We often fall into a vague situation in the evaluation of historical figures.
In the political arena of the Republic of China period, a number of representative political figures emerged, and many people said that the politicians at that time were degenerate, but such an evaluation was too one-sided, the times were changing rapidly, and no one could represent absolute justice. When it comes to the history of the Republic of China, there are often three words "traitors", because under the humiliation of the great powers, many people "kneel down" and pray for their giving, losing their backbone as Chinese.
When the May Fourth Movement broke out in 1919, their slogan was to "punish the national thief internally and fight for sovereignty externally", and the national thief here refers to Lu Zongyu, Zhang Zongxiang, and Cao Rulin, because their pro-Japanese behavior caused great damage to China's interests at that time, which made the Chinese people extremely dissatisfied. Under the trend of ideological enlightenment, some people with lofty ideals targeted these traitors, especially to let the government of the Republic of China at that time understand that Chinese had absolute backbone, because the focus of attention at that time was still far above the Paris Union agreement to transfer all germany's rights and interests in the Shandong Peninsula to Japan, but China, as the victorious country, was insulted by this and really ignited the people.
Many times, when asking people around them about the history of this period, many people often confuse the characters, and even show the historical events. When mentioning Lu Zongyu and Lu Zhengxiang, many people often can't distinguish between the two and confuse the two, so it is necessary to distinguish between these two.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="30" > Lu Zongyu who is selling out his country and seeking glory</h1>
Lu Zongyu studied from Zhang Xiao as a child, and in 1899 he went to Waseda University in Japan at his own expense to study political science and economics. After returning to China in 1902, he managed taxation at Chongwenmen in Beijing, and served as a teacher and chief of the patrol department of the Jinshi Hall and the Police Academy. In the winter of 1905, he went abroad with Zaizawa to investigate constitutionalism. In 1907, he was transferred to the General Office of the Fengtian Ocean Affairs Bureau and in charge of salt affairs in the three eastern provinces. Due to the intensification of looting, the income of salt classes surged more than twice in 3 years, which was appreciated by the Qing court. The following year, he was promoted to alternate Sipin Kyodo. In 1909, he entered Beijing as a librarian at the Constitutional Compilation and Inspection Museum. In October 1910, the Qing government announced the preparation of a constitution and was elected as a senior member of parliament. The early political career of Lu Zongyu was mainly related to the career of the Qing government.
After the Wuchang Uprising, Lu Zongyu served as the Right Minister of the Du Branch and acting deputy chancellor. Later, he served as the financial adviser to the Presidential Office of Yuan Shikai of the Republic of China. In 1913 he was elected to the Senate and a member of the Constitution Drafting Committee. In December of the same year, he was specially appointed by Yuan Shikai as minister plenipotentiary in Japan and participated in Yuan Shikai's traitorous activities in Japan. As a representative of Yuan Shikai's forces, Lu Zongyu was quite active in the political arena in the early days of the Republic of China, especially under the influence of Yuan Shikai's pro-Japanese ideas, Lu Zongyu himself became a representative of the pro-Japanese faction.
At the beginning of 1915, dispatched by Yuan Shikai, Lu Zongyu, together with Lu Zhengxiang and Cao Rulin, participated in the negotiations of the Japanese representative Ambassador Ri Zhiyi from beginning to end, and signed the "Twenty-one Articles" of mourning power and humiliating the country. Although in this process, Yuan Shikai, Lu Zhengxiang and others tried to resist this treaty of loss of power and humiliation, at least to delay the process of signing the treaty, so that China can get the pity of Western countries, especially to get their intervention, but this illusion was finally shattered. Eventually, under the huge gap in national strength, Yuan Shikai also initially resisted the "Twenty-One Articles" and finally acquiesced in signing this humiliating peace treaty. At that time, Lu Zhengxiang, Lu Zongyu and others had already been called "traitors" by the Chinese people.
On June 8, 1915, on behalf of the government of the Republic of China, Lu Zongyu exchanged letters with Japan to approve the above-mentioned treaty on the "Twenty-One Articles", and at this point, Lu Zongyu's traitorous name was confirmed.
After that, Lu Zongyu actively participated in Japan to win the support of the Japanese cabinet for Yuan Shikai to become emperor and create a certain international atmosphere, and at this time, Lu Zongyu was also completely on the side of Yuan Shikai. Shortly after Yuan Shikai's death, Lu Zongyu left his post in Japan and returned to China as the chairman of the shareholders of the Bank of Communications.
When the National Assembly was first restored, Lu Zongyu became a member of the Senate and continued to show his style in the political arena. In August 1917, the Sino-Japanese Joint Venture Bank was established in Beijing, with Lu Zongyu as prime minister, who became a public agent of Japan and borrowed money from Japan many times. At this time, Lu Zongyu may have thought that Japan's borrowing was a good intention, especially to solve the urgent needs of China at that time, but he forgot that the premise of his borrowing was to sell out the national interest first.
In November 1917, Lu Zongyu became a member of the Provisional Senate. In April and August 1918, Lu Zongyu, in the name of the premier of Huiye Bank, signed a "cable telegraph loan" and a "gold mine and forest loan in Kyrgyzstan and Hei provinces" on behalf of the government of Japan, totaling 50 million yen, and mortgaged the property, proceeds and forest gold resources of Jihei provinces to Japan. This is undoubtedly the long-term interests of China in exchange for short-term loan support, which is also an important reason why Lu Zongyu was later accused of being a traitor, in addition to signing the twenty-one articles, the borrowing of Japan in exchange for national interests is itself full of irony.
In 1919, the "May Fourth Movement" broke out, and the three "Lu Zongyu, Zhang Zongxiang, and Cao Rulin" were spurned by many people for being "traitors", and the Beiyang government, in desperation, dismissed these three people from their official positions.
When the news reached Lu Zongyu's hometown, the county's business circles, peasant associations, and educational circles all issued open letters, angrily denouncing the Beiyang government's behavior of "insulting soldiers and raising adulterers." A conference held in Jiaoshi on May 13 with more than 10,000 people from all walks of life. The congress unanimously resolved to expel Lu Zongyu from his hometown and send a telegram to the whole country, making this traitor in his hometown a strange shame and great humiliation for the townspeople. At this point, Lu Zongyu became a person without a rural origin, which was an absolute humiliation for a person in the context of the times at that time. However, the township people's condemnation of Lu Zongyu was not over, and in June, the Haining villagers gathered again and decided to divide the three stones and set them up in front of the Yi Temple in Yanguan Town (the seat of Hainingyuan County, that is, the urban area, that is, the birthplace of Lu Zongyu), outside the north gate, and next to the Zhenhai Pagoda (that is, the side of the Haitang pond in the scenic spot of Guanchao), with the inscription "Traitor Lu Zongyu". Whenever the townspeople passed by here, they scolded the three monuments.
Lu Zongyu, who was far away in Beijing at the time, was deeply disturbed when he learned of such news, so he bribed Zhixian of Haining County to hope that he would destroy the monument, but under the obstruction of the people, the matter was delayed. It was not until Xu Shichang became president that he ordered the demolition of these three monuments. At this point, the whereabouts of the three stele were unknown, until 1985, when Haining County was cleaning up the place, a stone stele of "traitorOus thief Lu Zongyu" was excavated, which also proved that there was indeed a thing in the context of the times at that time, and Lu Zongyu in the Republic of China period sat on the reputation of "traitor".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="16" > Lu Zhengxiang refused to sign the Paris Peace Treaty</h1>
Lu Zhengxiang, also known as Lu Zhengxiang and Lu Zixin, a native of Shanghai, originally from Taicang, Jiangsu Province, was the first generation of professional diplomats in China. Lu Zhengxiang graduated from the Canton Dialect Hall and the Tongwen Museum. In the era, as diplomats, they often undertook a lot of pressure, because the reality of "weak countries without diplomacy" was very obvious at that time.
Like Lu Zongyu, Lu Zhengxiang also signed the "Twenty-One Articles" as a representative, and when the news of the signing of the treaty was made public, the Chinese people were extremely indignant, and Lu Zhengxiang, who executed the signature, was also scolded as a traitor. However, at that time, the spearhead of public opinion was not much inclined to Lu Zhengxiang, because people also understood that Lu Zhengxiang was forced to sign a peace treaty, which was pushed out by Yuan Shikai and others, so the spearhead was not aimed at him.
However, after the signing of the "Twenty-one Articles", Lu Zhengxiang, who felt deeply remorseful, urged China to declare war on Germany, hoping to recover its rights of interest through this move. He believed that only when China declared war on Germany could it hope to regain its territorial rights after the end of the European war, but Yuan Shikai did not listen to him. Later, when Li Yuanhong became president, he asked Lu Zhengxiang to be the foreign minister, and Lu Zhengxiang proposed that if China declared war, he would take office. Li Yuanhong refused to declare war, and Lu Zhengxiang did not live at home instead of the chief. It was not until Duan Qirui declared war on Germany and Austria after he became prime minister that Lu Zhengxiang became the commander-in-chief again.
After the end of the First World War, China, as the allied power, gained the status of a victorious power and was invited to Paris to participate in the peace conference. The Chinese Government sent five representatives, including Lu Zhengxiang, minister in charge of foreign affairs, Gu Weijun, minister in the United States, Wang Zhengting, minister for foreign affairs of the Southern Government, Shi Zhaoji, minister to France, and Wei Zhenzu, minister to Belgium, to form the Chinese delegation, and at the same time appointed Lu Zhengxiang as the head of the delegation.
At that time, Lu Zhengxiang was full of hope for the negotiations, because China, as the victorious side, would gain certain benefits, especially the possibility of recovering Germany's previous rights and interests in the Shandong Peninsula. Of course, the whole delegation was in the same mood, but no one expected that the Paris Peace Conference would become a meeting to divide the spoils, and the so-called peace conference would be nothing more than a division of interests of the Western powers, and even at the expense of China, the victorious power.
On top of the Paris Union, Lu Zhengxiang and others discovered how ridiculous this so-called diplomacy was. The foreign powers gave Japan Germany's rights and interests in the Shandong Peninsula without taking Into account China's opinion. At this time, Lu Zhengxiang and others understood that the Paris Peace Conference they had hoped for was nothing more than a hoax, and if they tacitly allowed such acts, their reputation as traitors would surely be solidified.
So they kept seeking ministers in the hope of changing the situation, but under the evasion of the ministers, their arguments were not fruitful, especially when the domestic government at that time constantly put pressure on them to sign this humiliating peace treaty. However, the five delegations also understood that this peace treaty could not be signed, otherwise it would be to give up their rights and interests to others. However, China sent a large number of laborers to the European battlefield during the First World War, and paid great sacrifices, and if they had signed this peace treaty hastily, it would also be unfair to them.
In the end, Lu Zhengxiang and other members of the Chinese delegation resisted pressure from the Beiyang government and refused to sign. On the one hand, Lu Zhengxiang and Gu Weijun tried their best to appeal to the representatives of the participating countries for support, and on the other hand, they expressed to the Beiyang government: It is better to resign than sign, and not to betray the country. In the end, China became the only country on the side of the victorious country that did not sign, but for the Chinese people, their approach was greatly inspiring, especially the "May Fourth Movement" set off at home at that time, so that the world saw the backbone of the Chinese, and the lions in the East were awakening.
Previously, when watching "The Age of Awakening", there have also been depictions of this period of history, but the depiction of film and television dramas alone is already thrilling enough, although the camera rarely turns to the foreign negotiation battlefield, but vaguely through the tense situation, it can also understand the pressure faced by these delegations, as representatives of the victorious countries, they have been subjected to such humiliation, which is incomprehensible to anyone, the refusal of the visa itself is to pay a great price, not only the condemnation of the domestic government, but also the need to face the pressure of foreign governments, Therefore, to be able to do this is a kind of courage in itself.
A few years after the Paris Peace Conference, Lu Zhengxiang resigned all his duties to go to Belgium to complete his wife's last wishes and become a monk. What prompted him to give up his earthly life, in addition to the death of his beloved wife, was mainly the difficulty of the Republic of China's diplomacy and the fragmentation of China's sovereignty, which made him feel physically and mentally exhausted. In the absence of diplomacy in a weak country, he also understands that there is no right to speak in China's diplomatic arena at this time, and China must change this situation, but at this time, he is also powerless.
During World War II, he actively sought Belgian aid to China and cared about his motherland. Fortunately, he saw China's victory, and it was a complete victory, driving out the Japanese invaders and recovering China's sovereignty, and he was relieved at this time, because China, as the main victorious country, would no longer be humiliated as it was during the First World War, which should be his greatest hope as a diplomat.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="31" > conclusion</h1>
When evaluating a character, it is necessary to consider the background of his era, and you should also understand the many interests behind him.