When talking about modern history, it is about Sun Yat-sen, Yuan Shikai, , and Zhangzhidong .
But,
History has never been a stage play for big people, but a decisive struggle of one small person after another.
Sometimes they are bleeding, sometimes they are proud, and their joys and sorrows truly constitute the ups and downs of the historical tide.
Sometimes I feel that reading history has become numb. After turning a page, how many people leave with regret?
However, every time I see such a person, I can't help but burst into tears.
Yu Qian, Xin Qiji , Yang Jisheng , Yue Fei....
"In Qi Taishi Jian, in Jin Donghu pen. In Qin Zhang Liangzhi, in Han Su Wujie. In Han Su Wujie. In general Yan, in Ji Shizhong's blood. In Zhang Suiyang's teeth, in Yan Changshan's tongue. ——Wen Tianxiang"
So what I want to talk about today is just a small person.
A family in Xiangshan, Guangdong welcomed a new child in the eighth year of Daoguang, and was named Yung Wing .
This family is poor, with acre of land, and dig in the soil every day, and they expect God to enjoy the food.
At this time, in order to preach, foreigners open church schools to include food and accommodation.
When Mr. Rong thought about it, he sent the seven-year-old poor boy to Marrison Memorial School (Morrison School).
No one would have thought that entering this school would force this poor boy into a desperate situation.
Jung Wing gradually discovered that
This school seems to be different,
It does not teach the Four Books and Five Classics, nor the Eight-Legendary Sutras. Instead, we teach some strange tricks, astronomy and geography.
Of course, there is Jesus Christ.
Many people look down on Yung Wing, thinking that he is just a fake Japanese devil.
But only we will know that
, a poor boy from Xiangshan , is a real scholar.
With Mr. Yang's teachings, he gradually learned a lot of things.
When the Western cloth factory roared with the roar of the machine, it made thousands of good cloth in just a few days, and the Heavenly Kingdom also weaved the local cloth with the squeaking sound of the textile machine.
When the foreigners used their rear-range machine guns to kill the enemy seven or eight hundred meters away, and when the foreigners' naval guns roared down across ten thousand meters, the soldiers of the Celestial Kingdom were still learning the skills of hiding in the stirrups and stubbornly using their flesh and blood to fight against the spears and giant cannons.
As for the officials who are full of articles, they are still immersed in the dream of the Supreme Kingdom of the Celestial Empire. They didn't know about the tall buildings in New York, nor did they know about Napoleon's great achievements, but just regarded them as a group of barbarians who showed off their tricks and tricks.
They, no, we will eventually pay the price for it.
This poor boy thinks,
Perhaps, there are some things he can do,
This is fate, Yung Wing, you will eventually generously devote all your energy to this life.
And this is just because
you were born in this land.
When Mr. Yang returned to China due to illness, he suggested that he could take some children to the United States to continue his studies.
The ignorant Yung Wing chose to see that vast world.
Go Yung Wing,
You will understand your destiny there, you will know the responsibilities you have to shoulder in .
Kong says to be successful, Meng says to be righteous.
, however, that's it.
1840, Yung Wing, who was studying in the United States, was admitted to Yale University .
However, the poor Yung Wing could not afford the high tuition fees at all.
At this time, the church expressed its willingness to provide financial assistance to Yung Wing, but the condition was that Yung Wing must go to China to preach after graduation.
A long light for a night, and the stars moved until the dawn of dawn pierced Yung Wing's study.
He stood up with deep dark circles and went to the church and replied:
"Although I am poor, I am free by nature. After graduation, I only want to do the job that is most beneficial to the motherland."
In the end, Mr. Yang, who was the first to lend a helping hand and found a women's association to support Yung Wing.
So,
The first Chinese to study at Yale University walked into Yale's door - a robe and jacket, with beard and braids.
Now, a gentleman must strive for self-improvement.
Yung Wing works part-time at Yale, and also serves as the main force of the football team and the dragon boat team, as well as managing books and other work.
He has seen the prosperity of the West with his own eyes and the corruption of China himself.
This made him feel sad.
So he wrote down in his diary:
"When I was in the period of cultivation, the corruption in China was always in my mind, and it was even worse in the last year. Every time I thought about it, I was unhappy." "I also thought about the Chinese people, who suffered infinite pain and were suppressed."
Finally, he asked himself.
"What will I do with what I have learned?
What I am determined to do is:
The younger generation of China should enjoy the same educational benefits as me;
In this way, through Western education, China will be revived and become a civilized and prosperous country.
My ambition is to achieve this goal, and this goal is like a star, always pointing out the direction I am moving forward. ”
Yes, Yung Wing, that decadent and backward country, she will be your mission,
You will devote all the energy you spend in your life, without regrets.
During Yung Wing's confusing days when he returned to China, there are two small things worth mentioning.
First, when Yung Wing returned home, he met four drunk foreigners on the way. These four were fighting around and bullying the Chinese people because of drunkenness. Yung Wing thought they were drunk and did not want to argue with them.
But later Yung Wing found that the two of the four who were slightly behind were not drunk, but were just bullying the Chinese people for fun.
Yung Wing was very angry about this. After asking Ming's name, he personally picked up the pen and wrote a letter to the bosses of these foreigners to protest.
Finally, these foreigners came to visit and apologized to Yung Wing.
The second is that in an auction, the tall English strong man standing behind Yung Wing kneaded the cotton into a ball and tied it to Yung Wing’s braid for fun.
After Yung Wing discovered it, he gently asked him to take it off.
This Scottish strong man didn't care, but instead punched Yung Wing.
So Yung Wing could no longer bear it and turned around and started a fight with this person.
eventually made the Scots embarrassed and suffered a lot of injuries.
This matter became a topic of discussion among foreigners in the concession for a time, and it was also a good story among the Chinese, so Yung Wing was highly respected for this.
When the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement was vigorously launched, Yung Wing thought it was a good opportunity to change China, so he excitedly went to "Tianjing" for inspection.
Here, he met his former friend Hong Renyan and told him about his strategy to save the country.
Hong Renyan attached great importance to this and gave it to Yung Wing Yi Jue.
However, after a period of investigation, Yung Wing was disappointed. Such a team could not take on the task of transforming China.
So Yung Wing turned around and left "Tianjing". As for the high-ranking officials and generous salaries that Hong Renyi had already given,
I think this is not the pursuit of this person.
Then, Yung Wing devoted himself to the Zeng Guofan under the hoodlum of , contributing his own strength to the Westernization Movement.
He works diligently here, perhaps in his opinion, this is where he can realize his ambitions.
He went to purchase machines, wrote to discuss matters, promoted the armed forces school, and promoted the study in the United States.
However, in 1881, the decayed Qing government was worried that young children who went abroad would return to China to spread new ideas and endanger the Qing Dynasty's rule, so they ordered the withdrawal of young children studying abroad.
At this time, Yung Wing believed that it was the darkest day in his life.
"For the most unfortunate period of the rest of his life. His lifelong aspirations have been destroyed. Those who have the same fate have died for no reason. They suddenly feel discouraged and have no interest in resurrection."
Before the child withdraws, Yung Wing ran around and shouts for it.
Yale University President Pude and 100 primary, middle and primary teachers and teachers jointly wrote a letter to the Zongli Yamen, praising the performance of young children studying in the United States in the past ten years, "either character and academic performance, and are expected to become talents. If you withdraw from the middle, it will be a great loss for your country."
And the great writer Mark Twain personally found former US Prime Minister Grant for help, so Grant immediately wrote a letter to Li Hongzhang , hoping to allow students to complete their studies.
However, except for Grant's handwritten messenger Li Hongzhang, the joint letter from Yale University was shaken.
Perhaps in the eyes of the Qing court, Yale University was just a foreign private school.
full of patriotic and naive Yung Wing has become a victim of factional struggles many times. He often does his best, but is pulled by his own people and is hindered from many aspects.
So Yung Wing deeply realized that the gap between China and the West is not the so-called instruments and intelligence, but the system.
so he turned around and risked his way into the arms of the reformist.
It’s a pity, but the final result is no different.
1896's clear state affairs edict announced the complete failure of the reform movement.
In his later years, Yung Wing looked back on his life and suddenly realized that nothing had been achieved.
But he still didn't give up.
Sun Yat-sen's revolution, Yung Wing traveled around the United States to inform him, raised funds from multiple sources, and wrote letters to Sun Yat-sen many times, expressing his views on the revolution.
After the success of the Wuchang Uprising, he was so excited that he could not help himself. Yung Wing, who was ill in bed, supported the sick body to send three letters to the revolutionaries, and warned Sun Yat-sen with great foresight to be careful of Yuan Shikai's power.
Sun Yat-sen immediately replied, requesting Yung Wing to return to the country to take on an important position.
However, Yung Wing was already in his twilight years old, so he could only refuse.
Speaking of which, before the Xiangshan Uprising, the revolutionaries elected Yung Wing as president.
Yung Wing, who was on the hospital bed, called his two sons to the bed and asked them to return to their country to help the revolutionaries.
However, the eldest son has found a good job in the United States and is unwilling to leave.
Yung Wing struggled with his illness and said:
"I spent such money to cultivate your talents, originally hoping to repay the motherland. Now I don't have this task, only villains can benefit, and worry about gains and losses, which is not what I hope for you and the other two."
In the end, Yung Wing's two sons followed their father's wishes and returned to China to serve.
Guangdong Taiwan once launched a documentary about Yung Wing, which wrote in the film,
"From head to toe, Yung Wing's nerve fiber is patriotic. Everything he does is full of his most sincere and strong love for the motherland. He loves China, he trusts him, and is sure that he has a great and brilliant future, worthy of his noble and magnificent mountains and rivers and his great and long history."
This is right,
This is right, 2
Liu Buchan and others went to study in the United States, turned around and told their relatives and friends who came to see them off,
"I went to the West and knew China's plan to improve myself. I gave up on this and took all the science of foreigners. I went to the 70,000-mile long distance and left the country of my motherland and parents, and I had no regrets."
Whenever I saw the words of Liu Buchan and others, I was always shocked and speechless.
paid tribute to the ancestors who went to the United States alone.
Yung Wing, I believe he will never regret it and live up to his original intention.
Author: Wei Dingjun
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