Text/Su Yang
As we all know, "Xiaoxiang" is the collective name of the three regions of Xiangdong, Xiangxi and Xiangnan, and generally refers to Hunan.
Xiao Xiang is a master of the land, not only a male master, but also a female master.
Cao Xueqin set up a "Xiaoxiang Pavilion" in the Grand View Garden of "Dream of the Red Chamber" to settle the newly arrived Lin Daiyu, so Lin Daiyu's poetry name was "Xiaoxiang Concubine". This "Xiaoxiang", which I understand as "tears", symbolizes the fate of Lin Daiyu and has nothing to do with Hunan.
Contrary to Lin Daiyu's weak personality, the protagonist of this article is a remarkable brave and determined woman, she is a pioneer in women's education and the first small-footed old lady in China to study in Europe.
Under her influence, her children were even more remarkable, her son Cai Hesen was an important founder of the Communist Party of China and a close friend of Mao Zedong; daughter-in-law Xiang Jingyu was the only female founder of the Chinese Communist Party; daughter Cai Chang was the leader of the Chinese women's liberation movement and a famous activist of the international progressive women's movement, the first president of the Women's Federation of the Republic; and son-in-law Li Fuchun was vice premier of the State Council and secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee.
Ge Jianhao
The old lady's name was Ge Jianhao, her original name was Ge Lanying, and she was born on August 17, 1865 in Heye Guilintang, Shuangfeng County, Hunan. Ge Jianhao's father was a general of zeng guofan in the late Qing dynasty, and he was related to zeng guofan by marriage.
Ge Jianhao and the "Jianhu Woman" Qiu Jin are sisters, Qiu Jin's in-laws Wang family is also related to Zeng Guofan, and Zeng Guofan's distant sister Zeng Guolan is married to the Wang family. The Zeng family, the Wang family and the Ge family are the three major families of Lotus Leaf.
Tang Qunying, the cousin and daughter-in-law of Zeng Guofan, was the first female member of the China League Association, and formed a friendship with Ge Jianhao and Qiu Jin, who actively advocated equal rights for men and women throughout their lives, and were known as the "Three Female Masters of Xiaoxiang".
Zeng Guofan
Ge Jianhao is the oldest of the three and the longest-lived. Qiu Jin was born in 1875, 10 years younger than Ge Jianhao, the earliest sacrifice, and died heroically on July 15, 1907. Tang Qunying was born in 1871 and died on April 25, 1937. Both Ge Jianhao and Tang Qunying threw themselves into the revolutionary cause under the impetus of Qiu Jin.
Qiu Jin's sacrifice made Ge Jianhao very sad, she was determined to inherit Qiu Jin's legacy, and asked her children to learn from Qiu Jin, take Qiu Jin as a model, and be a person who is beneficial to society.
Qiu Jin
Ge Jianhao's husband is called Cai Rongfeng, also known as Cai Lin Rongfeng, which means that his ancestors were not surnamed Cai, but surnamed Lin. The ancestor Lin Guoqing once accompanied his cousin Cai Kaichen to Shangxiang Yongfeng Town to make a living, Cai Kaichen had no children and regarded Lin Guoqing as his own. After Cai Kaichen's death, Lin Guoqing remembered the grace of his cousin and changed his surname to Cai Lin. In the generation of Cai and Sen, it became a single surname.
Ge Jianhao, as a bridesmaid, is not accustomed to her husband's feudal and patriarchal thoughts, Cai Rongfeng married a little wife in Shanghai, and smoked opium, so Ge Jianhao returned to the countryside in anger. In 1913, in order to get a dowry of 5,000 yuan, Cai Rongfeng wanted to sell the 13-year-old Cai Chang to a landlord as a daughter-in-law. Ge Jianhao encouraged his daughter to break through the feudal shackles and try to get Cai Chang to run away from home and study with his brother Cai and Sen.
This year, Ge Jianhao was nearly half a hundred years old, she took Cai Hesen, Cai Chang, the eldest daughter Cai Qingxi, who had newly lost her husband, and her little granddaughter Liu Ang to Changsha to apply for the Xiangxiang County First Girls' School, when the school thought she was older and refused to recruit, she actually asked her son to help her write down the complaint, sued her to the county court, and also changed her name to "Ge Jianhao" in the hall, meaning to be a strong man who transformed society and defeated the feudal haoqiang. The county magistrate was surprised and asked her why she had to study, and she said loudly: "To seek the truth of saving the country, both men and women must read." The county magistrate felt that this was an extraordinary woman, so he annotated the four words "Qi Zhi Ke Jia" on the submission, so that the school was admitted without exams. In this way, Ge Jianhao became the first elderly girl in China to go to school with her small feet, attending the high school class with her son Cai Hesen, the daughter Cai Chang attending the junior primary class, and Cai Qingxi attending the sewing class.
In 1915, Ge Jianhao took out his dowry and founded a women's vocational school to promote women's learning and women's rights.
In 1920, Ge Jianhao worked and studied in France
In 1919, the 55-year-old Ge Jianhao once again made a surprising move, she walked from Hunan to Shanghai with a small foot, and then crossed the ocean to France with her children, becoming the first small-footed old lady to study abroad in China. Her touching deeds and spirit of study have inspired more women to study abroad.
Ge Jianhao studied in France for four years, although she was old and her memory was declining, in order to understand French, she learned from word to word with tenacious perseverance until she could freely read French newspapers and periodicals.
Ge Jianhao was born in the hometown of Xiang embroidery. In order to work and study, she did embroidery in France with exquisite craftsmanship, her embroidery is very exquisite, deeply loved by French women, a piece can sell dozens or even hundreds of francs, in exchange for money in addition to supporting herself and her children, but also used to support others.
Cai and Sen
Cai Hesen suffered from asthma since childhood, often coughing while asthma lasted in the middle of the night, contrary to his weakened physique, he always struggled, dragging the sick body to study and work every day, and had to go a long way to the secretary to listen to reports and read documents. It can be seen that Cai hesen inherited the strong character of his mother.
Ge Jianhao was open-minded, and she encouraged Cai and Sen to further communicate with Xiang Jingyu, Cai Chang and Li Fuchun, and supported them to love and marry freely, believing that this was "declaring war on the marriage system of feudal society".
After Ge Jianhao returned to China, he covered up his son, daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law and son-in-law to carry out the revolution in the name of running a civilian girls' school, while helping them with their children.
The old man had three men and three women in his lifetime, and except for the eldest son and the second daughter, who died early, the other four all embarked on the revolutionary road.
Ge Jianhao was 70 years old
In November 1925, Cai Hesen's brother Cai Luxian died heroically in the provincial and Hong Kong strike, at the age of 36. Later, the CCP organization paid a pension of 600 yuan to Ge Jianhao's family, and Ge Jianhao bought two sewing machines for the school and gave some relief to poor students.
After the defeat of the Revolution in 1927, the Cai family was raided and the civilian girls' school was forced to close.
On May 1, 1928, Xiang Was brutally murdered by the Kuomintang at the age of 33. On August 4, 1931, Cai he and Sen died heroically at the age of 36. Xiang Jingyu and Cai and Sen were both arrested and killed for betrayal by traitors.
Statue of Ge Jianhao
Unfortunately, the old man died on March 16, 1943, at the age of 78. In order to alleviate the spiritual blow to her, she did not know until her death that Cai Hesen had already sacrificed for the revolution, and often asked Cai Qingxi: "Do you have a letter back with Sen and Xianxi (Cai Chang)?" And asked Cai Qingxi to write to them to tell them that her mother could no longer see the success of their career, but the revolution would definitely be victorious!
2021 is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, and this revolutionary mother has made great contributions!
Thank you for your continued attention and appreciation, there will be more wonderful content in the next issue.