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There is a poem in "Dream of Red Mansions" that says "Her temperament is as beautiful as orchid, and her talent is as fragrant as fairy." It means that her temperament is as fragrant and pure as the orchid in the valley, and her talent is as smart and agile as a fairy.

Looking back at the six "beauties" of the Republic of China,

They are not just beautiful canaries,

It is a lark with both talent and beauty!

Has a beautiful face,

Unparalleled temperament and talent,

With his unique personality and talent, he wrote a brilliant chapter of life.

Either splashing ink or polishing fine brushwork,

Women are as good as men and have become a

Unique and breathtaking scenery.

Lin Huiyin

The most beautiful April

Lin Huiyin, who has never been drowned or forgotten by time, is a talented woman from the south of the Yangtze River and a peerless beauty. Her name comes from "The Book of Songs, Da Ya, Si Qi: Da Si succeeded Huiyin, and then there were hundreds of men." Later, because she was often mistaken for the writer Lin Weiyin at that time, she changed her name to Huiyin.

▲ Graduated from the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania in 1927

Lin Huiyin was a smart Chinese woman from aristocratic family who was educated and thought in the West. She was a rare talent. However, her complicated relationship with Xu Zhimo, Liang Sicheng, and Jin Yuelin became the biggest source of people's understanding of her. However, if you really get close to her, understand her life, her thoughts, and her choices, you will find that she has an independent spirit and modern temperament that are rare among traditional Chinese women.

▲ Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin got married in Canada in March 1928. The wedding dress was designed by Lin Huiyin herself.

Even Hu Shi praised her as a talented woman of China. Her "talent" is reflected in the following four things: First, she was the designer of the deepening plan of the national emblem of the People's Republic of China.

Lin Huiyin and Liang Sicheng further revised the draft of the national emblem

2. Transformed traditional cloisonné.

Lin Huiyin designed a pair of jars with Kuilong patterns

3. She participated in the design of the Monument to the People's Heroes at Tiananmen Square. She also used modern scientific methods to study ancient Chinese architecture, becoming a pioneer in this academic field. Later, she achieved great academic achievements in this area and laid a solid scientific foundation for the study of ancient Chinese architecture.

▲ A photo of Lin Huiyin inspecting ancient buildings in Shanxi in the 1930s. Like Liang Sicheng, she devoted her entire life to China's architectural career.

▲ Lin Huiyin at Lingyan Temple in Xiaoxiang Village, Fenyang in 1934 (Photo by Liang Sicheng)

4. In literature, he has written essays, poems, novels, plays, translations and letters. His representative works include "You Are the April on the World", "Lotus Lantern", "Ninety-Nine Degrees", etc.

Lin Huiyin, Rabindranath Tagore, Xu Zhimo

You are the April day on earth

——A hymn of love

I say you are the April day on earth;

The laughter lit up the wind on all sides;

Dancing and changing in the splendor of spring.

You are the mist in the early morning of April,

The evening breeze blows softly, and the stars are

Inadvertently, the raindrops fell in front of the flowers.

You are so light, so graceful, fresh and beautiful.

You wear the crown of flowers, you are

Innocent and solemn, you are the full moon every night.

After the snow melts, the yellow is like you; fresh

The first budding green, you are; tender and joyful

The water's light floats the white lotus you've been dreaming of.

You are the flowers blooming on every tree,

Whispering on the beams, - you are love, you are warmth,

It is hope, you are the April on earth!

Selected from Volume 1, Issue 1 of Xuewen (April 5, 1934)

Perhaps due to the war, or perhaps due to her high level of self-censorship, Lin Huiyin's manuscripts, whether calligraphy or painting, are very few. Even so, I hope to restore a literary architect with artistic temperament through the following information.

Lin Huiyin wrote the couplet in her 30s, "The night is clear and the yellow crane is silent, the mountain is empty and the white goose suddenly comes." It is elegant and graceful, imitating Chu Suiliang. At that time, she was facing the destruction of her country and the death of her brother. The sadness in Lin Huiyin's heart can be seen from the couplet. However, the characteristics of Chu's calligraphy, "gold in the characters, jade between the lines, gentle and elegant in the rules", were well preserved by Lin Huiyin, and she has a lonely and noble temperament, which vaguely shows her unparalleled elegance.

Lin Huiyin's calligraphy

Lin Huiyin's calligraphy

Lin Huiyin's paintings

Lin Huiyin's paintings

Lin Huiyin's paintings

Lin Huiyin's paintings

Lin Huiyin's gouache painting "Hometown"

Hand-drawn cartoon of Lin Huiyin educating her daughter Liang Zaibing

Lin Huiyin's hand-painted "Bed Picture"

There are many women in this world who are more beautiful than Lin Huiyin, but few are as talented as her, and those who are more talented than her are not as beautiful as her.

Lu Xiaoman

Smart, daring, loving, true nature

Lu Xiaoman was Xu Zhimo's second and last wife. Because they both had a relationship with Xu Zhimo, and even their death anniversary was in early April, only one day apart, people often compared her with Lin Huiyin, praising Lin Huiyin for her rationality and criticizing Lu Xiaoman for her true nature. However, they did not know that those emotional entanglements overshadowed her talent; they did not know that Hu Shi said she was "a scenery that must be seen", and Liu Haisu called her "a talented woman of the generation, a peerless beauty".

Lu Xiaoman was born into a family of scholars. Her father, Lu Ding, was a juren in the late Qing Dynasty. He graduated from Waseda University in Japan and later served as the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Taxation for many years. Her mother, Wu Manhua, was a famous lady from a Jiangnan family, and was particularly good at painting. As the only surviving child among nine children in the family, she was regarded as the apple of the eye and received a good education. She was very intelligent and had a good hand in calligraphy;

She was good at both poetry and painting. When she was 15, foreigners bought her paintings. Her meticulous flowers and light-ink landscapes reflected the local tradition of the Song Dynasty Academy.

Lu Xiaoman's painting "Spring Scenery in Jiangnan"

Lu Xiaoman's painting "Leisurely Walking and Listening to the Tide"

She is good at drama and once collaborated with Xu Zhimo to create the five-act play "Bian Kungang". She is also familiar with Kunqu Opera and Peking Opera, and she amazes the audience as soon as she opens her mouth.

▲ Lu Xiaoman (right) and Tang Ying acting together

In 1922, 19-year-old Lu Xiaoman married Wang Geng at her parents' behest. Wang Geng was handsome and tall, graduated from Tsinghua University, and served as a colonel in the army at a young age. This marriage was a typical "condition theory", a perfect match, and the envy of others.

▲ Wang Geng

It's just that marriage can be calculated with conditional formulas, but love cannot. Before marriage, Lu Xiaoman was an independent and bright woman, but after marriage, she became an accessory. Wang Geng devoted himself to work, and Xiaoman became a vase at home. Faced with such a boring marriage, she had to drink to relieve her sorrow.

▲ Report on the wedding of Lu Xiaoman and Wang Geng

She needed a man who could truly understand, care for and love her. At this time, the poet Xu Zhimo came into her life like an alien. The graceful lady and the romantic poet drank tea, watched plays, played cards and danced together, completely immersed in love. You met the person you met among thousands of people, not a step earlier or later, just happened to catch up. This is fate.

▲ Xu Zhimo

In terms of love, Lu Xiaoman was more courageous than Xu Zhimo. Xu Zhimo was forced to flee to Europe to avoid the limelight due to pressure from all sides, while Lu Xiaoman proposed the idea of ​​divorce to her parents. She wrote back to Xu Zhimo: "Mo, I'd better fight for you. I won't turn back until I'm exhausted. People all think I'm a woman who only knows how to play and dress up. Only you are the first person who sees through my true heart from all the fake words and fake smiles, and understands my pain!"

After finally marrying Xu Zhimo, they were both romantic and naive. Xu Zhimo was irrelevant, so Lin Huiyin left him; Lu Xiaoman pursued the ultimate love and happiness, but life was never enjoyable. Although love is beautiful, it often loses to the daily necessities of life, which is the inevitable ending for this pair of extremely romantic people.

On November 17, 1931, after a quarrel, Xu Zhimo left home in anger. On the 19th, the plane Xu Zhimo was on hit a mountain and exploded in Jinan, and Zhimo died. The only relic left at the scene was the landscape scroll painted by Lu Xiaoman. In fact, he still cared about his beloved wife. He often brought her paintings to ask masters to comment on them. Lu Xiaoman also loved him deeply. The moment she learned the bad news, she aged several years.

▲ 61-year-old Lu Xiaoman was photographed at the rockery bridge in Jingshan Park opposite her residence

Lu Xiaoman's life had a clear dividing line from the death of Xu Zhimo. From then on, she lived a simple life, wore plain clothes, stopped going to parties, and began to sort out Xu Zhimo's posthumous works and compile the "Complete Works of Xu Zhimo". In her illness, she picked up her paintbrush again, quit opium, and devoted herself to painting, using her brush and ink to travel the mountains and rivers and express her feelings about flowers and birds on paper. Many years after Xu Zhimo's death, she even held an exhibition in Shanghai and became a painter at the China Academy of Painting.

Lu Xiaoman's Green Peaks and Dark Colors Hanging Scroll

Goldfish hanging scroll by Lu Xiaoman, 1947

Lu Xiaoman painted the hanging scroll of "Love Lotus Layman" in 1933

Lu Xiaoman Modern Panasonic Lundao Library Lens

On April 3, 1965, Lu Xiaoman, a famous socialite, passed away quietly in Shanghai. The funeral was quiet, but the manuscripts and paintings she left behind finally fulfilled her identity. The person is gone, only her mouth is like a pen, her words are like ink, and she speaks on paper.

Zhang Chonghe

Very cold and confidant

During the Republic of China period, Ye Shengtao once said: "Whoever marries the four talented women of the Zhang family in Jiuru Lane will be happy for the rest of his life." These four are the famous "Hefei Four Sisters": the eldest sister Zhang Yuanhe, was in love with the famous Kunqu opera artist Gu Chuanjie; the second sister Zhang Yunhe married the linguist Zhou Youguang; the third sister Zhang Zhaohe became famous because of the pursuit of the writer Shen Congwen; the fourth sister Zhang Chonghe, was good at calligraphy and Kunqu opera, and became the wife of Sinologist Fu Hanshi.

The "Fourth Miss Zhang" (the second row, left one is Zhang Chonghe)

Zhang Chonghe was born in Shanghai in 1913. Her ancestral home is Hefei. She is the fourth daughter of Suzhou educator Zhang Wuling. Before giving birth to her, her mother Lu Ying had given birth to three daughters in a row. Chonghe's great aunt felt sorry for her mother Lu Ying and offered to adopt Chonghe. Lu Ying gave Chonghe to her great aunt. There, she lived until she was sixteen years old.

Zhang Chonghe's "Title of the Alone Collection"

The great-aunt was Li Hongzhang's niece. She was very knowledgeable and attached great importance to Chonghe's education. The teacher she hired for Chonghe was named Zhu Moqin, a disciple of Wu Changshuo. He was both talented and open-minded. He taught Chonghe to learn ancient Chinese and even got a copy of the Yan Qinli Stele to teach her calligraphy. Chonghe said that the Yan stele was very good for laying a foundation. Until she was old, she would copy the Yan Qinli stele every few years. Chonghe studied with Mr. Zhu from the age of nine to sixteen. What he left to Chonghe was not only a profound knowledge of Chinese studies.

Zhang Daqian's Kunqu Opera Spirit Portrait of Zhang Chonghe

After her great-aunt passed away, Chonghe returned to Jiuru Lane in Suzhou at the age of 16. Her father founded a school for girls, and her three sisters received a combination of Chinese and Western education, which was completely different from Chonghe's private school education. Her sisters were more Western-style, while Chonghe had the best foundation in traditional Chinese studies. Life in Suzhou gave Chonghe a lifelong hobby on her life path—Kunqu Opera. Zhang Daqian captured her grace in a painting of a lady. During the Anti-Japanese War, she amazed Chongqing at the time with a play "A Dream in the Garden". In the late 1980s, to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Tang Xianzu's birth, she returned to China and performed "A Dream in the Garden" with her eldest sister Yuanhe, which still won a full house of applause.

In 1980, Zhang Yuanhe played Liu Mengmei and Zhang Chonghe played Du Liniang. Yu Pingbo said that this was the "most subtle" photo.

As she was surrounded by a group of famous scholars, Zhang Chonghe's friends and mentors included Hu Shizhi, Shen Yinmo, Zhang Shizhao, Wen Yiduo, Shen Congwen, Bian Zhilin, Zhang Daqian, etc. During the Anti-Japanese War, this young, playful and intelligent "Fourth Miss Zhang" shuttled among a group of "national quintessence" elders, just like the spring orchid and autumn chrysanthemum blooming in the battlefield, and was loved and pampered like the moon surrounded by stars. During the Republic of China, her attainments in Kunqu Opera, poetry, and calligraphy were all elegant and extraordinary, and she created many literary anecdotes.

In 1933, Shen Congwen married his third sister Zhaohe in Beijing. Zhang Chonghe attended the wedding and has lived in Beijing ever since. Her family persuaded her to take the college entrance examination, so she attended classes at Peking University. She scored full marks in Chinese, especially the composition "My High School Life", which was written with great eloquence and was highly praised by the examiner. The Examination Committee was eager to accept talents and had to "admit" her as an exception. In those days, there were many famous teachers in the Chinese Department of Peking University, and Chonghe benefited a lot. In her third year, Chonghe suffered from tuberculosis and had to drop out of school, missing out on a degree from Peking University. After recovering, Chu Anping of the Central Daily News was studying in England and was short of staff, so Zhang Chonghe became an editor of the supplement "Contribution", writing essays, sketches and poems, and showing her talent for the first time.

Zhang Chonghe's Gongche Notation of "Visiting the Garden"

Zhang Chonghe first became known to the public because of a love affair. The protagonist of the love affair was the famous poet Bian Zhilin at the time. Bian Zhilin was a close friend of Shen Congwen. At that time, Chonghe was living in his brother-in-law's house, and the two got to know each other. It is said that the famous poem "You stand on the bridge to watch the scenery, and the people watching the scenery on the upper floor watch you. The bright moon decorates your window, and you decorate other people's dreams" was written by the poet for Chonghe.

Photo taken by Bian Zhilin and Zhang Chonghe at Tianping Mountain in Suzhou in October 1936

Bian Zhilin's bitter love for Zhang Chonghe almost became an open secret in the literary circle at that time. He wrote to her persistently, even after she got married and went to the United States, he was still diligent. He painstakingly collected her writings and sent them to Hong Kong for publication without her knowledge. He pursued her for ten years and did not marry until he was 45. His love for her lasted for most of his life. Many years later, when talking about this "bitter love" with his friend and student Su Wei, Zhang Chonghe said: "It's a bit of a stretch to say that it's a bitter love. I never had a love affair with him, so I can't say whether it was bitter or not."

Zhang Chonghe in Peking before the Anti-Japanese War

When the Anti-Japanese War broke out, Zhang Chonghe lived in the southwest with Shen Congwen's family. A year later, she worked at the Liyue Hall under the Ministry of Education in Chongqing, organizing rituals and music. During this period, Zhang Shizhao compared Zhang Chonghe to Cai Wenji in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. This made Zhang Chonghe very unhappy and thought it was "inappropriate": "I was exiled from Suzhou to Chongqing because of the Anti-Japanese War. How can I be compared with Cai Wenji who was defeated by the Huns and exiled to the Western Regions and married a Hu man."

Zhang Chonghe and her husband Fu Hansi

But in the end, Zhang Chonghe was still attracted by Zhang Shizhao's words. In November 1948, Zhang Chonghe married German sinologist Hans Fu Hanshi, and they both went to the United States to settle down in January of the following year. Hans Fu taught Chinese poetry at Yale University, and Zhang Chonghe taught Chinese calligraphy and Kunqu Opera at the Academy of Fine Arts of the university. This person who was most fascinated by traditional Chinese culture eventually chose to leave his country.

"minnow"

Zhang Conghe was fascinated by art throughout her life, but she always maintained the attitude of an old-school literati in enjoying art. She just wrote calligraphy and poetry and never thought of publishing them in a collection, let alone occupying a place in art history.

When she was teaching at Yale, a foreign student printed a collection of poems for her at his own expense. The name was very beautiful, "Peach Blossom Fish", and the binding was also beautiful, but the poems included were only a dozen or so. When she was 100 years old, Guangxi Normal University Press launched a series of Zhang Chonghe's works, namely "Late Flute at the End of the World", "Qu Ren Hong Zhua" and "Ancient Colors and Modern Fragrances", which actually included some of the good glimpses that Chonghe left behind unintentionally.

There is a sentence on the epitaph of the British poet Keats: Here lies a man, his name written on the water. Zhang Chonghe is also such a person who "writes his name on the water". The process of writing is the process of disappearing, like a bird flying by, but there is no trace in the sky. There is a sentence in Zhang Chonghe's self-written poem with a similar meaning, which is enough to summarize his life: Very cold but with a confidant, a song to spend this life.

Zhao Yidi

Pear blossoms and crabapples accompany old age

Zhao Yidi, also known as Qixia and nicknamed Xiangsheng, was born in Hong Kong. She was the fourth of her sisters (the youngest), so she was called Miss Zhao Si. Miss Zhao Si had a good figure, loved dressing up and was particularly good at it. In addition, she liked sports and reading, so she was both beautiful inside and out, which made her have an elegant temperament that was completely different from ordinary people. Because of this, she once became the cover girl of Tianjin's Beiyang Pictorial.

The story of Zhang Xueliang and Miss Zhao Si is quite popular. They met at a dance party in Tianjin. At that time, she had just turned 15 and was in the prime of her youth and romance. She was tall, graceful, and pretty. Although she was only considered to be of the upper middle class in terms of beauty among urban girls at that time, she had excellent temperament and demeanor, loved to dress up and knew how to dress up. At first glance, you could tell that she was a lady of a noble family with extraordinary temperament and deep upbringing.

Zhao Yidi

That day, the two fell in love at first sight and soon fell in love. A year later, Miss Zhao eloped to Shenyang. In the days that followed, Zhang Xueliang would walk, chat, play ball, play chess or discuss new poetry with Zhao Yidi whenever he had free time, and their relationship became increasingly close.

Zhao Yidi

When Zhao Yidi's father, Zhao Qinghua, learned that his daughter often attended dances and accepted many gifts from Zhang Xueliang, he expressed great dissatisfaction. When he heard that Miss Zhao had secretly left home to join Zhang Xueliang, he became even more angry. He published an announcement in the newspaper, in which he intended to remove Miss Zhao from the ancestral hall and would not be responsible for her future words and deeds. Although he did not mention severing the father-daughter relationship, the meaning was very clear.

Zhao Yidi's Flowers are as Clear as Jade

Zhao Yidi Landscape

But Miss Zhao Si, who was determined, daring, and willing to give up her status, didn't care about anything for love. Zhang Xueliang and Miss Zhao Si's unabashed extramarital affair made Yu Fengzhi very sad, but this generous and smart woman could see that the deep love between Zhang and Zhao was beyond her reach, so she reluctantly agreed to let Zhao Yidi marry into the Zhang family. So, Miss Zhao Si moved into the small building next to the Marshal's Mansion and gave birth to a child out of wedlock under the attention of all parties.

Miss Zhao Si

Although Zhang Xueliang had many lovers, the one who accompanied him the longest was Miss Zhao Si, with whom he stayed for 72 years. After the Xi'an Incident, Zhang Xueliang was imprisoned by Chiang Kai-shek. At that time, Yu Fengzhi went abroad for treatment due to illness and was unable to take care of Zhang Xueliang. Miss Zhao Si had the opportunity to serve her lover day and night.

Photos of Zhang Xueliang and Miss Zhao Si's life in confinement

During the fifty-three years of confinement, Zhang Xueliang and Miss Zhao Si raised chickens and ducks, planted flowers and grass, and were self-sufficient. Miss Zhao Si, who was often pointed at by Zhang Xueliang and said to others in authentic Northeastern dialect, "This is my girl", supported Zhang Xueliang and accompanied him through countless days and nights in the mountains where he "tossed and turned, and tears on the pillow could not dry" and the days of confinement where "after the war, the only thing I wanted to do was to read." During her seclusion in Taiwan, Zhao Yidi also published works such as "Good News", "New Life", "True Freedom", "The Great Mission", and "Yidi Testimony Collection".

Zhao Yidi tending to the flowers and plants

Zhao Yidi is doing housework. The former rich lady now does sewing and is self-sufficient.

In the 1970s, Zhang Daqian came to Taiwan from the United States and met Zhang Xueliang and his wife. He asked Zhao Yidi how her calligraphy and painting skills were doing in the 1920s and whether she could still paint now. Due to house arrest and taking care of Zhang Xueliang's daily life, Zhao Yidi no longer had the mood to paint. It was only when she met Zhang Daqian that her interest in painting was rekindled.

At his residence in Waishuangxi, Taipei, Zhao Yidi proposed the idea of ​​continuing to study painting, which was soon recognized by Zhang Xueliang, Zhang Daqian, and Zhang Qun. After formally becoming Zhang Daqian's apprentice, he became Zhang Daqian's last disciple and achieved considerable accomplishments in painting.

In 1990, Zhang Xueliang regained his personal freedom, and in 1995 he and Miss Zhao Si left Taiwan and lived in Hawaii, the United States. On June 22, 2000, Zhao Yidi died of illness in Hawaii, the United States. The relationship between Zhang Xueliang and Zhao Si was far more than that of an ordinary couple. At the memorial service, Zhang Xueliang was extremely sad and emotional, and he repeatedly shouted in pain: "She is gone, I want to bring her back. I want to bring her back!" Such a heartbreaking cry made all the relatives and friends present cry.

General Zhang Xueliang and Miss Zhao Si in his later years.

Before her death, Miss Zhao Si specifically left a will to her descendants to have a verse from the Bible engraved on her tombstone: "I am resurrection and life. Those who believe in me will be resurrected, even though they die." This may be Zhao Si's understanding and summary of her life of honor and disgrace and ups and downs.

Meng Xiaodong

Since you have no intention, I will stop

Meng Xiaodong

Meng Xiaodong, born in a Peking Opera family, was an outstanding female old male role in the early years of Peking Opera and was known as the "Winter Queen". She was a disciple of the famous Peking Opera old male role Yu Shuyan and one of the outstanding successors of the Yu School.

On December 9, 1908, in a cold winter, Meng Xiaodong was born in Shanghai. The Meng family has produced nine Peking opera stars in three generations. Her grandfather Meng Fubao was born in the old Huiban troupe and was good at playing the roles of Wujing and Wusheng. Her father Meng Hongqun was good at playing the roles of Wenwu Laosheng and Wujing, and even played with the "king of the opera world" Tan Xinpei. In addition, her uncles, brothers and sisters were almost all opera singers. Born in a Peking opera family, she was influenced by her father since she was a child. She watched her father practice and perform, and she liked it a little bit, so she began to learn "Na Da Ding".

The person who really started her on this path, or opened her eyes to the world, was her uncle Qiu Yuexiang, who learned the old male roles of the Sun School. This was also the reason why her father Meng Hongqun sent her there, only to open her eyes to the old male roles and not to the female roles.

Meng Xiaodong: Si Lang Visits His Mother

On March 8, 1919, the 11-year-old Meng Xiaodong made her debut in Wuxi, singing "Xiaoyaojin" and winning a standing ovation. On the stage, she was androgynous, with a loud and clear voice, and no one could guess that the old man just now was a woman. Anyone who has seen her photos knows that she looks very heroic, and such looks are rare even now, let alone at that time. From 1919 to 1925, in these six years, Meng Xiaodong went from Shanghai to Tianjin, and then to Beijing step by step. Finally, she became famous for "Silang Tanmu" and became famous in Beijing.

In order to seek a new world, Meng Xiaodong left Shanghai in 1925 and resolutely went north to study. It was also in this year that Meng Xiaodong met Mei Lanfang, the king of opera, at a party. The two performed the classic segment "Dragon and Phoenix". On stage, Meng Xiaodong was the suave Emperor Zhengde, and Mei Lanfang was the charming Li Fengjie. Off stage, Meng Xiaodong was a dazzling beauty, and Mei Lanfang was a graceful gentleman. The man was affectionate, and the woman was interested. As time went by, the two gradually fell in love.

Meng Xiaodong and Mei Lanfang

But at that time, Mei Lanfang was already married and had two wives. His wife Fu Zhifang could not accept her husband's new relationship. She was unwilling to let Meng Xiaodong into the house and did not recognize her. Mei Lanfang was very embarrassed and had to marry Meng Xiaodong to a yard outside the house. Later, because of the shooting case and the death of Mei's mother, Meng Xiaodong was stopped outside the door when she went to mourn. Meng Xiaodong chose to leave with her pride and stubbornness. She also made a vow to love: "Either I will never marry for life, or I will marry someone who stamps his feet and shakes, and ashes fall from the sky." Meng Xiaodong herself did not expect that person to come so quickly.

Meng Xiaodong and Du Yuesheng

This person is Du Yuesheng, the biggest gangster in Shanghai. After being with Du Yuesheng for ten years, Meng Xiaodong had her most luxurious wedding when the situation was turbulent and people were in panic. That day, Du Yuesheng attended the wedding despite being ill and dressed in new clothes. Meng Xiaodong, who had been cold for many years, finally showed a rare smile. Compared with these two relationships that had a great influence at the time, Meng Xiaodong's talent was often preconceived and put aside. In fact, the title of "Winter Queen" is not a casual one.

Meng Xiaodong's calligraphy

In 1935, someone introduced a Shanghai actor to Yu Shuyan, but Yu refused outright. After the introducer left, Yu said to his friend, "It's useless to teach some people. It's a waste of time." The friend asked, "Who is better in today's world?" Yu Shuyan replied, "Among the insiders and outsiders, the only one who is close to my style and can be trained is Meng Xiaodong!" Sincerity can move mountains and open stones. After a long wait and many twists and turns, Meng Xiaodong finally got her wish.

Pine and Crane

On October 21, 1938, Meng Xiaodong formally became Yu Shuyan's apprentice and became his last disciple, and also the only female disciple. At that time, Yu Shuyan was weak and sickly, and had long retired from the stage. Meng Xiaodong served him diligently and took good care of him. She asked him about art and was dedicated to her work. Yu Shuyan naturally taught her everything he knew, striving for perfection in every move. Meng Xiaodong's art had a qualitative leap before she became Yu Shuyan's apprentice. She was able to compete with the leading Peking Opera old male actors at that time, Ma Lianliang, Tan Fuying, and Yang Baosen. She was well-known throughout the country and was honored as the "Winter Queen".

Autumn Chrysanthemums

Someone commented: "Since she became Shuyan's apprentice, (Meng Xiaodong) has come to Yu's house every day to study hard, regardless of the seasons. In the five years before and after, she learned dozens of plays and is the only one in Yu's school who has truly inherited his legacy. ... If the works of Yu's school are the stuff of a real graduate school, Meng Xiaodong would be the only qualified graduate student. It is extremely valuable, but it is always a pity that such a great art cannot be widely spread." (Meng Yao, "History of Chinese Opera", Volume 3)

Imitation Gai Qi Lady

In 1943, Yu Shuyan died of bladder cancer. Meng Xiaodong mourned her teacher with a couplet: "Qing Fang inherited the family business and was well-known in the imperial court. Since the decline of art, no one can pass on his music to us by hearsay. His weak qualities have faded away. He was the master of Cheng's school, but unfortunately the legacy has not been passed on. I am heartbroken and cannot repay my teacher."

Meng Xiaodong and Zhang Daqian in their later years

After Du Yuesheng's death, Meng Xiaodong lived alone in Hong Kong, rarely going out, and devoted herself to teaching her students. Meng Xiaodong did not choose her students casually. Only those who were talented, strong-willed, and fascinated by art were qualified to be her students. Her three students, Zhao Peixin, Qian Peirong, and Wu Bizhang, were just that.

Arhat in 1925

She taught her students very seriously and strictly. She stipulated that without her permission, they could not practice their voices outside, and they were not allowed to sing plays that they were not proficient in. According to Liu Jiayou, she had a prospective student who had a glimpse of the art of Yu's school of drama and had reached a certain level in both singing and acting. He once rehearsed and had a very good reputation. Soon he learned "Catch and Release the Inn", reciting and singing while rehearsing his body movements. When he thought he was proficient enough, he repeatedly invited him to perform in Taipei. However, Meng Xiaodong thought that he was not perfect in acting and conveying the spirit, so she never agreed.

1925: The God of Wealth

On May 25, 1977, Meng Xiaodong died of illness at the age of 70. She left the world with a life full of ups and downs, but she inherited the Yu School and passed on the art of the Yu School, making her an outstanding contributor to preserving the essence of Chinese culture.

Soong Mei-ling

Fireworks are so beautiful

Soong May-ling was born in 1897 at No. 1, Lane 74, Lanfentang, Chuansha Town, Pudong, Shanghai. She was the former first lady of the Republic of China and married Chiang Kai-shek for nearly 50 years. She was Chiang Kai-shek's diplomatic assistant. With the strong support of the Kong and Soong families and her background of studying in the United States, she was active in politics, diplomacy and other fields, and had a profound impact on modern Chinese history and Sino-US relations.

Soong Mei-ling's domineering speech at the U.S. Congress

Churchill once said to Roosevelt: "This Chinese woman is not a weakling!" Churchill, the proud and famous British Prime Minister, publicly stated more than once that Soong May-ling was one of the few women he admired most in the world. Her pride and charm made people extremely moved. Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger also praised Soong May-ling as "a beauty in troubled times, who has influenced the world with her extraordinary female emotions and is worthy of our eternal appreciation and thinking." As her husband, Chiang Kai-shek said, "My wife's ability is equivalent to 20 army divisions."

Soong May-ling studied in the United States in her early years. In addition to being proficient in English, she also knew six languages, was familiar with piano playing, had profound attainments in Chinese painting, and had a good hand in calligraphy.

She was very talented and loved painting since childhood. As early as the Anti-Japanese War, Zhang Daqian was introduced by his fellow villager Zhang Qun to serve as Song Meiling's Chinese painting instructor in Chongqing for a period of time. Song Meiling benefited greatly from his teaching. The Chiang family has always treasured the landscape paintings that Zhang Daqian and Song Meiling collaborated on as teacher and student at that time.

After Soong Mei-ling went to Taiwan with Chiang Kai-shek in 1949, her favorite hobby and the thing she put the most effort into was learning to paint, mainly Chinese painting. Chiang Kai-shek thought she was joking at first, but she was so competitive that she became more and more serious about painting, forgetting to eat and sleep, and her painting skills gradually improved. Chiang was very surprised and often showed his wife's works to international friends for appreciation.

Interestingly, at one time, Song Meiling's paintings were believed to be ghostwritten by Zheng Manqing. In order to change this view, Song Meiling invited famous Taiwanese painters to have dinner at the Shilin official residence, and then Zheng Manqing proposed that everyone paint together. So, in full view of the public, Song Meiling painted calmly. From then on, no one doubted the authenticity of Song Meiling's paintings.

After Zhang Daqian moved to Taiwan, Zhang Qun asked Zhang Daqian to accept Song Meiling as his last disciple. In her later years, Song Meiling often held solo exhibitions at her residence, and invited famous painters such as Zhang Daqian, Zheng Manqing, and Huang Junbi to the Shilin official residence to comment on her works. At the dinner table, the painters talked about the past and the present, and after dinner and tea, they painted together, enjoying themselves. In order to learn painting, she often went to the "National Palace Museum" in Taipei to borrow famous paintings for observation and study. When she lived in the United States in her later years, she occasionally visited galleries and art museums in the early years to paint.

After she went to live in seclusion in the United States in 1975, despite her advanced age, she still had a deep love for painting and often took out her works to appreciate them carefully. In her later years, Soong May-ling settled in the United States for a long time and died in the United States on October 24, 2003 at the age of 106.

The beauty of the moment will last forever,

The fragrance of flowing water and falling flowers lingers,

Looking back, it is truly an unparalleled elegance.