In Chinatown, San Francisco, He Binghuan, who is nearly 40 years old, received bad news from the Chinese employees of his company. The San Francisco city government ordered him to close his medicinal materials business within a week on the grounds that it was potentially harmful.
The medicinal materials company under his name as well as related industries such as clothing, tea, and grocery stores.
He Binghuan is a native of Mian Village, Nanhai County, Guangdong Province. His ancestors have lived in Mian Village for generations, making a living by farming, and are hardworking and poor.
He Binghuan's father went to Foshan Town, Guangdong Province to do business earlier, and the family was only well-off.
The cruel political oppression and economic exploitation by the Qing court caused the economy to slump and business to be depressed. His family's business could not make ends meet and was on the verge of bankruptcy. In order to get rid of the predicament, he asked his son He Binghuan to visit his old friend Liao Jingchang in Hong Kong, which had just been established as a port.
, Tolio's relationship and care, he opened a small grocery store in Hong Kong. The young He Zai was smart, capable, alert, and courageous. The difficult family situation affected him, but it also strengthened his desire to revitalize the family business.
Determination. He worked hard to run a small grocery store, proactively contacted overseas business conditions, and continued to import Western machinery and equipment that were relatively trendy at the time. Because of his keen vision and integrity, the capital accumulated in his name gradually increased, and he slowly grew from a small shop to a small shop.
The businessman became a Chinese businessman. Later, Liao Jingchang's son, Liao Zhubin, who graduated from St. Paul's College in Hong Kong,
Received notification from the HSBC Hong Kong office that he will be transferred to San Francisco, USA, to assist in handling HSBC’s business in the United States.
The fathers of Liao Jingchang and He Binghuan were old friends. The friendship between the two families continued. He Binghuan, who was prominent in business, and Liao Zhubin, who received a Western education, also maintained close ties.
Before leaving, Liao Zhubin suggested that He Binghuan follow him to move to San Francisco and use the assets and wealth he accumulated over the years to expand his business to the United States.
Influenced by the Chinese workers who came to the United States to pan for gold in the 1870s and 1980s, He Binghuan believed that the Chinese workers in the United States were a market with huge potential economic benefits. If businesses such as medicinal materials, tea, cloth, and garments were brought to the United States, the gains would be far greater than those in the United States.
Hong Kong earnings.
He Binghuan was a decisive person. After analyzing the benefits, he took his family of more than ten people and moved to San Francisco, USA, with Liao Zhubin.
He Binghuan's career has reached a new level with his vision superior to that of most businessmen in mainland China.
From 1870 to 1881, the salary of an ordinary Chinese worker in the United States was generally around US$26. Although it was less than half of the salary of white people, the salary saved in one month was ten times that of ordinary people under the Manchu rule.
The relatively generous wages provided conditions for Chinese workers to consume. Relying on the grocery stores and medicine stores set up in San Francisco and other Chinese-inhabited areas, He Binghuan's business grew bigger and bigger, and the number of Chinese employees under his name gradually grew to more than 200. He himself
He also quickly became a leader in the Chinese business community in the United States.
Seeing that the business under his name was getting more and more prosperous, He Binghuan originally planned to rope in his old friend Liao Zhubin and join him in business development. Unfortunately, the increasingly difficult situation of Chinese workers in the United States and the official promulgation of the Chinese Exclusion Act completely cut off the business development in the United States.
The possibility of expanding commercial enterprise in the United States.
White thugs attacked Chinese shops one after another, beating and cursing them at will, and humiliating the Chinese people walking on the street. In recent months, newspapers have continued to publish news of the killings of Chinese people. Seeing the situation becoming more and more chaotic, even He Binghuan, who thought he had experienced great storms,
I was also panicked for a moment.
"Dad, Uncle Liao and Enbai are here and waiting for you in the front hall."
A girl of seventeen or eighteen years old walked in quickly and said.
"Let your eldest brother and third brother follow Uncle Anan to the drug store to guard it. If you encounter white people causing trouble, be patient and try not to conflict with them."
He Binghuan stood up, temporarily put aside the San Francisco government's administrative order, and gave instructions.
"Okay, dad, I'm going to tell the eldest brother and the third brother right away."
The girl walked away with striding steps, completely without the restraint and restraint of ordinary young ladies.
"Oh, my daughter couldn't help myself. When I saw my daughter running to me, crying and begging, I softened my heart and gave in to my daughter's wishes, not letting her continue to bind her feet. But now that she has grown up, she has become a tomboy.
I hang out with a few male students every day, and I don't look like a lady at all, and I don't know whether the decision I made ten years ago was right or wrong."
Looking at his daughter who ran out, He Binghuan sighed.
Just like an ordinary wealthy family, the He family is a large grand garden-style family with a prosperous population and many children. He Binghuan has three concubines and twelve children, plus the Chinese nursing home and hired male and female servants.
, there are no less than fifty or sixty people in total who are responsible for business and property accounting.
The girl who ran out in front of him, He Peizhen, was his fourth child and first daughter. She also had two brothers from the same mother, one brother, and three sisters. Children with half-mothers always
In total, she has twelve brothers and sisters (five brothers and seven sisters, that is, three brothers, two brothers, and six sisters. He Xiangning ranks fourth, so the servants all call her Miss Fourth. She is called Miss Fourth).
The Fourth Miss, known as the "Noble Flower", is thin and thin. On the surface, she looks like a petite and fragile little girl. However, her smart and lively talent and brave and strong character are extraordinary.
When she was young, she had her own opinions and opinions, and had a competitive and stubborn temper. She often showed willfulness that her elders could not control. Whatever she was sure of, even the three oxen could not pull her back.
If you think something is unreasonable, you will never obey it easily, and you must fight to the end.
In mainland China in the 1870s and 1980s, the bad habit of binding feet of women was still retained. Almost all women (especially
As usual, those in the upper class have their feet bound.
Although Hong Kong was the first to communicate with overseas countries and took the lead in the trend, the bad custom of foot binding still persists.
When He Peizhen was five or six years old, her mother began to forcibly bind her feet, first scalding her with very hot water.
tender feet. Then use long white cloth strips to wrap them layer by layer
It was wrapped tightly layer by layer, and then sewn tightly with needles and threads. It was not allowed to be opened until a certain period of time. The fourth lady did not want to suffer this pain. She cried and fussed during the day, resisting this with tears.
Such a cruel and inhumane habit;
Late at night, when my ten toes were burning and swollen with unbearable pain, I couldn't bear the pain anymore, so I got up quietly. I mustered up my courage, secretly cut the foot-binding cloth in the seam with scissors, and threw the white cloth strips into the
Get under the bed and free your feet.
The next day, her mother scolded and beat her, then took away the scissors and collected all the scissors in the family. Then she bound her feet again, and the stitches were tighter than last time. But she didn't cry or make any fuss.
Bribe the little maid to buy a pair of scissors and hide it in the safest place - under the large incense burner at the ancestor altar. Get up quietly in the dead of night, then angrily cut off the foot binding cloth. Cut it into flying flowers and butterflies, then crumble it into a ball and throw it away.
Get under the bed.
Although her mother's beatings and scoldings became more and more severe, her crying and fighting never stopped. Once she was tied, she was cut once.
This kind of heroic struggle must have gone through dozens of rounds, twisting and cutting again, repeating the cycle, constantly resisting, always unyielding, and the unique character began to show at a young age.
She firmly opposed foot binding, not only because she did not want to suffer the physical pain, but also because she had her own opinions. When she was a child, the Fourth Miss liked to listen to the stories of the "Long Hair" rebellion very much, and she was very fond of those Taiping female soldiers who fought bravely with their natural feet.
She was even more filled with admiration and fascination. The idea of taking them as role models had already grown up in her young mind, and she longed to be like these heroines when she grew up, traveling around the world with her natural feet, so she hated foot binding even more.
She became a "no-foot-binding activist". Therefore, she made up her mind and resolutely resisted foot-binding to the end. Her mother insisted on foot-binding, and her daughter resisted tenaciously without giving in. Things got worse and worse. In the end, her unyielding resilience
, moved her doting father to intervene in the matter. He said with the dignity of a parent: "Let her go!"
With her father's protection, her mother sighed and finally reluctantly agreed not to bind her feet anymore.
As he grew older, after immigrating to the United States, under the favor of his father and the relatively open social atmosphere in the West, He Peizhen was able to receive a Western education. In 1879, he entered the coeducational Hillhouse High School, which once admitted
I have experienced young children studying in the United States and the first batch of female students studying in Japan. When He Peizhen first entered school, she came into contact with them, including Kuang Rongguang, Kuang Xianqian, Kuang Jingyang, Yang Zhaonan, Huang Jiliang, Lin Peiquan, Zhan Tianyou, and five other young girls studying in Japan.
, the younger Shigeko Nagai, Yamakawa Shematsu, and Tsuda Umeko are all her friends.
A group of young people full of ideals and in their prime gathered together to discuss their experiences and influences on the fate of the country and the nation, especially the South American Chinese who were remnants of the Taiping Army. They gradually built a new, vibrant legend of the Chinese nation.
It attracted her all the time and she read it tirelessly, forgetting sleep and food.
The vivid images of the heroes of Han Dynasty in South America who resisted the attacks of foreign countries, which were discussed by many people, left a deep impression on her passionate soul, and her admiration and admiration gradually gave rise to the idea of imitating them.
He Binghuan never imagined that the daughter he had watched grow up would become a famous female politician and leader of the women's liberation movement in the history of Han Dynasty. And just when he was still worried about his daughter's character,
In another living room, Liao Enbai said goodbye to his father and secretly went to the backyard to meet He Peizhen.
"Azhen, the situation outside is very chaotic recently. It's best for you to stay at home and not go outside."
Liao Enbai found He Peizhen and expressed concern.
"I heard that today is the graduation day of Shanchuan Shesong University. Why didn't you go to her to celebrate?"
He Peizhen ignored the other party's relationship and asked.
"The United States of America has promulgated the Chinese Exclusion Act, and all Chinese people in the United States are in panic. How can I be in the mood to attend the graduation ceremony of Shanchuan Shesong."
"Huh, I still have some national pride. The foreigners in the United States have gone too far to bully others. As sons and daughters of the Chinese nation, we should set an example and call on our compatriots in the United States to march and demonstrate against the Chinese Exclusion Act!"
He Peizhen was so excited that she looked at the other party seriously and said, "Liao Enbai, do you dare to come with me to Chinatown to call for everyone to demonstrate?"
"Azhen, it's useless. The diplomatic embassy in the United States signed an agreement with the Americans. The Americans provided machines and railways to factories during the Westernization Movement in exchange for the Qing government agreeing to upgrade the "Chinese Exclusion Act" to an international treaty.
Two days ago, Chen Lanbin, the minister to the United States, made it clear that he recognized the right of the United States to require Chinese people to register and wear "dog tags" that identify Chinese people. He also advised Chinese people in the United States to abide by U.S. laws and not to gather together for no reason.
"
After listening to Liao Enbai's explanation, the anger in He Peizhen's chest couldn't be suppressed and burned.
Things couldn't be clearer at this point: the Qing Dynasty abandoned its people, and the fate of the Chinese stranded in the United States was completely exchanged by the Qing court into the hands of the U.S. government.
"Overseas nationals were brutally slaughtered and killed by foreigners, and the Qing government allowed it to happen. What is the difference between the so-called Han people's famous prime ministers and ZTE's famous kings, and those invading foreigners!"
At this moment, He Peizhen completely lost hope in the Qing court, and all that was left in her heart was deep-rooted sadness.
"The Qing government has been strictly guarding against the Han people. It will not care about the life and death of overseas Chinese. Ah Zhen, listen to my advice. Even among the Western countries, the strength of the United States is second to none. Even if we launch demonstrations by our compatriots, it will be of no use.
Rather than waiting for the foreigners to awaken their consciences and stop persecuting our compatriots, we should respond to the call of Han in South America and organize our compatriots to evacuate from South America."
“American foreigners are like ungrateful hungry wolves. The Indians were kind enough to take them in, but what they were waiting for was the slaughter of white people. It’s okay not to let such a country keep them!
Enbai, according to your wishes, let's discuss with dad and Uncle Liao to mobilize the employees of the two companies and students studying in the United States to organize compatriots to evacuate the United States!"
"Okay, let's go see Father and Uncle He now!"......