Approaching Lijiadong
(1) Lijiadong is the hometown of Zhang Ping, a famous bandit leader in Xiangxi. It is located on high mountains and steep ridges, at an altitude of more than 800 meters. The author and photographer Luo Zhaoyong had wanted to visit Lijiadong four times. The first three times they reached Guzhang City, but were unable to make the trip because of bad weather and ice on the mountain. The fourth time was after the 2002 Lantern Festival, when we came to Guzhang again. At noon that day, when we inquired at the county bus station, there was again no regular bus to Lijiadong, but the mountain road could accommodate vehicles, so we spent 100 RMB to rent a minivan and only then set off up the mountain.
(1)
Lijiadong is the hometown of Zhang Ping, a famous bandit leader in Xiangxi. It is located on high mountains and steep ridges, at an altitude of more than 800 meters. The author and photographer Luo Zhaoyong had wanted to visit Lijiadong four times. The first three times they reached Guzhang City, but were unable to make the trip because of bad weather and ice on the mountain. The fourth time was after the 2002 Lantern Festival, when we came to Guzhang again. At noon that day, when we inquired at the county bus station, there was again no regular bus to Lijiadong, but the mountain road could accommodate vehicles, so we spent 100 RMB to rent a minivan and only then set off up the mountain.
(2)
Not far out of Guzhang City, the vehicle climbed all the way, winding along the mountain the entire time. The mountain road was a dirt-and-gravel road, relatively narrow, and with fine drizzle falling, the vehicle moved very slowly. On both sides of the road we saw only dense forests, lush and green, pleasing to the eye and yet giving a sense of quiet mystery.
The minivan twisted this way and that; we did not know how many turns it made or how many ridges it climbed. After about three or four hours, we came head-on to an open stretch below a mountain ridge. After seeing a stretch of concrete street several dozen meters long, with some old and new houses standing on both sides, the vehicle finally stopped steadily.
Getting out and looking around, in front of an old brick house by the street hung a sign reading "Guzhang County Lijiadong Township People's Government," and only then did we realize that this place was Lijiadong. There were clearly only streets and houses here, so why was it called Lijiadong? Later we heard people say that Lijiadong was originally inhabited only by people surnamed Li, and because there were many caves in the mountains around this area, it was named Lijiadong.
In Guzhang county town, we had already learned that Zhang Ping's wife, Yang Binglian, was still alive. It was said that she had also opened a "Happy House" and was living very comfortably, but we did not know whether that was true. After getting out of the vehicle, we asked where the "Happy House" was. Someone pointed, and only then did we understand that it was right next door to the township government. This "Happy House" had a nice name, but was in fact very simple. It was just a two-story house built against the edge of the road embankment. The lower floor was a storefront, and the upper floor was on the embankment. We went up the stone steps beside it to the second floor, saw the door standing open, and went in. Inside, the light was dim, and about seven or eight women and elderly people were playing mahjong. Among them, an old person wearing a black corduroy jacket, blue trousers, a knitted woolen hat, and a pair of black cotton shoes was the "fortress chief's wife," Yang Binglian. We explained our purpose to her, and she warmly invited us to sit down and talked with us for several hours in succession.
Yang Binglian told us that she was 81 this year, born in the Year of the Rooster, in August, but she did not remember the exact day, so she had never celebrated her birthday. Her hometown was on the main street of Huayuan, where her family had a storefront and often did a general goods business. Because her father smoked opium, he had once been imprisoned, and it was Zhang Ping who helped get him out. At that time Zhang Ping was already a company commander in Shu Anqing's unit. Once, Zhang Ping came to her family's store to buy cotton yarn tape. She handed him the goods, and Zhang Ping tossed down a silver dollar and did not ask for change. Later, every few days he came again to buy goods from her. Not long after they became acquainted in this way, Zhang Ping sent a matchmaker to propose marriage, and her parents immediately agreed. Soon afterward Zhang Ping married her. The wedding was held at Shu Anqing's regimental headquarters outside Huayuan City. She was only 16 at the time. More than ten months later, she was sent back to his hometown by Zhang Ping, and only then did she learn that Zhang Ping had previously married two women. One, surnamed Xiang, after giving birth to a girl, swallowed opium in a fit of anger and committed suicide. The other was also surnamed Xiang, could not get along with Zhang Ping, and was divorced by him.
"Was your relationship with Zhang Ping good?" we asked her repeatedly.
"He and I had a very good relationship!" the old woman answered truthfully. "Zhang Ping did not lose his temper with me, never! Sometimes he lost his temper with his subordinates."
"Why was he so good to you?"
"You don't know, I was beautiful then. He truly fell in love with me! And I bore him so many children. How could he not be good to me?"
When the old woman said this, we could not help but laugh. Seeing her now at 81, her face still had a rosy glow. One could imagine that her charm in youth must have been captivating.
"How many children did you bear for him?" we asked again.
"I gave birth to 10!"
We were greatly shocked. Which 10? What are their circumstances now? The old woman then told us one by one: these 10 children were, respectively, the eldest, Zhang Gaoxian, who died in his 50s, unmarried; the second, who died of illness as a child; the third, Zhang Gaoru, who married at 23 and is now
over 60, with a wife and 4 children; the fourth, Zhang Gaoliang, now over 50, married in his 30s, and now has a wife and 4 children; the fifth, Zhang Gaoshan, who died at 42 after falling while making charcoal, and whose family now has two sons and two daughters; the sixth, Zhang Gaoxing, now over 50, with a wife and 3 children. In addition there were 4 daughters, named Zhang Damei, Zhang Ermei, Zhang Sanmei, and Zhang Simei. Except for Zhang Ermei, who married into Yuanling and is still alive, the other 3 daughters died young. In total, the Zhang family now has 3 sons, 1 daughter, and more than 20 grandchildren. Several of the grandchildren have jobs, and one grandson even tested into a university in Beijing.
"With so many children, how did you raise them?" we asked the old woman again.
"Before, I only handled giving birth!" Yang Binglian said. "For each one born, I hired a wet nurse, and the child was fed and raised by the wet nurse."
"Then how many wet nurses did you have to hire?"
"Altogether I hired 10!" Yang Binglian answered calmly. "At that time Zhang Ping's family was large and wealthy. The opium was stored in water vats. The household had twenty or thirty servants. Hiring 10 wet nurses was nothing. He could afford it. But such days did not last long. Soon it was liberated, and Zhang Ping was killed. I was classified as a landlord and was allowed to live in only one room. By then the wet nurses had all scattered and gone back, and I alone raising so many children went through every hardship. At that time the oldest child was only 11, and the youngest only 1. I had no way to feed them, so some were given to others to raise. I dragged several along with me, begging for a living everywhere. Several girls and the second son starved and died that way. My eldest son studied in a private school for a few years when young and could recite the Romance of the Three Kingdoms backward and forward. He was very clever, but unfortunately not very obedient and mentally abnormal. During the Cultural Revolution he wrote a doggerel poem: 'All my life my ambition and fortune have not met, the dragon is trapped in hidden waters; one day when spring thunder moves, I will ride wind and rain up to the ninth heaven.' This poem was deemed a reactionary slogan, so he was sentenced, and after being sent to labor reform there was no news of him. I estimate he died long ago. The other sons were more honest and worked hard. When they grew up they all married, and only after the family had labor did things slowly improve. All in all, from land reform to the Cultural Revolution, I suffered for 30 years, and only in my 60s did I get enough to eat."
"How are you living now?"
"Now I live quite well!" Yang Binglian said again. "The house I live in is the third son's. He is not at home; he lives with the children who work elsewhere. This house has two floors. The two rooms below are rented out, and the rent is 2,000 RMB a year. Up here is the entertainment place I run. Old people play cards and mahjong for fun. I only collect a small management fee. They call this place the 'Happy House.' I am old and cannot do anything else. Guarding this little business is enough for me."
(3)
"You lived with Zhang Ping for so long. What kind of person do you think he really was?"
"He treated me well! Some poor people in Lijiadong also received favors from him." After saying this, Yang Binglian also gave several examples, such as exempting Granny Yin from taxes. From these examples, it is entirely possible that Zhang Ping did some good deeds to win people's hearts. People are inherently complex. Even a bandit leader like Zhang Ping sometimes giving small favors to the poor is not strange. But this does not prove that a bandit leader could change from evil to good.
"Is it true that Zhang Ping was very cruel?" we asked again.
"Everyone says so! Things like 'When Heaven sees Zhang Ping, sun and moon lose their light; when Earth sees Zhang Ping, grass and trees do not grow; when people see Zhang Ping, nine out of ten die.' But there are many things I do not know, and I did not ask much."
It seemed the old woman clearly did not want to touch on Zhang Ping's ugly and evil deeds, or perhaps she truly did not know about many of Zhang Ping's bad acts, so we did not continue the topic of Zhang Ping with her.
After talking with Yang Binglian, we stayed overnight at an inn on the street. The next morning, we again asked Zhang Ping's fourth son, Zhang Gaoliang, to lead the way, and went to look at his father's old house.
Passing through an alley from the middle of Lijiadong Street and going down about 100 meters, Zhang Ping's old house was right in front of us. The old house was entirely of wood, with two floors. From the outside it already looked very old, and inside was a courtyard with a four-sided well. Several main rooms were already in disorder, and a corner of the roof tiles on the beams had been removed. Because of sun and rain, it looked about to collapse. Although the house was already dilapidated beyond repair, judging from the careful choice of materials and the structure of the hall and rooms, its former grandeur was still impressive. In the side rooms of the old house there were still hidden passages and double walls, and outside the main rooms there were also granaries, kitchens, guard rooms, dog rooms, and other buildings. Not far from the house, two stone-built blockhouses were set up in the north-south direction. One of them had been demolished during the "Cultural Revolution" to build water conservancy works, and the other is still preserved intact to this day. When Zhang Ping was building this large courtyard house, it is said that he once muttered to himself: "Build this house here, whoever lives in it is fine!" The gatekeeper at the time said: "You have so many sons to live in it, what kind of talk is that!" Zhang Ping said nothing. Perhaps he already had this premonition that this large house would be difficult to pass down through generations. After liberation, the house was indeed confiscated and became the seat of the township government. After the township government built new offices on the street some years ago, this large courtyard was left empty here, with no one to maintain it and no one to manage it. Now only two solitary and widowed old people live inside, and the house is becoming more dilapidated day by day.
(4)
Zhang Ping entrenched himself in Lijiadong and set up his headquarters in his own large courtyard. In fact, apart from the two blockhouse fortifications, this large house had no strategic terrain that could be defended. Therefore, in late June 1950, after the PLA arrived at Lijiadong, one charge took Zhang Ping's old house. Several hundred bandits died on the spot, and the rest were either captured or fled. Zhang Ping escaped by luck with his wife Yang Binglian and more than 10 attendants. Later, he sent Yang Binglian back to Huayuan and then fled everywhere himself. Yang Binglian was soon captured and imprisoned in Guzhang county town. Zhang Ping also had nowhere to flee. In the end, left completely alone, he ran into a boy in his teens, Zhang Xueyi, in the fields of his hometown. When the boy went to inform on him, Zhang Ping fled toward Xiaolixi, but was caught by pursuing soldiers and shot dead on the spot in a muddy field.
Not seeing a cave in Lijiadong inevitably made one feel regretful. At this point Zhang Gaoliang again voluntarily led us. From his father's old house we walked downhill for about half a li, and on the slope of Fajiang Stream we finally saw a large rock cave. Zhang Gaoliang told us that when Zhang Ping was young and a bandit, he had once stationed and hidden in this cave for a very long period. Beside the cave there were also earthen wall fortifications, and the cave was easy to defend and hard to attack. A spring dripped down from the rock top above the cave, forming a natural waterfall. The cave had no shortage of water and was very spacious, able to store many things. In an age when weapons were not advanced, living here was indeed relatively safe. We looked inside the cave for quite a while and took many photographs before returning along the same route to the street.
(5)
When we took leave of the old woman Yang Binglian, she added several details about Zhang Ping. Zhang Ping liked riding horses. After the large house was completed that year, he specially set up a stable in front of the gate and bought 3 horses to raise. Yang Binglian fed these horses soybean powder and corn powder, making them fat and strong. Every time Zhang Ping went into town, he rode a horse in and out. Especially after he became Guzhang county magistrate and commander of the Kuomintang Provisional 11th Division, he loved riding horses for pleasure. Why did Zhang Ping love horses? It turned out that he was born in the Year of the Horse, and a fortune-teller had once said that he had the fate of three horses, that in the future his military fortune would be smooth and he had the talent to be a general, but that his horoscope was very inauspicious and would harm both himself and the people, seize wealth and lust after beauty, with one calamity and no remedy. Zhang Ping somewhat believed in fate. He said to Yang Binglian: In one's life, if one cannot leave a good name for a hundred generations, then I will leave a bad name for ten thousand years. Later, his notoriety spread far and wide, and his own words indeed came true.