The Love Story of King Qilin: Zhou Xinfang and Qiu Liling

Author: Shufen
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2000-01-01
Features: "Standing on the stage of Shanghai Peking Opera for fifty years, only one person, Qilin Tong." The exquisite performing art of Peking Opera master Zhou Xinfang is widely acclaimed, yet his love story remains little-known. The beautiful and kind wealthy Qiu Lirin fell deeply in love with "Qilin Tong" Zhou Xinfang at first sight and remained inseparable for life. From eloping and living together to formal marriage, she devoted all her energy to helping Zhou Xinfang (both materially and otherwise), and their love grew deeper with age. It can be said that without such a wife, Zhou Xinfang might have lost his brilliance.
Author's Account: At the end of 1989, I returned from Mexico via the United States to China. In San Francisco, I met Zhou Yizhou (Cai Yun). The night before my scheduled flight back to Shanghai, I chatted with her in her living room, sitting by the blazing fireplace. During our conversation, I mentioned that since the "Commemorative Celebration of Zhou Xinfang's 90th Birthday" in China five years ago, numerous articles about her father's life had been published in newspapers, but most focused on evaluating his performing art and rarely touched upon his personal life or experiences outside of acting. I believed this was partly due to the authors' lack of knowledge in those areas and perhaps also because of certain ideological constraints that made them reluctant to speak ill of such a prominent figure, even hiding some known facts. Unbeknownst to them, this only made a truly authentic image seem less so. Thus, I suggested she write a work documenting her parents' life experiences. As children, they often have a deeper understanding of their parents than others. I also emphasized that this could also be considered a rescue effort. In a few more years, when our generation no longer has the energy to do this, many things about her parents might be lost to history. After much consideration, she accepted my suggestion but said that due to the crisis in her business, it might be difficult for her to focus on writing such a work. What she could do was share what she knew about her parents' lives, and I would supplement and compile the text. Given my connection to her family, this task was also unavoidable for me. Therefore, I made an emergency phone call to the airline to change my travel plans and stayed in San Francisco for several extra days. For several nights, I sat quietly by the fireplace, listening to her detailed narration. When her memory faltered, I reminded her and helped her recall. When the work was completed, we counted and found that we had recorded nearly 20 tapes. The text published now is based on these recordings. One section is about her own love life, which is also included here as it is related to her parents. Titled "The Life and Love of Qilin Tong," the name may seem, but upon closer reflection after reading the entire book, one might agree that it is quite fitting.
"Written by Zhou Yizhou, the younger daughter of Zhou Xinfang, and compiled by Sun Shufen, 'The Life and Love of Qilin Tong' faithfully records the romantic life of the Peking Opera master Zhou Xinfang and Qiu Lirin. While the book focuses on Zhou Xinfang's artistic career, its true protagonist is Qiu Lirin. The opening chapters tell the story of Qiu Lirin's father Qiu Yangshan's rise to fame. Qiu Lirin fell in love with Zhou Xinfang after watching a performance and eloped with him despite her mother's objections. The two loved each other deeply throughout their lives, with Qiu Lirin playing an irreplaceable role in Zhou Xinfang's career. Later, during the Cultural Revolution, the family experienced joys and sorrows, with tragic scenes unfolding. Throughout the book, one cannot help but feel the presence of Qiu Lirin—without her, Zhou Xinfang might have lost his brilliance.
Excerpt: "Tough Love" Despite taking various precautions, the news of Qilin Tong and Qiu Jian's secret affair was leaked. The tabloids were the ones who spread the word. My grandmother, who was deeply shaken by the "news," found it difficult to intervene directly as a woman of her time. Fortunately, she had a son who could handle the situation. My uncle Qiu Jianfei was only 25 at the time but had already spent several years in Shanghai and had a certain reputation. He was skilled in all sorts of activities—dog breeding, horseback riding, tennis, golf, gambling, dancing, visiting brothels, and supporting female opera singers. He even adopted a "Big" character from the Tongmenghui, Zhang Jinghu, as his mentor, making him a respected figure in the Tongmenghui. He had many friends and "brothers" in the Shanghai police station, the Chinese detective bureau, and other places. His main task was to invite the editors, reporters, and owners of more than ten tabloids to a banquet at Yipinxiang Hotel, along with some Tongmenghui counterparts. After the banquet, the "scandal" of Qilin Tong and a "prominent Shanghai lady" gradually disappeared from the tabloids. With this "control of public opinion" secured, my uncle began his next move. First, he sent someone to warn our father: "Do not associate with your sister again, even if she writes to you, do not reply. If you do, not only will you be sent out of Shanghai, but I will also need to 'borrow your feet.'" At the same time, he hired two informants from the police station to follow our father around day and night. They sat in the balcony during performances, stood at the side door after the show, and guarded the front door when he returned home or left. In short, he left no room for our father to move freely. Meanwhile, my grandmother took decisive measures against her daughter, who had tarnished the family's reputation. My mother became a prisoner in the house, completely confined like a bird in a cage. Despite such strict surveillance, lovers in the heat of passion often find ways to communicate. My grandmother had a habit of taking afternoon naps, and no matter the season, she would always sleep for over an hour after lunch. My mother used this time to hide in her room and write letters to our father. After writing, she would hide the letters in a safe place and, every few days, seal them and give them to a young girl, Zhu Zhiling, who accompanied her to the theater, to mail. Our father received these letters but could not reply. However, he would send his personal assistant to my grandmother's house at the designated times to meet her. My mother would hide behind a window that overlooked the street opposite my grandmother's house and watch for the man. When she saw him, she knew her letter had reached her lover.
While my mother and father were secretly communicating, my grandmother was not idle. She was actively arranging a marriage for her daughter. Soon, a suitable match was found through a matchmaker. The family was surnamed Zhao, originally from Zhengzhou, Henan, but now living in Tianjin. Their grandfather had served as a governor and minister of war during the Xianfeng era, and their father had been a deputy commander in Yuan Shikai's army. After the founding of the Republic, he served as a governor in Shandong and Zhili for several years. Three years ago, he was forced to resign and opened a textile factory in Tianjin's British concession, which was quite large, with tens of thousands of spindles, managed by their eldest son. The eldest son was 28 years old and had studied cotton spinning in Glasgow, Scotland, before returning to China two years ago. His only criteria for choosing a wife were noble birth and exceptional beauty, as only then could she dominate social gatherings at events where they attended. My grandmother immediately accepted the match and even sent the engagement certificate to Tianjin. The matchmaker returned with a gold and jade bracelet and an eight-carat diamond ring as the betrothal gift. The trousseau was prepared starting after the winter solstice the previous year and was mostly completed by spring. The matchmaker reported that the Zhao family son was ready to travel south this month, both to formally give the betrothal gifts and to meet the mother-in-law and the bride. After the betrothal gifts were exchanged, they would discuss the wedding date. The wedding would be held in Shanghai first, and then the mother-in-law and the uncle's family would be invited to Tianjin for a reunion and banquet. Just as my grandmother was looking forward to some relief, one afternoon, she woke up from her nap to find her daughter was not in the next room. Her mother had run away! After a difficult escape, my mother went to the home of a Chinese classmate named Xu at the Sacred Heart School for Girls. She explained her reasons for running away. Xu was studying at the Domestic Science Department of the and had never heard of her mother and father's romance. However, she was a romantic girl who was thrilled by her mother's story and eagerly offered to inform our father to meet her immediately. Before leaving, my mother and Xu discussed how to handle any potential interrogation by her uncle's men if they encountered them at the door. Xu suggested saying she was sent by the Christian Young Women's Association to collect a charity donation from Zhou the Boss. The Christian Young Women's Association had foreigners and the Shanghai Municipal Council as its backing, and she believed they would not dare to cause trouble. However, no interrogation occurred. Although her uncle had hired men to guard the entrance to the lane and her father's residence, the law still applied in the concession. These men were hired specifically to monitor Qilin Tong and Qiu Sanxiang and had no authority to stop or question other young women. Therefore, after leaving home for over an hour, Xu took my father back in a silver company's business car.
Reunited after a long separation, my mother and father were both happy and sad, but this was not the time for lovers to reminisce, as my grandmother must have already discovered my mother's disappearance and the family would be searching for her. They had to plan their next steps, the most important of which was to find a safe hiding place. After much discussion, my father suggested leaving Shanghai and temporarily hiding in Suzhou. Once the decision was made, they acted quickly. My father bought tickets at the train station, and Xu accompanied my mother to the station. That evening, my parents arrived in Suzhou. My father had performed in Suzhou's Kaikang Theater a few years earlier, so he was familiar with this Jiangnan city. After getting off the train, he hired a carriage to take my mother to a small inn outside the Changmen Gate. Of course, her name was used when registering the "circular ledger," and she and Xu were said to be sisters. This inn was in a small alley under Yada Bridge, with only a few rooms and very old, basic facilities, but it was quiet and clean. At the time, Suzhou was also a prosperous consumer city, but it still retained many rustic customs, so it was possible to find inns like this in small streets and alleys, something you would never find in Shanghai. The next day was Sunday, and the afternoon performance at Gengxin Theater still had my father's act. After settling my mother in, he ordered congee with scrambled eggs and two dishes to eat in the room, comforted her, and then left for Shanghai that night. He reminded my mother to keep the windows closed, lock the door, and not leave the room, promising to return the next evening to accompany her.
Meanwhile, at my grandmother's house, things were in chaos. In the evening, the person sent to the train station reported an important clue: a "black hat" (a railway inspector) had seen Qilin Tong with a beautiful woman boarding the train that afternoon. The "black hat" was a Peking Opera enthusiast and was thrilled to see the famous actor. He went up to greet him and chatted for a while. The "black hat" also helped them find comfortable seats in the first-class cabin. He remembered that the tickets showed the destination was Suzhou. There was no doubt about it—the eloping lovers had gone to Suzhou! Qiu Jianfei immediately ordered the search in Shanghai to stop and focused on Suzhou. By the time the last train of the day had left for Nanjing, there was still a newly built highway leading to Suzhou: the Beijing-Hangzhou National Highway. He took several strong household servants, a group of drinking buddies, and a few familiar detectives from the police station, drove his own car, and rented several more from the silver company, heading for Suzhou in a large convoy at night.
Just a short while after my parents settled into the inn, Qiu Jianfei's convoy entered Suzhou from Pingmen and headed straight for Guanqian North Bureau, quickly searching the large hotels like Lixiang, Huanghou, and Xin in that area. Finding nothing, he left some men to guard the North Bureau and drove out of Changmen Gate to search the large hotels outside the city, such as Dada and Huizhong, but still found nothing. Undeterred, he continued searching throughout Suzhou the next day, as someone suggested that if they couldn't find them in Suzhou, they might have gone to Wuxi, Zhenjiang, or Nanjing. Just then, he received a long-distance call from Shanghai informing him that Qilin Tong was performing at Gengxin Theater that day, with "Xiao He Pursuing Han Xin Under the Moon" already underway. He was taken aback. So, he gathered his men once again and headed back to Shanghai in a large convoy.
My father remained under surveillance by his uncle's men but still managed to secretly visit Suzhou every few days to see my mother, staying there for several hours before returning to perform his night or afternoon shows. To be cautious, my mother changed her residence in Suzhou several times—always small inns in quiet places outside the city—until she finally settled temporarily with a friend of my father's. After writing several letters to my grandmother asking for forgiveness and receiving no reply, several major newspapers in Shanghai published the same day an announcement that a famous lawyer had been appointed as the legal advisor for Miss Qiu Lirin. The content was roughly as follows: "My client, who is now an adult, is entitled to the legal rights of a citizen of the Republic of China under the law. No one has the right to restrict her personal freedom or infringe on her legitimate rights. Otherwise, this lawyer will file a lawsuit according to the law." Although this was just a newspaper ad that could be bought with money, it was like a sudden thunderbolt that stunned my grandmother and uncle. About half a month after the first announcement, the same major newspapers published another statement from a prominent lawyer representing Qiu Jianfei: "This party's sister, Miss Qiu Lirin, has defied family wishes by running away and not returning. This statement declares that she is no longer a family member and has been filed with the local court. Her future actions are unrelated to the family."
At last, our mother was free, but she had lost her status as a wealthy heiress and her social standing, becoming a penniless woman.