When it comes to talented women in the Republic of China, the first thing that comes to many people’s minds is Zhang Ailing, who lowered herself to the dust for the scumbag Hu Lancheng and thought she could bloom. In addition, Lin Huiyin, who falls in love with Xu Zhimo, a married woman, likes to brew a pot of tea at night and writes in a white nightgown. However, equally talented, she was once hailed as the “literary goddess” in the 1930s. Lu Xun regarded her as a lover and referred to her as a “genius writer”. Along with Lu Bicheng, Shi Pingmei, and Zhang Ailing, Xiao Hong, who was named the “Four Great Talented Women of the Republic of China”, was rarely remembered.
When it comes to Xiao Hong, the most common evaluation people have of her is’ a versatile and promiscuous woman ‘. As she wrote in a letter to a friend: Little did she know that this seemingly gay woman who fell in love with a woman who let herself go was not as frivolous as people imagine. On the contrary, her life was pitiful, compassionate, and even tragic.
In June 1911, Xiao Hong was born into a wealthy family on the banks of the Hulan River in Harbin, Heilongjiang, named Zhang Xiuhuan. Although her family was wealthy, her father Zhang Tingju highly valued sons over daughters, and her loss of mother at a young age made Xiao Hong even more unpopular at home. This also laid a great foreshadowing for her future detours in the relationship between men and women.
In 1928, at the age of 17, Xiao Hong had just graduated from junior high school when her father forced her to drop out and arranged a marriage for her. The other party’s name is Wang Enjia, who is a primary school teacher. His brother is an official of the Education Bureau, and his father is a senior general of the local army, making him a legitimate bureaucratic child. For Xiao Hong, who comes from a wealthy landlord family, the marriage between the two is also considered a perfect match. But Xiao Hong is not satisfied with her father’s arrangement. She wants to continue studying and go to high school in Beiping.
Most importantly, Wang Enjia is not her prince charming. In order to resist her father, Xiao Hong secretly prepared the travel expenses to Beiping herself. To Xiao Hong’s surprise, she had not yet arrived in Beiping when she met a man she truly admired, which was her distant cousin Lu Zheshun. At that time, Lu Zheshun was studying at Harbin Law and Political University, and Xiao Hong fell in love with him at first sight.
After getting along with Xiao Hong, Lu Zheshun also felt that the cousin in front of him was different from ordinary women. She had ideas and opinions, and was not a woman who followed the trend in the patriarchal feudal society at that time.
Unfortunately, at that time, Lu Zheshun already had a family, but he still disregarded his status as a married man and resolutely walked with Xiao Hong.
Lu Zheshun dropped out of Harbin Law and Political University and went to Beiping with Xiao Hong to study at a Chinese university. At this time, Xiao Hong also smoothly entered the high school in Beiping. The two eloped from Harbin and came to Beiping to study together. The days of sleeping together and flying together made this young couple feel the beauty of mutual affection and empathy. However, the ideal is very fulfilling, and the reality is very skinny. During the year or two when the two of them were away from home, there was basically no financial source, and soon, their lives were stretched thin.
In addition, this kind of unconventional love that violates secular ethics was strongly opposed by both families from the beginning. Under tremendous pressure, Lu Zheshun voluntarily gave up on Xiao Hong and returned to his family. Seeing her beloved let go of her hand, Xiao Hong’s heart was torn like a knife, tears streaming down her cheeks.