1904 165438+1October16 (October 10th of Chen Jianian) is the 70th birthday of Cixi. Despite the invasion of foreign powers, the Qing Dynasty still wasted a lot of money to organize celebrations and please Lafayette. Lin Baishui stood up for his words without fear of feudal autocracy. He wrote articles in newspapers and magazines criticizing the decadent Qing Dynasty and satirizing Cixi, who brought disaster to the country and people.
In 1962 Zhang Cixi's Story of Lin Baishui written by this old man, there is such a narrative: "In Chen Jia, the 70th birthday of Empress Dowager Cixi of the Qing Dynasty, the official was prepared to celebrate the longevity, which wasted people and money. A newspaper in Shanghai once published a couplet, saying,' Today I am lucky in Xiyuan, tomorrow I am lucky in Yihe, and when I am lucky in Yuanmingyuan, 400 megabytes of bone marrow will be completely withered, leaving only one person lucky; Fifty lost Ryukyu, sixty lost Taiwan Province Strait, and seventy lost three northeastern provinces. The territory of 50,000 miles is so dense that there will be no boundary every 10,000 years. "... this couplet tells the story of population, is a sigh of wisdom, and was written by Mr ..."
This "satirical couplet" written by Lin Baishui, an old man written by Zhang Cixi, has been widely circulated, and has been frequently quoted in books and articles about Lin Baishui's life story for nearly half a century. Only when some authors quote, individual punctuation marks or words are slightly different, such as ";" Do "? ! "Taiwan Province Strait" is "Taiwan Province Province" and so on.
When and in which Shanghai Daily was this satirical birthday couplet published? What is the exact text? In order to find out, the author searched all the newspapers and periodicals published in Shanghai at that time, but could not find this "satirical birthday couplet" described by Zhang Cixi. However, in the Alarm Daily written by Lin Baishui at that time, I found such a version of "mocking Shoulian": "Today, I am lucky in Yiyuan, tomorrow I am lucky in Nanhai, and I am lucky in Gu Changan, and I am happy for one person. Fifty cuts on the toe, 60 cuts in Taiwan Province, and 40,000 miles in the three northeastern provinces today, but fortunately there is no wish for Xinjiang. " The newspaper's evaluation of this couplet is: "cynicism and cynicism contain irony and arrogance, and also praise the unique people in the couplet." When corrupt scholars see it, they will be surprised and say, "What is crazy and so bold?"
Comparing the two versions of the satirical birthday couplets published in Jingxun Daily and recalled by the old man Zhang Cixi, the words are the same, the format is the same, the concept is similar, the content is similar, but the specific words are not consistent. It seems that there are some mistakes in the memory of Zhang Cixi. Today, the original "satirical Shoulian" published in Alarm Daily was published to the press, aiming at correcting dozens of misinformation for colleagues' reference.
Why did Lin Baishui dare to publish such a generous and sharp "mocking birthday couplet" in Alarm Daily? There are subjective and objective reasons.
1903 10, Russian troops once again occupied Fengtian (now Shenyang, Liaoning), forcing the Qing government to accept five demands for aggression. Cai Yuanpei and others organized an "anti-Russian gay society" in Shanghai, and published the organ newspaper "Russian News" on June 5438+February 65438+May 5, "to arouse people's attention to the strategy of resisting this matter". At the beginning of 1904, Japan and Russia went to war in Lushun and other places in northeast China. In order to adapt to the change of the situation, on February 26th, Russian News was revised to Alarm Daily with the theme of "Resisting foreign aggression and restoring national rights", and "Comrades will resist Russia" was reorganized to "Cultivate national qualification and resist external pressure" on March 13, and Lin Baishui joined "Comrades will resist Russia" and "Fight for survival".
At the same time, Lin Baishui and Liu (also known as Guanghan and Zishenshu) cooperated to establish China Vernacular Newspaper at No.71Changshouli, Xinma Road, Xinzha, Shanghai on June 5438+0903+February1. The newspaper advocates natural human rights, equality among people, and living in groups. It calls for freedom of thought, speech and publication, opposition to foreign powers, saving the country and the people, and establishing * * * peace. The newspaper was the most intense and influential vernacular publication published all over the country at that time, which was suppressed and persecuted by the Qing government. 1904 10, Lin Baishui published China Vernacular Newspaper No.21to No.24, and announced that it would stop publishing, that is, it devoted itself to the compilation of Alarm Daily.
According to Feng Ziyou's Anecdotal History of Revolution, Lin Baishui not only wrote politics in Noisy Daily, but also secretly joined the Zhong Xing Society organized and led by Sun Yat-sen, and wrote in My Father Lin Baishui: Almost all the vernacular in Noisy Daily was written by Lin Baishui. At this time, Lin Baishui took the newspaper as the position, used pen and ink as the weapon, insisted on the straightforward, literary, sharp and emotional style, and insisted on writing, becoming a valiant soldier in the bourgeois democratic revolution camp in China on the eve of the Revolution of 1911.
In response to the birthday celebrations held by Cixi and the Qing Dynasty, Lin Baishui not only published "Mocking Shoulian" in the Police Daily, but also published a commentary entitled "Long live without borders": "Long live the Queen Mother on October 10th. Officials, gentry and businessmen in our country all praised the Queen Mother for saying: Long life is boundless. Ambassadors also submitted books to their monarchs and presidents, wishing them a long life without borders. The reporter pressed: these four words pay tribute to the queen mother, which is really unswerving. According to recent facts, the Queen Mother's 50th birthday was Shen Jia, when legal persons attacked Vietnam and Langer, but Annan's territory was empty. When you are 60 years old, it will be Wu Jia. When people attacked Korea, Pyongyang was defeated, but the territory of Taiwan Province Province was not. So, one after another began to cut Jiaozhou, Russia cut Luda, Britain cut Weihai, and France cut Guangzhou Bay. Extending to this year, 70 years old will live forever, but Tibet has no territory. Every time you live longer, you will lose your territory. Today, the theory of United Russia has been greatly promoted. If, for example, the traitor's plot is unscrupulous, as a tribute to the wish of longevity, then those who have lost one after another, I wonder if it is a Xinjiang? Some soil? Oh! The so-called people without borders still say that they have no territory. The whole country has no boundaries, and there are thieves and ministers who think it will help. I'm afraid the day of division is just around the corner. "
It is popular to criticize the shortcomings and hit the bull's-eye; Concise and insignificant, I can't help but marvel; Courage and irony are admirable.