On November 14, 1985, a luxurious apartment in the center of New York was crying, and a 98-year-old man died peacefully accompanied by his fourth wife, who was known as the first diplomat of the Republic of China, Gu Weijun.
Gu Weijun film and television drama image
When the information came back to China, many people in Beijing burst into tears.
On March 19, 2021, China invited the United States to participate in the "China-US High-Level Dialogue". In the face of the unreasonable accusations of the US side in this high-level conversation, the video of the Chinese representative's tough stance and loud voice was exposed on the Internet, and the video in just a few minutes inspired countless Chinese sons and daughters.
Perhaps it is precisely because we have experienced too many weak protests that the international stage has heard the tough voice of China's diplomacy for the first time, and the Chinese people seem so shocked and excited.
Today, let's go back to more than 100 years ago and see how diplomats during the Republican period "made a tough statement" on the international stage.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="100" > look at the metaphysics Gu Weijun looks strange</h1>
As the old saying goes, "The number of masters in the country is Zhejiang, and the debut of Zhejiang masters is in the market".
Jiading, Zhejiang, as a water town in Jiangnan, has been a rich land in the south since ancient times, and Gu Weijun, the first diplomat of the Republic of China, was born in the Jiading area.
Jiading Ancient Town
When he was young, Gu Weijun's family was very well-off, and his father Gu Qingchuan served as an aide to the famous educator Yuan Xitao in the late Qing Dynasty, and Yuan Xitao was also a very capable figure, and later the world-famous institutions of higher learning Fudan University and Tongji University were established under his initiative.
At that time, along with Gu Qingchuan, yuan Xitao's staff included a gentleman named Zhang Hengshan, who was proficient in various classical miscellaneous studies and was very good at recognizing people and looking at faces. He saw Gu Weijun's appearance when he was a child, and greatly praised his father, saying that your son will certainly be able to make great strides in the official arena in the future, and his achievements are far above you and me.
Later, Gu Weijun gradually grew up and attended Yucai Middle School with Yuan Xitao's son.
Zhang Hengshan, as the uncle of the two children, often brought snacks and drinks to visit his two nephews, he looked at Gu Weijun's playmate, his leader Yuan Xitao's son Yuan Ludeng's appearance was greatly discolored, he quietly said to Gu Qingchuan:
Yuan Ludeng's appearance is not correct, and it is difficult to have a good death in the future.
In the end, yuan ludeng was in a high position by virtue of his father's connections, but his misbehaving personality prompted him to often embezzle and accept bribes, and he was imprisoned twice in his life, and eventually died of illness in Shanghai.
And Gu Weijun, as Zhang Hengshan said, grew from the son of a "master" to a famous diplomat in the Republic of China period, which shows that Zhang Hengshan's ability to recognize people is extraordinary, and Chinese metaphysics does have unique features.
Gu Weijun
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="105" > a gentleman diplomat who has been his wife for four times in his lifetime</h1>
Although Gu Weijun's career path in the future was very smooth, his luck as a child was really bad.
Gu Weijun, who was favored by Zhang Hengshan, did not have anything special when he was young, but almost dropped out of school at an early age. After receiving several years of modern education at Yucai Middle School, Gu Weijun's reading basically became a luxury fantasy due to various reasons.
His father, Gu Qingchuan, wanted his son to abandon Wen and engage in business, at this time Zhang Hengshan hurriedly ran to Gu Qingchuan and strongly persuaded his old colleagues that they must let Gu Weijun continue to study, and he was willing to scatter his family wealth to fund his studies.
With the enthusiastic help of Zhang Hengshan, Gu Weijun was able to continue to complete his studies, and later Zhang Hengshan really sold a lot of ancestral property to fund his study in the United States. After moving to the United States, Gu majored in international law and diplomacy at Columbia University.
Columbia University
Zhang Hengshan was so enthusiastic, of course, he had his own little abacus. He was very confident in his ability to "know people", thinking that Gu Weijun would become a great instrument in the future, and he wanted to marry his daughter to her.
However, he never expected that although he expected Gu Weijun to be able to make a steady progress in the official field, Zhang Hengshan did not expect that Gu Weijun was also quite fruitful in the love field, and he married four wives in his life.
Before Gu Weijun returned from study in the United States, Zhang Hengshan had already married his beloved daughter to him. When Gu Weijun returned from studying, the Beiyang government was in a desperate shortage of diplomats who knew English, and with the help of his father-in-law Zhang Hengshan, Gu Weijun was able to serve as Yuan Shikai's English secretary and secretary to Tang Shaoyi, the prime minister of the state in 1912.
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Tang Shaoyi had a miss named Tang Baoyue, who was the real celebrity of Beijing at that time.
Since childhood, Tang Shaoyi's family was superior, and he talked politely and elegantly, and many rich children in Beijing coveted him. However, Tang Baoyue fell in love with Gu Weijun, and with Tang Baoyue's support, Gu Weijun was rapidly promoted in the Beiyang government officialdom. Later, by chance, Zhang Hengshan learned that the son-in-law he had cultivated had another woman outside, and in a fit of rage, he reported Gu Weijun's family information to Tang Shaoyi.
Tang Shaoyi was quite angry when she learned of this, and ordered her precious daughter not to see Gu Weijun again.
However, this rich lady disregarded the world's views and wanted to be with Gu Weijun. He even broke with his father, threatening him to go to Beijing's Bada Hutong to do business and hang a sign of Miss Premier. This made Tang Shaoyi, who was extremely face-conscious, angry and helpless, and finally at the request of his daughter, Tang Shaoyi used his power to force Zhang Hengshan to write a withdrawal agreement.
Tang Shaoyi ordered his men to besiege Zhang Hengshan's mansion for several days, and Zhang Hengshan was humiliated and wrote down a withdrawal agreement. After a disturbance, the father-in-law's popular depression was not long after, and his beloved daughter Zhang Run'e cut her hair as a nun.
Tang Shaoyi was deeply in love with Gu Weijun, but this person did not have a long life.
In 1920, Gu Weijun shined at the Paris Peace Conference, and was transferred by the Beiyang government to be a member of the League of Nations, often living in the United States. At this time, Gu Weijun's second wife, Tang Shaoyi, was already terminally ill, and Huang Zhonghan's daughter Huang Huilan, who had the reputation of "the king of the Asian sugar industry", began to enter Gu Weijun's eyes.
With Huang Huilan, you can get the support of the "Asian sugar king", and with money, is there anything that cannot be satisfied?
Faced with the huge money temptation behind Huang Huilan, Gu Weijun quickly fell under huang Huilan's pomegranate skirt, and the two often accompanied each other in and out of celebrity places.
Huang Huilan
After the unfortunate death of Tang Shaoyi, who suffered from the Spanish flu in 1918, only two years later, Gu Weijun and Huang Huilan were officially established as boyfriend and girlfriend. On October 11, 1920, the "talented ladies" were married on a moving train.
Huang Huilan and Gu Weijun have lived together for more than 30 years, but the two still have not come to the end.
The two divorced in 1956, and in 1959 Gu Weijun married Yan Youyun, who was 17 years younger than him, which was also the last of four marriages in the life of Gu Weijun, a charming diplomat.
In the middle is Yan Youyun
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="115" > the voice of Chinese diplomats at the Paris Peace Conference</h1>
Diplomats have been a symbol of the face of the country since ancient times, and Gu Weijun, as an outstanding diplomat, has four wives in his life, and is naturally a beautiful man. According to legend, there are many versions of the "Four Beautiful Men of the Republic of China", and Gu Weijun is also on the list.
However, as a top diplomat, relying on appearance alone is certainly not enough, Gu Weijun is still a bit "hard power".
Gu Weijun in his later years
As world war I drew to a close in 1918, the leaders of the treaty countries had seen the dawn of victory before dawn. In order to divide up the interests of the post-war world, the Western powers invited the Beiyang government at that time to send diplomats to participate in the Paris Peace Conference.
At the international conference, a young Chinese diplomat showed the world the indomitable spirit of the yellow race: Gu Weijun, who was only 30 years old.
Prior to the Paris Peace Conference, Gu Weijun had learned that Germany, one of the defeated countries, needed to withdraw from all its illegal rights and interests in Shandong, China. Originally, these rights and interests should be returned to the hands of the Beiyang government after Germany's concession, but Japan strongly demanded to inherit Germany's interests in Shandong, China, which was strongly counterattacked by Gu Weijun and other diplomats.
However, the Western powers did not care at all about the reasonable demands of Diplomats such as Gu Weijun, when the Western powers divided several countries participating in the Paris Peace Conference into three classes.
Among them, Britain, the United States, France, Italy, and Japan at that time had 5 seats in the conference, and some small countries and weak countries had two seats, and China at that time was listed as the lowest class. Under the deliberate arrangement of the Western powers, at a meeting without Chinese representatives, Britain, the United States, France, Italy, and Japan divided up the interests of the Allies in China.
Although at the later congress, Gu Weijun delivered a hearty speech in which he bluntly attacked the Japanese imperialists for invading Shandong's rights and interests as unreasonable demands that did not conform to international law. However, the weak countries had no diplomacy, and the Paris Peace Conference China, as the victorious country, still did not gain the respect it deserved in all countries in the world, but the sovereignty of Shandong was invaded by the Japanese Empire.
Gu Weijun, played by Chen Daoming
At the negotiating table of the subsequent Paris Peace Conference, Gu Weijun, as the representative of the Chinese side, refused to sign all the agreements that humiliated the country. On June 28, 1919, the Palace of Versailles in France was very lively, and at the signing ceremony attended by representatives of various countries, only the Chinese representatives had empty seats.
Gu Weijun was wandering the streets of Paris in a car, and he silently complained about the reality of "weak countries without diplomacy."
Gu Weijun's manuscript
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="100" > twice listed as war criminals exiled abroad</h1>
The message of Gu Weijun's refusal to sign at the Paris Peace Conference was sent back to China, and the morale of the people of the whole country was ignited.
The refusal to sign the Treaty of Versailles made the Chinese people realize that the so-called Paris Peace Conference was a "booty-sharing congress" manipulated by imperialism from beginning to end, and if China wanted to gain attention on the international stage, it must have corresponding strength.
The refusal of Chinese representatives to sign the Treaty of Versailles triggered the May Fourth Movement that changed the entire course of modern China at home, and Gu Weijun served as the Chinese representative of the Beiyang government to the League of Nations in December 1920 because of his outstanding performance at the Paris Peace Conference.
However, this brilliant diplomat has repeatedly taken the wrong side in his career.
In the later period of the Beiyang government, Gu Weijun held important positions in the Beiyang cabinet many times, and Nanjing declared him a war criminal. In December 1948, when the land of China was about to be fully liberated, Gu Weijun was listed as one of the war criminals.
Later, in 1949, after the founding of New China, Gu Weijun went into exile in the United States and never returned to his homeland.
This is the story of the first diplomat of the Republic of China, I am Uncle Egg, a creator who loves history, and I look forward to your attention.
For more stories of historical figures in the Republic of China, please click here. Okamura Ninji: Commander-in-chief of the Japanese army invading China in World War II, but escaped the punishment of war, and still does not repent at the age of 82