Mystery of the Jianwen Emperor

Author: He Gejin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: There are rumors that in Jinshi County, Xiangtan, not far from the gurgling Jujiang River, there used to be a He Family Ancestral Hall. This hall remained until the 1970s. When people mention the He Family Ancestral Hall, they often also mention the He Family Archway, saying how grand it was. However, this archway disappeared before the ancestral hall. I still don’t know when or how it was demolished. I was born in Shebo Yantang Wenjia House, just a few kilometers away from here, and grew up and studied in my hometown before leaving it as an adult. I didn’t go far—just to Xiangtan City, about 50 kilometers away. During my time in my hometown, my activities were mainly centered in Shebo. Even when I visited Jinshi several times, I only passed through the streets and never took the time to go to the back of the town to see my clan’s ancestral hall. As a result, I had never seen it until it disappeared. Because the ancestral hall was in Jinshi, this branch of the He family was known as Jinshi He. The Jinshi He clan was famous for its scholars, and my grandfather was one of them. The seventh revision of the Jinshi He clan’s genealogy, which was the last one compiled, was edited by him. His original name was Fen, his registered name was Guoguang, his genealogical name was Defen, and his courtesy name was Jicai. He was born on the 19th day of the eighth month of the Wuzi year (1888) in Guìguān Zhèngjiādǎo Guìhuātíng, Xiangtan County, during the Guangxu era of the Qing Dynasty (September 24, 1888). He was poor in his early years and was the youngest of five brothers, with his four older brothers being farmers. His father, who taught private classes, originally intended to send him to study medicine, but at the age of 13, he won the favor of his scholarly grandmother with a long poem titled "Boliao Tan," which led to his switch to studying literature. He graduated from the second batch of Xiangtan Middle School (now Xiangtan No. Middle School) in the early 20th century. In his early years, he traveled around Hunan and Hubei. It is said that during the Great Revolution, he served as the of the Education Department in Hanshou County, Hunan. After the failure of the Great Revolution, he returned to his hometown to teach. In 1932 (the 21st year of the Republic of China), his family moved to Shebo Wenjia House. He passed away on the fourth day of the first month of the Jiaxiu year (December 10, 1934). He was skilled in traditional Chinese medicine and excelled in poetry, calligraphy, and calligraphy. After the famous hero of the late Qing and early Republic of China, Ouyang Yue’an, passed away, he composed a eulogy for someone, a brother of Ouyang Yue’an, titled: “To be a farmer or a gardener, one labors all their life; better than blooming at the Flower Pavilion, to compose poetry with leisure and dance swords with ease; to become a Buddha or an immortal is all illusion; only to hear of the Peach Blossom Island, where Anqi eats peaches and Manqian steals them.” This eulogy was widely acclaimed and considered the best among hundreds of others. Even the renowned martial arts novelist, who wrote under the pen name "Unworthy of Pingjiang," wrote a similar eulogy titled: “This life, a minor exile to the mortal world, has left footprints on famous mountains; to know the meaning of immortality, pick up the remnants of poems in one’s bag and the twin swords in one’s casket; with a laugh, return to the blue sky, the body returns to the homeland, and it is certain that the spirit will not be displeased, forever accompanying the moon between the pines and the clear spring on the stone.” This eulogy was only second to his. I have never met my grandfather, but I have heard stories about the clan’s founding ancestor from my parents. They say that our He family was originally surnamed Zhu and was a descendant of Emperor Zhu Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty. The Zhu family suffered a massacre, and the founding ancestor fled to the Yue family for refuge, changing his surname to He. The founding grandmother was from the Yintang He clan of our county, so she was known as He Mu He Shi. I remember in my childhood, my uncle He Qihui once showed me a retouched photograph of Zhu Yuanzhang’s portrait titled "Five Mountains Facing the Sky" (where his chin is raised) and said to me, “This is our ancestor.” This photograph should have been purchased by him when he served in Nanjing in the past.