The great male matchmaker------Niu Shangzhou
Niu Shangzhou is a great male matchmaker. It was he who brought together the greatest couple in modern Chinese history: Song Jiashu ( Yaoru) and Ni Guizhen. This loving couple gave birth to six important figures: Song Ailing, Song Qingling, Song Ziwen, Song Meiling, Song Ziliang, and Song Zian.
On the eighth day of July in the 11th year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1872), an 11-year-old boy named Niu Shangzhou from Jiading County, Jiangsu Province went to the United States to study. He was one of the first batch of 120 children sent by the Chinese government to study in the United States.
In the United States, several Chinese students often come to Song Jiashu’s silk tea shop in Boston to buy daily necessities. Soon, Niu Shangzhou and Wen Bingzhong (the second batch, Cantonese) became good friends with the clerk Song Jiashu. Niu and Wen advised Song Jiashu to find an opportunity to study in school to improve his knowledge and return to China to find an ideal job in the future.
Under their encouragement, Song Jiashu wanted to study and no longer wanted to be a shop assistant, but his cousin and adoptive father refused and asked him to learn how to do business.
After many twists and turns, Song Jiashu entered Trinity College in North Carolina for further study. One year later, he transferred to Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Tennessee. Three years later (1885), Song Jiashu graduated. The principal, Bishop Mark Diye, is the head of the Shanghai Southern Methodist Union Evangelistic Association. He wants Xiao Song to return to Shanghai to preach.
In January 1886, Song Jiashu arrived in Shanghai.
When he came to China, Song Jiashu’s identity was extremely embarrassing: in the eyes of the Chinese, he was a foreigner who wore a suit and spoke foreign languages; in the eyes of the Americans, he was a short man with yellow skin and black hair. Chinese. Children call him "foreign devil", and adults call him "little dwarf".
In the missionary group, Song Jiashu had a very unhappy life: he only received a salary of 15 yuan - very low treatment; no American in the group wanted to take him - he was discriminated against; Wunong dialect , he couldn't understand a word - the people and the place were unfamiliar.
A year later, he was sent to Kunshan, between Shanghai and Suzhou, to preach.
Song Jiashu was extremely depressed. One day, he came to the Huangpu River alone to relax.
"Charlie, is that you?" Suddenly, a voice came from behind. Song Jiashu turned his head and saw a handsome young man standing in front of him. He is tall, has a broad forehead, big eyes, regular features, handsome appearance, erect and handsome. He is exactly Niu Shangzhou, whom Song Jiashu met when he was in the United States. At this time, Niu Shangzhou had returned to Shanghai. At first, he worked in the telegraph office. At this time, he served as an assistant in the Jiangnan Manufacturing Administration (called "Jiangnan Arsenal" by foreigners).
After some greetings, Song Jiashu poured out his bitterness to Niu Shangzhou. Niu Shangzhou, who is four years older than Song Jiashu, understands his loneliness and decides to introduce him to his wife.
Song Jiashu sighed: "For people like me, people call me a foreign devil to my face, and the girl hides away when she sees me. Which family dares to recruit a son-in-law like me?"
"Don't think so. Although you are a little shorter, you are quite spirited. There are many girls, I'm afraid I still can't catch up with you." Niu Shangzhou consoled him.
After returning home, Niu Shangzhou told his wife what he thought. He discussed with his wife to introduce his 19-year-old aunt Ni Guizhen to brother Song Jiashu.
Niu Shangzhou’s mother-in-law is a descendant of Xu Guangqi, and the whole family believes in Christianity. Mr. Ni was originally a tutor in her family. After getting married, he gave birth to three daughters.
Old China admired the beauty of the three-inch golden lotus, and every woman had her feet bound since childhood. However, the youngest daughter Ni Guizhen developed a high fever as soon as her feet were bound, so Ni's mother gave up binding the feet of the third lady, who had big feet. At that time, Bigfoot was a "difficult household" in marriage.
But Miss San loves reading very much. She learned Chinese characters, calligraphy and scriptures at the age of 5. She attended a girls' school at the age of 8. She was sent to Shanghai Peiwen Girls' Middle School at the age of 14 and graduated from middle school at the age of 17. She is good at math, can read music and play the piano.
After Niu Shangzhou returned to China from Boston, USA, he married Miss Ni Guiqing (also written as Guijin). After Niu Shangzhou's cousin and schoolmate Wen Bingzhong returned to China, he married Ni Guishu, the second daughter of the Ni family (also read Xiuzhen's story).
Now, they want to introduce the third lady Ni Guizhen to Song Jiashu.
On the weekend, Niu and Wen took Song Jiashu to the church and secretly watched Miss Ni sing hymns. It is said that Song Jiashu fell in love at first sight when he saw Ms. Ni's plump cheeks, touching smile, and gentle eyes. She was dressed in an emerald-colored cheongsam and looked so charming.
Another theory is that one day in late July 1886, several Chinese pastors and believers met for a dinner party at Peiwen Girls' School. When he walked into Pei Wen Girls' School, he heard the sweet sound of piano. Song Jiashu walked towards the place where the sound of piano came from. Through the window, he saw a beautiful girl, she was Ni Guizhen.
No matter which theory is used, it is basically certain that the two fell in love at first sight.
Niu and Wen struck while the iron was hot and introduced Song Jiashu's outstanding character to Mrs. Ni. Ni's mother, who was worried about her third daughter's marriage, quickly agreed and said that the marriage could be considered.
Here, Song Jiashu has a character of "one urgent and four quick": quick temper, fast eating, fast walking, fast talking, and fast doing things.
It took less than two months from Song and Ni's acquaintance to their marriage. During this period, there was neither lingering love before flowers nor more romantic invitations.
In the summer of 1887, 22-year-old Song Jiashu married 19-year-old Ni Guizhen.
The wedding was held in accordance with Christian rituals at the "Good Shepherd Church", a Christian church on the north side of Qiuqiao outside the west gate of Jiading City. Missionary Clarence Reed performed the ceremony. At noon, the Ni family held a traditional Chinese family banquet. There were many guests, and twenty-five tables were filled. Powerful figures from business, banking, military circles and the imperial court came to congratulate him.
Through this wedding, missionary Song Jiashu received a generous dowry, upper-class social status and good interpersonal relationships, which is what Song Jiashu urgently needs to work hard in Shanghai.
Of course, Song Jiashu's personal skills, Ni Guizhen's "helper", and the Song family's precise investment in Sun Yat-sen are also important factors for the Song family's success and rapid development.
After the wedding, Song Jiashu took his bride Ni Guizhen to Kunshan for their honeymoon.
In the next 19 years, Song Jiashu and Ni Guizhen gave birth to Song Ailing (1889), Song Qingling (1893), Song Ziwen (1894), Song Meiling (1897), and Song Ziliang (1899). , Song Zian (1906) and six children.
All of this was accomplished by the male matchmaker Niu Shangzhou. In this sense, he was also the one who accomplished the "Song Dynasty" in modern Chinese history.
Wen Bingzhong, who studied at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, USA, served as a customs supervisor in Suzhou and an aide to Duan Fang, Governor of Liangjiang, and became a second-rank official in the Qing government after returning to China. In 1907, he brought two sisters, Soong Ching Ling and Soong Meiling, to study in the United States.