The end point·Xiao Hong’s tomb is alone in the corner this night

Thousand Words a Day DAY.20

The Republic of China was in troubled times, but it was wonderful, with four beauties and four beauties complementing each other, four talented men and four talented women with outstanding literary talents, and that There are so many kings, grandsons and nobles that even the "Four Young Masters" cannot bear them.

Perhaps beauty is fleeting but works are eternal, so to this day, the names of Lu Bicheng, Xiao Hong, Shi Pingmei and Zhang Ailing, the four most talented women of the Republic of China, are far more famous than the four most beautiful women. Regarding the deeds of these familiar names, there are many articles handed down from generation to generation. Whether it is official history or interpretation, it has long been known to the public. I just want to talk about the behind-the-scenes things that people usually don’t pay much attention to.

Among these four talented women, Lu Bicheng and Zhang Ailing both chose to be buried at sea without a cemetery. After Shi Pingmei's death, she was buried next to her lover Gao Junyu's tomb in Taoranting Park in Beijing.

Only Xiao Hong, who is homeless in front of her and tossed behind her, alone and in a foreign land, is quite sad.

Xiao Hong’s life was as bright as a shooting star. She was born in troubled times. In her short thirty-one years of life, except for her hometown of Northeast China (Harbin) for twenty-four years, she actually moved to Shanghai-during this period she also I went to Qingdao and Japan for more than a year - three and a half years, spent two years in Hankou, Linfen, Xi'an, and Chongqing, and finally lived in Hong Kong for two years, and finally died in a foreign land.

Xiao Hong had many emotional entanglements in her life. In addition to her fiancé Wang Enjia, whose parents arranged a marriage, and her cousin Lu Zhishun, who retreated from the battle, she also had two husbands, "Warm Sanlang" Xiao Jun, and the always-infamous Duanmu Hongliang, as well as two difficult-to-distinguish Mr. Lu Xun and Luo Binji who died with him. In particular, Xiao Jun, Duanmu Hongliang, and Luo Binji, three literati who came from the Northeast together, were called "life-long love rivals", which can be regarded as a wonderful footnote to the life of the talented woman Xiao Hong.

In early 1940, Duanmu Hongliang and Xiao Hong, who had been married for more than a year, moved from Chongqing to Hong Kong because Xiao Hong wanted to find a quiet environment where he could create. Hong Kong has indeed realized Xiao Hong's idea. She completed two of the three novels in her life in Hong Kong - "The Story of Hulan River" and "Mabele" - especially the masterpiece "The Story of Hulan River". Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. Since the surrender of Hong Kong Governor Yang Muqi on December 25, 1941, Hong Kong has entered what the Hong Kong population calls the "three years and eight months" period of Japanese occupation. Less than a month later, on January 22, 1942, Xiao Hong died of tuberculosis and malignant tracheectasis at the temporary ambulance station of St. Stephen's Girls' School in Hong Kong (2 Lyttelton Road, Western District) at the age of 31.

In the later years' memoirs of Xiao Hong's ex-husband Xiao Jun and Luo Binji, who accompanied him to death, they both said that Duanmu Hongliang abandoned Xiao Hong, but I don't quite believe it. After all, before and after Xiao Hong's death, Duanmu Hongliang was both The status as a family member has always existed, especially in the matter of the cremation and burial of Xiao Hong's body. According to Duanmu's memories in his later years, "Xiao Hong was transferred to several hospitals. Due to the military control of the Japanese army and the lack of medical treatment and medicine, she finally died in the temporary rescue station of St. Stephen's Girls' School. The environment at that time was so bad that she could not even cry. No, the Japanese army required that the corpses of Hong Kong people must be cremated collectively or buried naked in a certain designated place. In order to allow Xiao Hong's body to be cremated separately to hold the ashes, I took the risk to get Mr. Ma Chaodong, who was responsible for handling funeral affairs in Hong Kong Island. Help. On January 25th and 26th, I buried Xiao Hong’s ashes on the slope behind Repulse Bay and St. Stephen’s Girls’ School.” (Duanmu Hongliang’s “My Literature Road” was published in 2002. Duanmu Hongliang said that Xiao Hong’s ashes were buried in Repulse Bay because Xiao Hong wanted to be buried in a scenic spot facing the sea after her death, so Duanmu Hongliang He chose Repulse Bay, which is still a good place for leisure for Hong Kong people. According to Duanmu Hongliang’s later interview, Hong Kong was in war at that time, and Japanese troops were often present in Repulse Bay. When he was burying Xiao Hong, he smelled something along the way. The smell of blood on the road. He was worried that the cemetery here could not be preserved for a long time, so he deliberately left the other half of the ashes in another identical vase and buried them secretly under a tree on the hillside behind the campus of St. Stephen's Girls' School. Even if one place is flooded, at least there is another.

The reason why I chose a girls' school was because the French hospital was located in this missionary girls' school at that time, and it was here that Xiao Hong passed away.

In 1956, the beach where Xiao Hong’s tomb is located was selected by merchants to build a swimming pool. At that time, Xiao Hong’s tomb had also been turned into a stall selling snacks by merchants. The Sino-British Society of Hong Kong, Chen Junbao and Tam Baolian , Ma Jian and others actively appealed to the merchants to suspend the project. However, due to Hong Kong's laws, moving a grave requires the consent of relatives, so in the end everyone recommended Ye Lingfeng, Xiao Hong's former friend, to come forward to negotiate. On behalf of the Sino-British Society, Mr. Ye wrote to Duanmu Hongliang in Beijing. Faced with the two options of relocation and raising funds to repair the tomb, Duanmu Hongliang advocated relocation. However, he was unable to go due to inconvenience, so he entrusted the Guangdong Writers Association, which is closest to Hong Kong. Come and help with this.

At 10 a.m. on August 3, 1957, more than 60 Hong Kong cultural figures held a farewell party for Xiao Hong’s ashes to return to Hong Kong at the Farewell Pavilion in Hung Hom, Kowloon. On the afternoon of August 15, 1957, the cultural and art circles of Guangzhou held a funeral memorial ceremony for Xiao Hong at the Biyoutian Funeral Home on Dade Road. After the ceremony, the ashes were buried at the Galaxy Revolutionary Cemetery in the suburbs of Guangzhou.

The reason why they did not move back to Xiao Hong’s hometown was because of the current situation and the conditions for moving north were not met. It is said that after the "Xiao Hong research craze" in the 1970s, Hulan, Harbin, where Xiao Hong was born, hoped to move Xiao Hong back to his hometown. After contact between the relevant government departments of the two places, Guangzhou proposed that the ashes could be divided into two parts, one part taken back to Harbin and the other kept in Guangzhou. This plan was opposed by Xiao Hong's descendants. Because later generations felt that the ashes in Guangzhou were actually only half of Xiao Hong's ashes, "If we were separated again, we would have to deal with the deceased again." Later, Hulan County asked Duanmu Hongliang for help, and Duanmu handed over Xiao Hong's remains that he had treasured for 50 years. It was given to Xiao Hong’s hometown, and this strand of hair was buried in Xiao Hong’s tomb in Hulan Xigang Park today.

Duanmu Hongliang buried Xiao Hong's ashes in two places because he was worried that the Repulse Bay cemetery would not be preserved after all, and the other half of the ashes could be preserved. But as fate would have it, decades later, the ashes in Repulse Bay were moved to Guangzhou, but the other half of the ashes that were backed up at that time were missing. This became a puzzling knot in the hearts of many Xiao Hong fans.

In fact, Duanmu Hongliang asked people to search for Xiao Hong’s urn that was buried on the hillside behind St. Stephen’s Girls’ School many times before his death, but to no avail. In March 1995, the English lady Susanna Hao, the wife of the president of City University of Hong Kong, mailed Duanmu Hongliang a replica of the topography of St. Stephen's Girls' School in the 1940s, asking him to identify the exact place where the ashes of the urn were buried. However, the replica Due to the blur and the fact that Duanmu Hongliang is old, it is impossible to identify it.

In 1988, Xiao Jun passed away. Buried in Linghai City, Liaoning Province (in today's Xiaojun Park).

In 1994, Luo Binji passed away. Cemetery unknown.

In 1996, Duanmu Hongliang passed away.

Only Duanmu Hongliang, who was regarded by Xiao Jun and Luo Binji as "abandoning Xiao Hong", left his last words before his death: Spread part of his ashes on the hillside behind St. Stephen's Girls' School where the other half of Xiao Hong's ashes are buried.

In 1997, Duanmu Hongliang’s wife, Ms. Zhong Yaoqun, flew to Hong Kong to help her husband fulfill his last wish.

It is said that when Xiao Hong was seriously ill, she hoped that Luo Binji would send her to Xu Guangping in Shanghai. When she was dying, she also asked that if she died, she would be buried facing the sea first. If possible in the future, she would be buried next to Lu Xun's tomb. "This can't be done now, and it will have to be done in the future."

It is a pity that a talented woman of a generation eventually died in a foreign land, unable to return to her roots, unable to follow her mentor, and the three men who loved her throughout her life could not be with her. She stays together. Now her destination is Lingnan, which she had never set foot in during her lifetime.

Ten rounds of frost shadows turn around the courtyard, and this evening, people are alone in the corner.

Su'e may not be without regrets, the jade toad is cold and the sweet-scented osmanthus is lonely.

(Song Dynasty) Yan Shu "Mid-Autumn Moon"