Li Aoqi's psychology is dark
Zhang Yaojie
On July 23, 2004, Xiao Mengneng, the former owner of Wenxing's monthly magazine, died in Shanghai. Li Ao reacted on Phoenix Satellite TV for the first time: "He is my old friend, we fought together in 'Wenxing' and fought together in 'Wenxing', until 'Wenxing' magazine was closed by Chiang Kai-shek's order... I think Chinese people should know about the suppression of this speech."
More than half a year later, Nanjing scholar Fan Hong launched a documentary monograph "Lawsuit with Li Ao" with a rigorous and fair attitude, telling people with a series of ironclad evidence that Xiao Mengneng's "withdrawal from the rivers and lakes" was not only rooted in the "suppression" of the Kuomintang government, but more importantly, Li Ao's breach of trust and encroachment, and Xiao Mengneng's own "failure to play cards according to the rules" blamed himself.
Li Ao: An unrestricted battle born out of nowhere
Xiao Mengneng's father, Xiao Tongzi, known as "Xiao Sanye", was the president of the Kuomintang "Central News Agency" from 1932, and 18 years later became the chairman of the "Central News Agency" management committee. After leaving office in 1964, he was appointed as a "national policy adviser to the presidential office" and a member of the Central Committee of the Kuomintang. Xiao Mengneng was also a member of the "princelings" of the Kuomintang.
Wenxing Monthly was founded in November 1957, with Xiao Mengneng as the president, and the first editor-in-chief was He Fan. His slogan in his ghostbook was "Playing cards without playing by the rules", which was inspired by a foreign cartoon. It is said that a bystander said indignantly to the winner at the end of the hand: "If you play the cards according to the rules, you have not won the reason." ”
On September 4, 1960, the "Lei Zhen Case" occurred, and the semi-monthly magazine "Free China", the most influential in Taiwan's publishing industry, was finally published. In the context of the general dwarfism of the press and publishing industry, "Wenxing", with its political background, gradually became an iconic newspaper. Going down the path of "playing cards without playing cards according to reason", Xiao Mengneng chose Li Ao.
On November 1, 1961, the 49th issue of "Wenxing" published "The Old Man and the Stick" written by Li Ao. More than forty years later, Xiao Mengneng recalled: "After the publication of "The Old Man and the Stick", Li Ao continued to write several articles, and in a short period of time, I was attracted by his literary brilliance, demeanor, and speech, and I thought to myself that people engaged in the cultural publishing industry need such a talent the most. ”
Youdao is a hero made by the times, and at the key point of Xiao Mengneng's meeting with Li Ao, the senior master Hu Shi launched a protracted "Chinese and Western cultural debate" at the cost of his own life, which inadvertently provided Li Ao with an excellent opportunity to be born.
On November 6, 1961, Hu Shi delivered an English speech entitled "Social Reform Required for Scientific Development" at the East Asia Science Education Conference, Chinese of which was published in the 50th issue of Wenxing, in which he talked about his basic views that remained unchanged throughout his life: "I don't think there is much spiritual component in these old civilizations in our East. What civilization can speak of a civilization that tolerates such inhuman habits as women's foot binding for more than a thousand years without a single protest? ...... I advocate that modern civilization of science and technology be regarded as highly idealistic and spiritual. I said about thirty years ago: 'Such a civilization that makes full use of man's ingenuity and intelligence to seek truth, to control nature, to change matter for human use, to free the human body from unnecessary toils and pains, to increase man's strength by thousands and hundreds of thousands of times, to liberate the human spirit from ignorance and superstition, to reform and recreate the various systems of mankind for the greatest happiness of the greatest majority. ’”
As soon as the speech was published, it was immediately criticized by cultural defenders. The first to come forward was Xu Fuguan, nearly 60, who published an article in the Democracy Review accusing Hu Shi of "slandering Chinese culture and slander Eastern culture with all obscene words..."
Next, the 51st issue of "Wenxing" published a 27,000-word long letter from Kuomintang legislator Hu Qiuyuan, "Beyond the Traditionalists, Westernizations, and Russifications", warning people not to choose between "retro" and "Westernization", because "retro is only enough to promote Westernization, and Westernization, whether Westernization or Northernization, will eventually lead to the death of the country."
For Xiao Mengneng, who "plays cards without playing according to the rules", the controversy itself means unlimited business opportunities. In the "Newsroom Report" of the 52nd issue of "Wenxing", he laid out a gamble that was left and right: "In this controversy, we do not want to point out for the time being who is right and who is wrong, and the question of right and wrong should appeal to the rational conscience of the whole nation." We're also not prepared to offer any insight, which needs to be discussed by most people. What we can do is to contribute to the small 'podium' of "Wenxing", and invite everyone to speak on the stage and express their own opinions..."
It was in this issue of "Wenxing" that Li Ao launched a personal attack on more than 50 cultural figures in China over the past 300 years with an article entitled "Showing People Who Talk About Chinese and Western Culture".
On February 24, 1962, Hu Shi died suddenly of a heart attack. On March 1, the 53rd issue of "Wenxing" launched a special issue "In Memory of Mr. Hu Shizhi", in addition to eleven commemorative articles, there were three other polemical texts, namely Hu Qiuyuan's "From Spiritual Independence to the Creation of a New Culture - On Transcending Progress", Xu Fuguan's "Excessively Cheap Chinese and Western Cultural Problems - Answering Mr. Huang Fusan", and Li Ao's "Turning Over Old Accounts for "Hu Shi the Sower". After the magazine was launched, it caused an even greater sensation, and within a few days it printed four consecutive editions totaling more than 20,000 copies.
In April 1962, Li Ao published "I Want to Continue to Show People the Disease" in the 54th issue of "Wenxing", which was extremely sarcastic and ridiculous to the senior scholars Xu Daolin and Hu Qiuyuan. Also taking the same position as Li Ao were Ju Haoran, Xu Dengyuan, Hong Chengwan, Li Pengling, Huang Fusan, Dongfang Wang, Meng Ge and others. On the opposite side, only Zheng Xuejia's article "On the Movement of Vernacular Literature and Vernacular Literature - Reply to Mr. Li Ao".
This overwhelming situation of besieging Hu Qiuyuan with four articles and besieging Xu Fuguan in three articles greatly annoyed Hu Qiuyuan. He moved to the World Review magazine. The monthly magazine "Wenxing" also launched Ju Haoran's "Starting from Menderev's periodic table", which made more vicious personal attacks on the two authors Liang Rongruo and Huang Baoshi who acted as "peacemakers" in the previous issue.
As a result, the original contributors of "Wenxing" Zheng Xuejia, Xu Fuguan, Xu Daolin, Liang Rongruo, and Huang Baoshi withdrew one after another, and soon after, the publisher Ye Mingxun and the editor-in-chief Chen Lifeng also announced their resignations. The departure of old friends was replaced by Xiao Mengneng's great commercial success: the circulation of "Wenxing" increased from the original 4,000 copies to about 7,000 copies. As a reward, Xiao Mengneng took the initiative to rent a house for Li Ao to live with his girlfriend Wang Shangqin, and paid 10,000 yuan in advance to ask Li Ao to write the "Biography of Hu Shi". This is 27-year-old Li Ao, the first huge sum of money in his life.
On September 1, 1962, the 59th issue of "Wenxing" published an open letter sent by Ju Haoran from Britain, exposing Hu Qiuyuan's "reactionary behavior of seeking skin with tigers" during the "Fujian Revolution" or "Fujian Incident" in November 1933. On October 1, 1962, the 60th issue of "Wenxing" published Li Ao's long article "The True Face of Hu Qiuyuan", and at the same time published five historical materials on the "truth of the Fujian Revolution" in the column of "Old Articles Reissued", and from the standpoint of the Kuomintang, he carried out political reckoning with Hu Qiuyuan, who had secret contact with the Communist Party of China. In self-defense, Hu Qiuyuan issued a public statement on September 18, announcing that he would fight against the indiscriminate wearing of red hats. On the same day, "legislator" Qiu Youzhen raised the Wen Xing case in the "Legislative Yuan", and a cultural controversy soon turned into a discourse battle within the Kuomintang.
Paradoxically, "legislator" Hu Qiuyuan has long been known as a defender of news sources. What is even more paradoxical is that Xiao Mengneng, Li Ao, Ju Haoran and others, who accused Hu Qiuyuan of "wanting the official to suppress the speech of the people," also sided with the Kuomintang to liquidate their polemical opponents, and they used increasingly orthodox discourse and over-limit tactics.
Xiao Mengneng
Li Ao and Xiao Mengneng's "happy feud"
In November 1962, Hu Qiuyuan and Zheng Xuejia filed a lawsuit against Xiao Mengneng and Li Ao in the Taipei District Court. In February 1963, Xu Fuguan also joined the war group, declaring that "if reconciliation fails", he would report to the "president" that the "Modern Chinese History Series" published by Wenxing Bookstore "insulted the president". Not to be outdone, Wenxing also invited Li Ao to be the editor-in-chief of Wenxing while filing a counterclaim in accordance with the "Criminal Law". The first article Li Ao wrote and compiled was the 69th issue of "Presenting Evidence for the "Loss of the State in a Word". In the article, he continued to attack Hu Qiuyuan for "being unbearable, and he was always ashamed and angry, and he accused me with a cheeky face", and advised the other party to "disfigure his face as soon as possible and put his hair on the mountain."
On November 29, 1965, Yu Jizhong of "Credit Information News" published an editorial entitled "Party discipline and state law cannot be framed against Zhongliang - please thank you Ranzhi for handing over the evidence!" , pointed the finger at Xie Ranzhi, who was specifically responsible for speech control under Chiang Ching-kuo. On the one hand, Li Ao "took advantage of the fire to fight robbery," on the one hand asking Xiao Mengneng to fight jointly with Yu Jizhong, and on the other hand, he published "Our Solemn Expression on the 'National Law Party Limit'" in the 98th issue of "Wenxing" (December 1, 1965), accusing Xie Ranzhi of violating the Supreme Directive of Kuomintang President Chiang Kai-shek that "you should not rely on power to suppress others," and at the same time criticized Chiang Kai-shek for being inconsistent in words and deeds and failing to withdraw the party headquarters from the judiciary and the army in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.
Chiang Kai-shek was furious when he learned of this article. On December 25, 1965, the 99th issue of "Wenxing" was brutally blocked in the printing house. Five years later, on March 19, 1971, Li Ao was arrested by the Kuomintang authorities. On August 12, 1975, Li Ao was luckily sentenced to a commutation of sentence due to Chiang Kai-shek's death: "Preparing to subvert the 'government' by illegal means, he shall be sentenced to eight years and six months in prison, six years of deprivation of public power, five years and eight years of commutation of imprisonment, and four years of deprivation of public power." ”
In November 1973, Xiao Tongzi died, and Xiao Mengneng, who had become accustomed to "playing cards without playing cards according to the rules", inherited a large amount of property, but he never learned to manage money according to law. He was also imprisoned twice during Li Ao's trial and imprisonment, once for copyright lawsuits over Li Ao's Selected Works of Hu Shi, and once for violating the bill law.
On November 19, 1976, Li Ao was released after completing his sentence, and all he relied on for his survival were the two houses that Xiao Meng could get and sell before he was imprisoned. In April 1977, in order to avoid debts, Xiao Mengneng signed a gentleman's agreement with Li Ao: "Check all the calligraphy and paintings, books, antiques, furniture, etc. related to Mr. Li Ao's residence (documents and letters are not included, they are deposited by me, entrusted to Mr. Li for safekeeping, and no one may receive them without my written consent." All of them were transferred by me to Mr. Li Ao to satisfy the debts owed to him and should belong to Mr. Li Ao. It is hereby certified. ”
On October 19, 1979, Xiao Mengneng, who was preparing to go to Chile, signed a "letter of agreement" with Li Ao to entrust the other party to take charge of "all matters related to money and property, individually or jointly" in Taiwan. On February 16, 1980, Xiao Mengneng and his girlfriend Wang Jianfen returned to Taipei from Chile, and found that the door of their house had been changed and locked by Li Ao, and their property had been looted, and even another house under Wang Jianfen's name was transferred to the name of Li Ao's new wife and famous actor Hu Yinmeng. According to Xiao Mengneng's estimate, his property embezzled by Li Ao was at least NT$20 million.
After several fruitless negotiations, Xiao Mengneng sent a letter of deposit to Li Ao on July 23, 1980, requesting Li Ao to return his property. On July 29, Li Ao also sent Xiao Mengneng a letter of evidence, intensifying the knife and pen methods used to deal with Hu Qiuyuan, Xu Fuguan and others in unrestricted warfare on Xiao Mengneng: "The letter is incoherent, contradicts the facts, and emerges endlessly, please submit a copy of the evidence one by one to prove that Taiduan is framed and persecuted, so that Taiduan will be dealt with according to law or sent to a doctor for treatment or then answered." ”
On August 26, 1980, Xiao Mengneng commissioned lawyer Li Yongran to file a private prosecution with the Taipei District Court, accusing Li Ao of "breach of trust and embezzlement."
Terrible and pitiful dark psychology
On June 17, 1981, the Taiwan High Court rendered a judgment in the case of Xiao Mengneng v. Li Ao: "Li Ao continuously intends to encroach on the property of others for his illegal possession, and shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment for Lu Yue." ”
Because Xiao Mengneng did not know that civil compensation was attached to the criminal lawsuit, although the lawsuit was won, the large amount of property that was misappropriated still could not be recovered. What Li Ao repaid Xiao Mengneng before and after the lawsuit was eight years of crazy revenge.
At about 2 a.m. on October 26, 1980, Li Ao's Cadillac limousine, driven by his brother Li Fang, stopped at Wang Jianfen's door, and he was playing the role of helping his gangsters catch the gangsters.
That night, Xiao Mengneng happened not to stay at Wang Jianfen's house, and Li Ao led Xiao Mengneng's separated wife Zhu Wanjian, newspaper reporter Duan Hongjun, and businessman Huang Guoliang to pounce, so he had to threaten Wang Jianfen: "I am here to take personal revenge, you destroy my image, I will also destroy your image,......."
Xiao Mengneng's agreed separation from Zhu Wanjian, together with his formal cohabitation with Wang Jianfen, was carried out with the direct participation of Li Ao. In order to take revenge for personal gain, Li Ao actually broke into people's houses and gathered people to catch "traitors", which is really a strange thing.
After Li Ao was released from prison for the second time in February 1982, he instructed his girlfriend Liu Huiyun to report Xiao Mengneng for stealing land, and the evidence was that Li Ao was hired by Xiao Mengneng to manage all finances after his first release from prison, and once suggested that Xiao Mengneng rent the public wasteland in front of the crystal building he built by himself to flower farmers. Seriously investigated, Li Ao himself is actually a co-defendant.
On April 25, 1984, the Taiwan High Court sentenced Hsiao to 50 days' detention. On July 27, Li Ao, who was clearly a co-defendant, wrote a letter to Minister of Justice Shi Qiyang in the name of an "old classmate", demanding that Xiao Mengneng's detention be carried out. After Xiao Mengneng was imprisoned, Li Ao wrote to Zhu Guangjun, the director of the Taipei Detention Center, on August 10, threatening to see Zhu Guangjun eating flowers and wine, resulting in Xiao Mengneng being placed in a medical prison. Li Ao later wrote to Zeng Qingbi, the warden of Taipei Prison, putting the 64-year-old Xiao Mengneng in a felonial cell.
"Lawsuit with Li Ao" by Mr. Fan Hong
In addition to repeatedly vilifying Xiao Mengneng in the article, Li Ao successively reported and accused Xiao Mengneng in 35 civil and criminal cases in the name of himself and his brother Li Fang, his girlfriend Liu Huiyun, and Xiao Mengneng's ex-wife Zhu Wanjian, resulting in Xiao Mengneng being sentenced to prison twice, and finally had to leave the United States as a crime, and only returned to Shanghai, China a few years later. Speaking of Li Ao's extermination of the old benefactor, Wang Jianfen's statement was: "Why does Li Ao hate me so much, because with me to protect this Xiao Mengneng, Xiao Mengneng still has a bite to eat today." ...... He has lied to the world, deceived all the people of the world, and only we cannot deceive. ”
Hu Yinmeng, who "sacrificed marriage for righteousness" in the dispute between Xiao and Li, also wrote in "Death and the Dance of Virgins - Hu Yinmeng's Autobiography": "(Xiao Mengneng) is an out-and-out idiot of life like me, and we all become the control objects of people who are not afraid of trouble because we are lazy to deal with the tedious affairs of life." ”
Fan Hong, a journalist by training, has a classic comment in "Lawsuit with Li Ao": "Li Ao's left and right pockets originally contained two sets of standards, and what standards to apply to which people and things depends on different needs." ”
(This article was published in Social Science Forum No. 10, 2005, abridged here)