1March, 905, he left the palace for Shanghai because his father was ill. In February of the same year, 65438+, his father died in Shanghai, and De Ling never returned to the palace on the grounds of "one hundred days of filial piety". 1907, Delingshi married thaddeus White, deputy consul of the American Consulate in Shanghai (later changed to a newspaper reporter), and then went to the United States with her husband. 19 1 1 year, the first English book "Two Years in the Forbidden City" published by Delingshi was signed by Princess Delingshi, which aroused strong repercussions at home and abroad. Gu Hongming gladly wrote an English book review for it, which was greatly appreciated. During the period of 1927- 1928, De Ling returned to China to stay temporarily, personally playing Cixi and performing the Qing Palace drama in England. At the same time, I found a young man to further recall and collect information about the Qing palace. Since then, Delingshi has written and published several works in English, such as Memoirs of the Political Situation in the Late Qing Dynasty, Lan Xin Ji in the Imperial Garden, Blood and Tears in Yingtai, Cloud Records of Imperial Cigarettes, etc., which were once popular at home and abroad. De Ling's English works on the theme of Qing court are the specific products of the prosperous period of western cultural exchanges in the early 20th century. Its greatest feature is that the author introduced the real life of China's top rulers to westerners in his personal capacity, partially clarified the rumors and lies imposed on western readers by imperialism, preserved the precious historical materials of the life of the Qing court to a certain extent, and provided evidence and reference for later academic research and literary creation. Based on this, these works still have a wide audience.
De Ling was born in Wuchang in the 12th year of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty (1886), and later
Jingzhou and Shashi spent their childhood and adolescence. Ranked third among five brothers and sisters, his father Yu Geng was a Manchu nobleman and diplomat. At that time, her father Yu Geng was appointed by Zhang Zhidong, governor of Huguang, to be responsible for tax collection and customs clearance in Shashi, as well as westernization and religious plans. In Memoirs of the Political Situation in the Late Qing Dynasty, De Ling described the people's livelihood and the daily life of the government in Ye Sha at the end of 19. 1895, Yu Geng was awarded the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Japan by the Qing court, and the De Ling family went to Tokyo, Japan with their father, where they spent three years. After returning from Japan, Yu Geng was immediately sent to Paris as the ambassador to France. These six years of living abroad have opened Delingshi's eyes. She not only increased her knowledge and experience through extensive contacts with people from all walks of life in the west, but also deeply realized the profound influence of modern civilization on all fields of human life. Delingshi lived in Japan and France with his father for six years. He not only speaks foreign languages, but also has a broad vision and profound knowledge. He is proficient in the national conditions of various countries and was once a disciple of Duncan, a modern dance master.
/kloc-in the winter of 0/902, Yu Geng returned to China after his term of office, was awarded the title of Taibu Temple, and stayed in Beijing for illness. 17-year-old Delingshi returned to Beijing with his father. At this time, foreign powers invaded, and Empress Dowager Cixi was eager to please envoys and their wives. She learned from the Prince of Qing Dynasty that Yu-Shan's daughter was familiar with foreign languages and western etiquette, so she ordered Mrs. Yu-Shan to take her younger sisters, De Ling and Rong Ling, into the palace. Later, De Ling and her sister Rong Ling became one of the eight female officials in the Forbidden City, serving as translators for Cixi's contacts with the wives of western envoys. It was not until March 1905 that he left the palace for Shanghai because of his father's illness. During this period, Cixi had intended to betrothed it to Baron, the son of Rong Lu, but it was cancelled by Guangxu design.
1905 After leaving the palace in March, Yu Geng went to Shanghai for medical treatment due to illness, and telephoned the Deling sisters to go to Shanghai. Through two years of court life, De Ling also saw the cold, gloomy and sinister side of the court, and the trembling feeling of "it's too cold above" also made them often have a lingering fear. This time, while his father was seriously ill, De Ling asked Cixi to go to Shanghai, and left the court immediately after getting approval.
After Yu Geng's death, Deling met Thaddeus White, vice consul of the American Consulate in Shanghai, and they immediately fell in love and got married in Shanghai on May 2 1907. After that, White resigned from the American Consulate and stayed in China to become a journalist. At the request and urging of relatives and friends, Deling wrote down what she saw and heard in court for two years. This is her first memoir, Two Years of Qing Dynasty, written in English. This has aroused widespread concern from people from all walks of life in western society.
During the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression period, Soong Ching Ling organized an alliance to defend China in Hongkong, and launched overseas Chinese to fight against foreign aggression. During the activities of "China Night" and "A Bowl of Rice" organized by the League for the Defence of China, Deling ran around and made contributions to raising funds and materials for the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians. 1944165438+1On October 22nd, Delingshi died in a car accident in Canada at the age of 58.
Literary Status In the 1920s and 1930s, a middle-aged woman who was active in Shanghai society as Empress Dowager Cixi was closely watched by the media at that time. Surrounded by people, she wore a court cheongsam and flowerpot shoes and went to Lanxin Grand Theatre with Li Shimin and Wu Ailian to perform a series of Qing Dynasty dramas in English. Her works in English, such as Two Years of Qing Palace and Memoirs of the Political Situation in the Late Qing Dynasty, were very popular in the West, and were later translated into Chinese by Gu Qiuxin and distributed in China. The China woman writer who wrote in English for the first time is Delingha. She is from Zhengbaiqi and has always regarded Hubei as her second hometown. At that time, everyone called her "Princess De Ling".
"Two Years of Qing Palace" describes in detail the life of 1903 to 1904 in the forbidden inner courtyard of Qing Palace in the form of first-person narration, in which a lot of space is devoted to describing the diet, daily life, clothes, words and deeds of Empress Dowager Cixi, the supreme female ruler of China at that time.
As well as habits and personality. Many chapters in the book are enough to confirm each other with the major events that have happened, thus showing its due historical value with its irrefutable full credibility. The publication of Two Years of Qing Palace first attracted the close attention of Gu Hongming, then general manager of Huangpu Bureau. This old man, known by the world as a geek in the late Qing Dynasty, is both extremely clever and grotesque. Seeing this book, he clapped his hands and was ecstatic. He can't help but be filled with joy. Now he has written an article "Comment on De Ling's Two Years of Qing Palace" and posted it in the English newspaper International Review in Shanghai. In this article, Mr. Gu Lao changed his life creed of advocating women's "three obedience and four virtues" and enthusiastically called De Ling a "new Manchu woman", and praised: "This unpretentious work is far better than any other famous works in showing the real situation of Manchu to the world."
Gu Hongming always thinks highly of himself. It seems that he never praised anyone in his life, but he was even more bitter and cynical about the so-called sinologists in the western world at that time. His English book review "A Review of Two Years of De Ling Qing Palace" can praise a fledgling China woman in such a sincere and simple tone, which undoubtedly caused a great sensation at that time. What is particularly interesting here is that in the 11th year of Guangxu reign (1885), Gu Hongming was recommended by Zhao Fengchang, Zhang Zhidong's aide, and entered the Governor's Office of Huguang as a "foreign copywriter". During his stay in Wuchang, he hit it off with Yu Geng, became close friends, and worked with my official for five or six years. Out of appreciation for the daughter of an old friend, Gu Hongming's English book reviews naturally contain personal emotional factors. It was Gu Hongming's strong encouragement that aroused Delingha's interest in creating works with the theme of the Qing court. Taking this as a starting point, she has written memoir-style works in English, such as Memoirs of the Political Situation in the Late Qing Dynasty, Lan Xin in the Imperial Garden, etc., as well as documentary literary works, such as Blood and Tears in Yingtai and Records of Royal Incense, etc., with a total of 700,000 to 800,000 words.
Delingha's works had a large number of readers overseas at first, and were later translated into Chinese by Gu Qiuxin and Qin Shouou and spread to China. Some of them have been serialized in the first-class newspapers in China, such as Shenbao, and even became the focus of public attention at that time in the mid-1930s. Their wide spread and great influence attracted people's attention, thus establishing her status as a writer writing in English. 1927, Sadus, the only son of Deling and thaddeus White, died unfortunately. She was very sad. After returning to China, she stayed in Shanghai for a long time, one to relieve her worries, and the other to discuss the publication of her works in China after they were translated into Chinese.
De Ling's English works on the theme of Qing court are the specific products of the prosperous period of western cultural exchanges in the early 20th century. Its greatest feature is that the author introduced the real life of China's top rulers to westerners in his personal capacity, partially clarified the rumors and lies imposed on western readers by imperialism, preserved the precious historical materials of the life of the Qing court to a certain extent, and provided evidence and reference for later academic research and literary creation. Based on this, these works still have a wide audience.
Regarding the debate about the origin of Deling, Zhu questioned in "Historical Errors in Writing Books by Deling and Rongling":
In fact, De Ling is neither a princess nor a princess. In the Qing Dynasty, the imperial clan women were knighted, the emperor's daughter knighted and the prince's daughter knighted. And the queen was named Princess Gulen, and the princess was named Princess Heshuo. In addition, there are five titles under the princess: princess, princess, princess, princess and township owner, and those who fail to enter the fifth class are adopted daughters.
In an article "Introduction to the Original Author" written by the translator Mr. Qin Shouou for 1946, he also mentioned that "Duke Yu Geng, the father of Ms. Delingha, was an aristocrat in the Qing Dynasty", which just shows that Delingha is not a direct descendant of Nurhachi. In fact, Yu Geng was born in Zhengbaiqi, Han army, and his real name was Xu, not Zhengbaiqi, Manchu. However, the title of Yu Geng is still wrong. Yugeng is not an imperial clan, so it can't be named as "town owner" or "auxiliary clan owner". He can only be named the first, second and third duke, but in fact only those who have made outstanding achievements before the middle of Qing Dynasty can be named the duke. After the mid-Qing Dynasty, even Zeng Guofan, Zuo, Li Hongzhang and others could only be named Hou. Yu Geng is neither an imperial clan nor a military commander, so he can't be made a duke.
According to De Ling's description of the palace in the book, there are many mistakes, such as the description of the layout, decoration and banquet of the palace is inconsistent with the facts, and many of them are fabricated according to their own experiences. From this point of view, Deling never stayed in Wang Fu, and he didn't know many unusual rules in Wang Fu.
Thirdly, it is about the official position of De Ling's "female official". In fact, there were "female officials" in the Qing Dynasty, but they were not official positions, but maids in charge of directing deacons during ceremonies. It is only called "female official" in this etiquette, which is a temporary job. According to the records of the Qing Palace, people like the De Ling sisters, Sigege of the Qing Palace and Grandma Yuan just amused themselves with Cixi and were not allowed to play.
But because of Cixi's love, her sister Rongling was named "Princess Shanshou". Remember, it's not "Princess Shoushan". "
Personality influence
Yu Deling was not only beautiful, but also brought many foreign things from abroad, which inspired Cixi's yearning for a "new life". During the two years of serving Cixi in the palace, De Ling and Rong Ling acted as English and French translators for Cixi's orders. Ms. Congo, Ambassador of the United States, Ms. Williams, Secretary of China, Ms. Bertrand, Ambassador of the Russian Federation, Ms. and Ms. De Gexi, Ambassador of Spain, and Ms. Uchida, Charge d 'affaires of Portugal and France. De Ling and Rong Ling are double models of Cixi's portrait, and they lived with Carl, an American painter, for many days. De Ling also worked as an English teacher during Guangxu period, and often translated and read foreign newspapers for Cixi and others in the palace. Every day, the two sisters accompany Cixi to make up, play, go to the theatre, learn to drive, write, enjoy flowers, see dogs, roll dice and prepare for various festivals. According to his father's status, De Ling was not qualified to be a princess, but several people in the palace recalled that when Cixi was on her seventieth birthday, she did make De Ling and Rong Ling princesses (Manchu is Heshuo Gege). Because there is no distinction between a princess and a princess in the west, foreign translators once translated a princess of Deling into a princess of Deling, which caused an uproar. Qin Shouou, a translator, once said when introducing her works: "Actually, not only according to the custom of China, the titles granted by the fallen dynasty will be invalidated. Even if she really wants to keep the titles obtained in the Qing Dynasty, she can only be called Princess Deling, because neither she nor her sister, Ms. Rongling (the princess who closes the mountain and lives for a long time), are direct descendants of Nurhachi, and there is no possibility of being promoted to princess." Deling said that he was familiar with eight languages. Delingha's works are all published in English. Gu Qiuxin and Qin Shouou are the most influential translators of Delingha's works. Therefore, "Yu Deling" was called "Princess Deling", and it is still called "Princess Deling" because of foreign translators, but it is just a mistake.
The book Two Years of Qing Palace
Memoirs of political situation in late Qing Dynasty
Yu yuan LAN Xin Ji
Blood and tears of Yingtai
The misty record of royal fragrance
Memoirs of princess deling
As the first privately invested museum in Tianjin, Gegefu, located at No.30 Gulou South Street, was opened to the public on June 20th, 2009. It is understood that there are hundreds of private museums in China, but for Tianjin, Gegefu is the first private museum approved by the cultural department in this city.
Gege Building is one of the three major buildings in the late Qing Dynasty that were preserved together with Guangdong Guild Hall and Old Town Museum during the renovation of tianjin drum tower, with a building area of more than 700 square meters. Gege House, the residence of Yu Deling Gege in Tianjin during Guangxu period of Qing Dynasty, consists of two courtyards. With a total investment of 330 million yuan, the museum is divided into six exhibition areas: porcelain, calligraphy and painting, miscellaneous items, treasures, bronzes and Gege living room. The first phase will show 258 antiques, including 17 national treasures.
Gegefu Private Museum was invested and built by Xiu-yun Zang, a businessman from Tianjin. Xiu-yun Zang has been engaged in the bidding and purchasing of China cultural relics lost overseas for a long time. Among the antiques exhibited for the first time, many of them were brought back from overseas, and the Pan Long Wenyuanding in the Spring and Autumn Period of the Bronze Museum was a national treasure-level cultural relic auctioned back from overseas by Zhang Xiuyun with an investment of 6,543,800 yuan.
Gegewu is the residence of Yu Deling who lived in Tianjin at the end of 1904+0905. The reason is that in the autumn of 1904, Yu Deling overheard the conversation between Cixi and Rong Lu and learned that the Empress Dowager was going to betroth her to Baron, the son of Rong Lu. Yu Deling was full of reluctance, but she knew the temper of Cixi, so she asked Emperor Guangxu (because Emperor Guangxu liked western musical instruments and art such as piano, he often asked Yu Deling, who was proficient in western culture, and they had a good relationship). Therefore, Guangxu sent Yu Deling to Tianjin to handle some rare western necessities for the empress dowager, and temporarily postponed the wedding date, so Yu Deling lived here. Later, Yu Deling's father, Yu Geng, became ill in Shanghai, and she went directly to Shanghai. 1907 After Yu Geng died in February, Cixi called Yu Deling back to the palace many times. Yu Deling never returned to the palace because of filial piety and other reasons, which dragged down this unhappy marriage.
Yu Deling is proficient in eight foreign languages and likes to communicate freely with the wives of foreign envoys. Starting from the "madam line", she made contributions to the diplomatic work of the Qing Dynasty. Besides, she is good at western art, playing the piano well and dancing ballet well. She studied under the famous ballet master Duncan. Yu Deling also knows how to give gifts. The way she gives gifts is rare, but not necessarily expensive. Therefore, the small gifts her mother brought from France, such as small combs, small mirrors and small perfumes, often surpassed the expensive gold and silver jewelry of ministers and won the favor of Cixi.