Original: Sun Qingli
This year marks the 110th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution. The New Army Uprising in Wuchang, Hubei Province, on October 10, 1911 (August 19, 1911 in the lunar calendar), fired the first shot to overthrow the Manchu Qing Dynasty and sounded the death knell of the feudal imperial system in 2000. "Although Chu has three households, qin will die in Chu", the subsequent Defense War of Yangxia and the Qing army burning Hankou, Chinese newspapers have also attracted the attention of world public opinion. The heroic ancestors of Wuhan made great sacrifices, and the foreigners living in the Hankou Concession left images of history with cameras in their hands.
On November 10, 1911, the "Declaration" contained: The tragedy of the Northern Army burning and killing the Han people. When Feng Guozhang took over the northern army, his headquarters Yi Yiqian and Tie Zhongshi asked Feng to issue orders as usual. Feng Guozhang took advantage of the success of the military of The Sixth and Seventh Grades of the First Dynasty, even if Yi Yiqian was the temporary commander, but Yi Tie and Yi Tie falsely believed that it was a military necessity, that is, he issued an urgent order, saying that he was afraid that there were revolutionaries hiding in the streets and alleys of Hankou and fighting in the streets and alleys, and he had to burn the houses to the ground, so he set fire to them for three days and three nights without extinguishing them. Outsiders watching the battle, Xian said that Chinese officers were barbaric, and blamed the people's revolution.
On the ninth day of the first month, Feng Guozhang suddenly ordered the officials and troops to set fire to the town in Hankou in three ways, one from the back street of the hydropower company, one from the four official halls, and one from the jade belt door, burning until three days, the fire had not been extinguished, and the situation was very miserable.
It is reported that this policy was presided over by Tie Zhong, the military counselor of Hubei Province, and after Gai Tie started the chaos, he rushed out of the Camp of Yin Chang to ask him to take him in, and when Yin returned to Beijing, he used Feng Chong as a staff officer of the Feng Chong Army, who was recommended by Tie, and Tie made this plan as revenge for Yun.
Hankou Huajie overheated range
The Japanese Consulate General in Hankou, November 1, 1911, at 8:00 p.m. Intelligence No. 19 said: The fire in Hankou City last night has never been extinguished, and it has become more intense than noon today, and it is near the Spring Theater in the city center, so it has turned into scorched earth. The fires remain fierce tonight. Because the revolutionary army insisted on holding the city and not retreating, the officers and soldiers were forced to carry out fire attacks. The disaster-stricken citizens helped the elderly and their children and fled in a desperate situation. At this time, the revolutionary army had not yet withdrawn from the city, and still guarded the broken wall window of the house on the city street, skillfully sniping at the officers and soldiers, and it was not easy for the officers and troops to enter the city streets. ...... Feng said: In order to expel the stubborn enemy, in addition to burning down all the urban areas of China, it is not even inevitable to ask all foreigners in the concessions of various countries to temporarily withdraw.
The telegram from British Minister Zhu Erdian to the British Foreign Secretary also clearly pointed out: "After expelling the rebel army, the Qing army entered the city of Hankou and set fire to it." A telegram from the British Commander-in-Chief in China to the British Admiralty on 30 October 1911 said: "The Qing army entered Hankou at 2 o'clock this afternoon, and after expelling the rebels, set fire to the city. ”
In a telegram from Feng Guozhang, the commander of the Qing army, to Yuan Shikai, he said: At the beginning of the ninth day of the first month (October 30), I and the bandits fought with each other, and when the bandits fired, they were destroyed for me. There are many bandits on foot, all hiding in Han Town, many temptations, and finally not revealed, the street market is complex, and it is difficult to venture forward. Hanzhen... For several days, artillery bombardment burned and burned many places, making it difficult for the bandits to stop.
The old photos interpreted below are from the website of the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom, and are two of the old photos taken in Wuhan during the Xinhai Revolution in the university's collection. The title of the note at the time the photo was downloaded, picture 1 is Forever fires in Hankow (multiple fires burning in Hankou); picture 2 is Qing army soldiers napping beside a field gun (Qing artillery taking a break). The picture shown in the photo has a very live sense of the scene, and documentarily leaves the tragic situation in the Hankou Huajie urban area in the process of the Yangxia defense war. This scene was frozen by a good photographer and left for us to watch a hundred years later.
Figure 1: Many parts of the Hankou Chinese border are burning
However, where was the photo taken and what area of Hankou was the picture shown? At the horizon on the left quarter of the picture in Figure 1 are the two landmark buildings at the junction of the Hankou British Concession and the Huajie Boundary at that time, from left to right, the Houcheng Road (now Zhongshan Avenue), the Zhejiang Industrial Bank (the intersection of Zhongshan Avenue and the Jianghan Junction of Zhongshan Avenue) and the Water Tower, and the place where the smoke and fire rose was the core area of the Hankou Huajie at that time. In the lower left corner of the close-up is a high ground with a border and a single row of trees. In the middle of a tree was cut down, and the prostrate branches were visible. It was clearly intended to be done, for example, to observe the situation of battle or to provide firing range for artillery.
According to the relative location of the Industrial Bank and the Water Tower seen in the picture, it can be roughly inferred that the location of the photo was taken, that is, the area diagonally opposite the xinhai martyrs' tomb on the stadium street, where the golf course run by the Germans at that time was located, and the road name of the stadium street was derived from it. The water surface of the low-lying lake pond on the right is a trace of the old road left by the diversion of the Han River in history, and the map of the same period is marked as a duck egg shell.
Figure 2 In the same golf course as the picture, the circle is a water tower
The original photo in Figure 2 was overexposed, and the details of the smoke of the fire and the outline of the water tower (at the circle) were revealed through the light reduction operation. Based on the single-line arrangement of trees, the details of the reappearance can be determined that this photo is related to the terrain in Figure 1, that is, the photographer shoots the fire in Figure 1 from the perspective of the cannon. The Qing artillery taking a nap in the photo contrasts sharply with the fiercely burning Han town, making people sigh for the cruelty and ruthlessness of the war. This is an immersive feeling that written historical materials cannot bring us.
Some of these fires were triggered by the battles between the two sides, but most of them were organized by the Qing army in order to drive away the sniper resistance in the streets and alleys of Hanzhen. The fire burned for four days before it was extinguished.
According to Edwin. In J. Dingle's book "Experiencing the Chinese Revolution", it is recorded that Europeans gathered on the roofs of the concession, watching all this, and feeling heart-rending pain. It is as if a man stares blankly at a boiling cauldron, imagining the back of a dazzling fire, where thousands of people make a sad farewell to their homes.....
On the 1930 map (golf) the location of the course, note that there are trees as markers for the course boundary
The perspective of the photo in Figure 1 is within the fan-shaped red line, the white line is the reference line from the shooting site to the water tower, and the yellow circle is the estimated smoke area, which is shown on both sides of Tuban Street (Unification Street), Changsheng Street (Minzu Road), and south of Changdi Street, until the area near the Yaowang Temple and the Shanshan Guild Hall.
Salvage of urban memories Hook sinks the past of the three towns
Hubei Wuchang Military Government (Red House, Parade Ground)
EDIT: Sailor