So, what are the identities of these people who are neither Gege, Maid-in-waiting nor noble families? According to relevant historical records, they were all famous prostitutes in the "Yan Gang" selected by Shanghai Game Newspaper in the late Qing Dynasty. Although they only have scales and claws, they can see through the world customs at that time.
The flower list is a beauty contest between prostitutes, and similar activities appeared as early as the Song Dynasty. In the 23rd year of Guangxu, Li Boyuan, editor-in-chief of Game Newspaper, made the selection of flower lists open and systematic for the first time, and published "three kinds of color lists" in newspapers successively, which became a major event with wide influence in Shanghai. The so-called "three guests of Yan Gang" are three names for the prostitute audition: roster, WU GANG and Ye Gang.
Li Boyuan, a native of Changzhou, Jiangsu, whose real name is Garbo and Yuan Bo, was founded in Shanghai in the 23rd year of Guangxu. This is the first literary tabloid in China in modern times, and its purpose is to "confuse the false with the true, and to persuade and punish with metaphor". Because this newspaper pays attention to brothels and looks like a professional newspaper in the world of flowers and flowers, Li Boyuan has been nicknamed "General Manager of Yue Feng Website", "Leader of coquettish circles" and "Promotion of the world of flowers and flowers".
Founder Li Boyuan
At the beginning of the announcement, the first thing to do was to announce the list. The specific selection rules are as follows: following the western democratic election method, the election results are determined by the number of "letters of recommendation" and the number of votes. There are roughly three steps, that is, soliciting letters of recommendation, counting votes, and publishing the results.
A letter of recommendation is a letter of recommendation for the selected prostitute. The main contents include the name and address of the recommended person, the description of her figure, appearance, conduct and coping behavior, and the reasons for recommendation. The letters of recommendation received are published in newspapers in the form of "incoming books", which attract readers' attention every day.
On the seventh day of July this year, the first issue of the flower list was officially released. Zhang No.1 and Cai Xinbao No.2, the top three 107. From the point of origin, Guan, Ya and Hua Tan were all taken over by "Gusu people".
At that time, Shanghai was full of prostitutes. Prostitutes are divided into many types and grades because of their different origins, places of origin and status. Can be summarized as: reading, junior high school, junior high school, as well as the bottom platform, pheasant, flower room, nail house, salt water girl, Tang Bai, broken white party and so on.
The target of the "flower list" election belongs to senior prostitutes such as "Shuyu" and "Changsan". Although the winners in the list can't be officials and there are no prizes, once the list is opened, everyone's name is followed by a residence and comments, so that tourists can "follow the map." The former will naturally lead to a prosperous business.
Little-footed prostitutes were carried on their shoulders by turtle slaves when they left the hall.
Publishing an article is equivalent to the "literature list" in the imperial examination. Later, Li Boyuan established the "WU GANG" in the name of Wu Keju. The martial arts list, also known as the "art list", is not a competition, but "imitating the precedent of Beijing Liyuan" to select outstanding geisha.
Then, the "Ye Gang" with the maid of a senior prostitute as the selection object was introduced more ingeniously. It means that prostitutes are flowers, maids are leaves, and good flowers must be accompanied by green leaves. Wu bang and ye bang are the top three in the flower list.
Why did the photos of famous prostitutes enter the palace?
The traditional prostitute election has been transformed into different tactics, satisfying the entertainment psychology of urbanites, thus realizing the maximization of commercial interests. But for Li Boyuan, a romantic wife
First, the court paid attention to Li Boyuan. Li Boyuan supported the Reform Movement of 1898, which was closely related to Liang Qichao and other reformists. He is outspoken from time to time, expressing his grief and indignation at state affairs. There are even excessive remarks such as "the West Palace is towering over the sun", pointing directly at Empress Dowager Cixi, who is in charge of the state affairs!
His denunciation novel "Game Newspaper" takes the officialdom in the late Qing Dynasty as the theme and describes all kinds of corruption and darkness in the officialdom, which can be called an ugly picture of bureaucrats in the late Qing Dynasty. His activities may have attracted the attention of the court, and relevant information was collected for this purpose, so these photos entered the palace and were collected intentionally or unintentionally.
Second, prostitutes lead the trend. Shanghai is the first city to open a port, and it is also a place where Chinese and Western cultures meet. Prostitutes, with their unique identities and experiences, can easily break away from convention and become early acceptors and promoters of new things. They lead fashion, especially dress and behavior, and are regarded as the representatives of fashion. In this context, these photos also go to the palace to appreciate the fashion or "clean up the weathering".
Postcards of famous prostitutes in late Qing Dynasty
The third is to meet the entertainment needs. In the late Qing Dynasty, Shanghai was called the Oriental Entertainment Center, and it was also in a competitive position with Beijing in traditional drama. Published a lot of news about brothels and prostitutes, and also reported Liyuan and Youxing. In a sense, prostitutes and prostitutes belong to "literary and art workers", and famous prostitutes and celebrities have the status of social stars.
Celebrities such as Tan Xinpei and Zhu Suyun, who are appreciated by Empress Dowager Cixi, often come to Shanghai to perform and are warmly sought after. The main entertainment in the palace is to go to the opera, and there is a large collection of stills of Beijing Opera and Kunqu Opera. Therefore, it seems reasonable to collect several photos of famous prostitutes at the same time.
Of course, until the exact historical basis is found, none of these speculations can be conclusive.
Before the late Qing Dynasty, although brothels in Beijing were dark, there were almost no decent brothels because pimping was prohibited by the upper class. After Xianfeng, prostitutes were very popular. Rouge, stone and other hutongs have gauze lanterns hanging at home and red stickers on the doors. There are many cars and tourists every afternoon.
During the Reform Movement of 1898 and Jihai, Shanghai prostitutes came to Beijing to set up a prostitute house, also known as "Shuyu". Sai Jinhua, a famous prostitute, was one of the early "gold diggers". After Gengzi came to power, he set up a police in the capital, stipulating that brothels in the inner city should be moved to the outer city, pay taxes according to regulations, and be allowed to open.
At that time, the residences of prostitutes in Beijing were roughly divided into three classes: small classes, teahouses and lower rooms. Among them, the first-class "small class" and the second-class "tea room" are mostly concentrated in the eight hutongs outside Qianmen, so they are called "eight hutongs" and reached their peak in the early years of the Republic of China. And "going to a teahouse is not for the upper class."
The wind of the flower list also spread to Beijing. The game newspaper said, "If you can try it, there are 1 and 2, the name of Tan Hua." Scholars in Beijing and North Korea are obsessed with the imperial examination, and they are aware of it at any time and place and unconsciously show it. Therefore, judging flowers is also called flower list, with nouns such as 1, No.2, and flower detection. "In the twenty-five years of Guangxu, a game was reported in the news. It is rumored that Beijing is also on the list this year, and its "No.1 scholar" Xiao Pingguo paid hundreds of taels of bribes to sponsors.
19 13, Beijing Game News held a flower bed talent show in eight hutongs. This is the first prostitute election since the founding of the Republic of China. In order to highlight the new fashion of the Republic of China, the winners were no longer called No.1, No.2 and No.2, but were renamed as "doctors and bachelors", and badges were issued as certificates after imitating the western education system. However, the standard still follows the convention and is divided into four subjects: talent, eroticism and art, each of which is awarded to a doctor and several bachelors. For example, 19 19, the three "doctors" are Hua Jun and Zhang Jinfeng respectively.
I found a photo of a woman reading a newspaper in the Forbidden City. No matter her posture, sitting posture, hairstyle, clothes or the scenery inside, she is similar to the image of a prostitute. If you look carefully at the newspaper in her hand, you can find the words "the group will strongly report" on it.
Founded in the first year of the Republic of China, 1936 ceased publication. So this woman is probably a senior prostitute in Beijing in the early years of the Republic of China. The purpose of taking photos does not rule out that newspapers use the "star effect" to advertise themselves.
Famous prostitutes who read newspapers in Beijing during the Republic of China
The five photos of prostitutes collected by the Palace Museum undoubtedly belong to famous prostitutes of different ages. So, were they also selected by officialdom? Here, we will make a brief investigation on them according to the clues of existing historical materials.
Lin 1898 Spring Festival 1
There are many descriptions about Lin in the existing materials of the game newspaper. She was the No.1 flower list in the 24th year of Guangxu, and the No.2 "Peony" in the "Flower Selection" in the following spring.
After Ding You's flower list was published in 1897, only one year later, many prostitutes on the list were robbed, one after another. Therefore, the second listing of banknotes in Qing Dynasty was in July 1898. The champions this time are: 1 Lin, No.2 Hua, Shen Hechuan and Xie Qianyun.
From this flower list, photos are attached to the newspaper. Cooperate with newspaper photo library to print 10000 photos of famous flowers, publish them in newspapers regularly and attach them every day. Later, because there were too many newspapers, the photos could not be posted, so readers were simply asked to pay. Copy a lot of photos of these famous prostitutes, so that they are regarded as social stars and sought after.
This photo of Lin in the Palace Museum may be one of the 10,000 small photos taken and printed at that time. Only in July of that year, the flower list of 1898 was opened, and the caption below the photo was "the spring list of 1898 was the first". The "spring bill" here seems to be a mistake of the "summer bill".
In addition to the colorful list, "flower selection" activities will be held regularly. It is to select twelve prostitutes according to the order of December, and then combine everyone's attitude and personality to let each company spend one flower every month, with plum blossoms as the main one and peony as the second. From the year of Jihai, flowers were picked on the "Flower Festival" in February 12 of the lunar calendar, which was named "Gong Rui Flower Picking".
The results of this selection are: Plum Blossom Forest, Peony Riverside Snow, Orchid Xie Qianyun, Pear Blossom Jin Ruyu, Fan, Lotus, Begonia Shen Yunshan, Osmanthus fragrans, Chrysanthemum Zheng Juxiang, Furong Hongshufang, Camellia calyx Plum, Narcissus and so on.
From the photo, Lin is not beautiful, and her eyes are slightly dull. Why did this woman win the first prize? Some critics say that her character is "just and cautious". It seems that the so-called glamorous list is not entirely out of the pursuit of glamour, and personality factors also need to be considered.
Li Yuanyuan, "1898 bis"
In the selection of palace flowers, Lin was named "Peony" and won the eighth session-"Osmanthus fragrans". In addition, no other materials describing him were found.
The photo indicates that she is "No.2 in 1898", but the top three names on the roster of 1898 are Lin, Hua and Shen. If the mark is correct, it is speculated that this person is probably the second person in the 1898 Movement. Coincidentally, the author found a picture of her game newspaper stills in a postcard in the late Qing Dynasty, which can also be used as circumstantial evidence that this person was on the "Wulin List".
Xiao Gu Sun Lan and Geng Zi ranked first in the summer list.
Guangxu Gengzi held two rosters in Shanghai and Hangzhou from 0755 to 79000. The process and figures are unknown. The label of this photo is "Xiao Gu Sun Lan, Gengzi Xia Bang No.1", and it is speculated that this person may be the first winner in one of them.
In addition, a flower selection was held in the year of Gengzi, and relevant information was collected into a book, and a book about the bribery of the top scholar was published. It can be seen that Xiao Gu Sunlan ranked fourth and won the "Pear Flower".
Kobayashi Zhu Bao, ranked first in the boxer music list.
There is no such person's name in the information available in the Democratic Daily. Cha Qunqiang reported that there was a story about his life in Game Newspaper: "Kobayashi Zhu Bao is also a prostitute in Shanghai. Not very good-looking, winning with songs, attracting guests. There are hundreds of liquor service bureaus every day. Every time a song comes, it's gone. In the summer of Guangxu, he died of illness. At a critical juncture, I still sing a game and report a 10% discount. "
Xiao Lin won by singing, so he certainly has a chance to win the martial arts list. The photo is marked as "No.1 in Gengzi Music List", so it can be seen that the five lists are also called "Music List". It seems too much to say that she is "ugly" from the photos.
Shen, Hua Lanfang, grab the first place in the flower list.
This is a photo of two people, Shen on the right and Hua Lanfang on the left, ranking first in the robbery list. Both are famous prostitutes, or both are famous prostitutes, so there should be no problem in identity judgment.
What is "robbery"? Game newspaper once published an article, Game newspaper. Although the following can't be found in the remaining newspapers, it is basically certain that Gengzi held a roster and selected flowers for Tianjin prostitutes who took refuge in Du Nan. According to the photos, the first place in the "robbery list" is Hua Lanfang.
After the year of Gengzi, Li Boyuan stopped publishing, and other newspapers followed suit. But the newspaper Whitewater Beach, which has been on the list before, is the only one. It can be judged that these photos are all "pornographic photos" in the newspaper.