From 1911 to 1949, Yan Xishan ruled In Shanxi for 38 years, known as the "King of Shanxi". He was one of the few powerful figures among the local warlords who could compete with Chiang Kai-shek.
On December 8, 1949, Yan Xishan followed Chiang Kai-shek's footsteps and flew from Chengdu to Taiwan. From the moment he boarded the plane, Yan Xishan's good days were over.
In Taiwan, Yan Xishan was soon marginalized. He served as the "president of the Executive Yuan" for just a few months, and then he ceded Chen Cheng to serve as a "senior official in the Presidential Office" and "a member of the Kuomintang Central Committee Review Committee". Yan Xishan's residence was also moved to Jingshan Mountain next to Yangming Mountain.
Now Yangming Mountain is a famous scenic spot with beautiful scenery and tourists. But in the 1950s, it was a barren mountain. There were no houses on the mountain, so Yan Xishan had to build his own houses.
Zhang Riming, who was Yan Xishan's bodyguard at the time, said, "In the beginning, the houses they built were wooden walls and asbestos tile roofs. Where have these people who were born in Shanxi and grew up in Shanxi seen typhoons with rapid wind and rain? As soon as the typhoon came, the asbestos tiles were blown away, and they continued to lay grass on the roof, and as a result, the typhoon came again, and the grass roof was gone. ”
Compared with the infinite scenery of the mainland, Yan Xishan's life in Taiwan is simply another world. Yan Xishan wrote in his diary about the place where he lived: "Its land is a tea garden of abandoned cultivation, weeds and breasts, rough roads, no electric lights and telephones, drinking mountain springs, thirty minutes walk from the back road of Shanzai, building huts, engaged in writing, and people call it 'Jingshan Grass Reed'. ”
That said, not only is there a thatched hut, but there is not even a minimum of electric lights and telephones.
Nothing to do, just write a book. Yan Xishan lived in seclusion in the mountains while writing books. He lived in Taiwan for almost 11 years and wrote more than 20 pamphlets. One of them, "The Road to Datong", proposes that "my vision is to turn the eve of the destruction of this half century into the beginning of peace and mankind." Personnel is all about people, as long as there are qualified people to lead the world, leading peace, the whole world can be safe. Politics and the people are like farmers and seedlings. Planting melons gets melons, and planting beans gets beans. ”
In 1960, Yan Xishan entered the last days of his life.
On May 10 of that year, Yan Xishan suffered from asthma, and soon after, he turned to tracheitis. Doctors recommend hospital admission. At this time, Cai Xiqin, director of the Department of Internal Medicine of National Taiwan University Hospital, arrived and was diagnosed with acute pneumonia complicated by coronary artery sclerosing heart disease, and the condition was very serious. But Yan Xishan was still reluctant to be hospitalized.
On May 23, Yan Xishan died in Taiwan at the age of 78 due to pneumonia and heart disease caused by a cold.
Before his death, Yan Xishan left seven wills for his wife Xu Zhuqing:
1. Frugality in funeral matters should not be extravagant;
2. The tie sent by the guest may be collected, but the tie cannot be received;
3. Flowers and trees for flowers and trees before the spirit;
4. Early funeral after death without long pause;
Fifth, do not be too sad and cry;
6. The tombstone is inscribed with paragraphs 100 and 128 of the diary;
Read his "Replenishing the Mind" every morning and evening for seven days.
What is written in paragraphs 100 and 128 of the diary? Xu Zhuqing opened Yan Xishan's diary and found paragraphs 100 and 128, which read:
"Righteousness is what is done, courtesy is done, inferiority is out, faith is sincere, and doing things is in accordance." How many good things, because of poor etiquette, lack of words, lack of faith, and those who give birth to obstacles, abound. ”
"When something sudden happens, there will be hidden feelings, but it is not easy to judge the truth, and if it is not true, it will suffer its losses." However, such hidden feelings will not be the truth, they must be at stake, and they should be judged according to the interests of the other party. ”
Yan Xishan was buried on Yangming Mountain, and the top of the tomb was engraved with the four characters of "World Unity". I don't know whether I miss my hometown of Datong, Shanxi, or hope for the world's unity? We don't know.