Xiao Fang sent a photo to his mother from Suiyuan battlefield.
Fang Dazeng, born in Beiping on July 13, 1912, was originally named Fang Dezeng, pen name Xiaofang, meaning "humble and upright". After the "9.18" incident, Xiao Fang, as a reporter for Chinese and foreign news agencies, campaigned for the salvation of the anti-Japanese struggle. On July 10, 1937, three days after the outbreak of the Lugou Bridge Incident, XiaoFang became the first journalist to arrive at the scene and became a war correspondent ever since. On September 18, 1937, after Xiao Fang sent the article "Changes in the Northern Section of the Pinghan Line" from Li County, Hebei Province, he "disappeared" in the battlefield at the age of 25 and has since lost contact with the world.
In the process of studying Xiaofang, CCTV documentary director Feng Xuesong verified that Fang Da had taken a funeral photo of the martyr Li Dazhao, a pioneer of the Chinese communist movement, in 1933. At that time, Fang Da was studying in the Economics Department of Sino-French University, and his classmates said that "he was an active member of the Communist Youth League."
Today, "Old Jing tu said" launched Mr. Feng Xuesong's latest article on Li Dazhao's funeral photo research, telling you the history behind the photos.
01
Is the small party organized?
On December 18, 1993, Gao Yunhui, who was about to come to the end of his life, wrote a letter to His classmates Wang Shaozeng and Li Qiang of the University of China and France on the bed of Ward 41 of the Wuhan Affiliated Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, in which he recalled, "The students of Sino-French University who were originally active and promising in the revolutionary anti-Japanese struggle, such as Fang Dezeng and Yi Shucheng, now know their names very few people, and not many people know their situation at that time. These comrades have recounted some fragments in my reminiscences and letters, so as not to be completely obscured! ”
Speaking of himself, "several times in danger and weakness, and Yan Laowu separated by a layer of thin paper", he sighed that "the years are hurried, looking around, the students of the fourth and fifth classes have basically withered away, only you are left, and I and Li Changshan are the only fruits left!" ”
This text message was found in the search for the writing of "Fang Dazeng: Lost and Regained", and I know how difficult it is to see the information of Chinese and French alumni mentioning Xiaofang, and this clue is that I am excited.
Who is Gao Yunhui? After investigation, he was a native of Zaoyang, Hubei Province, one year lower than XiaoFang, and graduated in July 1936. During his time at the school, he participated in the "Anti-Japanese National Liberation Vanguard", served as the general affairs director of the Anti-Japanese Association of Students of Sino-French University, a representative of the Peking Students' Federation, and actively participated in leading the school's "12.9" movement. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he served as a counselor of the Political and Legal Committee of the Government Council of the Central People's Government and the director of the Secretariat of the China Political and Legal Society. In 1959, he was transferred back to Hubei and later served as the deputy director of the Literature and History Research Museum of the Hubei Provincial People's Government.
XiaoFang filmed the scene of the "One Two Nine" movement
Along this line, I found another reminiscence article written by Gao Yunhui, "Remembering Comrade Xia Nongtai at sino-French University", which has a more detailed description of Xiao Fang (Fang Dezeng).
Fang De was an active member of the Communist Youth League, and he often sent me some revolutionary books and periodicals published from "Red China", the English "Soviet Construction" pictorial, Vladivostok and Paris, and also introduced me to the owner of a used bookstore in the Dangui Shopping Mall in Dong'an Market, from where I could secretly buy reprints of some party books and periodicals, such as "History of the Chinese Revolution" and "Purge of Rebellion".
Xiao Fang is a member of the Communist Youth League? No wonder Fang Chengmin said that from all indications, his brother should be organized, at that time, the activities carried out by this identity should be carried out in a secret state, if it is determined that Fang Da Zeng's several arrests, rescue of progressive classmates, participation in the salvation movement and other behaviors are not difficult to explain.
During the summer vacation, Xiaofang and I wrote an outline for studying social science theories, which were divided into three parts: philosophy, political economy, and socialism. He got a mimeograph machine and went to my house to engrave many copies, so we organized a "book club", and the participants remembered That Wang Zhimin and Cao Chengxian, Qian Changyi, a classmate of Peking University, mao Yi among the Chunming girls, and others. Come to my house every two weeks to discuss it, because at that time my house was many and there were very few people, which was very empty and convenient. Although Nong Moss did not participate in this "book club", he and Cao Chengxian attended classes in the same class, lived in the same apartment, and had a very close relationship, so he knew some of the situation of the "book club" and participated in it.
Gao Yunhui mentioned xia nongtai and Cao Chengxian in this recollection are all communists, what kind of relationship does Xiao Fang have with them? I have doubts about this, but the age has been old, friends are on different sides, and this question mark has not been opened.
02
A negative remade with a photo
Li Dazhao's funeral photos, taken by Fang Dazeng. Excerpt from Fang Dazeng: Forgotten and Regained (by Feng Xuesong, New World Press).
Among Fang Chengmin's relics is a photographic remake of a negative that was transferred by Fang Dazeng's friend after liberation, and is said to have been photographed by Mr. Li Dazhao's funeral procession. This statement aroused my curiosity, why did he go to participate? If the "organization says" can be confirmed, then the problem is logically solved.
On April 22, 1933, an obituary of Mr. Li Dazhao's funeral was published in the Morning Post in Peiping, which was the sixth year of his murder, and the coffin had been sent to the Zhejiang Temple on Miaoguangge Street. The obituary was issued in the name of Li Xinghua, the daughter of Mr. Li Dazhao, who was a student at the Kong De College of the University of China and France.
In the photo, several people in front of them are dressed in heavy filial piety, supporting each other, slowly walking in the middle of the city, as if throwing a flick at the photographer's side, and there are people on the street and in the liquor store. The person who supported Xiaozi was Li Moumou (that is, Li Shiyu), and Fang Chengmin was deeply impressed by this and left a written record.
Fang Chengmin's old man and the negative box that has been treasured for decades.
Knowledgeable, loyal, and deeply loved Li Dazhao is a famous Communist Party leader, Jiang Menglin, Shen Yinmo and other 13 professors of Peking University reached out to help and initiated a public funeral for him, each donating 20 yuan, in addition, Peking University professors Li Siguang and Zheng Tianting donated 10 yuan each, Ma Yin junior donated 20 yuan each, and Liang Shuming and others donated 50 yuan each. Lu Xun, a former friend from other places, donated 50 yuan, Dai Jitao donated 100 yuan, Chen Gongbo donated 300 yuan, and Wang Jingwei donated 1,000 yuan.
Two days before the funeral, the responsible comrades of the Beiping Party organization approached Li Shiyu, a progressive student at the law school, and instructed him to organize Comrade Li Dazhao's funeral activities, especially to escort the coffin safely to the Wan'an Cemetery. Born in Bayan, Heilongjiang, Li Shiyu joined the Communist Party of China in 1931 while studying at the National Peking Hosei University. In 1934, he infiltrated the Northeast Army and infiltrated the fourth place of the "Suppression General" in Xi'an, serving as a lieutenant clerk. After 1936, he infiltrated Tianjin and underground work under the leadership of the Social Department of the Northern Bureau of the Communist Party of China and as a procurator of the Tianjin High Court.
After being introduced by a villager surnamed Qiao, Li Shiyu met Li Dazhao's wife, Zhao Shulan, and when introduced, he said that he was a junior member of the Li family and came specially to the funeral to help do something. They agreed that at the time of the funeral, Li Shiyu would wear a white filial piety hat on his head and specially support Li Dazhao's teenage son, closely following the coffin and not leaving the steps. This is not only a measure to prevent the expulsion of the military and police, so that he will not be dispersed like the general public, but also takes into account that in case he is arrested, it can also be said that Li Dazhao's distant relatives will be easier to escape from danger.
In the early morning of April 23, Li Dazhao's funeral was held. On this day, a spiritual hall was set up in the front hall of Zhejiang Temple, with a banner hanging in the middle, many ties hanging from the front and back, left and right, and a large number of wreaths were placed on both sides. After playing mourning music and reading the altarpiece, the crowd sang the "Internationale", and the atmosphere was very tragic and solemn.
The coffin of the martyr, covered with a coffin embroidered with blue flowers, was slowly carried out of the Zhejiang Temple surrounded by the crowd. Li Shiyu supported Li Dazhao's young son and walked with Mrs. Li and her relatives to the coffin, followed by hundreds of funeral crowds. Some comrades carried Li Dazhao's portrait, carried wreaths, knots and elegy, and threw leaflets and shouted slogans to roadside pedestrians as they walked.
03
Xiao Fang had many possibilities to attend Li Dazhao's funeral
Judging from the information at hand, Xiao Fang had many possibilities to attend the funeral, and his teacher Wang Sihua (Shen Ming), who was closely related to him, had been enlightened by Li Dazhao and was a fellow villager, and perhaps the two of them went together. Second, the operation was organized by the Red Freemasons, and Fang Da had been arrested for his involvement in the Freemasonry. In addition, Li Xinghua is an alumnus of Xiaofang Sino-French University, and the information should be more direct.
Xiao Fang during his studies at Sino-French University.
Fang Da once took a selfie at his home (10 Xiehe Hutong).
At the front of the funeral procession is a huge elegy written in black and white, the upper link is "struggle for the revolution, sacrifice for the revolution, die without hatred", the lower link is "live under oppression, groan under oppression, the living are he kan", and the horizontal criticism is "Li Dazhao's martyr spirit does not die"! After the coffin was carried over the Xuanwu Gate, the funeral crowd had increased to more than a thousand people, and when they arrived in Xidan, they saw many people setting up sacrifice tables on the side of the road.
At this time, the sound of reading the altar text, setting off firecrackers and shouting slogans joined together, shaking half of Beiping City. When he reached Xidan North Avenue, Li Shiyu glanced back to the south, only to see a sea of people and could not see the edge.
According to some information, when the team reached the Ganshi Bridge, someone covered Li Dazhao's coffin with a red flag embroidered with a sickle and axe that had been prepared. The reactionary military and police immediately stormed the funeral crowd from all sides, kicked over the altar table, beat up the people who recited the sacrifice text, scattered the funeral crowd with the butt of their guns, and arrested dozens of people. Li Shiyu always supported Li Dazhao's younger son and relatives, and insisted on escorting the coffin to the Wan'an Cemetery.
According to experts in Beijing who studied Li Dazhao's life and deeds, Mr. Li's funeral was recorded in the newspapers of that year, but no pictures were ever distributed. So, will this photo left by Fang Chengmin be a new discovery?
The years are like songs, and the songs are scattered. With the death of his teachers and friends who were familiar with Xiao Fang, the people who had contact with him became more and more rare. Soldiers and horses, coupled with the disappearance of only 25 years old, the whole journey of life only opened a corner, no one has timely combed through his short life, collected his scattered works, after the grandeur, suddenly calm, like a majestic symphony, only the prelude part, the listener has not had time to reminisce, it abruptly stopped, and the musicians, without leaving half an explanation, have withdrawn.
In the process of searching for Fang Da Zeng, I have searched through the alumni records of Peking No. 1 Middle School, the alumni records of Sino-French University and reminiscence articles that I can find, walked into the Beijing Municipal Archives to read the files, hoping to find clues from the character associations, and also went to the former site of Sino-French University, Wenquan Middle School (now Beijing No. 47 Middle School), Lugou Bridge and other places to conduct fieldwork, trying to seek answers in memory reconstruction.
Panorama of sino-French universities
Huanguyuan Wenquan Middle School
I should thank Mr. Gao Yunhui, an alumnus of Fang Da Zeng, for mentioning Xiao Fang in several reminiscence articles, leaving an extremely precious historical record and providing new circumstantial evidence for my search and discovery.
"With the fortunes of this country rising day by day, and the new year is coming, let us cheerfully congratulate the New Year and wish each other health and longevity!" These are the last words that Gao Yunhui left for his classmates in his life. And what kind of friendship he still has with Fang Dazeng, who has been mentioned many times, has gradually become dusty with the passage of time, becoming a history that will never have an answer.
Source Beijing Daily Old Beijing Tu said
This article is excerpted from Walking with Xiaofang (New World Press forthcoming)
Text/Feng Cedar
Photo: Feng Xuesong and Zhang Wenda
Editor/Yang Lijuan
Process Editor Wu Yue