Comrade Wen Guevara
After the establishment of the Republic of China, the legal reforms implemented at the end of the Qing Dynasty continued, and the method of hanging of death row prisoners was often adopted to replace the extremely inhumane beheading, lingchi and other torture, which can be said to be a kind of progress. However, because hanging is still too cruel, it was prudent to use this punishment in the early years of the Republic of China, and the first death row inmate to be hanged was Hong Shuzu, the great-grandfather of Hong Kong film and television superstar Hong Jinbao. So, what kind of person is Hong Shuzu? What unforgivable crimes did he commit?
01 "Founding Fathers of the Revolution"
Hong Shuzu, formerly known as Hong Xi, was born in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, to a famous family, whose ancestor was Hong Liangji, a famous scribe and literary scholar in the middle of the Qing Dynasty. Hong Shuzu's early fate was uncertain, 9 months after his birth, Changzhou was captured by the Taiping Army, his father Hong Yan died in street battles, 17 family members threw themselves into the river, only Hong Shuzu and his mother Zhang Shi were rescued. After that, Hong Shuzu lived on his uncle Hong Yanzhe and studied under him. However, although Hong Shuzu was born into a family of keju, his literary fortunes were extremely poor, and he spent many years in the field of science, and finally only got a talent.
Hong Xing-so Image
After a series of blows, Hong Shuzu was completely desperate for the way to enter the imperial court, and turned to the curtain to make a living, successively serving in the shogunate of Chen Baochen, the governor of Jiangxi, Pan Xia, the governor of Jiangxi, Zuo Zongtang, the minister of Military Affairs in Fujian, and Liu Mingchuan, the inspector of Taiwan. In the fourteenth year of Guangxu (1888), Hong Shuzu was sent to Britain to inspect and accept the two fast ships ordered by the Taiwan Bureau of Commerce in Britain, "Driving Time" and "Simei", during which he wantonly embezzled public funds. After the East Window Incident, Hong Shuzu was impeached by Liu Mingchuan, dismissed from his post and placed in Tamsui County Prison, where he was released 5 years later.
After Hong Shuzu was released from prison, he went to Tianjin to join his hometown and Tianjin Customs Road Sheng Xuanhuai. During the Sino-Japanese War, Hong Shuzu, on the recommendation of Sheng Xuanhuai, went to Korea to engage in telegraph affairs, and thus became acquainted with Yuan Shikai. After the war, Hong Shuzu returned to Jiangsu to make a living, and eventually found an errand in the shogunate of Yu Lianyuan in Su Song's Taidao Province. In the autumn of the twenty-eighth year of Guangxu (1902), Hong Shuzu was reinstated by the Qing court and successively served in Hubei and Directly subordinate. During his tenure as a direct subordinate, Hong Shuzu became acquainted with Zhao Bingjun, a former attendant of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, who was one of Yuan Shikai's most important confidants.
Edict of abdication of the Qing Emperor
After the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution, the rule of the Qing Dynasty was in jeopardy, and Hong Shuzu, sensing that Yuan Shikai had ambitions to replace him, secretly and his in-laws Zhao Fengchang (the leader of the Hubei Constitutionalist Faction, known as the "Minsheng Mother") plotted to overthrow the Qing court. Under the pressure of various forces, Empress Longyu finally decided to hand over power to Yuan Shikai, and Hong Shuzu personally drafted an abdication edict to the Qing court in order to show himself. Although this manuscript was not adopted, Hong Shuzu later often regarded himself as a "revolutionary father" and "republican hero", which can be described as shameless.
02 Attached Yuan Thorn Song
Yuan Shikai, who fell under the Manchu Qing Dynasty and the founding of the Republic of China, stole the fruits of the victory of the Xinhai Revolution and became the president, and Chinese history entered the era of the Beiyang government. At this time, the former Qing officials who were dependent on Yuan Shikai transformed into the magnates of the new dynasty, of which Zhao Bingjun was appointed minister of internal affairs, and a few months later promoted to premier, while Hong Shuzu was appointed secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to historical records, during His tenure, Hong Shuzu wantonly recruited power and bribes, so his reputation was very bad and he was deeply despised by the people of the time.
Yuan Shikai
In September 1912, Hong Shuzu arrived in Shanghai under the banner of investigating the matters of the water police, but in fact he took Yuan Shikai's secret mission to recruit the "Chinese National Progressive Association" and established contact with the leader of the organization, Ying Guixin. Later, Hong Shuzu not only recommended Ying Guixin to be the inspector general of Jiangsu in Shanghai, but also took him to Beijing in the winter of the same year to meet Yuan Shikai and Zhao Bingjun. On this trip to Beijing, Ying Guixin not only obtained the State Council's codebook from Zhao Bingjun, but also received a large allowance from Yuan Shikai.
At that time, the parliamentary election was imminent, and Song Jiaoren, acting secretary general of the Kuomintang, made speeches everywhere to win the majority of seats for the party in order to achieve the goal of forming a responsible cabinet and limiting the power of the president, which aroused yuan shikai's hostility. After bribing Song Jiaoren to no avail, Yuan Shikai instructed Hong Shuzu to smear the Kuomintang, who gave Ying Guixin the task of collecting black materials. A few months later, Ying Guixin claimed to Hong Shuzu that he had learned of Japan's "bad history of Sun (Zhongshan) Huang (Xing) Song (Jiaoren)" and "Criminal Ticket Collection in the Song Crime Fraud Case", but he could not provide the original or photocopy.
Photo of Song Jiaoren before his death
After Hong Shuzu knew that the method of smearing the Kuomintang would not work, he sent a secret telegram to Ying Guixin on March 6, 1913, suggesting that he had taken other necessary measures against Song Jiaoren, and on the 13th, he used the bait of "destroying Song Jiaoren's honorary position" as a bait to instigate Ying Guixin to kill Song Jiaoren, and this action was undoubtedly tacitly approved by Yuan Shikai and Zhao Bingjun. After Ying Guixin received the promise, he bribed the murderer Wu Shiying and shot Song Jiaoren at the Shanghai Railway Station on March 20, 1913. Two days later, Song Jiaoren died of his wounds, and when the news came out, the whole country was in an uproar.
03 Died by hanging
After the assassination of Song Jiaoren, the Kuomintang strongly demanded that the Beiyang government arrest the culprit, and other political parties and groups also spoke out about the case. In order to get rid of the suspicion, Yuan Shikai, after learning the news of Song Jiaoren's assassination, immediately sent a telegram of condolences and strictly ordered Cheng Dequan, the governor of Jiangsu, Ying Dehong, the civil affairs minister, and others to arrest the murderer. Shortly after the incident, Ying Guixin and Wu Shiying were arrested in the Shanghai Concession, while Hong Shuzu fled Beijing under the protection of Yuan Shikai and took refuge in Qingdao, a German concession.
5 people related to the assassination of Song Jiaoren
In May 1913, the German Court in Qingdao interrogated Hong Shuzu about the Song Jiaoren case, but the latter falsely claimed that the so-called "destruction of the Song" was only to destroy Song Jiaoren's reputation and had no intention of physically exterminating him. Although this defense was rather absurd, the German Inquisition acquitted Hong Shuzu and allowed him to remain in Qingdao. The following year, Qingdao was occupied by the Japanese, and Hong Shuzu assumed the pseudonym Zhang Jiaochang and fled to Shanghai. In April 1917, Hong Shuzu's whereabouts were exposed, and he was first arrested by the Shanghai public office, and then dismissed to the Beijing court for trial.
Although the evidence of the crime is conclusive, Hong Shuzu repeatedly lied in court and resolutely refused to admit guilt. However, the Dali Yuan did not accept Hong Shuzu's defense, but sentenced him to death by hanging on March 27, 1918, and officially executed him on April 5. Because it was the first time in the history of the Republic of China to be hanged, the prison lacked experience, coupled with the fact that the then 60-year-old Hong Shuzu was too heavy and weak, so that the neck could not support the weight of the body when he was tortured, and the head and neck were torn off and the head was in a different place. Afterwards, Hong Shuzu's concubine found the hospital in Beijing that was best at connecting corpses, and spent a lot of money to help her deceased husband sew his head and bury it. This is also an odd story.
Hong Jinbao is the great-grandson of Hong Shuzu
Digression. Hong Shuzu has 3 sons, namely Hong Shen, Hong Ji and Hong Shuyun, who were probably stimulated by the tragic death of their father, and the three brothers did not engage in politics after they became adults, but collectively devoted themselves to the film business, and all became artistic geniuses who combined screenwriting, directing and acting, especially Hong Shen's achievements. Although Hong Ji's achievements are not as good as those of his eldest brother, he has a large number of grandchildren, the most famous of which is hong Kong superstar Hong Jinbao, who combines actors, directors, screenwriters, producers, producers and action directors.
bibliography
Institute of Modern History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences: History of the Republic of China, Zhonghua Bookstore, 2011.
Pan Rong and Wei Youxing: History of the Beiyang Government, Social Science Literature Publishing House, 2011.
Zhang Ming: Xinhai: A Shaky China, Guangxi Normal University Press, 2011.
Zuo Shunsheng: History of the Xinhai Revolution, Yuelu Book Club, 2011.