Chapter 67 Zhang Taiyan: Celebrities in West Prison

Xilao is a prison run by foreigners in the concession.Logically speaking, the so-called concessions are nothing but land rented by foreigners in China. How can there be prisons in the leased land?However, at that time, the Chinese state was too weak, and there were few sensible people. The foreign concessions were simply turned into a state within a state by foreigners, with not only exclusive management rights, but also judicial power.Not only foreigners who enjoy extraterritorial rights cannot be controlled by the Chinese authorities, but the Chinese in the concession are also under the control of the concession authorities. Although it is still a Chinese-foreign joint trial in name, in fact foreigners are in charge.Such a thing is logically speaking a violation of China's judicial sovereignty. However, from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, such a violation was a self-evident good thing for those government opponents.The most obvious good thing is the "Su Bao" case in 1903. Zhang Taiyan and Zou Rong involved in the case were not sentenced to death, nor did they sit in a Chinese prison.

Zhang Taiyan was imprisoned twice in his life.Once, he was placed under house arrest in Beijing because he came to oppose Yuan Shikai.Although he is actually in prison, he eats well, lives in a good place, can meet guests casually, and has a bunch of policemen waiting on him for his entertainment. Strictly speaking, he is not in prison.The real imprisonment was the three years in the West Prison for the "Su Bao" case.That is a serious prison, eating prison food, wearing prison clothes, and serving hard labor, and being fisted and kicked by Westerners. Mr. Taiyan is a master of Chinese studies, and there is no one in the country who is dissatisfied with Chinese studies.Later, Peking University's majors in literature, history and philosophy were basically dominated by Zhangmen's disciples.Mr. Taiyan is still a revolutionary. When it comes to the Restoration Society and the Tongmenghui, no one can ignore Zhang Binglin.Zhangmen's disciples later said that the teacher was more concerned about politics than learning. When he talked about politics, his eyebrows were beaming, but when he talked about learning, he fell asleep.However, in my opinion, Mr. Taiyan's duty is actually to be a celebrity.In traditional society, those who are highly educated but not into official careers are mostly celebrities.Among them, some people came out due to various reasons after entering the official career, and some did not want to enter at all and could not enter. Zhang Taiyan belonged to the latter.

Celebrities must be famous, and they must be famous.Being famous is often accompanied by many very controversial and strange things.Mr. Taiyan's style of various celebrities and anecdotes about celebrities are all after being famous.Many people recalled that Mr. Taiyan mentioned that he didn't know the way at all. When he was in Japan, whenever he went out, he had to be accompanied by someone. Without someone to accompany him, he couldn't go back.When I was in Shanghai in my later years, I took a rickshaw when I went out and came back. I didn't know where I lived. I had to say that the driver should know him, and he shouldn't if he didn't know him.So the coachman had no choice but to drag him all over the street. If he didn't run into an acquaintance, he really didn't know how to end it.However, when Mr. Taiyan was young, we had never heard of such a thing. During the Reform Movement of 1898, he was in Shanghai with Wang Kangnian and the others to run the "Current Affairs News". It seems that I have never heard of him being lost.Baoxuan, a descendant of the aristocratic family, also mentioned his visit many times in "Diary of Wangshanlu", but it is not always accompanied by someone.As for his declaration that revolution requires neuropathy, he often becomes neurotic to others.Going to see Yuan Shikai, making a fan pendant with medals, getting angry when he didn't see him, smashing the furniture of the presidential palace, all kinds of very dissenting and weird behaviors after being placed under house arrest, forcing the police to call him the master, asking An Tiantian to kowtow every now and then, even after becoming famous masterpiece.Before he became famous, he also lived for decades, as a son of man, a disciple of man, and running a newspaper, as if he had never heard of anything strange.When he was writing an article for Su Bao in the Shanghai Patriotic Society, people called him grotesque, and it was nothing more than a braid cut, half-length hair combed on both sides, wearing a long robe, wrapped in a kimono, and smoking a cigarette every day He was still normal when he was imprisoned by foreign devils.The later grotesque is a later thing.

The prison in the Shanghai International Settlement, located near the Tilan Bridge on the Huangpu River, is no longer found today.Although it is a prison for foreigners, it is not very civilized at all because it is mainly used to detain Chinese people and the jailers are mainly Indians.The sanitation conditions are not very good, the prisoners have to do heavy work, the food is not good, and they often don’t have enough to eat, and the guards often punish them physically.The whole situation, almost like the colonial prisons in other eastern countries, was abysmal.Before Zhang Taiyan went in, he was well-known at home and abroad because of the lawsuit against the "Su Bao" for about half a year, but the guards in the prison did not regard him as a celebrity, and they were still rude and did not take care of him at all.According to Zhang Taiyan himself, when he first entered, he was often abused, and the guards in India were the most brutal.He has a big temper, and when people beat him, he fights back.As a result, he was often knocked to the ground and beaten by a group of Indian guards. They beat him randomly, kicked him with sticks, and even passed out.According to him, if he was beaten to death, he would be dragged out and buried, and there was no autopsy.The guards punish the prisoners, and they also use a method of turning the people behind their backs to tie them up, which is similar to the so-called back-handcuffs today. After being tied up, the prisoners can't stand it for an hour. He didn't die, but Zou Rong, who was in prison together, couldn't bear the crime and died.

After Zou Rongyu died, things got serious.After all, it was a well-known case both at home and abroad. In order not to extradite the two, the British and American consuls insisted on a lighter sentence, so they got into a deadlock with the Qing government.If these two people are allowed to die in prison, it will be unreasonable anyway, and the public opinion in their own country will make them unbearable.Therefore, Zhang Taiyan's treatment has improved significantly since then.Hard labor made him do the lightest work, sewing prison uniforms and socks.However, Zhang Taiyan made a mess for them.The guards didn't dare to punish him, so they had to promote him to the rank of rice head and fire head army.This kind of work is usually done by rich people who are in prison and pay for it. It has many advantages, you can eat whatever you want, and the oil and water are more expensive, but at this time I have to let him do it.Unexpectedly, Mr. Taiyan can't cook, and he doesn't study with humility, anyway, he still messes around.In the end, he had to be in charge of serving the rice, and this time, he was finally up to the task.All the prisoners came to curry favor with Zhang Taiyan, flattering desperately, hoping that he would give more to Zhang Taiyan.

The "Su Bao" case was a watershed in Mr. Taiyan's life.Previously, the boss of "Su Bao" was Chen Fan, the editor-in-chief was Zhang Shizhao, and Mr. Taiyan was just a writer. Logically, no one should be arrested. So he was taken to the top bar.However, after the lawsuit was settled and the three-year prison sentence was completed, Zhang Taiyan and Zou Rong became famous.Mr. Taiyan who survived can only be a celebrity, a revolutionary celebrity.Such a celebrity, in the revolutionary era, has a better reputation.