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Li Hongzhang's concubine Dongmei

In 1864, Li Hongzhang's concubine Dongmei took a photo. When the photo was taken, Dongmei had just turned 16 and was 1.68 meters tall. She was outstanding in appearance, beautiful and charming, and her appearance was not inferior to that of today's female stars. She was deeply loved by Li Hongzhang. At that time, taking photos was an extremely luxurious act, and only the powerful and wealthy could enjoy it. At this time, Li Hongzhang was 41 years old, 25 years older than Dongmei.

It can be seen that Dongmei dressed herself up carefully for this photo, holding a handkerchief in her right hand and a folding fan in her left hand. In addition, a hookah was placed on the wooden railing. At that time, smoking hookah became a trend among the powerful and wealthy and was widely sought after.

Li Hongzhang

According to the information, Dongmei was from Zhejiang and was originally the daughter of an official family. Later, due to the decline of her family, she became a maid next to Zhao Xiaolian. Because of her meticulous work, Dongmei gradually became Zhao Xiaolian's personal maid and one of her most trusted people. If you know Li Hongzhang's life, you will know that Zhao Xiaolian was his second wife.

Zhao Xiaolian was born in 1839 in a prominent family in Taihu County, Anhui Province. Her grandfather was Zhao Wenkai, the first-place winner of the imperial examination in the first year of the Jiaqing reign. Since Zhao Wenkai, four generations of the Zhao family have passed the imperial examinations. Nowadays, marriages are based on the principle of being well-matched, especially in feudal society. Due to Zhao Xiaolian's prominent family background, she was unable to marry and was still unmarried at the age of 24.

In today's terms, Zhao Xiaolian was a typical "leftover woman". Against this background, the already famous Li Hongzhang appeared. Zhao Xiaolian's father, Zhao Shu, was a Jinshi in the Daoguang period. He worked with Li Hongzhang as a staff member in the Hanlin Academy, and later returned to his hometown to organize militia together. At the same time, the two were from Anhui and had a very close relationship.

In 1861, Li Hongzhang's first wife, Zhou, died of illness. The two had known each other since childhood and were childhood sweethearts. Her death made Li Hongzhang heartbroken. According to historical records, Zhou was the great-niece of Li Hongzhang's teacher Zhou Juchu, who was two years older than Li Hongzhang. Zhou Juchu admired Li Hongzhang very much and thought that this student had a strong ambition, so he arranged this marriage.

Zhao Xiaolian

After Zhou married Li Hongzhang, the couple had a harmonious relationship and gave birth to two daughters. You should know that women at that time had to bear the heavy responsibility of carrying on the family line, but Zhou's birth of two daughters did not affect her relationship with Li Hongzhang at all. In his youth, Li Hongzhang paid great attention to family life in addition to pursuing fame and fortune.

In the summer of 1861, when Li Hongzhang passed through Raozhou Prefecture in Jiangxi Province, he wrote a poem to his two daughters who were far away in his hometown:

"It is easy to join the army but it is hard to travel the world. Only the spoiled and foolish children can never dry their tears when they look at the moon. Grandpa will take off his military uniform one day and sit by the lamp to ask questions. The angel poet lies on the spring stone, teaching the way to keep the talent."

Li Hongzhang's family (partial)

Less than two months after the poem was written, Zhou died. In the following two years, Li Hongzhang was too busy with military affairs to take care of his personal marriage, so he never remarried. During this period, his main task was to organize militia in his hometown of Anhui.

In January 1864, Li Hongzhang officially married Zhao Xiaolian, who was 15 years younger than him. Dongmei was a maidservant in the dowry and eventually became his concubine. Li Hongzhang and Zhao Xiaolian had three sons and one daughter, namely Li Jingshu, Li Jingyuan, Li Jingmai and Li Jueou, completing the task of carrying on the Li family's lineage.

Perhaps it was fate that made Li Hongzhang's career flourish and his family prosper after his remarriage. He became an important official in the late Qing Dynasty and a frontier official. He served as the governor of Jiangsu, governor-general of Huguang, governor-general of Zhili, and concurrently as the Minister of Commerce of the Beiyang. He was granted the title of Grand Secretary of Wenhua Palace and was conferred the title of the first-class Earl of Suyi.

Li Hongzhang

There is a detail that Zhao Xiaolian came from a prominent family and had never served anyone before marriage, so Li Hongzhang was particularly worried about her relationship with her mother-in-law and other family members. Therefore, Li Hongzhang told his family members about his concerns in advance, hoping that everyone would be more tolerant of Zhao Xiaolian.

Li Hongzhang clearly wrote in "The Family History of My Late Sister, Mrs. Zhang": "After Wuzhong was pacified, I brought my mother here to take care of her, and my sister came to serve her. My second wife was not familiar with my mother-in-law's daily life and was very worried that it would not meet my mother's wishes. My sister guided her from the side, and the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law got along very well."

Li Hongzhang's Tomb

However, with the death of Zhao Xiaolian, Li Hongzhang's life gradually fell to the bottom and he began to bear thousands of infamy. In 1892, Zhao Xiaolian died of illness at the age of 53. In 1901, Li Hongzhang died of illness in Beijing at the age of 78. It is worth mentioning that Li Hongzhang left a will before his death, asking to be buried with Zhao Xiaolian, and the two were buried together in Daxingji, 15 miles east of Hefei.