Qiu Fengjia: the sleeping lion in China has awakened

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Qiu Fengjia

On April 17, 1896, on the first anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki between China and Japan, Qiu Fengjia wrote a poem called “sorrow of spring” which said: “it is difficult to send a strong force to see the mountains, and the past is frightening to tears. Four million people cry together, and Taiwan was cut off today last year.” Its solemn and stirring feelings have touched countless Chinese people over the past century. Qiu Fengjia (1864-1912) was born in Miaoli County, Taiwan. His ancestral home is Wenfu anding village, Zhenping (now Jiaoling County), Guangdong Province. He retired to his ancestral home after the failure of defending Taiwan against Japan in 1895.

110 years later, the former residence of Qiu Fengjia, located in Fengjia village, Wenfu Town, Jiaoling County, was listed as a “national key cultural relics protection unit” and officially listed in september2006. The reporter visited Qiu Fengjia’s former residence, witnessed the glorious deeds of this anti Japanese patriot and patriotic poet, and expressed a lot of emotion. Qiu Fengjia retired to Jiaoling after he failed to defend Taiwan against Japan. His former residence was built in 1896, with 55 rooms and 2 halls, covering an area of 1800 square meters. It is a Hakka enclosure with two halls and four lines facing the West and East. There are precious photos, manuscripts, documents, etc. in the former residence.

Patriots protect Taiwan and resist Japan

In the middle of the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, Qiu Shijun, the great grandfather of Qiu Fengjia, moved to Taiwan from Wenfu anding village, Zhenping (now Jiaoling County), Guangdong Province, to engage in reclamation. Chiu Feng Chia was born in Miaoli County, Taichung, and later moved to Changhua. He was intelligent by nature. At the age of 14, he was admitted as a scholar. At the age of 25, he was recruited as a middle school student. At the age of 26, he was awarded the head of the work department. Because he was unwilling to be an official, he left and returned to Taiwan and began his teaching career.

In 1895, the Qing government suffered a disastrous defeat in the Sino Japanese War of 1894-1895, and was forced to sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki with Japan, which was humiliating and humiliating, ceding Taiwan and the Penghu Islands to Japan. The news spread and the whole island was in panic. Chiu Feng Chia angrily summoned the Taiwanese gentry to bite the bloody book, and jointly telegraphed the Qing government to fight, indicating that “all the people swear not to accept the Japanese”. He went to the library four times and the bloody book five times to show his indignation and determination, and demanded that the treaty be abolished to fight against Japan and defend the country. However, the Qing court called back “Taiwan’s resistance to Beijing’s crisis” and urgently called for the early withdrawal of the garrison, sending personnel to the south to deliver Taiwan.

The strong enemy is pressing on the border, and the people of Taiwan “have no owners to rely on” and “no one is willing to help”. Qiu Fengjia, a scholar, is extremely sad and indignant. He actively resists Japanese aggression and maintains national dignity and the reunification of the motherland. With all his family resources, he organized and led tens of thousands of Anti Japanese Taiwan protection volunteers to fight with the Japanese aggressors. He also issued a call to discuss Japan at home and abroad, declaring that “everyone is willing to die and lose Taiwan, and will never bow to Taiwan.”

After arduous and fierce fighting, Qiu Fengjia and others led the rebel army to fight more than 100 battles, killing and injuring more than 32000 Japanese soldiers, including the leader of the Japanese army invading Taiwan, the head of the guard division, lieutenant general beixiangchuannengjiu, the head of the second brigade, and major general Shinsei yamagen.

Due to the great disparity between the enemy and ourselves, the rebel army was isolated, ran out of ammunition and food, and suffered serious casualties. The heroic struggle to protect Taiwan finally failed. The Ministry of economic affairs persuaded Qiu Fengjia to go back to his hometown Wenfu anding village, Zhenping county, Guangdong Province. Lian Heng’s “general history of Taiwan” praised: “since Fengjia has gone, he lives in Jiaying, and he has the title of Cang Haijun. He has the ambition to repay Qin. Judging from his poems, his words are so exciting that he seems to be unable to bear to be an old scholar.”

Promoting new education to save the country

Qiu Fengjia’s patriotic passion to protect Taiwan and resist Japan was born out of the national crisis, and running education was his unswerving pursuit all his life. When he was young, Qiu Fengjia felt the national and national disasters and the corruption and incompetence of the Qing government. At the age of 26, he gave up his official position and returned to Taiwan after passing the examination. He believed that “it is meaningful to concentrate on educating scholars or helping the people develop their writing skills”, and began to embark on the road of education to save the country. When he failed to resist Japan and protect Taiwan, he realized that “China’s crisis is becoming more and more urgent. Unless we open up the people’s wisdom and cultivate talents, we can’t save the national disaster.”

After returning to the mainland, Qiu Fengjia successively served as a lecturer in Chaozhou Hanshan academy, Chaoyang Dongshan academy and Chenghai Jinghan Academy. In the spring of 1901, he officially established Lingdong Tongwen school in Shantou, which was an early new school in Guangdong history. Qiu Fengjia regards Chaozhou, Jiaxing and southern Fujian as a whole. In the school running Charter of Lingdong Tongwen school, he said: “this school is located in Shantou port and is called Lingdong Tongwen school. Although it was initiated by comrades in Chaozhong, Jiaying and Huizhou, which share the same path, and Zhangzhou and Tingzhou, which are adjacent to each other, should be cultivated in a wide range regardless of their regions.”

In the summer of 1904, Qiu Fengjia founded the Zhenping Junior Normal School in Guiling academy, Jiaoling County, which was specialized in training primary school teachers. In 1906, it was changed to Zhenping county secondary school (the predecessor of Jiaoling middle school). It was one of the earliest teachers in China. In the winter of 1904, he established chuangzhao school in Dongshan (east of the county) and Yuanshan (Baihu village, Wenfu) of Jiaoling (chuangzhao is the ancestor name of the second Qiu family who settled in Wenfu). He “urged hundreds of schools” to run by himself, encouraging others to do it, sending capable disciples to various places for activities, etc.

Qiu Fengjia has made remarkable achievements in running new schools and has become a prestigious educator in Guangdong Province and even the whole country. He was once employed by the governor of Guangdong and Guangdong provinces as an inspector of the academic affairs office, and was recommended as the president of the Guangdong General Education Association by colleagues in the educational sector. “During his more than ten years of schooling, he has cultivated a large number of talents. Most of Guangdong’s revolutionary martyrs came from his own door.” Later, yaoyuping, the commander-in-chief of the Guangdong Northern Expedition army, zhuzhixin, the general counsellor of the Guangdong military government, and zoulu, the president of Sun Yat sen University, were all educated in the school founded by Qiu Fengjia, and all became the backbone of the revolution. Qiu Fengjia’s implementation of new learning has effectively promoted the development of education in Guangdong and even the whole country.

Preside over the consultation and initiate the prohibition of gambling

In October, 1909, Qiu Fengjia was elected vice president of the Guangdong consultative Bureau. In 1907, the Qing court ordered all provinces to set up advisory bureaus to prepare for the constitution eight years later. On October 14, 1909, the Guangdong Provincial Council was established. Yi Xueqing was elected as the speaker, Qiu Fengjia and Lu naitong as vice speakers, and 94 councillors including chenjiongming and zhoutingli were elected. According to the regulations at that time, the governor had control over the Council, but the establishment of the Council in China was an initiative and the first step of the constitutional reform movement.

Among the councillors of Guangdong Province, most of them are conservative, and only a few, such as qiufengjia, zhoutingli and chenjiongming, are reformists. Gambling is a great disaster in Guangdong. From the Qing Dynasty to the first year of the Republic of China, Mo Rongxin fled. Except for the shortest period in the first year of the Republic of China, local bureaucrats made money by using the surplus profits from gambling. Gambling donations in Guangdong were 8million a year, while officials were at least twice as satisfied. This huge wealth was a tangible loss to the people. After taking office, Qiu Fengjia vigorously initiated the prohibition of gambling. He introduced Gu Yingfen, a student studying in Japan and a member of the league, as the Secretary of the advisory board, and zoulu, a member of the league, as the Secretary of the discussion class, to launch a gambling prohibition campaign together.

According to the report on the first meeting of the Guangdong Provincial Council, Councillor chenjiongming amended a draft proposal on gambling prohibition, which was adopted on September 29, 1909. However, yuanshuxun, governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, refused to implement the policy on the pretext that the amount of gambling losses was very large. In 1910, Qiu Fengjia and others still insisted on the prohibition of gambling at the temporary meeting held by the Council Bureau for the prohibition of gambling. However, there was a stumbling block in the Advisory Bureau. An Rong company, a gambling firm, created a new “ticket shop” and secretly asked for protection from the campaign councillors. On November 9, vice speaker qiufengjia, together with Jiong Ming and other members of the parliament, proposed that “please prohibit an Rong company from preparing draft bills”. A congressman named sudakuo bribed congressmen and officials with a large sum of money to win them over against the prohibition of gambling. Before the meeting, Qiu Fengjia, who had a good idea, asked chenjiongming to propose that when voting on gambling prohibition, members should only write “yes” or “no” on the ballot and sign their names. This proposal was passed. As a result, among the members of the meeting, only 20 wrote “yes” and 35 wrote “no”, and the case could not be passed.

Members in favor of gambling prohibition were indignant and resigned in protest. Gu Yingfen and Zou Lu were ordered by Qiu Fengjia to publish the registered votes in the newspapers, which caused an uproar in public opinion. On November 20 of the same year, more than 800 voters gathered in Guangzhou to hold a general meeting. More than a thousand listeners fully supported the action of the anti gambling legislators, and joined in the crusade against the despicable acts of sudakuo and his gang. After the meeting, the people announced the names of 35 “asylum and gambling councillors” at the city gate, finally forcing sudakuo and yuanshuxun to resign. On March 15, 1911, the new governor zhangmingqi announced that gambling would be banned regularly on March 30. On the day of prohibition of gambling, Guangzhou citizens held a commemorative tour of prohibition of gambling.

Dongning talents return to their hometown

Qiu Fengjia was one of the leading generals of the “Poetry Revolution” in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. He was able to write poetry at the age of 6 and 7. At the age of 14, he was praised as a “talented man in Dongning” by dingrichang, the governor of Fujian Province and a student of Taiwan. From then on, his poetry became famous. His poetry anthologies mainly include Bai Zhuang Shi Cao and Lingyun Hai RI Lou Shi Chao. The former is the work before neidu, and the latter is the work after neidu. The style is vigorous and stirring, solemn and stirring.

Inspired by the success of the Wuchang Uprising of 1911, Qiu Fengjia wrote passionate poems such as “China’s sleeping lion is awake now, and a roar is the Lord of the five continents”. He persuaded many civil and military officials such as zhangmingqi, governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and Lizhun, commander of the Navy, to retire at the right time, which contributed to the independence of Guangdong. After the establishment of the Guangdong military government, Qiu Fengjia was promoted as the Minister of education of the military government. In the winter of that year, the 17 provinces that declared independence decided to organize the central government in Nanjing. Qiu Fengjia was elected as the representative of Guangdong to Nanjing. At the meeting, Sun Yat Sen was elected as the interim president. After the founding of the Republic of China, Qiu Fengjia was elected to the Senate. When he paid a visit to the Ming mausoleum with Sun Yat Sen, he wrote a poem with a brush: “the gloomy Zhongshan Mountain is full of purple air, and the Chinese nation is rejuvenated. The unification of the country and the mountains has been newly set, and the flag is ringing to pay a visit to the mausoleum.”

Qiu Fengjia has been working hard for the state affairs for years. He has suffered from recurrent lung disease, severe pneumonia, and vomiting blood for several times. He is unable to continue his work and has to return home disappointed. After a hard journey back to Jiaoling mountain, Qiu Fengjia found it difficult to move. On February 25th, 1912, Qiu Fengjia died of illness at the age of 49 in Danding village, Jiaoling. Before he died, he never forgot Taiwan. On his deathbed, he still told his family: “the burial must be southward. I will not forget Taiwan!” Sincere, solemn and moving. At Qiu Fengjia’s funeral, “thousands of people were crying at the tax”, and the Taiwan compatriots in Guangzhou were “particularly mourning”. His elegiac couplet said: “I recall that in those days, the tide of disaster was overwhelming, and my hands were hard to support the new nation; today, the big star fell to the ground, leaving only two or three survivors, and I cried on the back, so I was a general.”

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