Civil War Literature Case

Author: Chen Xueling / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1998-01-01
Features: Xu Qinwen was both angry and amused by all this, feeling both sorrow and indignation. He defied opposition, argued logically, and issued a stern statement that he had no romantic relationship with Liu and Tao. He also provided credible and convincing explanations. Meanwhile, Tao Sijin also confirmed this in her own testimony. Her older brother and Liu Mengying's older sister, Liu Qingxing, also independently stated in writing that their sisters had no romantic relationship with Xu Qinwen. Liu Qingxing even said that Xu Qinwen was "not good-looking" and "too old," a "half-old man," and could not make a young girl fall in love with him. Later, the investigating officials discovered not only that Liu and Tao were homosexuals but also that Xu Qinwen was not part of the "triangle relationship" through their diaries and letters. However, Xu Qinwen's injustice did not end here; instead, he faced more troubles and was burdened further.
First, Liu Qingxing suddenly turned hostile, creating complications and accusing Xu Qinwen of harboring Liu Mengying with ill intentions and stealing her property. Originally, Liu Qingxing had also interacted with Xu Qinwen and had sought his help for book translation and publication. During the trial, she was initially polite to Xu Qinwen, calling him "Teacher Xu," but her attitude quickly reversed. She not only sued Xu Qinwen for "theft" but also made things difficult for him in many ways, such as delaying the burial of the coffin at Yuanqing Hall and obstructing the funeral for his sister. In reality, Xu Qinwen had allowed Liu Mengying to stay because he wanted to help her escape the chaos of the Shanghai-Suzhou war. Moreover, all her clothes and property had been handed over to the police, and even a suitcase mentioned in Liu Qingxing's complaint was returned unchanged. The accusation of "theft" was entirely unfounded.
Meanwhile, relatives and friends of the Liu family in Hunan, as well as some prominent figures who claimed to be "fighting for the people," called for public support, demanding severe punishment for Xu Qinwen and urging the Hunan provincial governor to send a letter to the Zhejiang provincial government. Many people of Hunan origin in Hangzhou were "filled with grief and indignation" and united against him. They stirred up trouble, even causing disturbances in court, acting irrationally and making unreasonable demands. They vigorously supported Liu Qingxing, shouting slogans and insisting on punishing Xu Qinwen to death. Xu Qinwen himself revealed in an article titled "The Burden of Being Unmarried" that when he defended Liu Mengying's stay at Yuanqing Hall in court—stating that she lived in a separate room next to his and was accompanied by a maid—he was immediately attacked by an audience member speaking Hunanese, spitting venomous words: "Someone like Xu Qinwen would break through walls and climb over them!" His supporters echoed the calls, creating chaos and disrupting the court order.
Under these circumstances, the Hangzhou District Court even joined in, filing charges against Xu Qinwen, accusing him of "harassing a young woman" despite being a bachelor living alone, and of "endangering the family" by luring an underage girl to abandon her family. The indictment also stated that as a middle school teacher and member of the intellectual class, Xu Qinwen should be heavily punished. Additionally, since Liu Mengying and Tao Sijin were both young women of 20, their age alone was insufficient to prove Xu Qinwen's guilt of "endangering the family." Therefore, the court held a special hearing and ultimately ruled that the age listed on Liu Mengying's diploma was unreliable, preventing Xu Qinwen from escaping conviction. Xu Qinwen was furious and refused to accept the verdict. He argued logically and persistently, appealing to the Zhejiang Higher Court, which declared in late July 1933 that he was not guilty of "endangering the family." However, by then, Xu Qinwen had endured his injustice for a year and a half, and he had been plagued by intentional or unintentional interference and slander, leaving him exhausted and spiritually and physically damaged.
### Unexpected Reprisal
Just as the "endangering the family" case was settled, a month later, the stormy waves returned. By then, Liu Mengying had already been dead for some time, but the Nationalist authorities "discovered" that the suitcase she had used before her death contained documents from the Communist Youth League. Meanwhile, a self-confessor named Luo Yankan, who had surrendered in Shanghai, admitted that Liu Mengying had also been part of his original group. Based on this, the prosecutor of the Zhejiang Higher Court declared Liu Mengying, who had been deemed too young to act on her own, a "traitor" after her death and charged Xu Qinwen with complicity. As a result, Xu Qinwen was once again imprisoned.
On August 16, 1933, Xu Qinwen was summoned to the Zhejiang Higher Court. He had assumed this was still related to the "burden of being unmarried" and went alone, empty-handed. However, the prosecutor announced coldly, "The investigation is complete. Due to the suspicion of escape or collusion with co-defendants or witnesses, you are being detained!" Xu Qinwen was immediately taken into custody by two judicial police, his hands cuffed, and locked away in the military-run Zhejiang Military Prison, which held communists and political prisoners.
Why did Xu Qinwen suffer this sudden misfortune? In his autobiography "Qinwen's Autobiography," written in October 1934, he explained: "Because Liu Mengying had stayed in the house I had built to preserve the 'Yuanqing legacy'; two years after her death, it was said she had communist sympathies, and I was then accused of endangering the nation. Initially, I was charged under Article 4 and Article 6 of the Emergency Law for Endangering the Republic. Article 6 was 'organizing a group,' and Article 4 was 'harboring.' It meant I, along with Liu Mengying and others, were communists who had organized a group, and I had also harbored the communist Liu Mengying. This was the reason I was considered a political prisoner."
In the same article, Xu Qinwen also wrote: "The result of the trial by the Criminal Division II of the Zhejiang Higher Court was that there was no concrete evidence of my 'organizing a group' under Article 6, and I was declared innocent. However, regarding the 'harboring' under Article 4, I was sentenced to five years in prison. I appealed, and the Supreme Court overturned the verdict. Although I was no longer considered a communist, I was still deemed a 'harboring' communist, and because Liu Mengying had stayed in the house I built, I had to remain in military prison. The charges of 'harboring' and 'organizing a group' led to the two cases of my imprisonment in the military prison for eleven months and six days, which were merely the aftereffects of the 'endangering the family' case."
During his detention, Xu Qinwen repeatedly appealed, defending himself against false accusations, and underwent multiple interrogations and investigations. However, it was not until May 12, 1934, that the Zhejiang Higher Court sent back his case of "harboring a traitor" for retrial. After further struggles, he was ultimately declared innocent. But by then, he had already suffered another round of imprisonment, lasting more than ten months.
Wearing the "red hat," Xu Qinwen was thrown into a crowded, harsh military prison, enduring injustice and suffering. Upon entering the cell, which housed 15 people and smelled of decay—"just like a third or fourth-class cabin on a ship"—he felt as if he had "fallen from a high mountain into a deep abyss." He was not only filled with sorrow and anxiety but also constantly worried about his parents and relatives, blaming himself for dragging them into trouble. As a result, he was in a state of turmoil, his mind heavy with grief, his memory declining, and he suffered from severe insomnia. At night, he would hum alone without realizing it, and at times, he would be dazed, unable to distinguish reality from dreams. His left eye also developed a large, round sore due to his anxiety and frustration, making it unbearable to read or write.
In prison, apart from his internal suffering, Xu Qinwen was also tormented by guards, rats, mosquitoes, and harsh weather. This not only deepened his mental pain but also severely damaged his body. His meals consisted of coarse, yellow rice with almost no vegetables, served with plain water, which made his digestion sluggish. His false teeth, which he had previously had in place, also fell out one by one. He found it difficult to urinate and spoke in a slurred manner. This prison food was particularly painful for him, so he often recalled and studied the pleasure of meat and cooking, trying to "have a spiritual meal."
After his release, he wrote an article titled "Letter from Prison to My Sister-in-Law About Roast Pork" for the magazine Universe Wind.