Хуан Юаньюн: Жизнь и трагическая гибель китайского журналиста и писателя

Chinese author and journalist

Huang Yuanyong (黃遠庸), (Pen name: Huang Yuansheng 黃遠生, Wade Giles: "Huang Yüan yung") (15 January 1885 – 25 December 1915) was a renowned Chinese author and journalist during the late Qing dynasty (清朝) and early Republic of China (民國初年). Huang made significant contributions to journalism and literacy in China, particularly as an innovator in both journalistic methodology and writing style. His unsolved assassination while visiting San Francisco, California, United States, was suspected of having been a KMT operation.

Huang Yuanyong (Given name: Huang Weiji 黃為基) was born to an educated family in Jiujiang (九江), Jiangxi Province (江西省) in China. His father was a scholar and an officer in charge of foreign affairs in Ningbo (寧波), and a number of his family members were government officials. Influenced by his family, Huang immersed himself in Chinese classics when he grew up. To improve his English, his family hired a foreign tutor to teach him the language. Huang completed secondary schooling in the Zhejiang (淅江) province. During his studies at Zhejiang Huxing Nanxun Government School (浙江吳興南潯公學), he was involved in educational reform campaigns and became a member of the Progressive Party (進步黨). In 1903, Huang came in seventh place in the regional examination in Jiangxi (江西). Nevertheless, the 19 year old Huang did not follow the custom of becoming a government official, instead continuing his legal study at Chuo University in Tokyo, Japan. Six years later, he returned to China and started working at the Civil Postal Department (郵傳部). Later on, he became a journalist and worked for several different papers and news agencies. Huang was particularly famous for his discussions of politics and social issues.

Following the collapse of the Qing emperor, Huang ceased his work as an officer in the new government of the Republic of China. Li Shengduo (李盛鐸), one of the Beiyang five ministers (北洋五大臣), played an influential role for Huang. He advised Huang to enter journalism, saying that "In western countries, the majority of journalists are familiar with history and international affairs. If you choose to work in this field, there is no doubt you will become a famous reporter." After receiving Li's advice, Huang began his career as a journalist. Huang soon won recognition for his abilities as a journalist. In 1912, the founding year of the Republic of China, Huang, Lan Gongwu (藍公武) and Zhang Junmai (張君勱), who were known as "The trio of youth for modern China" (新中國三少年), first published Shao Nian Zhong Guo Weekly 《少年中國周刊》 to criticise politics. Later on, Huang and two other young journalists, Liu Shaoshao (劉少少) and Ding Foyan (丁佛言), were entitled '"The outstanding trio of journalism" (新聞界三傑). Huang was also regarded as "The first genuine reporter in the modern context in China" (中國第一個真正現代意義上的記者) and his Yuansheng Tongxun (遠生通訊), a special column of news dispatch, became the most popular and famous brand in Chinese journalism.

Huang initially supported the creation of the Republic of China under Yuan Shikai's leadership. However, the new government became a great disappointment to Huang. He felt that despite the Progressive Party's rhetoric it was still a corrupt organization. In the articles entitled Big Loan Incident (大借款事件) and The Twenty One Demands (喪權辱國的二十一條), Huang described Yuan's alleged secret deals with foreign powers and betrayal of the nation's interest for his own sake. Huang once described the status of the government as "idealess, dead ended and hopeless" (無理想, 無解決, 無希望的政府). However, what most upset Huang was the threat to the freedom of the press that he felt Yuan represented. Under Yuan, journalists were prohibited to attend political meetings (政治會議) and the censorship of newspapers also became the custody of the Police Authority (警察官署). Between 1912 and 1916 Yuan and his party extended their control over the news media, banning 71 newspapers and arresting more than 60 journalists. These events left Huang with a much more pessimistic view of the importance of journalism. The incident which triggered the final clash of Huang and Yuan occurred in 1915. At that time, news media sympathetic to Yuan had been promoting his plan to revive the monarchic system in China. At first, he offered Liang Qichao (梁啟超) two hundred thousand dollars to write an article in favor of him, but Liang refused. Then he approached Huang due to Huang's reputation. Yuan offered him ten thousand dollars to become a minister and the chief editor of Ya Shi Ya Daily News (亞細亞日報), which was under his control. Still, Huang was unwilling to violate his principles as a journalist. Huang posted his announcement entitled My declaration of opposing the monarchic system and resignation from all positions of Yuan's group of publishers 《黃遠生反對帝制並辭去袁系報紙聘約啟事》 in most major newspapers in Shanghai, including Shen Bao (申報). Huang published further similar announcements in several papers, including Shen Bao (申報) and Shi Shi Xin Bao (時事新報) to clarify his political break from Yuan. Yuan maintained pressure on Huang by naming him chief editor of Ya Shi Ya Daily News against his will, a position which Huang rejected. Eventually, though, Huang tried to escape this political battle, devoting himself to further academic studies.

Although Huang achieved a good result in the Imperial Examination himself, he was highly critical of the system. Instead he stated that after the collapse of Qing dynasty, the examination system should also eventually be removed. Although new examination systems and schools were immediately introduced to China following the collapse, there were still a large number of people who gained nothing in the old system and could not fit into the new one. Huang argued that these people would become a threat to the society.

Before becoming a journalist Huang immersed himself in writing literature, as classical Chinese literature was still popular in the late Qing dynasty. He was known for writing fluently, with major use of rhetoric and allusion. However, Huang realized that news articles should be comprehensible enough to be read by many people and that the use of classical Chinese language might obstruct the flow of expression. He therefore decided to change his style of writing. By writing in simple and colloquial language, Huang's articles magnified his critical and satirical attitude.

Huang was assassinated while visiting San Francisco, United States on Christmas Day, 25 December 1915, at the age of 30. The circumstances of Huang's death remain a mystery, not only because there was political instability in China, but also because he was assassinated in San Francisco, far from his home. As a result, there are several possible explanations for the incident. There were two versions of the story of the murder of Huang. One possibility is that Huang was shot by a killer sent by Yuan Shikai as payback for Huang's opposition to Yuan's monarchic system. Another version was that he was mistakenly assassinated by Liu Beihai (劉北海), a member of the Zhonghua Revolutionary Party (中華革命黨), which was later known as the Nationalist Party (國民黨). The Party suspected that Huang was indeed working for Yuan, and his purpose for visiting the U. S. was to promote the monarchic system. However, there is still not enough evidence to prove that Huang's death was related to Yuan, even today. The date of Huang's assassination has also been called into some doubt. In the introduction of Yuansheng yi zhu 《遠生遺著》, a posthumous collection of Huang's articles, Lin Zhijun (林志鈞) recalled that he had heard the news on the night of 27 December 1915, and gives this date as the day of Huang's death. However, some scholars, including Li Shengduo (李盛鐸), believed that Huang was indeed killed on 25 December, as the date the news came did not necessarily have to be the day of the assassination. Therefore, generally, it has been accepted that the date of Huang's death was 25 December 1915.