one
August 26, 1936, was the day when Yu Jing (1865-1938), the prefect of Jinzhou in the former Qing Dynasty, collected the rent for the front yard. After he separated the front yard of the house in Peiping, he rented it to Mrs. Kang from Chongqing. Yi has been renting here for seven or eight years and has never defaulted on the rent. He is indeed a good tenant. Mrs. Kang’s family planned to move back to Chongqing in the near future, so they proposed not to renew the lease, and this month’s rent was offset by “tea money”. “Tea money” is equivalent to the rental deposit. When the rental contract is concluded, it is temporarily deposited with the owner. The amount is generally one month’s rent, which can be used to offset the last month’s rent. As a result, Yu Jing couldn’t help but fall into worry. Since the founding of the Republic of China, he no longer has a stipend, and there is no food for the banner people to live on. Rent is a major source of stable income for him. If he cannot rent it out quickly, the loss is naturally not small.
Yujing belonged to the Manchurian blue flag, the Guerjia clan, his father Songfan official to the governor of Yungui. In 1896, he was admitted to Zhangjing, the prime minister’s national affairs yamen, and served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Qing government from 1905 to 1909. world figures. Yujing’s house is located in Xicheng, in front of the gate is the Mashi Bridge, about today’s Xisi area. According to the real estate deed measured and registered by the Beiping Municipal Finance Bureau in 1936, the house occupies a total area of five mu and three points, or more than 3,000 square meters. Later, two more rooms were added, making a total of ninety-one rooms. The front yard for rent is counted as five first-class rooms and three second-class rooms, with a separate garden attached.
However, finding stable tenants, especially those who can afford to pay on time, is not easy. Although people came to see the house one after another, it was not until March 19, 1937 that Yu Jing recorded in his diary: “Today, someone introduced Bacchus, an Englishman, who is in his seventies. I plan to rent a house today, and it is very agreeable to see this garden.” However, the Englishman offered several conditions: “First, a contract must be signed for a few years; Even if you don’t pay for it, you have to pay for it.” The cost of the latter item alone is about a thousand yuan. Two days later, he sent a tile carpenter to check the condition of the house. He also wanted to build a small room on the existing foundation and change the original layout. The various requirements seemed harsh, but Yu Jing felt that this was still a relatively satisfying bargain. First of all, it has been stated that all the costs of renovating the house are borne by the tenant, but if there is water leakage, the landlord is responsible for repairing; secondly, although the rent must be reduced as appropriate, but after repeated negotiation, it is set at 33 yuan per month, and the landlord is responsible for paying tax. The other party immediately paid a deposit of five yuan and said that a carpenter would be invited to start work immediately. Compared with the previous loss of vacancy for more than half a year, it is undoubtedly a good deal.
To rent a house to a foreigner, both the owner and the tenant must have certain qualifications, and they must also report to the competent authority for approval and go through a series of registration procedures. In the 1930s, the “Peking Municipal Government Public Security Bureau Revised the Rules for Foreigners Leasing Land” stipulated that foreigners with proper occupations may rent land for living and use in the urban area, but they are not allowed to set up shop companies to operate industry and commerce. As a homeowner, to sign a rental contract with a foreigner, you first need to go to the Public Security Bureau to purchase a “contract for foreigners living in a rental house”, and in addition to prepare for relevant investigation procedures. Yu Jing also made psychological preparations early in the morning: “Anyway, he rents and lives with outsiders, and he repairs it himself. It’s so cheap, so it’s not troublesome.” On the afternoon of March 23, he personally went to the former site of the “Former Qing Officials’ Department.” According to the Public Security Bureau, “The sales contract office in the bureau has a small hole in the window. When someone is inside, the paper is paid first, just like a small shop in a hutong. All contracts that are bought and presented are here.” As required, he bought “four foreigners’ rental contract papers and a single newspaper” at a total cost of two yuan and one dime.
For the next procedure, Mr. Ba entrusted his middleman, Chinese Fang Yushu, to come to contact him. This Mr. Fang is reliable and has full authority to handle all affairs on behalf of Mr. Ba. After Yu Jing and Fang Yu Bookseller settled all the details, they first signed six contracts, four for the official and two for the private, signed and sealed respectively. On the afternoon of March 31, Yu Jing went to the police station to submit four official contracts and a single paper. At this time, I was told that I must also have a foreigner’s business card as a tenant. He immediately went to Mr. Ba’s apartment on Shi Concubine Street to find Mr. Fang, and he was out on duty, so he asked the servant to ask Mr. Ba for a business card, and hurried back to the police station, handing over the contract, the report, and the business card. The approval time is very lengthy, “ask when and where will it be returned, according to Yun, it will take three or four weeks to return it to the district.” Sure enough, on April 25, nearly a month later, Yu Jing received the contract sent by Fang Yushu and approved by the Public Security Bureau.
No matter who you rent it to, you need to have a shop guarantee. Only under normal circumstances, only the landlord asks the tenant for shop insurance. When renting a house to a foreigner, in addition to guaranteeing the contract signed by both parties, the police in the area also need to conduct on-the-spot investigation. After Yu Jing submitted the lease contract to the Beiping City Public Security Bureau, on April 5, the inspector in charge of the sub-station in the district came to see him and said, “For the renting of the British people, a security deposit is required.” are consistent with the contract.” It is not easy to find a shop insurance that is willing to take responsibility. He asked two or three shops, but none of them refused to bail. He had to beg his other tenant, “Sanyi Gong Coal Zhan”, to have the brand name stamped. Received at a station. Unexpectedly, under the review, it still does not meet the requirements, because the contract shop guarantees that the “Yuanji Watch and Clock Shop” is only a ninth-level shop, and it is not qualified, and it is not a seventh-level or above. Fortunately, Fang Yushu has experience, “it is planned to change the guarantee, when the contract is brought back, and another sixth-class shop guarantee is added to the contract”; and hope “this contract has the stamp of double shop guarantee, so there will be no more picky”.
Yu Jing is a cautious person. Regarding the remodeling and decoration requirements of British tenants, he has closed loopholes in advance for possible disputes in the future: “All additions and repairs when the person who wants to live in the future will be in the interests of the landlord. Asking for a price, etc., must be explained in advance.” He also consulted friends who are familiar with foreign affairs, and planned to add “repairs can only be started after the contract is approved”; “The current lease term is limited to three years, if the lease is renewed Re-establish a contract on a regular basis” to fully protect their rights as a homeowner.
On April 25, the contract was approved, and the next day, Ba Zhai sent a tile and carpenter to modify the decoration in the house, and it would take about 20 days to complete the work. The reason for such a hurry is that “the deadline for selling the house of Zhang’s house has expired, and it has expired for one month on May 15th, so it cannot be postponed, so I have to quickly close it.” The actual project took up to a month. Yu Jing wrote in his diary on May 26: “This afternoon, the new tenant, Bacchus, moved in. Since the seventh day of the second lunar month (by the author: lunar calendar), we agreed with Fang Yushu. After the lease is completed, it has been 70 days since then, and I have only moved here. Because of the fragmented project, I tried my best to repair it, which is very hasty.”
two
Yujing’s new tenant, Bacchus, an Englishman, is “The Story of Cixi” (translated by Chen Lengti et al., Zhonghua Book Company, 1914) and “The Qing Dynasty” (translated by Chen Lengti, etc., Zhonghua Book Company, 1914). 15) and other books, the famous sinologist Sir Edmond Backhouse (Sir Edmond Backhouse, also translated by Bai Kehaosi, Backhouse). Born in 1873 to a wealthy family in Yorkshire, England, Bucks entered Oxford University in 1886 and began to teach himself multiple languages. In February 1899, when he arrived in Beijing with a recommendation letter from Chamberlain, he was said to have mastered Russian, Japanese and Chinese.
In 1910, Bacchus and “The Times” reporter Pu Lande co-authored “Cixi Wai Ji”. “Cixi Wai Ji” is the first academic biography of Cixi, the actual ruler of the late Qing Dynasty. Within a year and a half after the English version was published, it was printed eight times, all sold out, and translated into German, French, Japanese and more. It has long been regarded as an authoritative historical material by Western scholars. The book contains the manuscript “Jing Shan’s Diary” discovered by Bacchus during the Gengzi Incident. As the first-hand information on the Boxer Incident, the authenticity of this diary has been questioned since the day it was published. Over the years, the authors have repeatedly written articles and debated, and lawsuits have arisen. Famous scholars such as Johnston, Dai Wenda, Liu Yisheng, Jin Liang, and Fang Zhaoying were all involved.
There are many rumors about Bacchus’ occupation and identity in Beijing. He is excellent in Chinese, and has held official positions in Beijing as an embassy interpreter, a teacher at the Beijing Normal University, and a commercial agent for many companies. , and has been involved in several fraudulent activities. In order to clear up the many doubts surrounding his personal experience and Jingshan’s Diary, Hugh Trevor-Roper, a professor of modern history at Oxford University, pored through a large number of government documents and private letters, and wrote for Bacchus The English biography “The Hermit of Beijing – The Hidden Life of Sir Bacchus” (translated by Hu Bin and Wu Naihua). Bacchus’s well-known scandals, the book says, include the following: He was too profligate in college, owed a lot of debt that he could not pay, officially declared bankrupt in December 1895, and evaded the search of creditors. He went abroad to seek asylum; he donated an astonishing amount of ancient Chinese books to Oxford University in 1912 and 1914 respectively. The first batch of 29 boxes alone increased Oxford University’s Chinese book collection by nearly four. In 1918, when he intentionally donated a Qing Palace original collection to Oxford University again in 1918. When the 10,000-volume Collection of Ancient and Modern Books and the subsequent 30,000 volumes of the “Famous Palace Collection”, he charged a huge amount of international shipping fees to enrich his personal pockets; the fatal blow came from “Jing Shan’s Diary”, which made him famous in European academic circles. Former employer Morrison publicly questioned that it was a deliberately fabricated fake.
According to the research in the biography, the direct purpose of Bacchus’s repeated donation of ancient books to Oxford University was to seek a position as a professor of Chinese at his alma mater. After several years of hard work, in 1920, the position was finally won by another scholar, Su Huilian. After the turmoil, Bacchus once again left London and returned to Beijing. He slowly cut off all contact with his European and American friends, lived in isolation, and determined to become a hermit in Beijing, devoting all his time to writing and research. The Zhang residence mentioned above is the residence he used to live in at No. 19 Shizhuma Street. This house was Bacchus’s long-term residence in Beijing after 1912. It is very mysterious that he transferred the ownership of the house to his servant Zhang Hecai (transliteration), and has been living there as a friend or a tenant. What’s even more bizarre is that in 1937, Zhang Hecai was murdered, and the house was eager to sell, so Bacchus hurriedly moved into the front yard of Yu Jing’s house.
three
According to Yu Jing’s description in his diary, “Bajun is tall and strong, although he is old and strong, he has a long beard and a chest.” This basically matches the image in Bacchus’s photo. The long beard is one of the symbols of Ba Shi. His dress has always been very Chinese. He often wears a dark Chinese-style long shirt and a Chinese-style cap. According to the ancient Chinese style, a large piece of rose-colored crystal is nailed to the front of the hat.
Wei Zhi, a French publisher who had contacts with Bacchus during this period, recalled that when Bacchus returned to Beijing again, he kept himself out of the way and avoided socializing with people in his own country. It is said that when he went out, he sent his Chinese valet in front of him and warned him if he saw any Westerners. If he occasionally meets a Westerner while walking on the old city walls, he turns around and leaves. If he met a Westerner in a rickshaw, he covered his face with a handkerchief. This is also completely consistent with Yu Jing’s observation, “Bacchus does not want to communicate with people”, according to his daily life situation he secretly observed from the door gap, “The house is empty with no furnishings, no tables and chairs, no lights at night, only Turn on a light and turn it off after a while. There is one person in the house, and there is no sound. Everything about eating and drinking is very simple, and hygiene is very important.
However, having lived in Beijing for more than 30 years, Bacchus is obviously very familiar with Chinese etiquette. Before moving, he specially sent ten yuan for cleaning, which was distributed to the servants of Yu Jing’s family; on the first day he moved in, he immediately Fang Yushu was sent to visit the master on his behalf, but he said in advance that “because he doesn’t want to see strangers, he will stop him from returning to worship.” Yu Jing also inevitably noticed his talent for language: “He reads twenty newspapers every day, both Chinese and foreign.”
In his reclusive life, Bacchus immersed himself in reading and writing, and also studied Chinese history and Chinese calligraphy as a pastime. His announced writing plans include compiling a large Chinese dictionary, translating his newly discovered memoirs of Li Lianying and writing a book on the life of Qing emperors. These works are based on well-known achievements: he revised Xi Zaiming’s “Pocket Chinese Conversation Dictionary”, mastered Mongolian and Manchu, and is very familiar with Chinese historical books. In order to collect writing materials and avoid social interaction, Bacchus also asked Yujing for information about relevant characters: “Mr. Ba asked the ambassador of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Russia, Ta, whose name was unclear for a while, and he remembered Tashner at night. Mu’an. The person I asked about was Waitab, the martyr of Gengzi.” In fact, the two have a lot of intersections in their circle of friends, and there should be many common topics. Yu Jing had worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for several years and had contact with Zhu Erdian, the British minister to the Qing Dynasty at that time, who had a long relationship with Bacchus. In addition, he continued to do “low-paid” translation work for the consulate. At the same time, he also responded strongly to the doubts and criticisms of “Jing Shan’s Diary” from the West, insisting that “the situation of discovering “Jing Shan’s Diary” is as I wrote, and my entire narrative is A conclusive and objective statement of the facts”, and is preparing to file a defamation lawsuit against the articles of Dai Wenda and Liu Yisheng.
In the eyes of the few Western friends of Bacchus in his later years, he was “a very charming old gentleman who is full of life experiences and reminiscences of the past”, “holding a glass of whisky in his hand, which the doctor prescribed for him A prescription to raise his blood pressure.” They visited the front yard of the Yujing mansion rented by Bacchus many times, and even gave its specific location: No. 28, Xicheng Mutton Hutong. They thought it was an excellent hideaway, although of course it was unclear who the owner was: “He lived in a fairly spacious Chinese-style house with a garden and seemed to live comfortably.” It Located in the most prosperous downtown area of Peiping, Yujing often records himself “walking on the street” when he goes out, walking to Xidan for strolling and shopping; or strolling to Beihai Amusement Park. Bacchus chose to live in seclusion here, which is quite the true meaning of seclusion in the city.
Four
More than a month after Bacchus moved into the front yard of Yujing, on July 7, 1937, the Lugouqiao Incident broke out, and the Sino-Japanese conflict suddenly became more and more serious. . From July 27th, Yu Jing’s diary recorded successively: “Mr. Ba came to pick him up for temporary shelter for the British embassy and church”; “Yesterday I knew that today’s information was tight, and the British envoy sent people to pick up Mr. Ba for the time being. Mr. Ba is reluctant to go, so he repeatedly urged him to go at eleven o’clock.” Yu Jing also used his whereabouts to judge the situation of the war: “Only today Mr. Ba has not returned, so there is probably no good news.” Mr. Yuanba returned home from the British embassy, and there is no danger of him at this moment.” “Not much was published in the newspapers, but Mr. Ba said: The news is still not good. I may still have to go to the embassy to hide.” According to “The Hermit in Beijing”, a According to the book, Bacchus’s deliberate seclusion made him a legendary figure, and when he appeared in the British embassy, he caused a sensation, and two young diplomats at the British embassy “almost fell backwards” upon hearing the name. . However, when order was restored in Beijing, he disappeared again.
The current situation is tense and the future is unpredictable, but paying the rent on time every month at least makes Yu Jing less worried, and he is extremely relieved that Bacchus is staying. In November, the Beiping government came to investigate again in order to increase the house tax. The tax-paying house registered by Yu Jing’s family was two or three more than the actual house, and the house donation increased by several yuan. He wrote in his diary that night: “Fortunately, the front yard was rented with Mr. Ba in Chun Jian, otherwise it would not be able to rent it out, even if it is rented out, after this change, there are fears of relocation. If you accept it, this is really unreasonable.”
However, according to Bacchus’ biography and the memoirs written by his friend Mrs. Danby, in August 1939, the Japanese invaded his residence and burned all the manuscripts and materials he had accumulated over the years. This robbed residence should be the front yard that Yu Jing rented to him. However, Yu Jing himself did not see this tragic phenomenon with his own eyes. On February 20, 1938, Yu Jing’s diary came to an abrupt end. A few days ago, he recorded that he caught cold unintentionally, was weak, couldn’t swallow food, and had to seek medical treatment. He left the last sentence in his diary, “Chen Zhiyiqing, the fire will come down”, that is, he died of illness at the age of seventy-three.
After first coming to Beijing in 1899, Bacchus spent most of the rest of his life in Beijing. After 1939, he took refuge in the Austrian embassy, the British embassy and a French Catholic hospital, and completed his last manuscript, autobiographical memoir “The Decline of Manchuria” (the title was originally French, Chinese). The version is translated as “The Queen Mother and Me”). The manuscript was kept for many years by Swiss doctor R. Hoeppli, a friend who cared for him on his deathbed, and then transferred to the Baudrillard Library of Oxford University for collection to this day. The book revealed his secret affair with the Empress Dowager Cixi, which caused huge controversy after its publication. He had hoped to spend the rest of his life living in seclusion in a temple in Xishan after the war. On January 8, 1944, he died in Beijing and was buried in the Chara Cemetery of the Catholic Church outside Fuchengmen.
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