General Liu Mingdeng and His Wife Lady Shu
General Liu Mingdeng and His Wife Lady Shu. Liu Mingdeng, courtesy name Jianqing, was a native of Muneli in Yongding District, Zhangjiajie. Born on the third day of the twelfth lunar month in 1838 and died on the twelfth day of the second lunar month in 1895, he campaigned with Zuo Zongtang in Hunan, Guangdong, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Gansu, earning outstanding military merit and the nickname "Liu the Brute." In the fifth year of Tongzhi...
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General Liu Mingdeng and His Lady Shu
Liu Mingdeng, courtesy name Jianqing, was a native of Muneli in Yongding District, Zhangjiajie. He was born on the third day of the twelfth month in the wuxu year of the Daoguang reign of the Qing dynasty (1838), and died on the twelfth day of the second month in the twenty-first year of the Guangxu reign (1895). He once campaigned with Zuo Zongtang in Hunan, Guangdong, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian, Long, and other places, with outstanding military achievements, and was jokingly called "Liu the Rustic." In the fifth year of Tongzhi, he was transferred to serve as commander-in-chief of Taiwan, guarding Taiwan, and made major contributions in resisting American colonizers; through the ages he has been honored by the people of Taiwan as a hero. In the fourth year of Guangxu (1878) he laid down his arms and returned home. Liu Mingdeng had six brothers in all: Mingzhu, Mingran, Minghuang, Mingsui, and Mingliao, all famous generals of the Qing court. His fourth brother Minghuang (courtesy name Yaoting) put down the Junggar rebellion and defeated the invading Russian army, and his achievements are recorded in national history. A family with six generals like this is rarely seen even in Chinese and foreign military history.
Now to tell how, as soon as Liu Mingdeng died, his corpse was washed by Lady Wang and Lady Shu with fragrant herbs, then laid out in the main hall, in preparation for a fifteen-day land and water rite. Just as people were rushing about east and west for the funeral, a maid hurried over and reported: "The second mistress is dead!" The second mistress was the second wife, Lady Shu.
In the main hall there was now one more corpse, one more coffin. The Daoist rites were held together with the wheat harvest—two affairs threshed in one. The sudden death of Lady Shu undoubtedly added a new chapter to this funeral, and for years, even decades afterward, it remained a topic the common folk delighted in discussing. Regarding Lady Shu's death, the Liu clan kept their lips sealed. Later, it was the maids and wet nurses who had attended her that quietly let slip some information. Liu Mingdeng had married three wives in succession. His first wife, Lady Tian, was a farmer's daughter who died of a sudden illness shortly after their marriage, when Mingdeng was still at home practicing martial arts. Why Lady Tian's name was later omitted from the genealogy remains a mystery to this day. His second wife, Lady Wang, was the daughter of Wang Tingqiong, a recluse of Yongyi. Lady Wang was virtuous and dignified, and literate as well. After Mingdeng went on his distant campaign to Shaanxi and Gansu, she assisted her parents-in-law in caring for her younger brothers-in-law and managing household affairs. She bore a son named Juxian and a daughter called "Eldest Young Miss."
When Liu Mingdeng took off his armor and returned home, he brought back a woman as beautiful as a flower, just 18 years old at the time, while Mingdeng was 22 years her senior. The woman's surname was Shu; her native place is unknown. She could sing and dance, and was skilled in the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting—truly a woman of both talent and beauty. As for Lady Shu's origins, one account says that when Liu Mingdeng had just pacified the Hui rebellions in Tonghua and Guanlong and was stationed in the Nianbo and Xining area, with the fighting ended, the soldiers could not resist visiting brothels and theaters, and it was there that Liu took a fancy to the Shu woman. Another account says that when Liu Mingdeng fought the Hui chieftain Ma Guiyuan, Ma, unable to hold out, sent envoys to present beautiful women and sue for peace. Mingdeng detected treachery, set an ambush, captured Ma, and had him beheaded as a warning to all, thus completely pacifying the Hui rebellion. The beauty Shu, displaced from her home by war in her youth, had been taken in by an opera troupe and later seized by Chief Ma. She had long heard of Liu Mingdeng's fame, and seeing him that day—a towering man of eight chi, majestic and awe-inspiring—she could not help but feel admiration. Liu Mingdeng then took her in and held a wedding in the military camp, formally making her his concubine. After Lady Shu returned with her husband to their ancestral home in Yongding, it became a great piece of news at the time. Relatives, friends, officials, and wealthy magnates from all around came to visit the hero of the battlefield and, incidentally, to catch a glimpse of Lady Shu's beauty. Ordinarily, when Mingdeng hoed the garden and tended flowers, she followed his every step, helping sprinkle water and pull weeds; when Mingdeng was gloomy, she would dance gracefully, stepping lightly and singing, stirring her husband's melancholy; Mingdeng's body was covered in scars that often flared up with changes in weather, and she would use her delicate hands to massage his legs; Mingdeng had the habit of practicing swordplay and breathing exercises at dawn, and she would light a stick of incense in the back garden early, and when the incense burned out and it was time for tea, the tea would be placed in his hand; sometimes when the mood struck him, Mingdeng would roll up his sleeves and wash his hands, and she would spread out paper and grind ink, letting her husband splash and pour out his art—especially that wild cursive character for "tiger," which was a must-have in every household in the countryside at the time, said to ward off evil... This kind of understanding, delicate feminine sensibility made General Liu adore her endlessly, and also made Lady Wang endlessly jealous.
Although Liu Mingdeng paid great attention to family harmony, the distribution of affection was still hard to manage. Lady Wang came from a scholarly family, was rigid in temperament, and had lost her youthful beauty with age, so she naturally could not compare with Lady Shu's charm. This invisible jealousy could only be sensed between woman and woman. Lady Wang had borne the Liu family a son and a daughter, while Lady Shu had been in the Liu household for eight years with still no sign of pregnancy, which secretly pleased Lady Wang. Under her influence, Juxian often showed disrespect toward his youngest mother. Moreover, Juxian was violent by nature, fond of ease and averse to work, and often caused trouble outside. Sometimes, taking advantage of trips to the countryside to collect rent and debts, he would violate village women. This kind of unfilial and outrageous behavior filled Liu Mingdeng with bitter hatred and endless self-reproach. "If a son is not taught, it is the father's fault." He himself had spent half his life in the tumult of war, unable to fulfill his duties as a father—who was to blame? Add to this that his wives and children fought among themselves over family property, pulling them apart in heart and mind, and another stone was laid upon his chest. These inner circumstances, hard for outsiders to know, were later revealed somewhat in the "Epitaph of Duke Jianqing": "Upon triumphant return, he supported and cared for his brothers with harmony, and with grandchildren around his knees, sharing sweets and playing together, the joy of family could scarcely be greater. Yet the Duke seemed to secretly worry that his son was alone and without support," so he had no choice but to "select the son of Chungai to adopt and raise." (Chungai was his third brother Mingran.) "When family members arrived, the Duke not only restricted himself to his official salary, with not a penny of private savings, but even with something as small as a piece of fruit, he could not feel at ease unless he shared it. Moreover, who else could do what he did in giving much and keeping little?" Ultimately, due to "excessive grief concealed," he fell gravely ill, "and could not rise again," passing away with regret. Lady Shu, in such an environment, outwardly enjoyed all glory and wealth, but inwardly was melancholy and joyless. Folk gossip also held that Liu Juxian harbored improper desires toward his youngest mother, and only feared his father's authority enough not to commit such an outrage. Now that Mingdeng was gone, the great Liu household felt as though "the mighty edifice was about to collapse." Lady Shu thought back and forth: if she were to go on living, disaster was certain; she had borne no son, and had nothing to anchor her heart. Under the blows of utter despair, utter helplessness, and utter grief, she chose a path to ultimate bliss: death. After death, she was buried alongside her husband at Baihegang.
Lady Shu's act of dying to follow her husband in death shook the provincial capital. Chen Baozhen, the Governor of Hunan, reported the matter to the imperial court, and even the emperor was moved, specially granting permission to erect an archway in honor of her chastity and martyrdom. The governor himself inscribed the four characters "Guang Xian Yan A." The Chastity Arch was erected on the north side of Liu Mingdeng's grave at Xinmugang, flanked by stone figures and stone beasts, imposing and extraordinary in bearing. Several couplets were carved upon it. The first reads:
With one death she repaid her general; her soul rests by the great tree.
A woman of peerless virtue through the ages; her chastity rivals the lofty mountains.
The second reads: