Chapter 46 46. ​​Chinese and dogs are not allowed to enter?

In November 1845, Shanghai Daotai Palace Mujiu allocated a piece of land north of Shanghai County to the British to live in. At that time, it was completely a farmland, full of rice and cotton.On the west bank of the Huangpu River, there is a winding path through the wide and sparse reeds, which the trackers stepped on to pull the boats.What the people who were barefoot and sweating here did not expect was that this originally sparsely populated suburb would become one of the most crowded areas in the world after 30 or 40 years. Yangjing Trail has already turned into the well-known Bund both at home and abroad.

The Bund is located on the west bank of the Huangpu River. It is not only the confluence of the Huangpu River and the Suzhou Creek, but also the place where the water potential of the Huangpu River is the deepest and the water flow is the flattest. It can be said to be the best location for a good natural harbor.After obtaining the management rights of the concession, the British first built two barge piers here to facilitate the entry and exit of their foreign trade goods.Only ten years later, there are already more than a dozen large and small wharves here, and their cargo throughput far exceeds the traditional wharves in the old downstream county of Shanghai.

Behind the Bund Wharf are two-story bungalows successively built by some foreign companies, including many well-known foreign commercial institutions such as Yi Kee Company, Diandi Company, and Jardine Company in history. This is also the prototype of the "Bund".The Bund was called "Huangpu Beach" by Chinese people at the time, and "Bund" by foreigners. The emerging commercial port area it refers to is basically similar to the current Bund.However, the two-storey buildings first built by foreign firms were basically demolished and rebuilt after decades of use. Most of the western-style buildings on the Bund called "World Architecture Exposition" are products of the early 20th century. The two-story building is much grander and has survived to this day.

After 1848, the Bureau of the Ministry of Industry built a cobblestone cinder road in the Bund area of ​​the British Concession, and later installed novel gas street lamps and planted elegant street trees on this road, and the Bund Road in the French Concession was also connected to it (at that time The British Concession and the French Concession are bounded by Yangjinghong, which is now Yan'an East Road).By around 1865, this Riverside Avenue had become the most spacious and beautiful road in Shanghai at that time. Every evening, foreigners from all over the world working in Shanghai came here by horse-drawn carriage or on foot to enjoy the beautiful view of the Huangpu River. Under the afterglow of the sun, this place became their deepest foreign memory.

Obviously, the Bund had a dual function at that time: it was a busy port area during the day, and it became the best rest area for residents at night.In order to prevent businessmen from abusing the land in front of their foreign firms, the Bureau of the Ministry of Industry decided not to add port facilities, but to transform the Bund into a public green space and a public leisure place, because this is where "residents can walk from the Huangpu River when they walk at dusk." It is the only place in the river where fresh air can be absorbed, and it is also the only place in the concession with an open view.”

Under this decision, the area along the Bund along the river was gradually filled and covered with turf, which gradually became the preferred symbol of Shanghai landscape, and began to appear in oil paintings or photographs at that time. In 1868, at the northernmost end of the Bund Belt, at the confluence of the Huangpu River and Suzhou Creek, the first park in the Shanghai Concession - "Shanghai Huangpu Park" appeared, which was also known as the Bund Park at that time. No Chinese participated in the preparation, design and management of the Bund Park. At the beginning, it did not attract special attention. It was only after the successful reconstruction of the famous Waibaidu Bridge with a length of 118 meters and a width of 12 meters in 1875 that people When walking across the towering bridge, you can have a panoramic view of the Bund Park, which has attracted everyone's attention.At that time, a person named Yunjian Yishi published a foreign field bamboo branch poem about "Foreign Park" in Shenbao, in which he described: "When you come to the west of the bridge, look back and see the green grass in the garden. The trees are short The leaves are blooming and flowers are in different colors, and the golden pheasant crows on the stone after the rain." But what is unpleasant is that when the Chinese living in the concession tried to enter the park to have a glimpse of the beautiful scenery, they were blocked by the gate guards. Why?

In recent years, there has been a strange argument that the "Chinese and Dogs Not Entered" sign in the Bund Park is fake, such as a widely circulated article published in "Century" magazine-"Uncovering the "Chinese and Dogs Not Entered" In "The Mystery of Spreading", it is believed that "Chinese and dogs are not allowed to enter" is "pure misinformation". Chinese and dogs not admitted" was translated into Chinese "Chinese and dogs are not allowed to enter", which was able to spread.As for the sign that thousands of people are referring to, it was made "in the 1950s to cooperate with the situation education", and it was placed "in the museum after liberation" instead of "in the Bund Park before liberation".Chen Danyan, a writer who has written the "Shanghai Trilogy", also believes that this is a fake history. The reason is that although there are rules that prohibit Chinese and dogs from entering the park, the sentence "Chinese and dogs are not allowed to enter" is a generalization. As for The sign, of course, is gone.

As far as history is concerned, it is easier to prove that a fact exists, but it is more difficult to prove that it does not.Because there is more evidence that not only this sentence exists, but also this brand has been witnessed by different people in different eras. The relevant records are as follows: Huang Yanpei recorded in his autobiography "Eighty Years", "When I entered the concession, I was dazzled. I saw red-headed patrols everywhere on the street, with fierce faces, especially kicking those rickshaw pullers. Outside the gate of Baidu Bridge Park There are eight big characters written on the sign, 'Dogs and Chinese are not allowed to enter', which I saw with my own eyes at that time."Huang Yanpei was from Chuansha, Shanghai. He was going to Ying County, Shanghai for an examination around 1898.It can be seen that this brand was already there at that time.

Zhou Zuoren recorded in his diary on September 11, 1903, "Passing through the park on the way, the ground is very open and full of greenery. Caucasians wandering in it are all self-satisfied. Only Chinese people are not allowed to enter, and the gate is hung with gold characters. The big book "Dogs and Chinese are not allowed to enter" has seven characters, mourning for Chinese and dogs." Chen Daisun stated in "Once Upon a Time in the Past" that in 1918 he saw the sign "Chinese and dogs not allowed" in Shanghai Bund Park, and wrote to Shanghai Huangpu District Garden Management Office on July 12, 1990, emphasizing this sign The content on the website is "not one of the rules of the garden,... but a wooden sign"; in addition, he also said that in 1920, the sign was still "alive".

On August 28, 1923, Guo Moruo wrote in an article called "Eclipse of the Moon", "Several parks in Shanghai prohibit dogs and Chinese from entering. In fact, dogs are allowed to enter, but people are not allowed. People have to change." You can go in when you are a dog."In the same year, Cai Hesen also wrote in an article: "Before Shanghai was opened as a port, every piece of grass and stone was not Chinese. But after the opening of the port, Chinese were not allowed to live in the concession at first, and Chinese and dogs The sign of no entry is still hung on the gate of foreign parks."

In 1924, Sun Yat-sen also mentioned this sign in his speech: "We Chinese are not allowed to enter the two parks of Huangpu Beach and Beisichuan Road in Shanghai. In the past, a sign was hung at the gate of those parks saying: Dogs and Chinese people are not allowed to enter. Although the card has been cancelled, the ban has not been cancelled.” In addition, Fang Zhimin said in the book, "A few poor friends invited me to visit the French Park. As soon as I walked to the park gate, I saw a dazzling sign saying: 'Chinese and dogs are not allowed to enter the park', A few words were shot into my eyes, and my whole body suddenly became hot, and my face was red. This is the shame I have never experienced before."However, what Fang Zhimin was talking about was not the Bund Park, but the French Park in the French Concession, which is now the Fuxing Park in Luwan District. From the testimonies of witnesses of different ages and people above, it can be seen that the Bund Park did have such a sign, but because of the memory of the person concerned or the fact that the park has to be painted and replaced every year, the words on the sign are recorded differently. There are also those called Bazi, the wording is slightly different, but the meaning is basically the same. (In the late Qing Dynasty, there were more people who called it "dog", but in the Republic of China, there were more people who called it "dog". Could it be the influence of the New Culture Movement?) Put aside the question of whether there is a brand or not, and first look at the rules for visiting the garden formulated by the concession authorities.Among them, there are several articles related to "Chinese" and "dogs". One is the "Instructions for Visiting the Bund Park" in 1885. The first article is "Do not enter dogs and bicycles"; Foreigners are not allowed to enter."The second is Article 3 of the "Regulations of the Public Concession Bureau Public Entertainment Center (now Lu Xun Park)" in September 1909, "Chinese are not allowed to enter, unless they are servants serving foreigners"; Article 4, " Indians are not allowed to enter, unless they are neatly dressed"; Article 7, "Dogs are not allowed to enter the park unless they are muzzled and leashed."The third is the regulations on visiting French parks in 1909, the first of which is "The following people and objects are strictly prohibited from entering the park: Chinese, but Chinese grandmothers who take care of foreign children and Chinese servants who serve foreigners can enter the park with their masters; Or disheveled people..."; Article 2 is "Dogs with masks on the leash of foreigners are allowed to enter..."; Article 5 is "The Board of Directors reserves the right to issue Chinese admission tickets." The "Public Garden" was also stipulated in the 1904 "Public Gardens": bicycles and dogs are not allowed; except for servants of Westerners, Chinese are not allowed to enter. The above is clearly written in black and white. The prohibition of Chinese and dogs from entering the park is certain. The main controversy lies in the existence of the sign.Negatives believe that the regulations are separate, and there should be no separately listed eight-character signs, not to mention that there is no physical evidence to prove it; positive ones claim with certainty that they have indeed seen this sign with their own eyes, and it is from different periods and different places. It is impossible and unnecessary for all characters to lie.Conversely, the inability to find the actual sign does not mean that the sign was never hung, because the management of the park at that time was the concession authority, and after the ban on Chinese was lifted, it would naturally be destroyed instead of being given to the museum for collection; moreover, the wood Under the wind and rain, the signs often need to be repainted or replaced regularly. There may be differences in the characters for "狗" and "狗", and the seven characters and eight characters, but this does not negate the sign "Chinese and dogs not allowed". It really doesn't exist. In fact, at the beginning of the opening of the Bund Park, there was indeed no such sign, and there was no regulation prohibiting Chinese from entering the park.The earliest report of conflicts between China and foreign countries due to the issue of garden visits was published in Shenbao on June 21, 1878 (that is, ten years after the garden was built) entitled "Please relax the ban on gardens", which mentioned that "now People in Chinese clothes and hats can enter it, and the gatekeepers must not stop it.” From this sentence, it can be seen that for most people, especially those who do not look very noble, the guards will not let them in, except for senior Chinese. Maybe "can even get in". "Shenbao" then questioned in its comments: Chinese people were not allowed to enter and exit public gardens in Hong Kong before, but since the new Governor of Hong Kong took office, this regulation has been abolished. Why is it "relaxed there and banned here"?When the garden was created, all the money collected by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce was used, and the Chinese in the concession also paid taxes. Why were Chinese people banned from entering? In 1881, the "Annual Report of the Bureau of Industry and Commerce in the British and American Concession of Shanghai" published three such letters. One was written in English by eight Chinese doctors including Yun Kaiying from Hongkou Hospital to the secretary of the Bureau of Industry and Commerce. When passing by the Bund on the 5th and wanting to enter the Bund Park, they were blocked by the gate guards, so they wrote to complain: "We are all residents of the concession, and we are taxpayers. I would like to ask you what provisions stipulate that Chinese people are not allowed to enter public gardens. What? We have not seen any official documents on this matter. Yesterday, one of our gentlemen took the liberty to enter the park, but he was blocked by the gate guard." On April 20, the Board of Directors of the Bureau of Industry and Commerce wrote back: "Because of the limited space in the park, obviously not all Chinese people can enter the park. However, the arresting house has authorized all decent and well-dressed Chinese people to enter the garden. 5 days later, the Board of Directors of the Ministry of Industry and Technology once again replied that they "do not believe that the Chinese have the right to enter the garden", because in 1868, the British Consul in Shanghai, Winstar, had already stated in a letter to Shanghai Daotai that, "This place (public garden) is for the residents of foreign communities in Shanghai to use as a place of entertainment or a park," and the Shanghai Daotai at the time did not express any objection to this. The reply from the Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce obviously did not satisfy the Chinese in the concession, especially the high-ranking Chinese.Four years later, in 1885, eight Chinese, including Tang Maozhi, the comprador of Jardine Matheson, jointly wrote to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce again: "It is dissatisfactory that Chinese and foreigners are treated differently in the use of public gardens. The Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce must think of ways to eliminate this kind of contradiction that attracts resentment”; “The Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce refuses Chinese to enter the kindergarten, just to distinguish it from the perspective of race, which is untenable whether it is based on expediency or international etiquette. "; "We firmly oppose any unfair behavior that intends to hinder this system, but we also hope that the above-mentioned resentful examples will be changed." Tang Maozhi and others also said, “We are not rushing to demand unconditional opening of the gardens in appealing these reasons, but only hope that the Ministry of Industry and Commerce will allow those noble Chinese residents and foreign guests to enter the entertainment venues under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry and Affairs.”For this reason, they also suggested that the Bureau of the Ministry of Industry issue certificates, which can be arranged two to three days a week, and that Chinese people enter the park with certificates, in order to protect the rights of high-level Chinese.The above letters were also published in the 1885 "Annual Report of the Industrial Bureau of the British and American Concession in Shanghai". This time the wave of Chinese protests was more violent than the previous one, and the "Shenbao" and other media continued to publish articles to build momentum for it. A decision was announced in December to allow "respected Chinese people of noble character to apply for a garden ticket in advance" to enter the public gardens, but only once a week.However, the high-ranking Chinese in the concession were unwilling to accept this humiliation, so the number of admission tickets applied for was very small, and only 183 were issued in 1889. Until March 1889, Gong Zhaoyuan of Shanghai Daotai sent a letter to Xu Shi, the British Consul General in Shanghai. This is extremely unfair, so Gong Daotai asked the British Consul General to persuade the Bureau of the Ministry of Industry to resolve the matter as soon as possible.After receiving the letter, the Bureau of the Ministry of Industry insisted that foreigners entering the park are a right, while Chinese entering the park is just a kind of favor. If the admission by voucher is abused, this system will be cancelled. However, due to the intervention of Shanghai Daotai and the sharp increase in the population of the concession at this time, the Bureau of the Ministry of Industry also realized that this problem had reached the point where it had to be solved.The following year, the Bureau of the Ministry of Industry built a new park covering an area of ​​about six acres on the east end of Sichuan Road (now Sichuan Middle Road) on the south bank of the Suzhou River, and on the beach at the intersection of Suzhou Creek and Huangpu River. Chinese Park" (now it has become a street green space). Compared with the Bund Park, the environment and management of the Chinese Park are much worse, but the disposal of the "Huayang Branch Park" by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce has virtually eliminated the protests of the Chinese, but unexpectedly, the Bund Park The strong criticism of the brand began to appear in the records of the time, and the problem was precisely the brand that had not appeared before. Historian Luo Suwen mentioned such a thing in the book "Modern Shanghai: Urban Society and Life", that is, the "seat disturbance" in the public green space of the Bund.A Chinese once wrote to the Ministry of Industry to complain that two of his well-dressed friends were being driven away by the police while they were walking on the lawn on the Bund. Chinese.A foreigner complained to the Ministry of Industry that almost all the seats in the public green space on the Bund were occupied by the Chinese working class in the evening, so he applied to the Ministry of Industry whether he could bring his own seat.Before this, the Bureau of the Ministry of Industry had stipulated that the seats in the public green space on the Bund could be enjoyed by well-dressed Chinese, but after that, the scope of use of the seats was increased to "more decent Chinese". It became more and more frequent. However, the regulations of the Ministry of Industry and the interference of the police did not make those Chinese laborers give up their desire to go to the Bund to rest, because at that time there was no ideal place to rest except the Bund.Due to the differences between Chinese and Western cultures, foreigners also hope to be separated from the Chinese, especially those they consider inferior. This desire became stronger after the "Huayang Branch".In their logic, since the Chinese already have their own gardens, they should no longer enjoy the right to enter the garden on the Bund. The sign that the Chinese hate was probably put up at this time.To put it bluntly, this is still the old routine of Huayang's separation. In fact, the foreigner-only venues that prohibited Chinese from entering at that time were not limited to the Bund Park. For example, entertainment venues such as the British General Assembly and the German General Assembly have always prohibited Chinese from entering. The well-known racetracks in history have never accepted Chinese. member.The reason for foreigners is simple, and the Chinese have not invested in it.But the Bund Park is different. One is that it is a public park, and the other is that the construction and management costs of the park are jointly borne by Huayang. The source of funds is only one aspect. More importantly, the concept of "separation of Chinese and foreign people" has been deeply rooted in their minds, because in their view, the Chinese in the concession were already "overcrowded" at that time, and They also worried that if they had too much contact with Chinese civilians, they would be in danger of contracting the epidemic.In order to get rid of the Chinese and keep an exclusive space for myself, the brand with a strong tone became a matter of course. It is undeniable that in public green spaces and gardens, some Chinese have experienced some unethical phenomena such as "picking flowers and grass", "occupying seats", and "bringing prostitutes into the park". The regulations such as banning flowers and dogs are also reasonable, but juxtaposing Chinese people with dogs is enough to arouse the Chinese people's great anger. In 1925, during the period of the May 30th Movement when Chinese nationalism was on the rise, the ban boards of the Bund Park were once smashed by angry students.After the victory of the Northern Expedition, the foreign concessions in Wuhan were taken back. The Ministry of Industry and the French Concession authorities also announced the opening of the major parks in the concessions to Chinese and foreign visitors.As a compensation, the parks began to sell tickets to enter the park, which has won a lot of income for the concession authorities. After Huayang separated and the color of racial discrimination faded, the Bund Park returned to its positioning and became a paradise for citizens to rest.Today's Huangpu Park (formerly the Bund Park), with the People's Heroes Monument as the main scene of the park, looks like a very ordinary small park that can be seen everywhere.As for the word-of-mouth sign saying "Chinese and dogs not allowed", it is naturally nowhere to be found, but it is a common sign all over the country, such as "Do not trample on the lawn", "Climbing grass and trees is prohibited, and offenders will be fined." Wait, it hangs all over the place. Huangpu Park has a history of 130 years and was once the earliest urban garden in Shanghai, but it seems to have long been forgotten in today's bustling Shanghai metropolis.Even foreign tourists who come to Shanghai for sightseeing will probably be attracted by the Oriental Pearl Tower, Jinmao Tower, World Financial Center in Lujiazui Financial and Trade Zone on the other side of the bank, and the exquisite western buildings of the "World Architecture Expo" behind them. , who would notice that in the corner of the north, there is such a small park that was once controversial but is now inconspicuous?