The nobility of the bone marrow
© Xu Min |
Yu Rongling at the dinner
When I first saw this photo on the Internet, I was immediately fascinated by the look of the old lady in the picture. Although time can make a person's face old, it cannot change the nobility that exudes from a person's bones.
But nobility is not always a good thing, and when the environment is distorted, all the glory of the past can instantly turn into sin. That year, a frenzied crowd broke into her home, ransacked her collection of antiques, calligraphy and paintings, and confiscated the main house. Seeing that the proud and noble woman of the past suddenly became destitute, even poorer than many people at the bottom, the group of people all clapped their hands and felt happy.
Even so, the jealousy is still unfinished. In the following criticism, the old lady suffered round after round of humiliation, until she broke her legs alive in the group of criticism.
At this time, she was 77 years old, and after the stormy devastation, she still lived tenaciously for another six years. People who have seen her are all surprised, despite the inconvenience, the old lady still has charm, grooming and dressing is never sloppy, seeing people always have to put light makeup, talk to people, elegant demeanor, noble temperament, not less than the year.
She is Yu Rongling, the daughter of Yu Geng, the Qing Dynasty's minister to France.
When Yu Rongling was 6 years old, her father Yu Geng became a minister to Japan, and she went to Japan with her parents. In order to let her daughter adapt to the environment as soon as possible, Yu Geng hired a Japanese tutor to teach courses such as culture and etiquette.
At a dinner party, Yu Yongling saw the dance performed by a Japanese geisha and was immediately fascinated by the graceful dancing. When she returned home, she imitated the performance of a geisha, and compared them with each other. It just so happened that the Japanese maid hired by the family learned geisha when she was young and was good at singing and dancing, but because of her mediocre appearance, she later changed her career to become an embassy maid. She saw that Yu Rongling was obsessed with dancing, so she took the initiative to teach her some Japanese songs and dances. is also talented, Yu Rongling can learn it as soon as he learns.
Once, when the Japanese minister and his wife came to visit, Yu Rongling put on a kimono and performed a "Crane and Turtle Dance" for them. "Tsuru and Turtle Dance" is a classic Japanese dance, and many dancers have not learned the essentials after years of study. Seeing that the little Chinese girl in front of them could perform so well, the guests were surprised and couldn't help but praise them repeatedly.
As a parent, it is natural for her daughter to be proud of having such a talent, but limited to her aristocratic status, Yu Geng can't accept her daughter performing in front of people like a play. After the guests left, Yu Geng immediately reprimanded his daughter. But Yu Rongling was unmoved, angry and coquettish, did not back down, and insisted on learning Japanese dance.
In the end, Yu Geng chose to back down, agreed to his daughter's dance learning, and specially invited a famous Japanese dancer from the Red Leaf Pavilion to teach.
In 1900, Yu Geng was transferred to France as minister. Eleven-year-old Yu Rongling followed her parents to Paris. Under the influence of European literature and art, Yu Yongling fell in love with Western song and dance, and met her lifelong mentor, the famous American dancer Isadora Duncan.
At that time, Duncan was recruiting modern dance students in France, and Yu Rongling went there and wanted to sign up to study art. When they first met, Yu Rongling danced a Japanese dance in front of Duncan, and her beautiful dancing posture and soft figure made Duncan accept her as a beginner disciple without hesitation.
Under Duncan's guidance, Yu Rongling began to study dance systematically, and after some hard work, his dance skills became more and more sophisticated.
At the same time, Duncan's pursuit of individuality and emancipation also deeply influenced Yu Yongling, who was no longer satisfied with being a pure dancer, but wanted to express herself on a bigger stage.
In 1902, at the age of 13, Yu Rongling made her public debut in Paris, starring in "Greek Dance", "Roses and Butterflies", "Water Nymphs" and "Spanish Dance". Her most outstanding performance is the butterfly dance, with her light and agile dancing, the butterfly flying posture, the performance of the gods, by the audience praised as the butterfly queen of the East.
In the midst of the praise, Yu Rongling was still not satisfied, and studied ballet with the famous professor Sanafny of the French National Opera.
In 1903, Yu Geng ended his tenure in Paris and returned to Beijing with his wife and daughter.
Soon, a decree came out in the palace that the Empress Dowager Cixi wanted to meet the two girls of the Yu family. When Yu Geng heard this, he hurriedly helped his two daughters to learn court etiquette, such as seeing the Queen Mother to call the ancestor or Lafayette, if the Queen Mother sits, without permission, she must stand or kneel.
On this day, Yu Rongling and her sister Deling followed behind their mother and accompanied the eunuchs of the inner court to the side hall of Renshou Palace. First of all, the Queen Mother ordered people to reward exquisite pastries for the Yu family mother and daughter to enjoy. Half an hour later, the great eunuch Li Lianying brought them into the main hall to meet the Queen Mother. Cixi was very satisfied when she saw that the two sisters were as beautiful as flowers and were familiar with the etiquette of the palace, and said to Mrs. Yu Geng: "I like your two girls very much, do you want them to stay in the palace and be my companion?" ”
Mrs. Yu Geng dared to disobey, and immediately led her two daughters to kneel down and thank her. The Yu sisters have since become the imperial female officials of Cixi.
In those years, the Qing Empire was in domestic and foreign difficulties, and Cixi was often worried about it, and at the suggestion of Li Lianying, Yu Rongling danced for Cixi to relieve her boredom. Cixi saw that foreign dances were very interesting, not only willing to watch them, but also allowed Yu Rongling to rehearse dances in the palace.
In this way, Yu Rongling choreographed many traditional Chinese dances, such as the lotus fairy dance, the fan dance, the sword dance, the bodhisattva dance, and so on.
In addition to dancing, Yu Rongling also served as a translator. She is fluent in many Chinese, familiar with Western social etiquette, and has impressed and praised foreign ministers when she entertains them appropriately.
Cixi was also quite proud of this, and happily, she named Yurong Ling as the lord of Shanshou County, making her a court lady beside her.
At the beginning of 1905, Yu Geng suddenly fell seriously ill and his health deteriorated, so the Yu Rongling sisters applied to Cixi to leave the palace to take care of their father.
Cixi was a little reluctant, but there was no reason to stop her, so she had to allow the two to leave the palace. On the occasion of parting, Cixi told Yu Rongling: "When your father recovers, don't forget to return to the palace." ”
I never came back.
In December 1905, Yu Geng died of illness in Shanghai. Next is the 100 days of filial piety.
After the end of filial piety, Yu Geng's friend before his death wanted to introduce Yu Rongling to marry Liu Chunlin, the last champion of China.
Liu Chunlin is a native of Suning County, Hejian Prefecture, Zhili Province, from a poor family, and his mother once worked as a maid in the prefect's family. With his hard work, he finally won the title of the gold list and won the last imperial examination in 1904.
For 17-year-old Yu Rongling, she is naturally very happy to be the wife of the champion. But Liu Chunlin said that he didn't dare to climb high on the grounds of "I am from a poor family, and Qi Da is not a couple". It was also because of his refusal that Yu Rongling and Tang Baochao had a good marriage.
He is the nephew of Tang Shaoyi, a politician and diplomat in the late Qing Dynasty, who was admitted to the Cavalry Department of the famous French Army Saint-Cyr Military Academy when he studied in France, and became "the first Chinese student to enter the French Army School". Because of his excellent results, the French military newspaper once published his portrait to introduce him.
In 1909, Tang Baochao graduated from the Saint-Cyr Military Academy and served as a dispatcher of the Beiyang Supervision and Training Office after returning to China. After the Xinhai Revolution, he served as a military senator of the Presidential Office with the rank of major general.
Yu Rongling and Tang Baochao had the same experience of studying abroad, and they were very compatible as soon as they communicated, and then they naturally became husband and wife. After marriage, the two respected each other like guests and were happy and harmonious.
In 1928, the government moved south, and the couple were reluctant to go south and stayed in Beijing. For a while, Yu Yongling made a living by teaching, during which Yu Yongling also did fashion design for a while, but the most she did was charity activities, and she participated in many charity performances to help the displaced victims with the funds raised.
In 1949, when the regime changed, history turned a page, and the couple was persuaded to move overseas, but the two eventually chose to stay where they were.
In response, according to the special backgrounds and experiences of the two, Zhou Enlai personally hired Yu Rongling and Tang Baochao as librarians of the Central Museum of Culture and History.
The main job of the librarians is to write literary and historical materials on modern Chinese history based on their own personal experiences. Yu Rongling had a court experience that ordinary people did not have, and she recorded it and serialized it in the magazine "New Observation". In 1957, it was published under the title "Trivia of the Qing Palace". After the book came out, it attracted widespread attention and became a bestseller of the year.
When the reporter interviewed her for this, Yu Rongling was very happy, and said that in the next time, she will continue to work hard to sort out the information, do some in-depth research on the history of Chinese dance, and make a modest contribution to the literary and artistic cause of the motherland.
Yu Rongling's fan dance stills
At this time, Tang Baochao, who was sitting next to her, would light a cigarette for Yu Rongling in a timely manner while she was speaking. This kind of interaction between husband and wife, with tacit understanding, does not need words, just like Bai Juyi's "Pipa Xing", at this time silence is better than sound.
In 1958, Tang Baochao died of illness at the age of 74. This year, Yurong was 69 years old, and the married life of the two lasted for 52 years. Even if heaven and man have been separated forever, the soul is still dependent on each other, whenever the past is mentioned, Yu Rongling will present an eternal picture in his mind: "The first husband was the imperial horse official in the Qing Palace, and his posture of getting on and off the horse was particularly chic, and he admired him very much when he saw him for the first time." ”
Presumably, Tang Baochao in the kingdom of heaven, looking down on the lower realm, will still be moved by the beauty and elegance of his wife. Yu Rongling, who is over the age of old, although his appearance is no longer young, his speech and demeanor, charm still exists, elegance still exists, and nobility still exists.
The dancer's posture is still so slender and slender, his back is still straight, his waist is still soft, and his gait is light when he walks, and he does not look old at all. In addition, he always takes his hair and pulls it behind his head every day, and he is meticulous, and the aristocratic spirit between his eyebrows and eyes is naturally revealed.
In ordinary times, even if someone doesn't like it, they can only blame themselves for not having this qualification. However, once the environment changes and chaos arises, all kinds of wonderful and broiling capital will turn into evil, which makes people envious and jealous.
When she was 77 years old, her home was raided by Red Guards, and the antique calligraphy and paintings in her home were looted. The spacious and bright main house was forcibly occupied, and it could only be inhabited in a small wing. The biggest injury was a broken leg and I couldn't stand again.
Although she has no children, is alone, and has difficulty in moving, she still tries her best to maintain her old image, with neat makeup and a calm demeanor, and she can't see half of her downfall.
A few months later, she wrote a letter to Premier Zhou, describing her situation after the raid, and the prime minister sent someone to bring a bed, table and chair and other household utensils. and agreed to assign Qi Yunjun's daughter as Yu Rongling's text secretary and life assistant, Qi Yunjun is also a librarian of the Museum of Culture and History, and Tang Baochao is a good friend before his death.
Because of the help of Qi Lao's children, running errands, and accompanying and chatting, Yu Rongling can still clean up and decently although he is unable to move.
In January 1973, Yu Yongling died of a lung infection, and her legs were crippled, but she still lived tenaciously for six years. Before she died, she told several people who were guarding the bed: I don't want to be buried after I die, please scatter the ashes into the sea.
Resources:
Baidu Encyclopedia "Yu Geng", "Yu Deling", "Yu Rong Ling"
From the Champs-Elysées to the Forbidden City, from the "Queen of the Butterfly Dance" to the broken legs, Yu Rongling, a female official in the late Qing Dynasty
"Cixi's favored mixed-race palace maid, not a diplomat and a dancer, broke her legs and scattered ashes in the sea in her later years"