Yuan Shikai’s daughter Yuan Jingxue recalled: “Yuan Shikai had a wife and nine concubines, seventeen sons and fifteen daughters, as well as several daughters-in-law, grandchildren, and granddaughters. The accountants, male and female teachers, middle school students, etc. who were in charge of the family were There were hundreds of Western medicine doctors, cooks, tailors, gardeners, and male and female servants, as well as mothers and maids working in the upper and lower rooms, all of whom had to focus on my father and obey his orders. , at his mercy. Their honor and disgrace are all determined by my father. The fate of his main family members, one wife and nine concubines, is very telling. The fate of these people is entirely determined by their personal likes and dislikes. It is difficult to say what the criteria for his likes and dislikes are."
Yu was Yuan Shikai’s first wife. She married into the Yuan family in October 1876. Yu was 19 years old at the time, two years older than Yuan Shikai, and the daughter of a wealthy family in Chenzhou (Huaiyang), Henan. The Yu family has a lot of land, about two thousand hectares of land. Although the Yu family came from a wealthy family, they were influenced by the belief that "a woman's lack of talent is a virtue". She was illiterate since she was a child, and she didn't know much about feudal etiquette, but only had a rough understanding of it. After she and Yuan got married, their relationship was relatively harmonious. In the second year after her marriage, Yu gave birth to Yuan Shikai's first son, Yuan Keding. She only had this son in her life. Yuan Shikai and Yu had a good relationship as husband and wife, but they fell out because of a joke. One day, Yuan Shikai saw a red embroidered trouser belt tied around Yu's waist. He thought it was funny, so he joked with Yu: "Look, you are dressed like a horse crew." But Yu didn't think this was a sentence between husband and wife. Just kidding, let's expose Yuan Shikai's background and say: "I am not Ma Banzi, I have my grandma's family." The words "I have my grandma's family" in Yu's words mean that he is from his mother's family and is Yuan Shikai's eighth son. The married wife. However, what I say is unintentional, but what I listen to is intentional. Yuan Shikai was born as a concubine, and his mother was the concubine of the Yuan family. Yuan Shikai was a man who was particularly filial to his old mother. When he heard what Yu said, he thought it was humiliating himself. In a rage, he never slept with Yu again. The two always maintained a respectful relationship as husband and wife. Therefore, after she gave birth to Yuan Keding, she never gave birth to any other children. Yu became the nominal wife of Yuan, and she was neither allowed to manage the house nor do any other affairs. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Yu was granted the title of First Grade Lady.
Yuan Keding was the eldest son among Yuan Shikai's thirty-two children. Yuan Keding got married at the age of 18. He married the daughter of Wu Dashi, the governor of Hunan, named Wu Benxian. Their marriage was a political marriage. In 1907, Yuan Keding served as the right counselor of the Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce because of his father's relationship. In the first year of Xuantong (1909), Yuan Keding was promoted to You Cheng. In 1909, after Yuan Shikai was dismissed from office and returned to his hometown, Yuan Keding stayed in Beijing and became Yuan Shikai's important eyes and ears in Beijing to learn about the Qing court's information. Yuan Keding had a "sleeve-cutting addiction", which is called "homosexuality" in modern times. His cousin Zhang Boju once recalled: "Keding had a sleeve-cutting addiction, and the servants on the left and right were all young and handsome. In 1911, my late father was in the Zhangde General Office On the back road of Liangtai, the living room was next to Ke Ding's room. One night, a child was playing coquettishly to Ke Ding, and Ke Ding said, "Don't raise your voice, it won't be good for the five people next door." But my father had already heard about it. "Supplementary Notes to Hongxian's Chronicle Poems" also wrote a limerick about this incident: "The splitting of peaches with cut sleeves is true, and the flowers in the backyard sing spring across the river. Be careful not to speak too loudly when acting coquettishly, and beware of the five adults next door."
My aunt, Mrs. Shen. When Yuan was 22 years old, he abandoned literature and joined the army and defected to Wu Changqing. Previously, he had stayed in Shanghai briefly. On the one hand, he wanted to appreciate the scenery of Shanghai, and on the other hand, he also felt that Shanghai had more opportunities. However, he wandered around Shanghai for a long time without finding a suitable position. At that age, Yuan Shikai was a young and energetic young man. He stayed alone in a hotel and felt lonely, so he went to a brothel to have fun. Here, he met Shen, a famous prostitute from Suzhou. After Yuan Shikai and Shen met, they had a very good relationship. Shen believed that Yuan Shikai was by no means a creature of the pool, and persuaded him to leave Shanghai as soon as possible to develop elsewhere, and also subsidized Yuan's travel expenses.
He was in good health and did not suffer from many illnesses at first, but he died of acute illness on the evening of the 22nd. From now on, one of the famous artists in the art world has lost one more person, which is a great sorrow! "After Yuan Kewen died, his disciples paid for his funeral. ⑩ His eldest disciple Yang Zixiang followed the gang rules and arranged the funeral for him. There were no less than 4,000 disciples and grandsons in one day. Pay tribute to Yuan Kewen. During the few days of the funeral, there were constant cries, and many prostitutes also came to express their condolences with white strings on their heads. In addition to monks, nuns, and Taoists from Tianjin, on the day of the funeral, the monk Yonghe from Guangji Temple in Beijing. All the lamas from the palace came to see him off. From Yuan Kewen's residence to his cemetery in Xugu, many sacrificial sheds were set up on both sides of the road, and friends from all walks of life came forward to pay their respects to Yuan Kewen. It was a sensation at that time. Many years later, his friend Zhang Boju came to Tianjin to search for his tomb. There was no trace of the tomb. He could only miss his old friend from afar. He shed tears and wrote an elegiac poem: "The world is far away and the homeland is desolate. There is wine and singing. , who pities the old kings and grandsons, shed tears in the new pavilion; the fragrant grass is desolate, the setting sun is dim, the spring and summer are sad and pass away, and the boundless wind and moon are endured, such a country. ”
Yuan Kewen had four sons and three daughters in his life, including Yuan Jiaxia, Yuan Jiazhang, Yuan Jialiu, and Yuan Jialiu. Yuan Jiazhang and Yuan Jialiu once studied in the United States. Yuan Jiaxu passed away in 1961. Yuan Jiazhang settled in Washington, USA, and worked at the Taiwan Embassy in the United States. Yuan Jialiu is a famous physicist of the century, and his wife Wu Jianxiong is also a world-famous physicist. They are known as the contemporary Curies and are famous at home and abroad.
The second concubine, the Wu family, the third concubine, the Jin family, and the fourth concubine, the Min family, are all Koreans. These three concubines were given to Yuan Shikai by King Li Xi of North Korea. Taijin was originally the younger sister of the North Korean princess, and the second concubine Wu and the fourth concubine Min were the girls who were married to the third concubine. Yuan Shikai took the three of them as his concubines and ranked them according to their age. Please ask your aunt, Mrs. Shen, to teach them the etiquette of the Yuan family.
Yuan Jingxue recorded in detail the life of her biological mother, Jin, when she married into the Yuan family: "Jin originally thought that she would marry into the Yuan family. Be my father's first wife. Unexpectedly, after marrying, not only was she not the main wife, but the two girls she was marrying were taken as concubines by my father. At the same time, above her, there was an aunt who was treated as a wife by my father. My mother was only a sixteen-year-old girl at the time. In such an environment, she had no other way out except to accept the situation, so she felt miserable. Due to the seriousness of mental depression, she became a person with an eccentric personality - on the one hand, she seemed to have a good temper, was very kind to everyone in the family, and never argued with others; on the other hand, she seemed to be unhappy when she was unhappy. Sometimes, due to accidental reasons, they will get angry at the slightest disagreement, and even get into trouble that is difficult to deal with.
Once, because she had a disagreement, she actually threw the chessboard and chess pieces she used to play chess with my father into the water. Another time, she and the fifth concubine were drinking in front of each other in a corner of Zhongnanhai. The two of them were probably a little drunk, and they started to quarrel over a few words, first with their words, and then with their hands, until they got into a fight. Fortunately, some servants reported it to my father, and they didn't give up until he shouted to stop. Although she was a little drunk, she could still realize that the fifth concubine was my father's favorite person at the time. She had been oppressed by her fifth concubine and couldn't bear it anymore. This time she risked her life regardless of the consequences just for a few gossips. Her weird temper was also reflected in the beatings she gave to her daughters and girls. She also has a patriarchal mentality, so she treats her daughter more harshly than her son. Sometimes she would beat the girl severely, which would be even more severe.
She has very white skin and long, thick black hair that flows from her head to her feet. She looks very beautiful. However, her expression was dull and she never seemed to be happy. Not only did she show no affection towards her children, even when my father sometimes came to her room, she would sit there sternly facing her.
Sometimes, when my father talked about something he was happy about, although she would smile along with him, she would immediately suppress her smile after laughing, so that there was no longer any smile on her face. She always cried secretly during the New Year, holidays and her own birthday. After she married into my family, she never returned to her natal family, and no one from her natal family ever visited her. Once, Mrs. Six's mother and brother came from Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province to visit Mrs. Six. These two guests, while they have to kowtow to my father and my mother, are not on an equal footing with my family. This is probably why she doesn’t want her mother’s family to come visit her. She was even less willing to say more about her parents' past situation. When she was in Zhongnanhai, she didn't go to Jurentang every day. However, when my father saw something delicious or something she liked to eat, he would always ask the servants to invite her to eat with her.
On the first day before she died, she told my second brother two things: One was: Shortly after she came here, her aunt used to control and control her. In the name of teaching, she was abused. Once again, the aunt tied her to a table leg and beat her severely. Because her left leg was beaten too much and suffered internal injuries, she was still in pain and could not straighten it until she died. Another thing is: her father originally thought that she was marrying my father as his first wife. Only after they got married did he find out that she was not only a concubine, but also arranged him with the two girls who were dowry, and they became Three concubines. Naturally, I was very sad. Later, she had to leave North Korea with my father, which made her even more sad. Especially when her mother saw that her beloved daughter had traveled thousands of miles to a strange place and would rarely have the chance to see her again in the future. Therefore, the emotions of grief and longing were intertwined in the heart of this old man. One day, her mother was in a trance and saw her face as if in the water patterns in the well. She suspected that her daughter must have died in a foreign land, so she committed suicide by throwing herself into the well. Her father was not only saddened by what happened to his daughter, but also saw that his old wife committed suicide because of her daughter. He was so sad that he vomited a lot of blood and died three days later. After she finished telling the second story, she told my second brother that the reason why she didn't want to talk about it before was to avoid exposing the wrong things my father had done during his lifetime. From this point of view, she has good intentions. "
The second aunt, Mrs. Wu, gave birth to four sons and two daughters. The sons were Yuan Kequan, Yuan Keqi, Yuan Kejian, and Yuan Kedu, and the daughters were Yuan Bozhen and Yuan Luzhen.
Yuan Keqi was the seventh son of Yuan Shikai. He once purchased large quantities of paper currency rubles from the Russian Empire, hoping to make a fortune through speculation. However, in the end, all the huge rubles were turned into waste paper, which caused him to be mentally stimulated and mentally depressed. Somewhat abnormal.
Yuan Kejian was the tenth son of Yuan Shikai. He studied in the United States and worked under General Song Zheyuan. He died in 1960 at the age of 56. p>
Yuan Kedu was the twelfth son of Yuan Shikai. He studied in the United States for ten years. He was good at English and smart, but he did not do his job properly. He died in 1976. >
Yuan Shikai's eldest daughter, Yuan Bozhen, married the son of Zhang Renjun, the governor of Liangjiang.
The third concubine, Yuan Kewen, had two sons and three daughters. Yuan Keliang; gave birth to daughters Yuan Shuzhen, Yuan Huanzhen, and Yuan Congzhen.
Yuan Kewen has already introduced it in the previous article. Although the third son Yuan Keliang has the same mother as Yuan Kewen, his temperament is similar to his. The second brother, Yuan Kewen, was completely different. Yuan Keliang did not like writing and was very cheerful, but he was outspoken and always liked to cause trouble. Yuan Shikai disliked him very much and thought he could not become a great person. He died in 1948. In Xila Hutong, Beijing
Yuan Shuzhen is the third daughter of Yuan Shikai, married to Yang Yuxun, nephew of Yang Shixiang, governor of Zhili. > The eighth daughter Yuan Huanzhen died young. Yuan Congzhen was the tenth daughter of Yuan Shikai. She married Zou Wenkai, the commander of the Beijing military police during the Japanese puppet period.
The fourth concubine, Mrs. Min, gave birth to one son and three daughters. His son Yuan Keduan, his daughters Yuan Zhongzhen, Yuan Cizhen and Yuan Qizhen.
Yuan Keduan ranked fourth and was very naughty when he was a child. When Yuan Shikai resigned from office and returned to his hometown to "live in seclusion" in Huanshang Village, he often secretly went to the pond of Yangshouyuan to fish. Just when he was having fun, he suddenly heard an "Oh" from the shore. The voice sounded very much like Yuan Shikai. He hurried to the shore and found that it was his fifth brother Yuan Kequan who was pretending to be Yuan Shikai and was teasing him. The next day, he sneaked into the pond to fish again, and heard the sound of "oh" on the shore again. He thought that his fifth brother Yuan Keduan must be up to something again, so he shouted: "What an old boy!" , this time it was really Yuan Shikai who took some people to the Yangshou Garden for a walk. Yuan Shikai asked the people around him to pull Yuan Keduan out of the pond and beat him well with a stick. Yuan Keduan was good at calligraphy and was a man of his own. He married the daughter of He Zhongjin, a large salt merchant in Tianjin. However, both of them smoked cigarettes and did not work hard. As time went by, the family fortune was lost and they had to rely on pawning their ancestors' inheritance and stocks. He made a living and died in 1951.
Yuan Zhongzhen is the second daughter of Yuan Shikai. She is married to the son of Xue Fucheng, the minister to Britain, France, Belgium and Italy. The fourth daughter, Yuan Cizhen, died young. Yuan Qizhen was the seventh daughter of Yuan Shikai and married the son of Yinchang, the Minister of War.
The fifth concubine is Mrs. Yang. Mrs. Yang is from Yangliuqing, Tianjin. She is a girl from a small family. She is not very beautiful, but she has the talent of a housekeeper, is articulate, thoughtful, and decisive in situations. She also has a pair of little golden lotuses with bound feet. Yuan Shikai is very fond of her. Yuan Shikai's daily life was taken care of by the Yang family. The Yang family not only took care of Yuan Shikai's life, but also took charge of the household chores of the Yuan family, managed the servants and maids in all parties, and looked after Yuan Shikai's children in each house. Later, he took charge of Yuan Shikai's newly married sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth aunts. Because Yuan Shikai left all housekeeping matters to his fifth aunt Yang, he obeyed her opinions. No matter who disobeyed Yang's discipline and restraint, she would report it to Yuan Shikai at any time, and Yuan would come forward to solve it. Therefore, everyone in the Yuan family respects the Yang family.
Yuan Shikai established a rule in managing the concubines in the family: the concubine who came in later must obey the control of the concubine who came in earlier. In this way, the first stage is for the eldest aunt to discipline the second, third, and fourth aunts; the latter stage is for the fifth aunt to discipline the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth aunts. The fifth concubine Yang often used Yuan Shikai's "house rules" to discipline the concubines who came in later, beating or scolding them. Especially the young concubine Ninth Concubine, who did not understand the rules and had a stubborn personality, was bound to be punished by the fifth concubine. The aunt's beating and scolding.
Mr. Yang gave birth to four sons and daughters. Their sons are Yuan Kehuan, Yuan Kezhen, Yuan Kejiu, and Yuan Keyan, and their daughters are Yuan Jizhen and Yuan Lingzhen.
Yuan Kehuan is the sixth son of Yuan Shikai. He is married to the daughter of Jiangsu Governor Chen Qitai. He has been mainly engaged in industry throughout his life and has participated in Qixin Cement Company and Yaohua Glass. The operation of the company. He founded Jiangnan Cement Factory in Nanjing and also served as a director of Kailuan Coal Mine. He died in 1956.
Yuan Keyhen is the eighth son of Yuan Shikai. Married to the daughter of Zhou Fu, the governor of Zhili, Yuan Keyhen was also the brother-in-law of Zhou Xuexi, an industrial tycoon in North China. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Zhou family was a powerful chaebol in the north. Yuan Kezhen died in his forties. It is said that he died of alcoholism.
Yuan Kejiu is the ninth son of Yuan Shikai. He, his tenth brother Yuan Kejian, his eleventh brother Yuan Ke'an, and his twelfth brother Yuan Kedu went to the United States to study together. After returning to China, he worked in Qixin Cement Company and died of illness in 1973.
Yuan Ke'an is the eleventh son of Yuan Shikai. He once went to the United States to study. He was relatively young when he went abroad. After returning to China, he married Li Baohui, the daughter of Li Yichen, a large salt merchant in Tianjin, and later married Zhang Meisheng, a Tianjin socialite.
Yuan Jizhen is the fifth daughter of Yuan Shikai and is married to the son of Lu Baozhong, the Minister of Civil Affairs.
Yuan Lingzhen was the fifteenth daughter of Yuan Shikai, who died young.
The sixth aunt, Mrs. Ye, and the seventh aunt, Mrs. Zhang, were purchased by Yuan Shikai when he was the governor of Zhili and the minister of Beiyang. The eighth concubine, Mrs. Guo, was purchased by Yuan Shikai when he was Minister of Military and Aircraft and Minister of Foreign Affairs in Beijing.
The origin of the sixth concubine Ye is quite dramatic. When Yuan Shikai was the governor-general of Zhili, he sent his second son Yuan Kewen to Nanjing to handle affairs. Yuan Kewen was a bohemian by nature, and he went to the Fireworks Willow Alley to have fun after work. Therefore, he met his sixth concubine, Ye Shi. The two fell in love at first sight, became inseparable, and made a promise to marry each other. When Yuan Kewen said goodbye and returned to Tianjin, Ye gave him a photo as a souvenir. Yuan Kewen returned to Tianjin to pay his respects to Yuan Shikai. While he was kowtowing to say hello, a photo of Mr. Ye slipped from his jacket pocket. Yuan Shikai hurriedly asked: "What is that?" At that time, Yuan Kewen was not married yet, so naturally he did not dare to be with his father. In front of her, she revealed that she was looking for sex and asked about Liu, so she suddenly realized that she was looking for a good-looking girl in the south for her father, and now she brought back the photo to ask for Yuan Shikai's opinion. After seeing this, Yuan Shikai happily accepted it, and sent his confidant Fu Dianqing to Nanjing to bring money to redeem the person. Ye originally thought that the person she was marrying was Yuan Kewen, but she didn't expect that during the "bridal night", she discovered that it was Yuan Shikai with a full beard and gray hair. By mistake, she became the sixth concubine.
The sixth aunt, Mrs. Ye, gave birth to two sons and three daughters. His sons Yuan Kejie and Yuan Keyou. Women Yuan Fuzhen, Yuan Qizhen, Yuan Ruizhen.
Yuan Kejie is the fourteenth son of Yuan Shikai. There are few relevant records. After the founding of New China, he went to Qinghai and died in Qinghai.
Yuan Keyou is the seventeenth son of Yuan Shikai. He was the youngest son of the Yuan family and died of illness in 1953.
The seventh concubine, Tai Shao, was from Shandong. She was originally a maid in Yuan Shikai's family. She was chosen by Yuan Shikai and she was adopted as his concubine. She had no heirs. After the vacancy of the Yuan family was opened, he returned to Henan together and died in Jixian County, Henan, without any heirs.
The eighth aunt Guo, a native of Zhejiang, was bought back from a Tianjin brothel by Yuan Shikai, who was the military minister in Beijing. He gave birth to sons Yuan Kexiang and Yuan Kehe, and a daughter Yuan Guzhen.
Yuan Kexiang is the thirteenth son of Yuan Shikai. Graduated from Yanjing University, he was good at English and excellent at seal script. He was very influential in Tianjin. After liberation, he worked as a teacher in Tianjin. During the "Cultural Revolution", he was persecuted to death. Married the granddaughter of Na Tong, the Minister of Military and Aircraft of the Qing Dynasty.
Yuan Kehe is the fifteenth son of Yuan Shikai. Died of illness in 1962.
Yuan Guzhen is the fourteenth daughter of Yuan Shikai, who married the son of Cao Kun, the president of the Republic of China.
When Yuan Shikai was "reclusive" in Huanshang Village, Zhangde, Henan, he married his ninth and last concubine, Mrs. Liu. He gave birth to his fifteenth son Yuan Kefan, who died in infancy, and gave birth to a daughter Yuan Yizhen.
There are many wives and concubines of Yuan Shikai's descendants. After he returned home after opening a vacancy, they all followed Yuan to Huanshang Village, Zhangde, Henan.
In ancient China, children basically followed the orders of their parents and the advice of matchmakers in their marriages. In a wealthy family like Yuan Shikai, the marriages of the children are basically based on Yuan Shikai's political interests. Most of his children's relatives are close friends or high-ranking bureaucrats who are officials in the same dynasty. They form a family of sons and daughters, which can not only help each other politically, but also conform to the traditional sense of "well-matched". During Yuan Shikai's lifetime, he only made plans for marriages involving the ninth son and above and the second daughter and above. The other children all got married after Yuan Shikai's death. Yuan Shikai had 9 children during his lifetime.
When Yuan Shikai lived in Huanshang Village, Zhangde, there was a large population. In order to raise the daily expenses and living expenses of the Yuan family, Yuan Shikai had earlier purchased a lot of land in Zhangde Mansion. Come and solve the problem of feeding the whole family.
In the Yangshou Garden, Yuan ordered her servants to raise poultry, live fish, fresh crabs, and grow melons, fruits, vegetables and other non-staple foods to meet the daily expenses of the Yuan family. Sometimes a large amount of agricultural and sideline products would be sold in nearby markets. Exchange some money back. The Yuan family also hired a comprador who was responsible for purchasing and went to Anyang City every day to purchase daily necessities. Every two or three months, I have to go to Tianjin and Shanghai to buy items that are not available in Henan. Silkworm ladies were specially invited from the south to be responsible for raising silkworms and reeling silk in the park, and sent them to the nearby Zhangde Silk Reeling Factory to produce silk and satin for sale. The wives of Yuan Shikai's houses also raised silkworms and reeled silk themselves. All the hard-earned money went to each house and was used by each house. Yuan Shikai also ordered people to plant lotus and water chestnuts in various ponds in the Yangshou Garden, and raise a variety of fish in the ponds. Yuan Shikai liked to eat smoked fish, so his second concubine Wu often caught fish from the pond and cooked it for Yuan Shikai. Every autumn, when the crabs are fat, Yuan Shikai would take his whole family to catch crabs in the park and enjoy a few hearty meals of crab meat. In summer, Yuan Shikai would take his family by boat to the Shuixin Pavilion in the pond to escape the heat, and sometimes have meals in the pavilion. On full moon nights, he would enjoy the moon with his family. Yuan Shikai's third aunt could play the lyre. On a quiet night, with the bright moon hanging high in the sky, Yuan Shikai was rowing on the water. He looked up at the moon and lowered his head to have thousands of thoughts. Sometimes he was brooding, sometimes he was happy. He would also play chess and argue with his third concubine, living a peaceful life in seclusion. In this longevity garden, Yuan Shikai often invited artists to sing operas in the garden, such as Henan's Zhuozi or "Liuzi Opera". During every new year and festival, Yuan always invites famous actors from Beijing’s Peking Opera circles to come and entertain them. For example, Tan Xinpei, Wang Yaoqing, Yang Xiaoduo, etc. sang "Tanghui". This kind of "Tanghui" would also be sung when Yuan Shikai passed his birthday or when his wife Yu was celebrating her birthday. When some important officials or ministers came to visit Huanshang, Yuan Shikai would also show movies to entertain them.