Mountains, Valleys and Lakes Nurture Great Talents (Part 2)
Section 2: Statesmen and Martial Sages, Resolute Heroes. A Founding Father of the Republic — Huang Xing. Huang Xing (1874–1916), leader of the 1911 Revolution, courtesy name Keqiang, was a native of Shanhua (now part of Changsha). He studied at Changsha's Chengnan Academy and in 1898 entered Wuchang's Lianghu Academy. In 1902 he studied in Japan and organized the Anti-Russian Volunteer Corps. Returning the next year, he worked in Changsha with...
This article has been compiled from historical materials in the "Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network" (33519.com · City Overview section). Some administrative divisions, population, socioeconomic data, and policy information may be outdated and are for reference only; for the latest situation, please refer to official releases by the local government and scenic areas.
Section II
A Duke-Minister and Martial Sage, a Loyal and Brave Founding Hero
A Founding Hero of the Republic—Huang Xing
Huang Xing (1874-1916), a leader of the Xinhai Revolution, courtesy name Keqiang, was a native of Shanhua (present-day Changsha). In his early years he studied at Chengnan Academy in Changsha, and in 1898 he entered the Wuchang Lianghu Academy for further study. In 1902 he studied in Japan, where he once organized a volunteer corps to resist Russia. The following year he returned to China and, in Changsha, founded the Huaxinghui with Song Jiaoren, serving as its president. In 1904 he planned the Changsha Uprising, and after its failure fled to Japan. In 1905 he founded the Tongmenghui with Sun Yat-sen and served as its general affairs officer. From 1907 onward he launched many armed uprisings, all of which failed. After the Wuchang Uprising he served as commander-in-chief in wartime and led the defense of Wuhan. In 1912, when the Nanjing government was established, he served as minister of the army. In 1913 he was elected commander-in-chief of the Jiangsu army against Yuan Shikai; after failure he fled to Japan, later went to the United States, and engaged in the struggle against Yuan. After the National Protection War broke out he returned to China, and then died of illness in Shanghai in October 1916. In April of the following year, honored by veterans of the Republic, he was given a state funeral on Yuelu Mountain in Changsha. His works include The Complete Works of Mr. Huang Keqiang, Collected Works of Huang Xing, Unpublished Telegrams of Huang Xing, and The Calligraphy and Ink Traces of Mr. Huang Keqiang.
A Propagandist of the Tongmenghui—Chen Tianhua
Chen Tianhua (1875-1905), a native of Xinhua County, Hunan. In March 1903, the 29-year-old Chen Tianhua went to Japan as a government-funded student and entered the normal department of Hongwen Academy in Tokyo. At the end of 1903, he organized the revolutionary group Huaxinghui with Huang Xing. In 1904, after the planned Changsha Uprising failed, he went to Japan again and entered Hosei University in Tokyo. In 1905, he joined the Tongmenghui initiated by Sun Yat-sen and participated in drafting documents such as the "Manifesto of the Military Government" and the "Revolutionary Strategy." In November 1905, the Japanese government, secretly colluding with the Qing government, promulgated a "rule for suppressing Chinese and Korean students," and Chen Tianhua, anxious about the times and moved by events, resolved to awaken his countrymen with his death. On December 7, after leaving a "Final Testament," he drowned himself in Omori Bay in Tokyo early the next morning, martyring himself for his country at the age of 31.
The First Man of the National Protection Movement—Cai E
Cai E (1882-1916), a native of Baoqing, Hunan (present-day Shaoyang). He was the main organizer and leader of the Yunnan National Protection Uprising in 1915, and a modern Chinese military strategist and politician. In 1915, when Yuan Shikai declared himself emperor, Cai E slipped back to Yunnan from Beijing and, with Tang Jiyao and others, declared Yunnan's independence on December 25, organized the National Protection Army, and launched the National Protection War, with Cai serving as commander-in-chief of the First Army of the National Protection Army. In the spring of 1916 he led his troops to defeat the superior Yuan army in the Naxi and Luzhou areas of Sichuan, forcing Yuan to cancel the monarchy. Sun Yat-sen sent a elegiac couplet that read: "In life, generous like Ban Chao the Protector; across ten thousand li, enduring hardship like Ma Yuan the General." Using the historical famous generals Ban Chao and Ma Yuan as metaphors, it highly praised this ardently patriotic and all-powerful young military strategist.
The First Man of Constitutional Government in the Republic—Song Jiaoren
Song Jiaoren (1882-1913), a native of Taoyuan, Hunan. A modern democratic revolutionary and an early leader of the Nationalist Party. In 1905 he participated in initiating and organizing the Tongmenghui. In 1911 he participated in organizing the Central General Association of the Tongmenghui and served as a general affairs officer. In 1912 he served as director of the Legislative Yuan of the Nanjing Provisional Government, and later as minister of agriculture and forestry in the Beijing government. In August he reorganized the Tongmenghui into the Nationalist Party and served as acting chairman. In 1913, after the Nationalist Party won a majority of seats in the National Assembly, he attempted to form a party cabinet to limit Yuan Shikai's arbitrary power, and thus became unacceptable to Yuan. In March of the same year, he was assassinated by Yuan Shikai's men at the Shanghai railway station.
The First Person of the Chinese Tongmenghui to Die for the Revolution—Liu Daoyi
Liu Daoyi (1884-1906), a native of Hengshan, Hunan. In his early years he studied at an American church school in Xiangtan. In 1904 (the 30th year of the Guangxu reign) he joined the Huaxinghui in Changsha and contacted secret societies in preparation for an uprising. Soon afterward he studied in Japan and entered Tokyo Qinghua School. While in Japan, he secretly formed the revolutionary group "Ten-Person Society" with Qiu Jin and others, and also participated in the "Triads Society" organized by Feng Ziyou and others in Yokohama, serving as "caoxie" (that is, general). In July 1905, when the Tongmenghui was established, he served as secretary, officer, and other posts. In the autumn of 1906 he returned to China, was arrested by the Qing court in Changsha, and died a heroic death outside Liuyang Gate in Changsha on December 31. He was the first martyr among the members of the Chinese Tongmenghui to sacrifice himself for the revolution. After the founding of the Republic of China, with Sun Yat-sen's approval, Liu Daoyi was enshrined in the Great Han Loyal Martyrs' Shrine.
Hunan's First Premier of the Republic—Xiong Xiling
Xiong Xiling, a native of Fenghuang, Hunan. In August of the 2nd year of the Republic (1913) he became premier. Politically, he aimed to carry through the spirit of bourgeois rule of law and establish a "truly republican state"; economically, he proposed a series of plans and basic decrees to improve finance and prosper the economy. In the summer and autumn of the 6th year of the Republic, when floods in the Beijing-Tianjin area were severe, he proposed establishing a charity bureau in Beijing to take in abandoned children. Later he converted the Jingyi Garden in Xiangshan into a charity home to take in and educate vagrant and poor children. In addition, as a social celebrity he also engaged in various social welfare undertakings.
An Unrivaled Talent—Yang Du
Yang Du, leader of the modern constitutional monarchy faction. A native of Xiangtan, Changsha Prefecture, in the late Qing dynasty. A juren of the Guangxu reign. In his early years he studied in Japan. In 1904 he contacted students from Hunan, Hubei, and Guangdong studying in Japan and launched the movement to abolish the contract and build the Canton-Hankou railway by Chinese themselves. In 1907 he raised 160,000 taels of funds for the Huachang Antimony Smelting Company in Changsha. In the same year he edited the China New Journal, advocating constitutional monarchy. After the Xinhai Revolution he attached himself to Yuan Shikai, initiated the founding of the Chou'an Society, and plotted the restoration of the monarchy. During the First Revolutionary Civil War he gradually awakened and leaned toward Sun Yat-sen. In his later years he moved to Shanghai and joined progressive organizations such as the Chinese Mutual Aid Society. In 1929 he secretly joined the Communist Party of China. In the literary world he was a disciple of Wang Kaiyun and was praised as an "unrivaled talent." His poetry and prose were plain and approachable. His works include Collected Works of Yang Du.
The First Female Member of the Chinese Tongmenghui—Tang Qunying
Tang Qunying (1871-1937), a native of Hengshan County, Hunan, and an early leader of the women's rights movement. In 1904, breaking through feudal shackles, she crossed the sea to study in Japan, first at Aoyama Practical Girls' School, then transferring to the normal department of a higher school, and served as secretary and president of the Chinese Women Students' Association in Japan. In 1905 she joined the Huaxinghui and Tongmenghui organized by Huang Xing and Sun Yat-sen, becoming the first female member of the Tongmenghui. She wrote a poem to express her aspiration: "To unfold a new world of equality, I arrange first to sacrifice myself." In the spring of 1908, entrusted by Sun Yat-sen, she returned from Japan to Changsha and secretly discussed revolution with Tongmenghui members there. In February 1910, Huang Xing's attempt to incite an uprising in the New Army failed. She crossed to Japan again and in April of the following year founded the Journal of the Chinese Women Students' Association in Japan to propagate revolution. Before the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution, she returned to China from Japan once more and rushed about for the revolution, organizing a women's support association in Shanghai and a women's northern expedition corps in Hubei, and was elected its captain. When the Nanjing Provisional Government was established, as a representative of the Women's Association for Assistance, she was received by Provisional President Sun Yat-sen and praised as a "heroine among women" and a "pioneer of the women's movement," and was awarded the Second-Class Jiahe Medal.
A Famous Modern Chinese Political Commentator—Zhang Shizhao
Zhang Shizhao (1882-1973), courtesy name Xingyan, style name Gutong, a native of Changsha, Hunan. A xiucai of the Qing dynasty, in the late Qing he served as chief writer of the Shanghai newspaper Su Bao. In his youth he left his hometown to study away from home and entered the Nanjing Army Academy. Later he withdrew and went to Shanghai, joined the Patriotic Study Society run by Cai Yuanpei, Zhang Taiyan, and others, advocated the idea of leaving the study and personally putting national salvation into practice, and began to engage in revolutionary activities. From the time he presided over Su Bao, Mr. Zhang Shizhao raised the banner of patriotism and threw himself into the struggle against the Qing dynasty's feudal autocratic rule. After Su Bao was closed down by the Qing government, he organized the Patriotic Association in Shanghai with Yang Shouren, Cai Yuanpei, Cai E, and others, preparing to assassinate important Qing officials. After the Xinhai Revolution he successively served as secretary-general of the Guangdong military government, minister of justice and concurrently minister of education in Duan Qirui's government, and also as a university professor, university president, and lawyer. After the birth of the Communist Party of China, Mr. Zhang Shizhao saw in the Communists the future of China and the hope of the Chinese nation, and his political leanings underwent profound changes, making him a friend of the Communist Party of China. In 1949 he was a member of the peace negotiation delegation of the Nanjing Nationalist government. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he served as a member of the Legal Affairs Committee of the Government Administration Council, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, and director of the Central Research Institute of Culture and History. Mr. Zhang Shizhao was a famous modern Chinese political commentator, political activist, and scholar, a figure with extremely rich experience and thought who also exerted an important influence.
A Founding Hero of the Republic of China—Jiang Yiwu
Jiang Yiwu (1884-1913), courtesy name Bokui, a native of Lizhou, Hunan (present-day Li County, Hunan). A famous modern democratic revolutionary and a founding hero of the Republic of China. In the autumn of 1904, he assisted Song Jiaoren in rallying revolutionary forces and plotting a response to the Changsha Uprising. In 1906 he joined the Chinese Tongmenghui and helped Yang Zhuolin found the Jingye Xunbao to advocate revolution. In the autumn of 1909 he went to Wuchang and successively joined the revolutionary groups Qunzhi Society and Zhenwu Society. In January 1911, when the Zhenwu Society was reorganized into the Literary Society, he was elected its president. In September, when the Literary Society and the Gongjinhui held a joint conference, he was elected commander-in-chief of military affairs. In June 1912, in order to oppose Yuan Shikai's dictatorship, safeguard democracy and republicanism, and strengthen revolutionary forces, he merged the Literary Society into the Tongmenghui. He then served as a councilor of the Nationalist Party and director of the Hankou Communications Department. Yuan appointed him military adviser and awarded him the second-class honor and the rank of army lieutenant general with the rank of general, but he firmly declined. In December he ran the Minxin Bao, "promoting Sun and Huang, restraining Yuan and Li." In 1913, when the "Song case" broke out, in July he returned to Hunan to join the "Second Revolution," serving as pacification commissioner for Hubei and Henan, stationed at Yueyang, intending to take Jingxiang, strike Wuhan, and threaten Henan. After failure he was wanted. On August 29 he traveled south to Xing'an County in Quanzhou Prefecture, Guangxi, where he was captured by the patrol commander Qin Buqu and sent under escort to Guilin. When Li Yuanhong learned of this, he immediately telegraphed Yuan Shikai requesting that he be "swiftly executed," and Yuan then ordered Guangxi governor Lu Rongting to "execute him on the spot by firing squad." On September 9, after writing a "Testament" and four "Death Poems," he died heroically outside Lize Gate in Guilin. In 1916 he was buried on Yuelu Mountain in Changsha. In 1921, when Sun Yat-sen supervised the army in Guilin, he personally went to pay respects and erected a monument in memory, inscribing "The Place Where Mr. Jiang Yiwu, Founding Hero of the Republic, Died for Righteousness."