, a famous minister of the Qing Dynasty, he found a new way out.
Li Hongzhang remembered the old relationship, and saw that Sheng Xuanhuai grew up in the official eunuch's house since he was a child, so he arranged for him to be his staff. During his tenure, Sheng Xuanhuai completed every task properly, and not only that, but also showed excellent business acumen.
With the rise of the Qing court's Westernization movement, he seized the opportunity to make the foreign trade business surging and won the reputation of "red-top businessman".
Many people will think of Hu Xueyan when they mention these four words, in fact, the title of "red-top businessman" means those businessmen who not only serve the government, but also accumulate personal wealth, Sheng Xuanhuai is one of them.
In his 30-year business journey, he has single-handedly built a number of large enterprises, such as Kaiping Mining Bureau, whose business covers transportation, telegraph, finance and other fields.
With the continuous growth of economic strength, Sheng Xuanhuai's reputation and career are booming, and his business achievements not only bring fame and fortune but also make his official position rise all the way, and he once became the leader of Vanity Fair.
However, behind this brilliance there is a competitor that should not be underestimated, that is, another famous Huizhou business magnate, Hu Xueyan.
Hu Xueyan also took the road of government and business, and it was Zuo Zongtang who supported him behind him, and the financial support for Hu Xueyan to win the battle of Xinjiang was indispensable.
Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang had sharp differences in political views, one advocated armed resistance, the other advocated peace negotiations, the other focused on land defense, and the other emphasized maritime defense.
The fierce political confrontation between them has also led to the formation and confrontation of the two major forces.
When the contradiction between Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang deepened, Sheng Xuanhuai became a sharp blade used by the latter to fight against the former, and if he wanted to touch Zuo Zongtang's sore spot, he naturally had to start with his most powerful assistant Hu Xueyan.
Sheng Xuanhuai, a young entrepreneur with his unique business strategy and innovative thinking, quickly surpassed Hu Xueyan and forced him into bankruptcy, and then naturally climbed to the peak of wealth at that time.
The Sheng family treats servants well, and was expelled from her husband's house because of her daughter's elopement - Lu Baozhen
Life must be happy, don't make the gold bottle empty to the moon! Sheng Xuanhuai's career is legendary, and his private life is equally colorful.
He had seven wives and sixteen children, and such a large family naturally needed many helpers, each of whom had her own butler and a group of attendant nannies to take care of the housework.
It is reported that the Sheng family employs more than two hundred servants, but unlike other wealthy families, they are extremely strict with their servants. The maids of the Sheng family are not only outstanding, but some of them also come from bookish families, with high education and wide knowledge.
There is such a rule in the Sheng family, if the maid is of the age of marriage, if she is willing, Sheng Huaixuan will personally arrange a decent marriage for them.
Under such circumstances, most of the maids of the Sheng family married into famous families. Some people may wonder about this matter, don't these wealthy businessmen worry about damaging the family's reputation if they marry other people's maids?
Of course not, for them to be able to have something to do with the Sheng family, even if it is to marry the maid of the Sheng family, it is also a happy thing.
What's more, every maid of the Sheng family is quite talented, and her appearance is also a superior choice, and the men of the rich family will not say "no" to such a marriage.
It is precisely because of this that two maids later became famous mothers during the Republic of China, they were Lu Baozhen and Ni Guizhen.
First of all, let's talk about Lu Baozhen, her name is not so popular, but she has a daughter who is Miss Zhao Si, a celebrity of the Republic of China who dominated the crowd in that era, that is, the third wife of General Zhang Xueliang.
As one of the many maids of the Sheng family, Lu Baozhen was not brilliant, and she joined the Sheng family early to work hard in order to make a living. She has a fresh appearance, generous manners, and is hardworking and capable, winning praise from the Sheng family.
When Lu Baozhen reached the marriageable age, Sheng Huaixuan personally decided to marry her to his old subordinate, that is, Zhao Qinghua, who was the Minister of Communications at the time.
Although Zhao Qinghua already had a family at that time, and Lu Baozhen could only marry him as a partial house, he still accepted this marriage. In the eyes of ordinary people, it is already an honor to be able to marry into the family of the eunuch, and naturally they don't care too much about the status.
After Lu Baozhen got married, she was humble and polite, and quickly won the respect of the Zhao Mansion, and she was knowledgeable, polite, cute, and harmonious with the relationship between the main room, and she was deeply favored by Zhao Qinghua.
In her years of married life, she has added four men and three daughters to the Zhao family, one of whom is the well-known Miss Zhao Yidi.
The name Zhao Yidi is closely related to Zhang Xueliang, and he is the longest-term lover of the young marshal's life, and the two have gone through seventy years of ups and downs together through countless hardships and obstacles.
The two beauties met at a ball in Tianjin, and Zhao Yidi was just a fifteen-year-old middle school student at the time, and a beautiful love story began.
However, his father was furious when he learned of this relationship, the reason was that Zhang Xueliang already had a family, and Zhao Yidi could only be used as a side room when he married, and as a wealthy man in the late Qing Dynasty, he could not accept his daughter to live such a life, so he could only restrict his daughter's freedom.
At that time, Zhang Xueliang urgently needed to return to the Northeast due to an accident with his father Zhang Zuolin, and the two were forced to separate. The power of love made Miss Zhao Er make a choice to disobey her father, desperately escape from the house over the wall, and go to the northeast to pursue Zhang Xueliang.
This move angered Zhao Qinghua, and even publicly announced the severance of father-daughter relationship with Zhao Yidi, and Lu Baozhen was also snubbed and finally expelled from the house, and since then she has been dependent on her son Zhao Guoliang for her life.
Zhang Xueliang once went to visit Lu Baozhen with Zhao Yidi, which was an affectionate reunion but also the last meeting between mother and daughter, and soon Lu Baozhen died in Shanghai due to illness.
cultivated the famous three sisters of the Song family - Ni Guizhen
After talking about Lu Baozhen, let's take a look at Ni Guizhen, another maid of the Sheng family, who worked hard to raise the three sisters of the Song family, who were famous during the Republic of China, one of which was Chiang Kai-shek's partner Song Meiling.
Ni Guizhen was born in 1869 in Nijiayan, Yuyao, Zhejiang, although the family was not wealthy, but it was a bookish family, and her parents were the descendants of Xu Guangqi, a pastor in the late Qing Dynasty and a scientist in the Ming Dynasty.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, women generally bound their feet and their education level was not high, under the influence of the family environment, Ni Guizhen was not only enlightened and knowledgeable, but also had a pair of free feet.
Because he received a secondary education, he was proficient in mathematics and was also good at playing the piano, and when he grew up, he worked as a teacher in school. With the death of her father, Ni Guizhen's family fell into the middle of the road and finally had to enter the Sheng family to become a maid.
Her role is not simply chores, but she is responsible for raising and teaching young women, acting as a caring nanny for their lives and as a tutor for imparting knowledge.
Later, her marriage tied her to a staunch Christian pastor, Song Jiashu, and her fate changed.
As a missionary and entrepreneur, Song Yaoru has always been the force behind Dr. Sun Yat-sen, supporting the Three People's Principles of the Democratic Revolution, and Mr. Sun Yat-sen has even praised him as the hero behind the Chinese revolution.
Behind Song Yaoru, Ni Guizhen is the strongest backing, accumulating a certain amount of wealth during her work in the Sheng family, fully supporting her husband's career, and at the same time using her connections to help her husband enter the high-level social circle.
At the same time, Ni Guizhen also knows the importance of education to change destiny, attaches great importance to the education of children, insists on letting children receive modern education, and sets an example in daily life.
Her three daughters, Soong Ai Ling, Soong Ching Ling, and Soong Mei Ling, grew up to marry prominent men Kong Xiangxi, Sun Yat-sen, and Chiang Kai-shek.
The eldest son, Song Ziwen, was famous as a politician, diplomat, and financier during the Republic of China, and the other two sons, Song Ziliang and Song Zian, were also known for their talents.
Ni Guizhen also devoted her life to charity, sparing no effort to establish many schools and orphanages, providing assistance to the poor, and quietly helping many children with selfless dedication.
In her early years, when she was not financially well-off, her mother always cut back on food and clothing, donated the money she saved to the revolutionary cause, and spared no effort to fund schools and churches to help those living in poverty......
Lu Baozhen and Ni Guizhen can have such achievements, in fact, they are inseparable from the family atmosphere and environment of the Sheng family, and you can imagine how important the impact of the environment is on people.
The maids in the family are all better than the other, and it is not for nothing that the Sheng family was famous for being a rich party at that time. What do you think differently about this?