In a social environment where jackals are in charge, tigers and leopards are in full swing, and dangers are rife, it is not easy to adhere to the journalistic principle of "telling the truth and revealing the truth," and even to risk one's life, one must have the spirit of not being afraid of sacrifice. Lin Baishui, a pioneer in the Chinese press and a revolutionary martyr, has this spirit.
Lin Baishui, a native of Qingpu Village, Minhou County, Fujian Province, was born in 1874. He studied at home and studied under the famous scholar Gao Xiaotong. In 1898, at the invitation of Lin Qizhi, he went to Hangzhou to participate in the establishment of four new-style schools, and served as the chief teacher of the college. Then, step into the press.
<h1>First, he was upright and boldly ridiculed the "Lafayette" who was leaning toward the opposition</h1>
In June 1901, Lin Baishui became the chief writer of the Hangzhou Vernacular Newspaper. In a published notice, he wrote: "I am dissatisfied with the wind and snow, nor do I, like other newspapers, hold the drama or praise the beauty of prostitutes." I just report the big things and small things that have happened at home and abroad to the ordinary people. He preached the New Deal, called for change, advocated smoking bans, and broke superstitions, women's foot binding and other vices. Affected by this, Hangzhou established the country's first "Women's Foot Club", but due to the promotion of improvement, it lost its vitality and ceased publication in 1903. In the same year, at the invitation of Cai Yuanpei, he went to Shanghai and co-founded the "Russian Police News", which was later changed to "Alarm Bell Daily".
Lin Baishui also founded the "China Vernacular Newspaper" with the revolutionary ideas of the old bourgeois democracy, and most of the columns were written by him and sold at home and abroad. In February 1904, he published the Opinions of the People in the "Arguments" column of the seventh issue: "All citizens who have rental taxes should enjoy various rights, and this right is called the right to freedom, such as freedom of thought, freedom of speech, freedom of the press...", obviously arguing with corrupt officials and officials, and openly challenging their obscenity.
In 1904, ignoring the dangerous situation of the invasion of the great powers and the national disaster, the Qing court went so far as to waste the people's fat and people's ointment and solemnly organize the "longevity celebration" of Empress Dowager Cixi's seventieth birthday, and officials across the country responded positively.
Lin Baishui, who was then the editor-in-chief of Shanghai's "Alarm Bell Daily", was sad and indignant, and wrote a satirical couplet with a pen, which was published in a prominent position in the newspaper:
"Today's summer palace, tomorrow's good south sea, when will it be fortunate to be ancient Chang'an, billions of people anointed withered and dried up, only for one person to sing and celebrate; fifty toes, sixty cut Taiwan, and now cut the three eastern provinces, forty thousand miles of sealing the sun, happy to meet the longevity of the wish for xinjiang."
At the same time, Lin Baishui jointly wrote a commentary entitled "Long Life Without Frontiers" for this purpose, boldly satirizing and bravely attacking the Qing court and Cixi, which was rare in the country.
The Alarm Bell Daily was later banned by the Qing government for publishing news and commentaries on Germany's violation of China's sovereignty in Shandong and other places, and was unreasonably interfered with by the German consul general.
<h1>Second, envy and hatred, and bravely expose the corrupt crimes of warlords and bureaucrats</h1>
After the Xinhai Revolution, Lin Baishui founded the New Social Daily in Beijing, which caused dissatisfaction among some powerful people, and was once ordered to suspend publication, and then resumed publication. In September 1916, he founded the Gongyan Bao in Beijing with Liang Hongzhi and Huang Qiuyue.
The "Gazette" has fewer restrictions and stronger independence, and Lin Baishui publishes a large number of current commentaries. In 1918 alone, he "poked" through many shocking shady scenes: he published a commentary entitled "Qingshan Long Seven Min Road", which made the case of Chen Jintao, chief financial officer, and Xu Shiying, chief of communications, publicly illegitimate, and triggered an uproar in public opinion in Beijing. Then, in the commentary "The Ji Gang of the Jin Cabinet Was Like This", he exclusively exposed the fraudulent behavior of some politicians in the Jinpu car rental case, setting off an uproar. As a result, he was either dismissed from his post and imprisoned, or resigned in fear of crime, leaving Prime Minister Duan Qirui in a terrible state. Lin Baishui was deeply distressed: "Within a year of its publication, the "Gongyan Bao" subverted the three cabinet members and issued the second stolen case, which was called an executioner for a while, which can be described as very bad", but soon because the newspaper exposed the government's unpaid wages, delays, personal pockets, cheating and other insider information, he was closed by the warlords of his immediate lineage, and Lin Baishui was arrested and imprisoned for 3 months.
In the spring of 1921, Lin Baishui founded the "New Society Newspaper" in Beijing, proposing the slogan of "trees to transform the wind of the newspaper industry, and be the horse before the reform of society", and the bureaucrats who often provoked him frowned. Pan Fu, a confidant of the great warlord Zhang Zongchang, wanted to climb to the throne of shandong governor through connections. On January 25, 1923, Lin Baishui wrote a commentary on his past corruption and published it in the Social Daily. Subsequently, the newspaper hall was ordered closed by the National Police Agency, and he was again imprisoned for 3 months. After his release from prison, he resumed publication as "Social Daily", and he still went his own way. In October of the same year, a scandal was published about Cao Kun's bribery of the president and many parliamentarians, the newspaper was closed again, and he was imprisoned for March.
In 1925, in order to control public opinion, the Beijing government issued subsidized subsidies to more than 100 newspapers and news agencies across the country, which were divided into four classes. Lin Baishui's "Social Daily" was included in the list of "super-superiors" and received three hundred oceans per month. The warlords and bureaucrats thought Lin Baishui would shut up. Unexpectedly, he remained the same.
<h1>Third, we will resolutely support the Xinhai Revolution without hesitation</h1>
Before the Guangzhou uprising, the commander-in-chief Zhao Sheng and the other two found Lin Baishui and asked him to raise funds for the uprising. He had no cash on hand, and he had nowhere to borrow money, although he was very embarrassed, he would never resign, and after half a day of hard thinking, he finally came up with a way to write the "Essence of the Chinese People's Covenant" in three days and three nights, but he was worried that the bookstore would not pay a high price. He resolutely pierced the finger of his left hand and wrote a very tragic letter in blood, explaining the importance of the revolution and the urgency of the demand for funds, and pleading with the bookstore for generous help, so that everyone who read it could not help but burst into tears. The bookstore immediately paid 1,000 yuan, which he used to support the revolution. When he returned home, he found that he had been without rice for 3 days.
In February 1924, when Sun Yat-sen went north to Beijing with an illness, Lin Baishui successively published articles such as "My Respect for Dr. Sun Yat-sen", "The Situation and Sun Yat-sen", "Welcome sun yat-sen" and other articles, which warmly praised and highly praised Mr. Sun Yat-sen. Sun Yat-sen once wrote a handwritten "Fraternity" gift, and Lin Baishui's mind was indeed full of great love, love for the people, and love for the motherland. Therefore, the enemy who brutally killed the people and the motherland was hated to the bone, and he did not hesitate to expose, criticize, and struggle at the cost of his life.
<h1>Fourth, serve the country with one's own example and fall under the muzzle of the reactionary warlords and bureaucrats</h1>
During the reign of Zhang Zongchang, the leader of the Lu warlords, Pan Fu became the "Premier of the State". This man, who is scheming and scheming, is a strategist in the DPRK. Zhang Zongchang was extremely important and was called a "think tank", and Lin Baishui satirized Pan Fu on many occasions. On August 5, 1926, he published a commentary in the "Social Daily" entitled "The Luck of bureaucrats", which was fiercely attacked and ridiculed: "Dogs have dog luck, pigs have pig luck, and the superintendent also has the supervision and handling luck. A certain monarch, everyone is called the "kidney sac" of a certain warlord, because it is tied to the crotch of a warlord all day long, and it is also trending, not far from the dial, similar to the kidney sac, which is hung around the waist all the time. This gentleman is enthusiastic about being an official, is enthusiastic about scraping the ground, and he is well-known, and this time he can neither get the advantages and disadvantages of the chief, but also the supervision of the superior and the lack of supervision, nor can he get ... Even luck can't help but talk about..."
After Pan re-read the newspaper, he became angry and embarrassed, and that night, Wang Qi, commander of the Gyeonggi Gendarmerie Army, came to the newspaper hall by car on the orders of Zhang Zongchang, ordered Lin Baishui to correct his guilt, but was sternly refused, and then forcibly hugged him into the car. The newspaper editor saw that the situation was not good, and quickly called everywhere for help, lin Baishui's friends Xue Dake, Yang Du, Ye Gongqiu and others rushed to Pan Fu's residence and found Zhang Zongchang and Pan Fu who were playing cards to intercede, but to no avail. The next day, when the sky was dark, Lin Baishui was dragged to the overpass by the gendarmes and shot at the age of 52.
After the victory of the Northern Expedition, Lin Sen and others funded coffins, and Lin Baishui was returned to his hometown for burial. Later, the "Collection of Mr. Lin Baishui's Testament" was handed down.
Lin Baishui has been the main newspaper in his life, since he became the chief writer of Hangzhou Vernacular News in 1901 at the age of 27, he has founded or participated in the editing of more than a dozen newspapers and periodicals in the past 25 years, and has experienced the turbulent years from the late Qing Dynasty to the warlords, being banned five times, imprisoned three times, and finally shed blood.
In 1986, the Ministry of Civil Affairs posthumously recognized Lin Baishui as a revolutionary martyr. His daughter Lin Weijun (a Chinese in the United States and a professor at the National Defense University of the United States) donated funds to build a memorial hall and monument in her hometown.