"The Divine Drama" Yan Youyun, a beautiful lady from Fudan University in the Republic of China, was the first to drive into the campus by car

During the Republic of China, a group of eldest ladies with noble family backgrounds, profound knowledge, noble temperament, cultivation, deep family background, profound knowledge and elegant manners appeared in Chinese society. Of course, the most famous and representative ones are the "Song sisters" from Wenchang, Hainan. Today, this is the charming campus beauty of Fudan University in Shanghai, the first female college student to drive onto the campus, a celebrity in the communication industry, and the wife of the "first diplomat of the Republic of China", Ms. Yan Youyun, 108 years old.

Yan Youyun was born into a wealthy family in Tianjin in 1905. His ancestral home is Ningbo, Zhejiang. This is a warm, harmonious and culturally rich family. My grandfather was Yan Xinhou, a famous industrialist and painter. He founded China's first cotton gin factory, became the first general manager of the Bank of China, the first prime minister of Shanghai's first business group, and participated in the founding of China's first insurance company. Yan has loved reading since she was a child and is also very smart. They have many brothers and sisters. Their parents hired two university teachers, one to teach Chinese and the other to teach English. Yan and her older sisters Yan and Yan attended the famous Tianjin Chinese and Western Girls' School. After graduating from high school, he moved back to Shanghai with his family, studied at Hujiang University in 1925, and transferred to the business major at Fudan University in 1927. Her two sisters graduated from Nanjing Jinling Women's University. The "Three Yan Sisters" were the three shining pearls on the beach of the Republic of China.

In the 1920s, higher education in China was still in its infancy. In 1925, the total number of college students in China was only more than 30,000, and very few girls could enter college. Yan Youyun became one of the first batch of female students at Fudan University and became famous both inside and outside the school with the nickname "Flower of Love". Because she often drives a car with license plate number 84 to school, some boys in Shanghai pronounce 84 in English as "flower of love". At that time, girls were admitted to Fudan University. The number of girls was small at first, which naturally attracted people's attention. The face is inherently beautiful. She chooses various clothes at her father's "Silk Village" store. Therefore, changing clothes every day is always the most fashionable and beautiful, which was very popular in Shanghai at that time.

When Yan Youyun was studying at Fudan University, he met Yang Guanghao at a dance. Yang, the son of a Huzhou silk merchant, graduated from Tsinghua University in 1920 and went to the United States to study. He received a doctorate in international law from Princeton University and was affiliated with the Chinese Embassy in the United States. After returning to China, he joined the Chinese delegation as an expert and attended the International Opium Conference held in Geneva in 1925. He is talented, handsome and has won strict love. In 1929, Yan married Yang, then a professor at Tsinghua University and consultant to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the Dahua Hotel in Shanghai. The wedding was large-scale and luxurious. It was presided over by Foreign Minister Wang and attended by more than 1,000 people. The groom is a young and promising diplomat, and the bride is a well-born belle of Fudan University. This typical talent and appearance naturally became the target of media pursuit. Major newspapers made eye-catching reports on the front pages, shocking the whole of Shanghai.

In 1930, Yang Guanghao was sent to work in Europe by the Nationalist Government and later served as the Consul General in London. Under the guidance of the famous diplomat Gu Weijun, he participated in the work of the Chinese delegation to the League of Nations. Yan Youyun accompanied him and began the life of a diplomat's wife.

In 1938, Yang served as the Consul General of China in Manila. At that time, the domestic military and civilians were struggling to resist the Japanese invaders. He gave full play to his diplomatic talents and achieved remarkable results in raising patriotic donations from overseas Chinese. Yan Youyun personally designed and decorated the Consul General's official residence and accompanied him to participate in various diplomatic activities. This hospitable hostess who was good at managing her household often entertained Filipino and American officials as well as overseas Chinese leaders.

After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, overseas Chinese women in the Philippines initiated and organized the Philippine branch of the Chinese Women’s Anti-Japanese Comfort Station. The main mission of this organization is to mobilize overseas Chinese women across the Philippines to participate in the anti-Japanese and national salvation movement, and to take various measures to comfort the frontline soldiers. In July 1939, under the leadership of honorary president Yan Youyun and others, the association went to factories, shops, newspapers, and streets to collect donations, raising tens of thousands of pesos every month, all of which were repatriated to the motherland to support the Anti-Japanese War.

Unfortunately, after the Pacific War broke out, the Japanese army occupied Manila in early 1942.

On April 17, the indomitable Yang Guanghao and seven other diplomats staying at the Consulate General died for their country. At this time, Yan Youyun was already the mother of three daughters. Faced with the sudden change of fate, this Shanghai socialite, who had lived a carefree life since childhood, had a well-off family and had almost no hardships, endured everything calmly without being defeated. She felt responsible for taking care of the wives and children of several other diplomats. At that time, nearly 40 relatives and friends fled the fighting. They grew vegetables, made their own shoes, raised chickens and pigs in the yard, and learned to make soy sauce and soap. Yan Youyun always maintains an optimistic attitude and wears high heels. He often sits in front of the piano and plays a song in his spare time.

More than three years later, Yan Youyun overcame many difficulties and lived tenaciously in Manila until the Japanese army was defeated. Yan said with emotion when talking about these days: "Looking back now, we were really brave at the time. Now, we are younger than most of my grandchildren. Although we don't know whether our husbands are alive or dead, we are worried about our children and our own fate. Not sure at all, but we face life and move forward bravely.”

In 1945, Yan Youyun came to New York with her three daughters and soon became the protocol officer of the United Nations. This is her first official job. The work of the Protocol Department involves all official ceremonial matters of the United Nations, from receiving new ambassadors, arranging for them to submit their credentials, to receiving heads of state attending the United Nations General Assembly, there can be no mistakes. She worked brilliantly and became an outstanding female diplomat until her official retirement in 1959. In the same year, she married Gu Weijun and played the role of "a good housekeeper, a good nurse, and a good secretary". She tried her best to take care of Miss Gu. Every morning when her husband wakes up, she will prepare a cup of hot milk for him to drink before going back to sleep to prevent him from taking too long from dinner to breakfast, which is harmful to his body.

Gu Weijun was one of China’s most famous and outstanding diplomats in the first half of the 20th century. He is known as "the first diplomat of the Republic of China". He is handsome and elegant. He graduated from Columbia University with a PhD in international law and diplomacy. He has successively served as Secretary Yuan Shikai, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Finance of the Beiyang Government, Acting Prime Minister, Ambassador of China to the United States, Britain, France and Mexico, Chief Representative of China to the League of Nations and the United Nations General Assembly, Judge and Vice President of the International Court of Justice at The Hague. The movies "My 1919" and "The Beginning of the Great Revival" starring Chen were adapted from the outstanding performances of ancient people at the Paris Peace Conference. His first two wives were Tang's daughter Tang and the daughter of overseas Chinese businessman Huang. He lives a long and healthy life. In 2017, he completed a precious oral memoir of 11,000 pages and 6 million words, which was inseparable from Yan Youyun's careful care. Gu died in 1985 at the age of 97. They lived together for 26 years. In 1990, Yan Jiang donated 155 precious cultural relics to his hometown Jiading Museum in Shanghai, and invested US$100,000 to establish a life exhibition room.

In 2005, the 100th anniversary of Fudan University, Yan Youyun, who was over 100 years old, was the first female student at Fudan University to celebrate the birthday of her alma mater. The following year, CCTV's "People" column premiered an exclusive interview with Yan, titled "A Hundred Years of Beautiful Life." She is now 108 years old, living in New York, and still in good health. What hasn't changed over the decades is that she still wears high heels and sprays perfume.