Chapter 62 Act VIII Pen and Gun

"Minbao" is the official newspaper of the League. When Zhang Taiyan, a university student, was the editor-in-chief, it had a very good reputation. It fought many big battles with the royalists in Kangliang. From then on, the revolution defeated the royalists.Whether this is true or not is hard to say, but the Min Pao at that time was indeed well-known among the restless people. Zhang Taiyan was the student of Mr. Yu Yue, the most famous scholar in the late Qing Dynasty. This Yu Yue was a student of Zeng Guofan. He was greatly appreciated because of the poem "Flowers fall and spring is still there".Later, because he presided over the Henan Township Examination, the questions were too strange, so he was admitted by Master Du, and since then he has devoted himself to learning.Zeng Guofan famously said that Yu Yue devoted himself to learning, and Li Hongzhang devoted himself to being an official.Zhang Binglin (Taiyan), a disciple of Yu Yue who worked hard to learn, is also a person who works hard to learn.He has done a lot of learning, and now reading his academic articles, a subset of classics and history, plus Buddhism, let the horse rein, without any effort, I can't read it at all.However, he presided over the "Min Bao" with the intention of promoting it. Many people in the party thought he was too pedantic and not popular enough, and he was somewhat wronged. Such doggerel is not very realistic.A good example is that, under his auspices, there are also cartoons on "Minbao".

The cartoons in "Min Bao" were all about celebrities in the late Qing Dynasty.Celebrities are celebrities, and in the "Minbao", they changed their title to traitors.The dead Zeng, Zuo, and Li were called "traitors of the past".Zeng Guofan wore Hualing's head on top, but put a python body on it.The same goes for Zuo Zongtang, with a human face and a beast body.Li Hongzhang has a human face and a fish body. This 1.8 meter tall man has become a mermaid, comparable to the little mermaid in Copenhagen.Only Zeng Guofan's portrait has some basis for such a caricature.It is said that because Zeng Guofan had ringworm all over his body, he hired people to scratch it all year round, and the scales fell off his body layer by layer, so people said that he was transformed from a boa constrictor and came to save the Qing Dynasty.Of course, there are also legends that the so-called boa constrictor is one of the ten villains in Xishan, and it was originally the lower realm of demons in troubled times.The appearance of Zeng Guofan is nothing more than a sign of chaos in the world.In any case, it is not without reason to paint Zeng Guofan with a human face and a snake body.But why Zuo Zongtang has the body of a beast, and why Li Hongzhang has the body of a fish, I don't understand.I think, anyway, it is a curse, probably to match Zeng Guofan and make a difference at the same time. Since one is a snake, the remaining two can only be a beast and a fish.

There are also three celebrities from the New Deal period of the Qing Dynasty, that is, celebrities who were still alive when the "Min Bao" was run.Their fate seems to be worse than that of their predecessors. These cartoons are called "Truth Maps of Today's Traitors".Among them, Yuan Shikai is a bust with his face cut open.Zhang Zhidong wore Hua Ling on top, but his head was placed under his crotch.Cen Chunxuan also wears Hualing, but his head is placed upside down on his neck.These three were the most famous and highest-ranking ministers during the New Deal period of the Qing Dynasty. They were called Zhang Zhidong who had no knowledge and skills, Yuan Shikai who had no knowledge and skills, and Cen Chunxuan who had no knowledge and skills.It is also said that Zhang Zhidong is a scholar butcher because he suppressed the uprising of the self-reliant army, Yuan Shikai is a civilian butcher because he killed vegetable farmers during military training, and Cen Chunxuan is an official butler because he especially likes to join subordinate officials.Although there are different evaluations, no one can deny the status of the three of them.When history comes to this place, these three people cannot be avoided. Of course, the Qing Dynasty cannot do without the three of them.Therefore, these three people are also the greatest enemies for the revolutionary party, or in other words, the most dangerous traitors.The revolutionaries intend to depopulate the Manchus, so what they call traitors is different from what we have now. All Han Chinese who work for the Manchus are traitors.However, among the three, Yuan Shikai was the one who was belittled relatively lightly, and his face was just cut open, which seemed to imply that this person had multiple faces.In fact, after the establishment of the Tongmenghui, there were still revolutionaries who had illusions about Yuan Shikai. It is said that some people even contacted him, but there was no response, and they were not kidnapped to ask for rewards.

The propaganda contained cartoons and did not originate in the newspapers of the revolutionaries.There have been similar things in the posters of Dajiao (Christianity) in the late Qing Dynasty.There are paintings of missionaries and parishioners with human face and pig body, or with pig face and human body.There are also cartoons of ministers of the Qing Dynasty on the relatively high-end postings, and there are positive characters, such as Zuo Zongtang, such as Tian Xingshu, the admiral of Guizhou who handled the Guizhou teaching case, are all drawn very powerfully, and the inscription below is also extremely flattering.However, there is less respect for others, among them Li Hongzhang.Not only did Li Hongzhang have a very bad image in later textbooks, even at that time, he was also regarded as a traitor by the gentry and revolutionaries who were beaten and taught.The former said he was a traitor to foreigners, while the latter said he was a traitor to Manchurians.

When these comics were produced, there were already more interesting comics and comic strips in the West. The characters in the comics were no longer villains. Their fun and humor attracted everyone from young to old.Political caricatures in Western newspapers appeared earlier, and were already very popular in the middle of the 19th century.The drawing is humorous, playful, and ironic.However, in China, even if the newspapers run by people who intend to learn from the West, the so-called cartoons on them are still curses, just like urchins who usually don’t like anyone, just scribble on the wall, vilify someone, and then write × who There is not much difference between the mother, or who is the big bastard.This kind of naughty trick has been carried forward in the "Teaching and Exposing Posts", and now it is the turn of the Revolutionary Party to further carry it forward.It seems that the evolution of this kind of comics is quite clear. Whether it's "Minbao" or the posters, everyone draws this kind of painting that depicts people as animals, no matter how good the painting skills are, there is only one purpose, and that is to vent their anger.It's just that venting anger like this is of course useful to those who have the same anger.Restless people in China like to watch these things.But for those who are not so "angry", it may not be useful.In any case, the Revolutionary Party still expected its newspaper to make waves in the country.Customs refused to allow imports, so they secretly brought them in, especially for Manchurian students to bring them into China.First wrap the bundle of "Minbao" with "Legal and Political Discourses" written on it, and then give it to an acquainted Manchu student studying abroad, and ask them to bring it to someone in China.When passing through the customs, the customs officers saw that it was full of people and had braids on their heads, so naturally they did not check.Are these Manchus who are entrained really ignorant, or are they pretending to be ignorant?God knows.

However, later in our memories of the revolutionaries, we mentioned their revolutionary enlightenment readings, and it seems that "Minbao" was rarely mentioned.Either "Ten Days in Yangzhou", or "Jiading Three Massacres", and then there are pamphlets such as "Revolutionary Army", "Menghuihui", and "The Alarm Clock".