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Figure 1: Sun Chuanfang
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My mother assassinated Sun Chuanfang
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On November 13, 1935, a gunshot was fired in the Buddhist hall. In order to avenge his father, 30-year-old Shi Jianqiao assassinated Sun Chuanfang at close range. , and she was also dubbed the title of "Chivalrous Woman" and "Martial Woman". In the following decades, she continued to become the heroine of various romance stories during the Republic of China.
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Family feud
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The reason why his mother assassinated Sun Chuanfang was very simple: to avenge her father's murder.
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My maternal grandfather Shi Congbin was from Tongcheng, Anhui. It took more than 30 years to become the assistant military affairs officer of Shandong Province and the commander of the Second Army of the Fengcheng Department.
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In the autumn of 1925, Sun Chuanfang contacted some forces opposed to Zhang Zuolin and launched a war with the Feng clique warlords to compete for Anhui and Jiangsu. Zhang Zongchang asked his grandfather to go south to fight against Sun Chuanfang. In Guzhen, Anhui, my grandfather was surrounded on three sides. He retreated in an armored vehicle, but Sun Chuanfang was very cunning. He removed the rails, and the armored vehicle overturned and fell to the ground. My grandfather and his entourage were all captured. My grandfather was taken from Guzhen to Sun Chuanfang's headquarters at Bengbu Station. Although people around him begged for mercy and advised Sun Chuanfang not to kill the prisoners, Sun Chuanfang ordered the sword team to behead his grandfather and ordered his grandfather's head to be hung at Bengbu Station for public display. In order to increase the humiliation, they also ordered people to write "New Anhui Supervisor Shi Congbin's Head" in red letters on a white cloth, and the body was exposed for three days and three nights.
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That year, my mother was only 20 years old. My mother is the eldest daughter in the family. She has been smart and smart since she was a child. Her grandfather likes her very much. The relationship between father and daughter is very deep. After hearing that my grandfather died so tragically, my mother decided to take revenge.
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Investigation
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1935, the 17th day of the ninth lunar month, was the 10th anniversary of my grandfather’s death. My mother did not dare to cry at home, fearing that my grandmother would be even sadder if she heard it, so she had to go to the Guanyin Temple in the Japanese Concession to burn paper in memory of my grandfather. The monk saw her kneeling and crying, so he came to comfort her and persuade her to convert to Buddhism. The monk said accidentally: "Look at celebrities like Jin Yunpeng and Sun Chuanfang, don't they all believe in Buddhism?" The speaker was unintentional, but the listener was intentional. When the mother heard this, she immediately stopped crying and asked more questions.
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It turns out that after the September 18th Incident, Sun Chuanfang moved back to Tianjin from the Northeast to settle down. At that time, the situation in North China was complicated. On the one hand, Japan tried its best to win over these old warlords. At that time, Kenji Doihara, Ningji Okamura and others visited Sun Chuanfang. On the other hand, the Nanjing National Government's secret service also tightened surveillance on people like Sun Chuanfang, wary of them being used by the Japanese. Sun Chuanfang is also well aware of the complexity of his environment, so he publicly declares that he will not be used by any political power, refuses guests behind closed doors, and lives in seclusion.
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Jin Yunpeng, who once served as Prime Minister of the Beiyang Government, also lived in Tianjin after he left office. He persuaded Sun Chuanfang to convert to Buddhism. In 1933, the two men jointly came forward to buy a Qingxiu Zen monastery in Caochang'an in the southeast corner of Tianjin city and changed it into the Tianjin Buddhist Lay Forest. Jin Yunpeng was appointed as the forest chief, and Sun Chuanfang was appointed as the deputy forest chief. It was stipulated that every Sunday the lay people Come to the forest to chant sutras. At that time, more than 3,000 people came to participate in the event. Her mother changed her name to "Dong Hui" and infiltrated the "Laity Forest". She learned about Sun Chuanfang through various channels and also learned about Sun Chuanfang's activity pattern: she would go to the Laity Forest every Wednesday and Saturday to listen to sutras.
My mother is very attentive. Every time she goes to Jushilin, she pays special attention to some details: for example, she pays attention to whether Sun Chuanfang's position is fixed, from which angle she can shoot him, etc. She also designed a coat for herself just to keep the pistol safely in the pocket.
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November 13, 1935 was the day my mother expected to take action, but it started raining early in the morning and did not stop until noon. My mother thought that Sun Chuanfang might not come in this kind of weather, so she didn't wear a coat or bring a gun, and wanted to go to "Jushi Lin" first to take a look. When I got there, I saw that Sun Chuanfang's seat was empty, and there weren't many people listening to the scriptures below. The mother thought there was no chance for the day again, but unexpectedly, after a while, she saw someone coming over to wipe the dust off the stool where Sun Chuanfang was sitting. She immediately realized: Sun Chuanfang might be coming! Not long after, Sun Chuanfang, wearing a cassock, walked into the Buddhist hall. It is said that after Sun Chuanfang got up that day, he spent the whole morning practicing calligraphy in the study. After lunch, he was about to set off to the Buddhist Forest. His wife advised him that if it rained, he would Don't go, but he still goes out.
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My mother hurriedly left the home, rented a car and went home. She put on her coat, packed her gun and flyers, and hurried out of the house. That year, my brother was over 6 years old. When he saw his mother coming back, he followed her and called her "Mother," but my mother didn't look back much, and quickly took a taxi and left again.
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Figure 2: Shi Jianqiao avenging his father
? Assassination
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At 3:30 in the afternoon, my mother returned to Jushilin. After sitting for a while and calming down, she saw that the seat away from Sun Chuanfang was far away, so she said to the audience: "My seat is too close to the stove, which makes it uncomfortable. There are some empty seats in front, can you move forward?" Nodding in agreement, the mother stood up, walked slowly behind Sun Chuanfang, pulled out a gun, pointed it behind Sun Chuanfang's ear and pulled the trigger. With a gunshot, Sun Chuanfang fell to the ground, and the mother shot him twice in the back of the head and back.
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As soon as the gunfire rang out, there was chaos in the Buddhist hall. My mother stood up and loudly announced her name and the purpose of the assassination, and then distributed a leaflet to the crowd. It reads: 1. Shi Jianqiao beat Sun Chuanfang to death today to avenge his late father Shi Congbin. 2. Please see my "Letter to the People of the Country" for details. 3. My great revenge has been avenged, and I will surrender to the court immediately. 4. The blood splattered in the Buddhist hall shocked everyone. I would like to sincerely apologize to the layman and all the gentlemen. Distributed together with the leaflets were a "Letter to the People" and a photo of an officer wearing a general's uniform. The person in the photo was his grandfather Shi Congbin.
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The public opinion at that time was mostly supportive of the mother. After all, Sun Chuanfang was a warlord with many crimes. All walks of life, especially the women's circle, , also expressed their solidarity and strongly called on the National Government to release or amnesty the mother. The first instance court sentenced the mother to 10 years in prison. The mother refused to accept the decision and appealed to the Tianjin High Court, where the sentence was changed to seven years. The mother was still dissatisfied and appealed to the National Supreme Court in Nanjing. Under pressure from public opinion, in October 1936, Lin Sen, Chairman of the National Government, issued an announcement to the whole country, deciding to pardon his mother.
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The person who played the main role in granting amnesty to his mother was Feng Yuxiang. Feng Yuxiang did not know his mother directly, but he had participated in the anti-Qing movement with his mother's uncle Shi Congyun in his early years. After hearing the news, he immediately joined more than 30 party and government figures including Li Liejun and Zhang Ji to petition the National Government for amnesty. As a result, my mother was freed after serving less than a year.
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(Excerpted from "Literature and History Expo")