Su Xueling - Crown of Thornes

Author: Fang Weibao / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features: Su Xuelin's father, named Su Xijue, styled Shaqing, and styled Ding San Yi Shengyang, was born on the 19th day of the 12th month of the Jiaxu year of the Tongzhi era. There were seven brothers and sisters, and he was the eldest. Su Xijue and his brothers were once deeply devoted to the imperial examinations, even kneelingly before the Kui Xing statue, praying for success in their studies. However, despite their fervent devotion to the rituals, their academic progress was limited, and they only achieved the status of a Xiucai (a candidate for the metropolitan examinations). When Su Xuelin was very young, her father and brothers, having given up on the imperial examinations, had discarded all the examination essays and other books, leaving them nowhere to be found. Su Jinxia, her father's brother who had made some achievements, helped them each obtain official positions. Su Xijue was appointed as a Daotai, and his official post was in Shandong as a candidate for appointment. Su Xijue had three sons and two daughters, and Su Xuelin was his fourth child. When he was a candidate for the Daotai in Shandong, he took his second, third children, Shaozhang and Shao Lan, and his wife Du, but left his eldest son Shaoji, his eldest daughter Shumeng, and his youngest daughter Su Xuelin with their grandparents. Su Xijue never received a permanent position in Shandong, but he was frequently assigned to various duties. Later, because his superior, who had once appreciated him, was transferred to another post, he was not valued by the new superior and returned to Zhejiang. After returning, he still did not give up and insisted on traveling to Yunnan, believing that Yunnan was a remote province with less competition in the official circles, and that the then Governor of Yunnan, Li Jingsxi, being from Anhui, might show favor to him as a fellow native. However, he did not stay there for long before the Xinhai Revolution broke out, and he fled back in a hurry. While her father was away seeking official positions, Su Xuelin did not spend much time with him before she grew up. Under these circumstances, her mother Du Waoqing became the closest person to her.
Besides her father, her second uncle and fourth uncle had a significant influence on Su Xuelin. Her second uncle, Su Xinen, styled Junping, had once been a Xiucai. Due to his so-called "inherent fate of causing the death of his wife," he resolved to become a monk. However, he failed to become a monk and instead went to Japan for studies in law and politics. Later, he participated in the anti-Japanese movement among the overseas students and was sent back to China. Upon returning, he actively promoted revolutionary ideas and participated in raising funds to establish Shanghai Chinese University, mobilizing the Su family to invest in it. Hu Shi later graduated from this university, and Su Xuelin thus believed that she had a "connection" with Hu Shi. Because her second uncle often discussed the theory of "expelling the Manchus" with his brothers and nephews at home, Su Xuelin was exposed to revolutionary ideas from a young age. Her fourth uncle, Su Xiqiu, also studied at Shanghai Chinese University. He was highly intelligent, skilled in poetry and literature, and became Su Xuelin's earliest teacher and mentor in her love of literature.
After the Su family moved to Shanghai, due to the large population and the lack of income, they could not sustain themselves, and they stayed there for three years. Seeing the financial strain, her grandfather, Su Jinxia, abandoned his idea of living as a hermit in Shanghai and led the family back to their hometown, Taiping. At this time, Su Xijue could no longer hold official office, but he was unwilling to give up. Later, thanks to the recommendation of a fellow clansman in Beijing, he became a small civil servant. Perhaps because of the effective recommendation, although his official position was not high, his income was quite substantial. He also purchased a residence in the provincial capital, Anqing, and took a concubine. As the eldest son, the heavy burden of the large family fell entirely on his shoulders.
After her grandfather returned to his hometown, his old friends repeatedly persuaded him to return to official life. Although he was not intentionally trying to uphold the Qing dynasty, he did indeed become a hermit in the style of Bo Yi and Shu Qi. Su Jinxia did not forget the traditional values of the old Huizhou people. He donated funds to establish a school, naming it "Haijing Xueshe," partly to commemorate his unfulfilled dream of becoming the magistrate of Haijing, and partly to provide a place for the Su family to receive education. After the family returned to Taiping, Su Xuelin spent a brief period of time studying there. In August 1998, Professor Tang Yinan of Kaohsiung Normal University in Taiwan, at Su Xuelin's request, went through many difficulties and spent 1,200 U.S. dollars to buy back Haijing Xueshe and completed all the procedures to donate it to the Huangshan Cultural Bureau. In November of the same year, Su Xuelin also sent 3,000 U.S. dollars from Taiwan to the Cultural Bureau as maintenance funds. Her emphasis on Haijing Xueshe is evident from this.
Su Jinxia passed away in June 1914, less than two years after living in poverty in the countryside.