Zhao Yidi (1912-2000), Zhang Xueliang's second wife, known as Miss Zhao Si. Zhao Yidi accompanied Zhang Xueliang for 72 years, and is a mysterious woman in modern Chinese history, who published works such as "Good News", "New Life", "True Freedom", "Great Commission", and "Yi Di Witness Collection" during the period of seclusion in Taiwan.
Family background
Zhao Yidi, also known as Qi Xia, was born in Hong Kong, and was named after a beautiful and colorful glow in the eastern skyline, and the origin of Zhao Yidi's name is due to her English name EDITH. Because she has an older brother and a sister, she ranks fourth among the sisters (幺女), and her family affectionately calls her Miss Zhao Si. Born into a well-known eunuch family. His father, Zhao Qinghua (Zi Fushan), a native of Lanxi, Zhejiang, served as the director of the Jinpu, Huning, and Guangjiu railway bureaus during the Beiyang government era, served as a diplomatic adviser to the three eastern provinces, and served as the deputy director of transportation. In 1928 (1927), he met Zhang Xueliang in Tianjin, and later experienced the Shenyang, Beiping, and Xi'an incidents and confinement. After half a century of bitter love, on July 4, 1964, Zhang Xueliang and Zhao Yidi were officially married.
Follow the young marshal for a lifetime
Miss Zhao Si was born beautiful and intelligent, and became the cover girl of Beiyang Pictorial at the age of fourteen or fifteen. At a dance party in Tianjin, Zhang Xueliang, one of the "four princes" in the early years of the Republic of China, met Miss Zhao Si, who came here to see the liveliness, and the two fell in love at first sight. When the father learned that his youngest daughter was with her husband, Zhang Xueliang, he was so angry that he was blue in the face and put him under house arrest. After Zhang Xueliang was the commander of the Northeast Border Defense at the time, he fell ill, and after Miss Zhao Si learned the news, she asked her family to go to Fengtian (Shenyang) to visit Zhang Xueliang. Later, Zhao Qinghua published a statement that the father-daughter relationship had been severed and that he would no longer be an official.
At the same time, the young marshal's mansion was not quiet, and Zhang Xueliang's original wife, Yu Fengzhi, only gave her the status of secretary, not the name of her official wife. But none of this shook Miss Zhao Si's love for Zhang Xueliang in the slightest, and she willingly accompanied Zhang Xueliang as a secretary. Yu Fengzhi, who was generous and gentle and wise, was touched by Miss Zhao Si's true feelings and advocated the construction of a small building on the east side of the Young Marshal's Mansion for Miss Zhao Si to live in. The two also called each other sisters and lived in harmony. In 1929, Miss Zhao Si gave birth to Zhang Xueliang's only son.
After the "918" incident, Zhang Xueliang was saddled with the notoriety of "not resisting the general", and Miss Zhao Si was also ridiculed and insulted by the Chinese people, and was falsely accused of "red face and bad water"; After the defeat of the Great Wall War, she helped Zhang Xueliang make up his mind; In 1936, General Zhang Xueliang launched the "Xi'an Incident" that shocked China and foreign countries and forced Chiang Kai-shek to resist Japan. After the "Xi'an Incident", Chiang Kai-shek betrayed his faith, Zhang Xueliang was imprisoned in Nanjing, and then began a long career of seclusion.
Character evaluation
Miss Zhao Si had many booksellers approach her in the hope that she could dictate her own history with Zhang Xueliang, but they were all rejected, and Miss Zhao Si's death could not help but bring people back to that unforgettable history.
The life of Miss Zhao Si is closely related to the military and political career and fate of General Zhang Xueliang, and they have experienced the turbulent political storms of modern China together. They have had contacts with many high-level figures of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.
Zhang Xueliang is a person with both nationalism and heroic complex, and the favorable growth environment makes him have a strong desire to learn about foreign cultures, while Zhao Si grew up in a bustling downtown ——— Tianjin, and the influence of concession culture on her is not small. Not losing national integrity and being able to accept fresh ideas and civilizations is reflected in their attitude toward historical events and in every corner of life.
The two later believed in Jesus Christ, their hearts were like water, they did not hear things outside the window, although the world was always helpless, they were always full of open-mindedness and loyalty to love. Together for more than 70 years, without any regrets, some are only Miss Zhao Si's "Why are you willing to give up yourself?" written by Miss Zhao Si in the article "New Life". Only for love, willing to give oneself.
The world is willing to give up their lives in order to love their country and the people they love" and Zhang Xueliang said in his thick Northeastern accent, "This is my girl." Good love can remain in memory, hard love can be infused into the building, the longer the time, the more worthy of memories. With the emotional background, the building is no longer an ordinary building, it is already a historical carrier of people's nostalgia, reading these "frozen histories" can evoke a lot of people's thinking, Zhang Xueliang and Miss Zhao Si's power is still continuing a hundred years later.