jiang hongda｜a deputy director of the ministry of education and his last time in beiyang
2024-09-07
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when will the war end? i am worried and sleepless at night.
the will of heaven is unpredictable, and human affairs are remembered from the past.
it has been twenty years since i last celebrated new year's eve in the capital.
don't complain about the low salary, for you will get money as new year's gift.
on new year's eve of the 15th year of the republic of china (1926), lu xiaozhi (1883-1943) wrote a five-character poem in the same rhyme as the poem "shou sui tu" written by wang mi of the qing dynasty, and recorded it in his diary the next day. the first and second couplets of this poem express his feelings about the current situation, while the third and last couplets lament his life. they plainly record lu xiaozhi's personal circumstances, like a key to lu's life.
lu xiaozhi, courtesy name renfu, was a native of zhuoying county (now zhouzhi) in shaanxi province. he went to japan to study in 1901 and graduated from the department of agriculture of tokyo higher agricultural school. after returning to china, he worked as a secretary for a short time and served as the supervisor of hunan class a agricultural school from august 1905 (until february of the following year). in october 1906, he passed the ministry of education's study abroad graduate test and was awarded the title of juren in the agricultural science department. he was transferred to the ministry of industry and later changed to the position of yuanwailang in the general affairs department. the saying "new year's eve in the capital has been twenty years in my life" was counted from this year (lu's note under the couplet "i entered the capital in bingwu, and have been in the lang office for twenty years" means this).
in april 1912, with the abolition and acceptance of the old ministry of education, lu xiaozhi officially entered the ministry of education of the beijing government. in august 1912, he was recommended as a deputy minister of the ministry of education and concurrently served as the head of the second section of the special education department, responsible for the affairs of special colleges and universities. among the list of 32 deputy ministers released at that time, another more famous one was zhou shuren, the head of the first section of the social education department. we did not find lu xiaozhi and zhou shuren's records of each other, but the two must have had intersections. first, the ministry of education at that time had limited members, and the heads of each section totaled no more than 14 people, so they would see each other if they looked up or down; second, the two had many common friends in the ministry, such as xu shoushang (ji fu), li jinxi (shao xi), hong kui (ji qi), etc., and their social networks must have had many overlaps. however, the relationship between the two must have been estranged. lu xiaozhi and lu xun were very different people. they started from a similar starting point, but walked out of different life trajectories in the last days of the beiyang period.
at that time, zhou shuren was still just zhou shuren. although he had translated and published two volumes of short stories from foreign countries with his brother zhou zuoren several years ago, they were both unsalable and had little impact. lu xiaozhi was not an important figure either, but because he was an old member of the ministry of education, he had a stronger foundation in the ministry and had more opportunities in his later "official career". on march 10, 1913, lu was appointed director of the specialized education department, but only one month later he resigned due to disagreements with the then minister of education during the central society's mutual election rights movement. in february 1914, the agricultural department of peking university was separated and changed to the national beijing agricultural school directly under the ministry of education. lu xiaozhi was appointed as the first president (served until july 1917). in july 1919, lu was appointed as the acting director of the hubei education department, and was actually appointed in march of the following year, but at the end of the year he resigned and returned to beijing because his handling of the wuchang normal university movement did not meet wu peifu's wishes. obviously, this appointment was an attempt by the central government to intervene in and control local education power. in february 1922, lu xiaozhi was appointed by the ministry of education as a supervisor of students studying in japan, and went to japan to inspect education at the end of march. in july of that year, he was assigned as an editor of the ministry of education. in september 1925, lu was given another opportunity to serve in a foreign post and was appointed as the director of the hunan education department. he was dismissed in august of the following year. however, judging from his diary, he did not actually take up the post this time, but stayed in the ministry to work.
lu xiaozhi and lu xun during the beiyang period
there are two types of lu xiaozhi's diaries that have survived. one is "diary of studying in japan in 1902", which records his study in japan in 1902. the other "diary of bingyin" is not well known. this diary begins on the first day of the first lunar month in 1926 and ends on the ninth day of the sixth lunar month (february 13 to july 18 in the gregorian calendar). although it is less than half a year, it records in detail the daily work and life of a civil servant in the beijing ministry of education (or even a group of civil servants like him) in the era of great changes, such as the collapse of duan qirui's executive government, the beginning of the northern expedition of the national revolutionary army, and the demise of the beiyang government.
compared with lu xun's diary of the same period, which was a personal account, lu xiaozhi's diary was richer and more specific. for example, on march 18, 1926, lu xun wrote in his diary:
the 18th was sunny. in the morning, i sent a letter to xiaofeng. in the afternoon, lin came and gave me three kinds of sweets. at night, luyan came. i received a letter from qiufang.
on the same day, lu xiaozhi wrote in his diary:
the fifth day was sunny, windy, slightly cloudy, and slightly cold. my cousin meng di came with tan shaoqin before noon. we had a drink at xuan nanchun at noon, as shaoqin had arranged. we went to danya at 2 o'clock to accompany our new relatives and returned at dusk. zhongxiang, gu fu, and zao wu all came as scheduled. daoshan also came, so we had a long talk all night, waiting for the sacrifice tomorrow morning. daoshan had no work at the confucian temple, so he left first at 12 o'clock. i received a letter from shen yuanchang in tianjin. on that day, students from many schools and various groups first held a meeting outside tiananmen square, and then went to the state council to petition. because of a dispute with the guards, more than 30 people were shot dead and more than 100 were injured. there were also casualties among the soldiers and police. oh, it was tragic!
this was the day when the "march 18 massacre" occurred. lu xun's diary was extremely brief and did not mention this incident at all. in comparison, lu xiaozhi's diary was more detailed, recording everything from daily interactions, official business in the ministry, and current events. by looking at lu's diary before and after, we can understand the basic reasons for the "march 18 massacre":
on the 29th day of the first lunar month (march 13), the nationalist and fengtian armies (note: the nationalist and fengtian armies) have recently deployed troops in dagu, which has caused inconvenience to nearby ships. it was heard that yesterday several japanese warships intended to enter the area, but due to some misunderstanding, they fired at the dagu fort and some japanese personnel were injured. today, lu zhonglin sent a telegram requesting a protest to the japanese envoy; at the same time, the japanese envoy also protested to the outside world. the government intends to conduct a thorough investigation first and then come up with a solution.
on the fourth day of the second month (march 17), i heard that yesterday the foreign ministers stationed in beijing sent an ultimatum to the government regarding the dagu incident, making some demands and giving a deadline for a reply. students from various schools petitioned the state council regarding the dagu incident.
the tragedy happened the next day. after that, he continued to pay attention to the subsequent events:
on the sixth day of february (march 19), the ruling party ordered that the actions of the previous two days were communist acts, and ordered that serious precautions be taken inside and outside beijing. it also issued a warrant for the arrest of xu qian, li dazhao, li yuling (note: li shizeng), yi peiji, gu zhaoxiong (note: gu mengyu), and five others. in addition, the state council sent a telegram to all provinces about the situation of the previous two days. it is heard that the government has replied to the envoys on the dagu issue, and that ships from all countries can sail freely from now on. if there are no complications, it can end here.
on the seventh day of the second lunar month (march 20), the ruling party issued an order that the ministry of the interior should inform local government offices to investigate the compensation of innocent people due to the tragedy in front of the state council the other day. the army and justice departments should also investigate whether the military and police exceeded the necessary level when performing their duties. all cabinet members resigned due to their negligence in preventing the tragedy in front of the state council.
on the ninth day of the second month (march 22), all cabinet members resigned en masse. after being persuaded to stay by the ruling party, i heard that they have resumed their duties as usual.
lu xiaozhi's diary records the "march 18" massacre
although lu xiaozhi kept recording the development of the situation in his diary, unlike lu xun, his attention to the incident seemed to be limited to the paper. during this period, what bothered him most was actually the "confucian temple battle" mentioned in his diary on the day of the tragedy.
on the second day of the second lunar month (march 15), lu xiaozhi received a notice from the secretariat of the ministry, saying that "on the sixth day of the first lunar month, the confucian temple will be assigned as deacons for the spring ding sacrifice ceremony. the other three people assigned to the review committee include zhongxiang, gufu, and zaowu." according to the confucius sacrifice ceremony, confucius' birthday and ding sacrifice are the most important. confucius' birthday is on september 28 of the gregorian calendar every year, and ding sacrifice is divided into two times in spring and autumn, that is, the first ding day of february and august of the lunar calendar. lu xiaozhi and others were assigned to the spring ding sacrifice of that year. on the third day of the second lunar month, lu did not go to the office to work, but he received news that his specific task in the spring ding sacrifice was to serve as the "deacon of the western wing confucian scholars." on the fourth day of the first lunar month, he "went to the office in the afternoon and read more than 20 pages of books." he "agreed with zhongxiang, gufu, and zaowu to gather in yuzhai tomorrow night, and wait for the sacrifice to be held, and then go together to deal with the matter." so on march 18, the group of people "talked all night long" at lu's house waiting for the sacrifice to be held at dawn.
confucius worship was an important cultural and political event for the beiyang government, which concerned "people's goodness" and "national security". for people at that time, being a deacon of the ding sacrifice might be an honor, but it was an unpaid voluntary job and a great test for the body. therefore, for lu xiaozhi and others who were actually deacons, it was a hard labor:
on the sixth day, dingwei. heavy snow all day, clear in the evening, very cold. at the beginning of the day, i went to the confucian temple with zhongxiang, gufu, and zaowuyi in formal attire. we first went to jingyi pavilion to rest, and at the beginning of the day, we offered sacrifices, and the deacons performed the rituals. after the fire, it was already bright, so we went home. i lay down after being exhausted, and woke up in the afternoon... in the evening, i had a headache and nausea, and i didn't want to eat. i took more than ten rendan pills and felt better.
deacon of confucius sacrifice during the beiyang period
it is well known that it was difficult to pay salaries to civil servants in the "poor" ministry of education during the beiyang period. not only were temporary dispatches like dingji unpaid, but even the statutory salaries of the ministry could not be paid on time and in full most of the time. this was reflected in lu xun's diary, and lu xiaozhi's diary provided more details, and the two can verify each other.
between february 12 and july 18, 1926, lu xun recorded four times the ministry of education's salary payments in his diary, while lu xiaozhi recorded five times:
the first salary was issued on february 12. this day was new year's eve. considering the high expenses of the staff during the new year, this salary was relatively large and was issued overnight. lu xun's diary: "on the night of the 12th, i received 231 yuan from the ministry of education, which was distributed in january of the 13th year." lu xiaozhi wrote a note under the last couplet of the poem "don't complain about the low salary, there is money for the new year" in the next day's new year's eve, "70% of the salary will be paid on new year's eve", referring to this salary payment. in fact, this couplet was altered. it was originally written as "tonight is a comforting night, the salary is money." although the poem is written in a vulgar way, it reveals a complex emotion of helplessness, self-mockery and joy.
the second salary was issued on march 25. lu xun received it the next day and made a brief note in his diary on the 26th: "received three yuan from the ministry of education." lu xiaozhi went to the office in the afternoon of the 25th and said, "there are only a thousand yuan left in the office. today, everyone will receive three yuan. regardless of salary level, it is the same. the ministry of education is so poor that it is a pity!"
the third salary was issued on april 30. lu xun's diary lost its record. lu xiaozhi received it the next day. on may 1 (march 20), he wrote: "yesterday the office issued another salary of 6 yuan per person. i received it today."
the fourth paycheck was issued on may 14. lu xun received it the next day and wrote in his diary: "the ministry of education sent me 79 yuan in the evening [on the 15th]." lu xiaozhi went to the office on the afternoon of the 14th and learned more about the source of this paycheck: "on that day, the office paid 22% of the paycheck, totaling 62 yuan and 40 cents. this year, except for two times when the average amount was 9 yuan, this is the first time that paychecks are paid by percentage. it's a pity! it was the boxer indemnity returned by russia."
the fifth salary was issued on june 14. lu xun recorded in his diary that day that he received 83 yuan from the ministry of education in the evening. on that day, lu xiaozhi did not go to the office to work, and his salary was delivered by the servants of the ministry, but he still found out various peripheral information about the salary payment: "today, the office has raised 25,000 yuan, but it is not clear whether it is russian money. the staff of the ministry will receive 25%, and the recorders will receive 40%. at 9 o'clock in the evening, the servants of the ministry delivered the salary, which was 70 yuan." interestingly, although lu xiaozhi, as a senior member of the ministry of education, had more seniority in the ministry of education, and was once promoted to the director of a special department, twice appointed as the director of a provincial education department, and served as the principal of the beijing agricultural specialized school, after experiencing ups and downs, his salary was not as high as lu xun's (lu's full monthly salary was about 280 yuan, while lu xun's was about 330 yuan, and the two were about one salary grade apart).
without adequate salaries, the work enthusiasm of the members of the ministry was inevitably affected. lu xun rarely recorded his work at the ministry of education in his later diaries, probably because he felt that daily trivialities were not worth recording. he was illegally fired for five months by then minister of education zhang shizhao due to the "women's normal university movement" from august 1925 to january 1926. although he was reinstated, he was obviously more distant from the ministry of education. it seemed that the only relationship between the two was a paycheck. unlike lu xun, lu xiaozhi could not engage in part-time lectures or literary creation to earn various extra incomes. naturally, he was not so detached from his work, but it seemed that he did not put much effort into it either.
judging from the records in his diary, lu xiaozhi's work at the ministry of education seemed quite leisurely and free. in 1926, the ministry of education officially started working on the sixth day of the first lunar month (february 18), and implemented afternoon office hours in the spring, working from 2 pm to 6 pm. however, lu rarely came to work on time, and never worked overtime. he usually came to the office at 3 pm or 4 pm, and then left the office at 6 pm, or left the office early at 5 pm. many times, he just "went to the office" casually or casually. for example, on the 28th day of the first lunar month (march 12), he “went out of the front gate to shop in the afternoon, and went to the government office to read more than ten pages of a book”, which was his work for the day; on the 13th day of the second lunar month (march 26), “in the afternoon, he went to ruan’s house, and then entered the office. he signed a few more books he had read yesterday and handed them in”; on the 18th day (march 31), “in the afternoon, he congratulated gao shaonong on his daughter-in-law, went to the office, and then went back”; the next day, “after lunch, he went to the office. at four o’clock, general manager hu arrived. he met with the members of the ministry at the conference hall, talked for a few words, and then left. he returned at five o’clock”; on the 15th day of the third lunar month (april 26), “in the afternoon, my cousin zhongdan came to the government office to read a few pages of a book. there was a meeting to ask for wages, and they dispersed before five o’clock and went back”; on the first day of the fifth lunar month (june 10), “he entered the office in the rain in the afternoon. there were very few people there. he sat for a while and then left”... since july 1, when the ministry of education changed its office hours to the summer “early office” (8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.), there has been no substantial change in the situation. for example, on may 29 (july 8), "before noon, hong zhusheng and zhang ruoquan came to talk for a long time. after the guests left, i hurried back to the office. it was already early noon. i read a few pages of a book and returned." on june 4 (july 13), "i went to the office before noon and returned immediately." there are many such cases. as for "not going to the office" due to unexpected matters or being tired and getting up late, it is also common.
it is not difficult to find that the main content of lu xiaozhi's daily work in the office is "reading books." of course, this is not just reading casual books, but a special job. since the end of october 1925, lu was appointed as a member of the book review committee of the ministry of education and served as the director of the agricultural group. he was engaged in the review of agricultural textbooks in the office. this is revealed in the diary. for example, on the seventh day of the first lunar month (february 19), "in the afternoon... i went to the office to read more than ten pages of agricultural textbooks"; on february 12 (march 25), "i went to the office in the afternoon to read more than thirty pages of books, including the fourth volume of agricultural textbooks and the third and fourth volumes of professorial books. i finished reading them all, signed more than forty items in total, and planned to approve one item"; on february 17 (march 1), "i went to the office in the afternoon to read more than ten pages of books, agricultural textbooks printed by zhonghua book company." on the 21st (march 5), "the wind blew in the afternoon, and i went to the office "i read a dozen pages of the agricultural textbook"; on the 25th (march 9), "i went to tan's house in the afternoon, met wei qiu, and talked for a while. i read more than ten pages of books in the office and finished the first volume of the agricultural textbook"; on the 27th (march 11), "the wind blew in the afternoon, and i went to ruan's house. i went to the government office and presented mr. bao zinian's "daquan illustrated record" to wei cang. i read a few pages of the agricultural textbook, the second volume"; on march 12th (may 1), "i went to the office in the afternoon to read more than ten pages of books, and finished the second volume of the agricultural textbook." and so on. for this, he also received an examination fee of more than 11 yuan on march 30th (may 11), which was said to be a bonus based on the new regulations established last year, which was considered "windy money."
assignment of posts in the book review committee of the ministry of education. source: morning post, october 30, 1925, p. 6
looking through the diary, it is not difficult to see that in the 15th year of the republic of china, lu xiaozhi, a member of the ministry of education, had a "typical" day that was probably like what he wrote in his diary on february 28 (april 10):
on the 28th, the weather was as sunny as yesterday. i cleaned the study room in the morning, picked a few branches of crabapple in the backyard and put them on the desk, opened the book and sat quietly, which was a pleasure. after dinner, i went to the office. when we arrived at ruan's house, the whole family went to the east city. i went to hu yin's aunt to pay the money. i visited central park. my cousin zhongdan and my nephew xun (note: lu zun, who was the head of the state council at that time) were both there, so we sat together to drink tea and chat. brother dan had something to do and left first. i took my nephew xun to visit all parts of the garden. hundreds of flowers bloomed at the same time, and the beautiful spring scenery was not diminished by current events. in the evening, i took my nephew xun home and watched the cards with shengci. it was eleven o'clock when my nephew xun left the city.
during the day, work seems to be secondary. what is important is to watch a play, drink tea, coffee, visit the park with friends, and even better, have a long chat in the quiet night.
lu xiaozhi really loved watching operas. he would watch operas on weekdays and holidays. he would often watch operas every day for several days in a row, and even watch operas in different places within a day. he often went to sanqingyuan, huale theater, kaiming theater and other places to watch operas by famous actors such as mei lanfang, meng xiaodong, cheng yanqiu, and xu biyun. he had a good taste in watching operas, and of course he also loved to comment on operas, with sharp words. for example, on the third day of february (march 16), "there was a play in the evening. the huale heming society troupe, cheng yanqiu and hou xirui performed "the story of hong fu", which was excellent; xiao cuihua (note: yu lianquan, stage name "xiao cuihua") performed in "the boudoir music", which was also worth listening to. on that day, shengci and my wife went to tan's house to watch the play and returned at 2 a.m."; on the 20th (april 2), "in the afternoon, i went to the office... even huale opera, yanqiu performed "meilong town", which was not her forte and was just mediocre. in recent years, cuihua is the best in this play, even lanfang cannot compare"; on the third day of march (april 14), "in the afternoon, i went to the office to read four pages of a book. following my nephew's telegram to huale opera, i drove out of the city; when i arrived, zhang zhongxuan was also there. the plot of the play "three jinshi" was not good, but the actors were not bad. yao yulan was the protagonist, not ah hao"; on the fourth day (may 15), "nephew xun came in the afternoon, sat for a while and then left. we went into the office and went to sanqing to watch a play. yang baozhong and zhu qinxin performed "oolong courtyard", which was generally good, but we couldn't be too strict"; on the nineteenth (may 30), "after dinner... nephew xun happened to be there, so we went to sanqing to watch a play. the seats were very good, and each person paid an extra three cents. zhu qinxin and hao shouchen co-starred in a new play "wushuang", which had a poor structure and was not worth watching. only shouchen's "the ancient ya ya" was still brilliant"; on the ninth day of june (july 18), which was the last day recorded in "bingyin diary", "after dinner, caiting invited brother di and me to guangde tower to watch a play. after the play, i took caiting and brother di to baijing tower for dinner, and telegraphed brother dan to join us. after dinner, i went to kaiming with brothers di and dan to watch a play. lan fang performed "shen tou ci tang", and both her singing and acting were good."
beijing kaiming theater. source: shanghai daily, july 3, 1930, p. 2
in addition to watching plays, lu xiaozhi was also keen on gathering with friends and colleagues for leisurely conversations. lu xiaozhi really loved leisurely conversations. several times when he went to work in the government office, he stopped reading and talked with his colleagues for a long time. for example, on the ninth day of the third month (april 20), "i arrived at the office in the afternoon, did not read books, and had a long conversation with my colleagues until dusk"; on the third day of the fifth month (june 12), "i went to the office in the afternoon to read books. i was informed that there would be a day off for the dragon boat festival the next day. there was no news about salaries, but some russian funds could be obtained, and the dispute between the ministry and the school was not resolved. i talked about gu fu and zao wuju for a long time, and then went home"; on the seventh day (june 16), "i arrived at the office in the afternoon and had a long conversation with kou enlao and ye yingtang. yingtang talked about buddhism, and he was so eloquent that i couldn't say anything, so i just nodded." of course, there were more dinners after work, and then long conversations at night. for example, on the 20th day of the first lunar month (march 4), "i arrived at the office in the afternoon. in the evening, i went to meet with brothers shen taoshan and buzhou, and returned at 2 a.m."; on the 21st day, "i arrived at the office in the afternoon. in the evening, brothers shen taoshan, buzhou, chen zhongxiang, peng xingbai, zhou gufu, and zhu zaowu gathered in my room to talk about drama, and did not disperse until midnight"; on the evening of the 22nd day, they did not gather, but went to huale to watch a play with relatives and friends, "and returned at 2 a.m."; on the 23rd day, everyone held a qinghan gathering, "at 12 a.m. on the 24th, "in the evening, wu zhongyu, taoshan, zhongxiang, and zaowu gathered in my room for a long talk, and did not disperse until midnight"; on the 25th, "in the evening, zhongxiang, gu fu, and zaowu came together for a long talk"; on the 26th, they took a short rest and did not talk; on the 27th, "after the banquet, they went to gu fu's house to talk, and returned at 2 a.m."; on the 28th, "in the evening, they gathered at taoshan and buzhou's house, and returned at 2 a.m."... they gathered to talk almost every night. this makes people curious, what were they talking about? the diary does not have a clear record of this, we can only guess that they were probably talking about the current situation, gossiping, and chatting like people today. of course, judging from some records, they were not necessarily chatting, but might have been playing chess. the diary mentions "hand talk" many times. for example, on april 16 (may 27), "in the afternoon... i went to the office to read. after the shift, i went to shen's house to play chess, and returned at 12 o'clock"; on the 20th (may 31), "i wanted to go to the office in the afternoon, but xing bai invited me by phone, so i went directly to xing bai's house to play chess. daoshan, zhongxiang, xia chi, and tianhan were there. i returned at 2 o'clock in the morning"; on the third day of may (june 12), "in the evening, a female guest came to brother dan's house. i played chess with my wife and left at 2 o'clock in the morning"; on the fourteenth (june 23), "before entering the office, i invited zhou hengfu, gu fu's brothers, wu zunxun, zhu zaowu and brother wei to play chess in the evening. the guests left at midnight." literally, the word "shoutan" should refer to playing go, but it cannot be ruled out that it is an elegant name for playing cards. in fact, in his diary entry on the twelfth day of the first lunar month (february 24), lu xiaozhi had already revealed his gambling experience: "i went to the office at four o'clock, read a few pages of books and then went home. brother wei invited more than ten colleagues to come and gamble, but i did not join the game, i just watched from the sidelines."
watching plays, chatting, drinking tea, and strolling around are indeed a leisurely state of life. however, this is only one side of life at that time. "when will the war end? i worry about the times and can't sleep at night." the first couplet of the poem on new year's eve has already revealed the harsh daily life behind the joy and comfort. in fact, the diary describing lu xiaozhi's "typical" day (february 28) only captured the first half. he said that the "great spring scenery in zhongshan park is not inferior to current events." the so-called "current events" are the thrilling current situation recorded in the second half of the diary:
on that day, the political situation suddenly changed. duan, the ruling party, had fled to a place in dongjiaomin lane. the guard commander lu zhonglin issued a notice to reassure the people, announcing duan's crimes and reorganizing the palace guards. at the same time, he restored the freedom of former president cao (note: cao kun), who had lived in yanqing building for a long time, and telegraphed wu peifu to come to beijing to preside over everything. this matter started last night. after dawn, everything was not completed. the city gates were not opened, and the trams and telephones were not working. after chensi, the situation gradually returned to normal, and the city gates were opened. after 10 o'clock in the evening, the sound of artillery in the south was very intense, and there were occasional gunshots. from time to time, there were flashes of fire like lightning, which continued all night. the children's schools were bombed by planes and had been on holiday for several days. now they have all started school. they have just entered school and this change has happened. they have all returned from school.
the interim executive government, formed under the apparent balance of power and compromise among several warlords, suddenly collapsed amid the warlords' disputes and internal strife. the regime changed, leaving the people of beijing with the real danger of war, the solid guns and bombs, which made people feel confused and fearful, not knowing when the day would come and when the next day would end.
on february 20 (april 2), the day when lu xiaozhi went to the huale theater to watch cheng yanqiu perform "meilong town", beijing suffered its first air raid by the feng-lu coalition forces: "at 9:30 am on that day, a coalition plane flew in from the southwest and dropped two bombs, which landed at two places outside xizhimen, killing an old woman named li. the capital is like a dangerous city, and the residents can no longer sleep peacefully. what! what!"
on the 21st, the allied planes still flew in before noon, dropping more than ten bombs, but fortunately no one was injured. that afternoon, lu xiaozhi was reading in his office. in the middle of the day, he received a call from home and learned that relatives and friends were visiting. he "made an appointment to go to the first floor to listen to the singing of amateur singers, and his nephew also came. in the evening, we went to tianhexiang restaurant at the west end of rongxian hutong for a snack. the food was very good. after the meal, we took a long walk. we also went to helanhao to have coffee. the small building is quite clean and can eat western food. i will try it."
on the 22nd, "planes came again, the time and the number of bombs dropped were similar to yesterday, no major damage, no one was injured". lu xiaozhi "went to huamei for lunch at 12 o'clock, where he and gu's father, zhongxiang and zao wu gathered for a snack party. in the afternoon, we met again at gu's father's house for a chat, and returned home at 1 o'clock in the morning".
on the 23rd, "around 10:00 a.m., planes dropped bombs again, about six or seven, all of which fell on the south city." this day was qingming festival, and the lu family worshipped their ancestors at noon. lu xiaozhi "had a long talk with fang xiaokuan after dinner, and in the evening went to xuannanchun to be invited by cheng lisheng... after dinner, they went to ruomu together, brewed tea and talked."
on the 24th, the coalition planes did not drop bombs, "but around 10 a.m., there seemed to be artillery fire from the south." in the afternoon, lu xiaozhi "went to the office to read ten pages, had a long talk with wei cang, and went to the first floor after work." after dinner, he "played cards with shengci to amuse himself."
……
the sound of gunfire and bombs continued, and the flames of war were getting closer. amid the great shock and uncertainty of the times, life could only continue along the old path.
on may 30, which was july 9, lu xiaozhi recorded in his diary that he went to the office to read in the morning, meditated in the afternoon, went to qianmen after dinner, and had a "long talk" with friends until 12 o'clock. he also recorded the re-election order of zhang jia'ao and others in the bank of china the day before (saving money was an important activity in his daily life), and the recent newspaper reports of floods in hunan, hubei, jiangxi, zhejiang and other provinces. finally, he recorded the conflict between the national army and the fengtian army, "there was a fierce battle in nankou recently, wu and zhang joined forces to attack fiercely", and the tension since the beginning of the year has not eased at all. - if we stand on the main line of modern chinese history, all of these are probably not important things. what was really written into history on that day was that in the distant lingnan, the national revolutionary army completed the oath-taking ceremony at the guangzhou parade ground. the northern expedition officially began, and the beiyang period came to a substantial end. of course, as a civil servant of the beiyang government, lu xiaozhi did not know about this, let alone perceive the turning point of history.
at 4:25 p.m. on august 26, 1926, lu xun and xu guangping set off from beijing. there were as many as 14 or 15 friends and relatives who saw them off, but lu xiaozhi was not among them. at this time, lu xun was no longer the zhou shuren who was announced as the assistant minister of the ministry of education with lu xiaozhi in 1912. he published "diary of a madman" in may 1918, published "call to arms" in august 1923, and published "wandering" on the eve of leaving beijing; in terms of essays, he had published famous articles such as "on the collapse of leifeng pagoda" and "in memory of miss liu hezhen", and successively published essay collections such as "hot wind" and "huagai collection". all of this is enough to make him one of the most outstanding writers in china at that time. however, interestingly, these did not become the core content of his diary.
lu xun leaves beijing. source: lu xun's complete manuscripts·diary, volume 5
"the mind of heaven is unpredictable, and human affairs are reminiscent of the past." zhou shuren is no longer the zhou shuren of the past, but lu xiaozhi is still the lu xiaozhi. his "historical ending" is very different from lu xun's: lu xun walked into history and became history, while he faded out of history and disappeared into history.
looking back at lu xun's diary, there is not much written about lu xun as lu xun, but lu xiaozhi wrote almost his entire life in his diary:
[march] the third day of the first lunar month was guiyou. it was sunny and hot. it was the anniversary of the death of my great-grandmother, mrs. wang, so we held a memorial service at noon. after lunch, i went to the international savings association to pay the money. i wished ma ruishu a happy birthday. i passed by dong'an market and bought a few branches of lilac. i arrived at the office at 4 o'clock, but did not read books; there was a meeting to collect firewood, but i did not go. i went to gu fu's house in the evening, and zhongyu and zaowu were there. i returned at 12 o'clock. uncle cheng and his aunt came in the evening, but i did not meet them. there was continuous artillery fire all day, and it became more intense at night. there were also gunshots, which meant that the war was getting closer to the city. no planes arrived that day.
the current situation cannot be changed, and the rest of life seems to have few possibilities. in one's lifetime, how can one decorate this noisy world? it is better to "buy a few branches of lilac" to decorate one's journey.
lu xiaozhi is probably us in another time and space.
jiang hongda
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