Chapter 86 Colorful talk about the Republic of China

During the Beiyang period in the history of the Republic of China, people's impression was chaotic and dazzling.More than a dozen battles were fought at the same time, and dozens of characters went up and down, talking about this and that.In less than 16 years of Beiyang rule, the head of state alone has changed several people, Yuan Shikai, Li Yuanhong, Xu Shichang, Cao Kun, Duan Qirui, and Zhang Zuolin.As for the cabinet, like a revolving lantern, it changes several times a year on average.People who have been prime ministers can organize a reinforced platoon.It's really messy and coaxing you to sing and then I will come on stage. In fact, everyone hasn't finished singing, and the audience didn't even see the roles clearly, so they changed people, and it doesn't matter if they play tricks.

In that era, there were warlords with strict self-discipline, such as Wu Peifu, and warlords who were full of anger, such as Zhang Zongchang.Some people run universities, such as Zhang Xueliang and Tang Jiyao; some people do business, such as Zhang Zuolin, Liu Xiang, and Liu Wenhui; some people do rural construction, such as Yan Xishan; they are very positive and worth mentioning.However, there are also people who issue military tickets indiscriminately and tax them indiscriminately. In the 21st century, land taxes are pre-collected, and people are forced to grow opium, so that local opium is everywhere, and no one wants the imported Indian land. The localization of opium has been completely realized.Even among the warlords, there are all kinds of beliefs. There are Chen Jiongming who believes in socialism, Feng Yuxiang who believes in Christianity, Tang Shengzhi who believes in Buddhism, and Liu Xiang who believes in Buddhism.

The same is true in the intellectual circles, there are great scholars and masters, and there are Mr. Nan Guo who makes a living.Good universities can run shoulder to shoulder with the West, and pheasant universities with bad streets abound.They are also returnees, there are veritable famous students, and there are also students from Clayton University.Liberalism is popular, and conservatism is also popular. Even Marxism was once a fad in the academic circles. People in the historical circles do not practice historical materialism, and everyone looks down on it. This is especially the case for the media with unlimited popularity. There are trend-leading "Ta Kung Pao" and "Shen Bao", and there is also Jing Bao, which specializes in celebrity scandals and celebrity scandals.There are media people who have lofty aspirations and are involved in political planning, and there are also experts who specialize in alleys and looking for gossip.Zhang Jiluan's editorials often stir up the world, but the rumors of "Jing Bao" can still kill Ruan Lingyu.Ordinary Shanghainese people still like the lace on the back, and don't like to hear the high-level comments of Ta Kung Pao.

In that era, actors liked to talk about politics, and they stopped to give speeches during half-acts, and the audience actually cheered.Politicians like to sing operas, and if they can't sing a couple of Xipi Erhuang, they are not considered officials of that era.Those who were very interested even spent a lot of money to become fanciers.Soldiers like to be literati, they don't wear military uniforms, they prefer robes and jackets, and they sing with literati, poetry and wine.Literati like to talk about military affairs, and when they have the opportunity, they will put on their military uniforms, hang up their command swords, and take pictures immediately.

The great people all superstitiously believe in the unity of force, whether it is Yuan Shikai, Duan Qirui, Wu Peifu, or even Sun Yat-sen.Those in the north want to be unified, and those in the south also want to be unified. Both the southern and northern unification are unified by force.But the smaller figures want to divide and rule, to engage in federal and inter-provincial self-government, such as Chen Jiongming and Zhao Hengti.It is a pity that those who want to unify cannot be unified, and those who want to divide and rule cannot be divided.Therefore, the biggest problem in those years was that the country was actually divided. The big warlords controlled several provinces and yelled loudly, while the small warlords controlled a county and were in charge of their own families.The central government, government orders do not go out of the capital, the market is not unified, the currency is not unified, the country is weak, the government is poor, and at the poorest time, even the ministries of the central government cannot pay wages, and all the envoys stationed abroad return to the country under the flag - because There is no funding.After finally participating in the First World War, China, as the victorious country, came last at the Paris Peace Conference and could only send two representatives.My own Shandong is being fought over as a trophy by the great powers, but I can't do anything about it.What is even more embarrassing is the war. There are thousands of warlords, big and small. You fight and I fight. The common people do not have a stable ruler.The treaty ports are fine, but the mainland is suffering from wars.Such a country is too far away from the ideal of a rich country and a strong army.

If you want to say yes, there are some who say it.The capitalists feel that doing business is very easy, except for the chaos of war, no one interferes with them.Professors and students feel good, but all the universities that can be mentioned, no matter national, private or church universities, are all decent, with university autonomy, professors governing the school, and academic freedom.The principal is the head of logistics, even so, if he feels that the principal is outrageous, he can be expelled immediately.As soon as I became a professor, even if the president came, I could just ignore it. I could say whatever I liked in class, and I never worried about being dismissed for reasons other than academics.People in the newspaper industry were even more bullish. Even though two of the bullish reporters in the period of the Republic of China were killed at the end of the Beiyang period, it was a truly bullish era. Regardless of politicians or warlords, reporters would scold them if they wanted to.After being scolded, people give money, and after receiving the money, they still scold.Even Peking Opera, the quintessence of the country, was made popular during the period of the Republic of China. The four famous actors, the four minor actors, and the four Xusheng were all good things made by the people of the Republic of China.At that time, the popular songs on the market were even arias from Peking opera, and traffickers and pawns would hum a couple of verses.

Generally speaking, the Republic of China, especially the Republic of China during the Beiyang period, was a colorful era.Everyone is unique and independent, different from others, sometimes sublime, sometimes wretched.A good man can't be buried, no one can suppress you because you are good, and you can't be suppressed.Anyone who has very dissenting opinions can be more or less respected, unless you only have Cheng Yaojin's three-handed axe, and the stamina is gone.All kinds of people have their own stage to perform, but the premise of performing is that you have the capital.This is an era when even thieves and hooligans have their own personalities. Everyone has their own ways. If you don't have unique skills, don't try to get along well.At that time, China had internationally renowned scholars, Wang Guowei, Chen Yinke and Chen Yuan.There are Ding Wenjiang and Li Siguang.There are also famous entrepreneurs in the world Fan Xudong, Wu Yunchu and Lu Zuofu.Educators include Cai Yuanpei, Jiang Menglin, Zhang Boling, and Tao Xingzhi.Even soldiers with a bad reputation include Wu Peifu, who was on the cover of Time Magazine.This Wu Peifu was not down and out in his later years, but he never fell into the blue sky, and has always been coquettish.

It was also a time when democracy was especially respected. Since the establishment of the parliament, it seems that nothing has been done.There is a legend in Beijing that members of the two houses are more enthusiastic about visiting the Eight Great Alleys than participating in the discussion of politics.But no one has withdrawn their high subsidies, and no one has dared to defy Parliament.If it doesn't work, change the parliament, but after the change, the councilors are still soaking in the alleys.Cao Kun bribed elections. He didn't think about bribery at first. It was nothing more than publicly paying the hard work of the members. The payment was to respect the parliament and the members.

Reporters scolded those in power in the newspapers, and they scolded them as well, but those in power bit the bullet and pretended not to know.Students took to the streets to protest against government actions.No matter how extreme they are, they will bully the police, but they dare not suppress them.It's not that I can't do it, but I feel that I can't do it—because it's the Republic of China, a democratic government. However, the people at that time were divided into two parts, one part was the general public, which included both the people at the bottom and the gentry in the interior. They had no sense or understanding of democracy.Regarding the war and chaos, there is pain on the skin, but there is not much right to speak.Another part of the upper class, the intellectuals, has a relatively weak perception of the war, but they have a strong say and a loud voice.The preference for democracy is mostly limited to them.It's just that their preference for democracy often has a strong utilitarian meaning.During this period, the real political belief of the upper class and intellectuals was the theory of evolution.Whether it advocates military nationalism (that is, later militarism), or federalism, socialism, or even anarchism, it is the theory of evolution at its core.The theory of evolution stubbornly believes in historical progressivism, firmly believes that Western democratic systems are the product of historical progress, and superstitiously believes in new things in Western history.At that time, they believed that as long as they adhered to this system and the tenets of this system, China would be able to go on the road of becoming rich and powerful.Even though some intellectuals later abandoned bourgeois democracy, they did not abandon the theory of evolution. They just felt that they had discovered something better, more scientific, and more democratic in the West than the current democratic system.

Such utilitarian advocates of democracy mostly don't care much about the freedom that accompanies democracy.The May Fourth New Culture Movement was essentially a literary movement, a moral movement.The young people who joined the movement first cared most about individual liberation and personal freedom.In order to break free from the traditional family, they fought desperately for it.However, once the young people who broke free from the family ties caught up with the May 4th patriotic movement and it was their turn to fight for the interests of the country and the nation, they gave up their freedom one after another, and forced others to give up their freedom as well.When boycotting Japanese products, I can unconditionally give up all my Japanese products at any cost, and force the vendors to do so.Great figures like Sun Yat-sen publicly stated that people gave up their own freedom for the freedom of the country and the nation, and integrated their own freedom into the freedom of the nation-state.This kind of statement was inherited and carried forward by Chiang Kai-shek. Of course, if it is so popular, there will be no freedom.

Without freedom, there is no democracy. During the period of the Republic of China from Beiyang to the Kuomintang rule, democracy moved along a downward line.The more latecomers, the farther they go and the lower they fall.However, no one will give up the signboard of the Republic, no one will openly despise democracy, and everyone will play the card of democracy.But everyone is withdrawing from freedom, withdrawing from freedom in democracy. Mao Zedong wrote an article titled "Opposing Liberalism", and Chiang Kai-shek also wrote a similar article. In the process of opposing freedom, the personalities that were originally under the banner of democracy escaped and died one after another, and the colorful people and things became neat and tidy. Single, eventually, becomes a hue. During the "Cultural Revolution", when foreigners came to China, they found that this is a kingdom of blue and gray, even girls' clothes are no exception.