Dong Zhujun
In 1997, before Dong Zhujun's death, she asked her family to carve a sentence on her tombstone: "I have never changed my original intention because I have been misinterpreted, nor should I be cold and doubt my faith, let alone slow down when I am old." ”
This last sentence can be said to outline Dong Zhujun's life. She is a poor and weak woman born in a chaotic world, who was once forced to sell songs in the Qinglou, but she can transform from a singer to become the Overseer's wife.
However, in the face of the demeaning and domestic violence of her overseer husband Xia Shi, she did not complain about herself, did not admit her fate, but chose to divorce, began to develop her own career, and finally successfully founded the famous Jin Jiang Hotel.
Dong Zhujun, like her name, has the tenacity of bamboo, she was born in the old society, but she has the spirit of new women's independence and continuous struggle.
Dong Zhujun was born in the slums of Shanghai in 1900, his father was an ordinary rickshaw driver, his mother took care of several children at home, and often had to help other people's homes wash clothes to subsidize the family.
Shanghai during the Republic of China was a two-tiered society, with the rich singing and dancing at night and drunk in the light, while the poor could not even guarantee the most basic meals a day.
Dong Zhujun (left)
Dong Zhujun's family has several brothers and sisters, so many mouths a day waiting for dinner, Dong Zhujun's father often works from early to midnight, tired and unable to stand up straight, in order to barely support the family.
But even in such a poor situation, Dong Zhujun's father still chose to send Dong Zhujun to a private school to study, but he did not hope that Dong Zhujun would succeed in his studies in the future and honor his ancestors.
In fact, even though the trend of women's education was rising in Shanghai at that time, the logic behind this was that women with higher education were more likely to marry a good family.
At that time, even women who went to college could hardly find jobs that matched their degrees, and these women could only choose jobs such as telegraphers and tutors.
This kind of work seems decent, but the salary is very small, and Dong Zhujun's parents see Dong Zhujun as a trump card that can change the fate of the entire family.
Dong Zhujun has been a beautiful billet since he was a child, with exquisite facial features, like a doll, plus there are so many dignitaries in Shanghai, the dong family's parents most hope is dong Zhujun, who has received higher education, and can marry into the rich in the future and let the whole family live a good life.
However, the sudden change disrupted the arrangement of the Dong family's parents, Dong Zhujun's father suddenly fell ill with typhoid fever, his physical condition took a sharp turn, and he was soon unable to go out to pull a rickshaw, and could only lie at home to recuperate.
The only economic pillar of the family fell, Dong Zhujun could not afford to pay the tuition, and Dong Zhujun, who was only 12 years old at the time, had to drop out of school.
After Dong Zhujun's father fell, Dong Zhujun's mother worked hard to maintain the whole family alone, but she still couldn't make ends meet.
In order to make a living, Dong Zhujun's mother chose to send Dong Zhujun to the Qinglou and worked as a "QingQi person" for three years. ”
The so-called "Qing People", that is, only sell art and do not sell herself, but the young and beautiful Dong Zhujun is like a seductive lamb in the Qinglou, and how many sex wolves are around her, trying to take her for themselves.
Dong Zhujun's personality since childhood is independent and strong, she can't stand the life of selling jokes and singing in the Qinglou, and she doesn't have a day that she doesn't want to escape from this magic cave as soon as possible.
When she was 15 years old, the god of fate finally took care of her once, allowing her to meet her nobleman, Xia Shi, who was then the vice governor of Sichuan.
Xia Shi joined the League in 1905 and made many meritorious achievements, becoming the vice governor of Sichuan Province at a young age, and in order to cover the revolutionary work, he often went to the Brothel of Qinglou to drink flower wine.
Summer time
Xia Shi accidentally ordered Dong Zhujun to come to sing and accompany the wine, he was talented and personable, Dong Zhujun was moved by him when he first saw him, he felt that he was different from the men around him, and Xia Shi also liked the beautiful and moving Dong Zhujun.
Xia Shi offered to redeem Dong Zhujun, but unexpectedly, Dong Zhujun refused, and Dong Zhujun, who had always been strong, hoped that she and Xia Zhi would be equal when they were together, and she wanted to escape from the Qinglou on her own.
Moreover, she also made three demands to Xia Shi: first, she would never be a concubine, second, Xia Shi would send her to Japan to study, and third, when she was finished with her studies, the two of them would form a family.
The reason why Dong Zhujun asked Xia Shi so much was to see if he really loved himself or whether he only regarded himself as a plaything.
In fact, Dong Zhujun stayed in the Qinglou for three years, and also met many people who claimed to redeem her, but she understood in her heart that those people only regarded her as a plaything, and did not intend to pay sincerity, and when they got tired of playing, they would not hesitate to abandon her.
Therefore, when Dong Zhujun faced xia shi, whose status was far higher than her own, she also calmly stated that she would never be a concubine.
After Xia Shi listened to her three conditions, he happily agreed, at this time, Dong Zhujun's image in his eyes was more three-dimensional, with wind and bones rather than charming.
So late one night, Dong Zhujun specially bought a pot of spirits, and carried the wine to toast several guards, these people saw that Dong Zhujun was so enthusiastic, they drank several large bowls of wine, and after a while the wine was all drunk.
Dong Zhujun and Xia Shi
After they were drunk, Dong Zhujun immediately returned to the room, changed into men's clothes, took the coils he had packed, escaped from the Qinglou overnight, mixed with the bustling crowd, and then went to reunite with Xia Shi.
In 1914, Xia Shi took Dong Zhujun to Japan, and then held a wedding in Japan, Dong Zhujun can be said to have flown up the branches, from the former singer-selling woman to the Overseer's wife at this time.
She continued her previous dream of studying, which she had been forced to interrupt, and during the summer, she kept her promise and sent Dong Zhujun to the Tokyo Girls' Higher Normal School, where she was in a foreign country, facing cultural barriers and language barriers, and Dong Zhujun was very uncomfortable with the pace of learning at first.
But she had a strong talent for learning, and soon her Japanese language reached the point where she could communicate with Japanese people simply, and her academic performance was getting better and better.
But Dong Zhujun in addition to taking care of the study, but also need to take care of the family, she was already married to Xia Shi at that time, although Xia Shi supported her to study, but he is a traditional man in his bones, he believes that the first duty of women is to take care of the family.
Dong Zhujun and the children
Therefore, in addition to studying, Dong Zhujun also has to clean up, buy vegetables and cook, and take care of the life and living in the summer.
In order to weigh her studies and family, Dong Zhujun can be said to be busy, but after a year of enrollment, Xia Shi began to ask her to go home, preferring to ask a tutor to teach rather than show her face at school.
It turned out that Dong Zhujun received love letters from many male faculty members in the school, Dong Zhujun was a well-deserved goddess in the school, and many men favored her.
Xia Zhi sensed it, so he ordered Dong Zhujun not to go to the school again, and Dong Zhujun could only do so.
Later, the elders of xia shi came to Japan to visit him, and after staying in his house, Dong Zhujun was busy before and after he brought tea and water, and Haosheng took care of several elders.
However, after several elders heard about Dong Zhujun's origins, Li Li lowered his face, did not have a good face for her, and often accused her in front of Xia Shi.
And Xia Shi felt that the elders disciplined the younger generations naturally, and they would not defend Dong Zhujun, and Dong Zhujun was a little disappointed in his heart.
Soon after, Xia Shi received the bad news of his father's death, and immediately rushed to his hometown to mourn, and before leaving, he instructed Dong Zhujun to take good care of himself in Japan and wait for him to return.
But as Xia Shi spoke, he pulled out a gun, dong Zhujun was shocked at that time, and Xia Zhi continued: "This gun is for you, you can use it to protect yourself, but if you do something sorry for me, use it to solve yourself." ”
When Xia Shi said this, there was a hatred in her eyes, which made Dong Zhujun very afraid, and she felt that the person with cold eyes in front of her was no longer the summer time she was familiar with.
But perhaps, this is the original face of the summer time, although he is usually gentle and personable, but he became an overseer at such a young age, how can he not have the means to lean forward.
More importantly, Xia Shi regarded Dong Zhujun as his private property, and he could not accept the slightest disloyalty from Dong Zhujun.
Dong Zhujun and his family
This also made Dong Zhujun very dissatisfied, what she had been pursuing was to get along with Xia Shi on an equal footing, even though she knew that before she got married, she was a Qinglou woman and he was a deputy overseer, but her heart was eager for an equal and mutually respectful marriage relationship.
Dong Zhujun's sense of equality was a very rare sense of progress in that era, as early as when she was selling art in the Qinglou, when some guests moved their hands and feet on her, she would shout: "Who was born more noble than whom?" It's all human, so why are you playing with me? ”
After she met Xia Shi, especially after Xia Shi agreed to the three conditions she proposed, she thought that Xia Shi really loved her and would probably respect her in the future.
But Natsuki loves her, but he still thinks that women are men's vassals, men's belongings, and wives should obey their husbands' orders.
Dong Zhujun and daughter
In 1917, Dong Zhujun completed her studies in Japan and wanted to go to France for further study, but Xia Shi asked her to quickly follow her back to her hometown in Sichuan to take care of the elders in the family.
After Dong Zhujun married Xia Shi, he gave birth to four daughters in succession, which made Xia Shi anxious, because he was eager to have a son and inherit his career.
So he asked Dong Zhujun to get pregnant every time he had just finished his confinement, and it was impossible not to give birth to a son.
Dong Zhujun thought that it was understandable to have a boy to pass on the generations, and later she finally gave birth to a boy, but she did not expect that her husband's attitude towards his son and daughter was very different.
Summer pampered boys, often snubbed girls, and once there was a fire in the middle of the house, he ran away first with his son in his arms, without taking care of his daughters.
Dong Zhujun was distressed about his daughter and dissatisfied with Xia Shi's attitude towards several daughters, so there was always a quarrel between husband and wife.
To make matters worse, in 1919, Xia Shi was dismissed from the military and was idle at home, and the whole person looked much lonely and decadent. He was even more contaminated with gambling, alcoholism, smoking and other vices, often soaking in taverns and getting drunk.
His will also became more and more depressed, completely devoid of the original spirited look, Dong Zhujun worried about him, but whenever she wanted to care about him, Xia Shi would only say with disgust: "What do you women know?" ”
Xia Shi even began to beat Dong Zhujun and make her angry, and Dong Zhujun's body was often blue and purple.
At that time, the May Fourth Movement introduced many new ideas, and the slogan of women's equality and independence began to rise.
Dong Zhujun thought that the reason why Xia Shi looked down on her was not because she hated that she was originally a prostitute, and she had always relied on him to raise her after marriage.
So Dong Zhujun decided to go out to make money on his own, and in 1923, Dong Zhujun took the private money he had accumulated for many years and founded the Fuxiang Women's Socks Factory.
Six months after her socks factory opened, it recouped its costs and became profitable, doubling her money.
Three years later, dong Zhujun, with the assistance of her parents, founded the Flying Eagle rickshaw company, and she bought a brand new rickshaw with the money saved by running the factory, and relied on the contacts accumulated by her father to pull rickshaws before, recruiting a large number of rickshaw drivers.
She provided very good benefits to the rickshaw drivers, collected fewer deposits, and the rickshaw drivers of other companies were dug up by her, and the size of her Flying Eagle rickshaw company was constantly expanding.
However, even though Dong Zhujun's career was doing well, Xia Shi still did not look at her squarely, and even said that she was not observant of women's morality when she went out to show her face.
In 1927, after the defeat of the Great Revolution, Xia Shi decided to go to Shanghai alone to seek a future.
After xia Shi left, Dong Zhujun deeply felt that the situation in Sichuan was unstable, and her factories and companies were likely to close down, so she also planned to sell her factories and companies and go to Shanghai, first, to have a better environment for doing business and running factories there, and second, she hoped that several children could receive a good education in Shanghai.
At that time, her son was only three years old, and Dong Zhujun left him in his hometown to be taken care of by the elders, but when Xia Shi saw Dong Zhujun's mother and daughter in Shanghai, he was extremely angry, he said: "You are not at home to take care of your son, what are you doing in Shanghai?" What books does my daughter's family need to read? ”
Despite Xia Shi's objections, Dong Zhujun insisted on sending his daughter to the local school. Later, when Dong Zhujun communicated with his daughter's piano teacher, Xia Shi mistakenly thought that Dong Zhujun was cheating and was so angry that he raised a knife to cut her.
Dong Zhujun and his daughters
Dong Zhujun understood at this time that her husband Xia Zhi had never regarded her as an equal person, he still looked down on himself, he had always just regarded himself as his personal belongings, and he could beat and scold, or even kill.
Dong Zhujun was completely cold this time, she wanted to divorce Xia Shi, but Xia Shi still did not agree, Dong Zhujun could only move out and separate from him.
The two pulled until 1934, Dong Zhujun proposed to give up the division of property with Xia Shi, four daughters to her, sons to Xia Shi, which finally made Xia Shi agree to sign a divorce agreement.
Dong Zhujun finally got rid of this marriage, but it is also equivalent to leaving the house, she wanted to continue to start a business but did not have any savings.
At this time, a Sichuan man named Li Chonggao took the initiative to find him, and it turned out that he had heard about Dong Zhujun's experience, admired her courage very much, and also admired her business ability, so he wanted to borrow her two thousand yuan to start a business.
Dong Zhujun got this precious money and decided to start a Sichuan restaurant to carry forward Sichuan cuisine, she named the restaurant "Jinjiang Sichuan Restaurant", which was officially opened on March 15, 1935.
She personally went to Sichuan to invite famous Sichuan cuisine masters, and some special ingredients were also completely transported by Sichuan Jia express.
Her Jinjiang Chuan restaurant has been very popular since its opening, and it has become more and more popular, and many celebrities in Shanghai, such as Du Yuesheng, Jin Jinrong and Mei Lanfang, have come to eat.
Later, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Dong Zhujun's JinjiangChuan Restaurant also became a secret contact point for Communists and Progressives.
It turned out that during the Great Revolution, Dong Zhujun was deeply inspired by the ideas of the Communist Party, and she sincerely believed that the Communist Party could really bring equality and happiness to poor people like her.
She applied to join the party very early, but the party organization at that time did not approve her to join the party, taking into account her marriage relationship with Xia Shi. Although not a member of the Party, she wanted to do everything in her power to support the Party's work.
Later, she founded the Jinjiang Tea House, which became the underground contact point for the Shanghai party organization, and she also funded party activities to find connections to rescue imprisoned party members.
Dong Zhujun and Premier Zhou
After the founding of New China, Dong Zhujun handed over the Jinjiang Chuan Restaurant to the state, which was later the famous Jin Jiang Hotel.
Jin Jiang Hotel has become an important place for the reception of foreign VIPs in New China, and has received 400 foreign heads of state.
In 1957, Dong Zhujun also served as a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, continuing to dedicate himself to the construction of a new China.
However, Xia Shi was arrested in 1950 for the crime of "planning and organizing bandit riots" and was eventually shot, and after Xia Shi's death, Dong Zhujun personally funded the life of the Xia family.
The former husband and wife have gone to a completely different ending, which is really lamentable, and when Xia, who once looked down on Dong Zhujun, at the end of his life, also sighed: "Dong Zhujun is now something I can't compare." ”
Dong Zhujun used her efforts to realize the ideal in her heart, won the respect of everyone, and also lived a legend of the Republic of China.