The sales of "Ta Kung Pao" are now rising steadily. First, the market was boosted by Li Yugong's articles on the foreign swindler incident and the Kaiping Coal Mine incident. Then, a talented woman came out of the blue, causing Tianjin people to rush to buy the newspaper every day. .
"Sell newspapers! Sell newspapers! Ta Kung Pao!" a newsboy shouted loudly.
"The master of Rakshasa Nunnery published an article on women's studies, which caused a fierce response! Don't miss it!"
"Lord of Luosha Temple" is one of the many pen names currently used by Lu Bicheng. I don’t know why, but today’s literati like to take many pen names, and changing them is like changing a vest.
For example, Lu Xun used more than 180 pseudonyms according to statistics. Li Yu stopped the newsboy: "Give me a newspaper."
"Okay, a copy costs 7 cents." In the late Qing Dynasty, newspapers were relatively expensive at first, costing 30 cents a copy. Later, "Shenbao" entered the market, and a price war began, driving the price of newspapers to single digits. .
But although the price has been reduced, it is still not cheap. 7 cents is enough for a poor person to have a meal.
It's just that the people who buy newspapers now are literate people, and their family conditions are somewhat better. Li Yu opened the newspaper, and the opening article was an article titled "On the Purpose of Promoting Women's Studies." Although the signature was not Lu Bicheng's name, Li Yu certainly knew it was her.
Li Yu asked the little newsboy: "Are you literate?"
"I can read, but not much." said the little newsboy. Li Yu asked: "Then do you think female dolls should also be literate?" It was freezing cold, and the little newsboy's face was red from the cold. He wiped his nose and said, "What's wrong? I've seen the wives of those foreign masters in the concession. They are all literate, but they still understand foreign languages." Li Yu said with a smile: "They are foreigners to begin with, so of course they understand foreign languages. If they understand Chinese, it would be almost the same." The little newsboy scratched his head: "Forgot about this." Li Yu gave it to him directly. A copper dollar worth ten cents,
"No need to look for it." The little newsboy said gratefully: "Thank you, Master! May you have good luck and long life!" After a period of time, Lu Bicheng published "A Notice to Chinese Female Compatriots", "Promoting Women and Powerful Women to Have Perseverance", " A series of articles including "Education is the Foundation of a Country".
These articles are all about advocating a new type of women's education, which shows that her advocacy of women's rights is not empty talk. She knows how to propose methods and understands the importance of establishing a new type of women's education.
Her views were strongly supported by Ying Lianzhi, Fu Zengxiang and others, but there were more conservatives.
Lu Bicheng's uncle Yan Fengsheng, who was in Tanggu, saw that his niece not only disobeyed his orders and ran away from home, but also started to publish so many stories in the newspapers.
The "rebellious and immoral" article made the bearded man shout in anger: "You don't abide by women's ways! You don't abide by women's ways! How can a young girl be in public all day long?" Lu Bicheng's mother, Yan, advised: "Don't be angry, hurry up and celebrate the New Year. I wrote a letter to persuade her to come back." Yan Fengsheng felt that she couldn't bear this face: "Don't let her come back to my house! Doesn't she want to be independent? Let her be independent! Sooner or later she will beg me to pick her up, otherwise You won’t behave yourself when you come back now.” Yan had no choice but to secretly write a letter to her daughter asking her to admit her mistake and go home.
Lu Bicheng took a look and admitted his mistake? It is impossible to admit your mistakes, not even in this life! Lu Bicheng wrote directly back: "Please rest assured, mother, that my daughter is fine in Tianjin. She has become the editor of Ta Kung Pao. Everyone treats me very well. I will definitely let my uncle see what a real woman is." Yan Fengsheng became even more angry when she saw the reply. He said: "Ta Kung Pao? You are so talented that you actually hired a woman as an editor to review the manuscripts of scholars! If I were still the salt transport envoy, I would definitely make him look good!" Yan had no choice but to write another letter to Lu Bicheng to be careful outside. , if something happens, go home quickly.
Although Lu Bicheng was full of confidence when he replied to the letter, he still felt very disappointed when he thought about not being able to go home for the New Year for the first time in his life.
When Li Yu met Lu Bicheng, he saw that she looked unhappy and asked: "What's wrong?" Lu Bicheng said helplessly: "I have no friends and no home."
"You're not going home to celebrate New Year's Day?" Li Yu asked in surprise. current
"New Year's Day" refers to the Spring Festival in later generations. It was not until the Republic of China that the Gregorian calendar was used, and New Year's Day was changed to January 1 of the Gregorian calendar.
Lu Bicheng sighed: "I'm not going back! If it weren't for a lone wild goose, how could the sound of autumn reach the human world?"
"What a poem! Did you write it?" Li Yu wanted to change the topic. Lu Bicheng nodded: "I got it by chance. I just didn't expect that I wouldn't be able to go back as soon as I came out. I couldn't go back..." Seeing that she still couldn't let go, Li Yu said, "What's the big deal? I can't go back to the capital." .”
"You are different, you are a man." Lu Bicheng said. Li Yu knew she would say this, so he took the bait and immediately said, "Every article you published in the newspaper talked about equality between men and women. Why is it different this time when I am a man?" Lu Bicheng opened his mouth. : "That seems to be the truth..." he said immediately,
"I was wrong. But I really can't figure out why I wrote so many lyrics before and no one talked about it, but now when it comes to liberating women, I can't even go home." Li Yu said: "Because Before you wrote so many lyrics and articles, people just thought it was rare to meet a talented woman, and it was considered rare and a topic of conversation after dinner. But now that you talk about liberating all Chinese women, the old guard can't stand it, because the nature has changed. "
"I don't think there is any qualitative difference. I am a woman, and I am the same as all women in the world." Lu Bicheng said.
"That's what I said, but it's not easy to change everyone's thinking." Li Yu said.
"Then do you think I did the right thing?" Lu Bicheng asked.
"Of course!" Li Yu said,
"For thousands of years, women have been mute or 'absent' in various places. Even in the past, they could not be called complete human beings. They were often independent of male laws and had personal freedom and property inheritance. They don't even have the right to deal with their own rights." In his early years, Lu Bicheng encountered the situation where there were no boys in his family and his family property was robbed by his own clan. He was deeply touched by this: "Yes, looking at history books and traditional education, they are all male. There are many images and they are plump and powerful, while the female images are pitifully few and single. Although there was a reform movement a few years ago, I also read the arguments of the reformers at that time. They saw the role of women in social production and regarded women as Problems are seen as a means to solve poverty and weakness. However, I found that even their pursuit of gender equality is hazy and the direction is unclear." Li Yu said: "They do have certain limitations, but they still have not jumped out. The traditional gender division of labor adheres to the idea that men are responsible for outsiders and women are responsible for domestic work." Liang Qichao once defined the new female image in "Initiating the Establishment of Women's Schools", and still regarded the two points of caring for husbands and raising children and being kind to IKEA as virtues. The new standard of being a good wife and mother.
The main function of women is to provide daily care for their husbands, take on the responsibility of taking care of children, and at the same time engage in certain economic activities to contribute to family construction.
Although there was support for women to work outside the home, it was mainly to relieve social pressure at the time and still failed to highlight women's own rights.
Moreover, the reformers' view is that women's inequality stems from power politics, and only through the implementation of a constitutional monarchy can women be liberated - which ultimately returns to their political demands.
However, the reformers were somewhat more progressive than their previous views. One thing they did successfully was banning foot binding.
Lu Bicheng said: "So in the end, we women have to do it ourselves to liberate women. Only we understand our own rights."
"Good job!" Li Yu extended his thumb.
"But it's not an easy path."
"I know it's not easy, but if I don't do it just because it's not easy, then I, Lu Bicheng, might as well go home and study the Three Obediences and Four Virtues now. No, even if I work as a female worker in a textile factory, I don't want that kind of life!" Now foreign businessmen have begun to Textile factories, match factories, and tea baking factories were opened in China, and they hired a large number of female workers. These women were the first group of women to enter society in modern China, and they were the earliest professional women.
Of course foreign businessmen won't take it too seriously. The Industrial Revolution began in the textile industry. The earliest mechanical improvements were applied in textile factories. Now an important part of European workers are female textile workers.
Moreover, the wages of female workers are lower than those of male workers. Of course, factories prefer cheap labor. Li Yu said with a smile: "You'd better be an editor, the capitalists are not much better." On the twentieth day of the twelfth lunar month, the officials of the late Qing Dynasty
The "New Year Holiday" has also begun. Except for important departments, most government offices will begin to seal on this day, that is, they will stop working until the 20th of the first lunar month of spring when they open and resume work.
The specific time may be off by one or two days, because people nowadays pay attention to an auspicious day and need Qin Tianjian to choose the date.
Like the Ming Dynasty's system, officials' annual leave is one month, which is quite long when you think about it. All in all, officials in the Ming and Qing Dynasties had about fifty days of holidays each year, which was almost half of the holidays in the Song Dynasty.
It's just that this is a holiday for officials, and people will not completely follow it. The Beiyang Military Preparation Crash Course will not abide by it. It is called
"Quick success" must be because time is precious and there are so many holidays to play.
