The Last Empress - Anchee Min [114]
I was sitting in my courtyard staring at the pistachio trees when the beheadings of the six young men took place. The leaves were bright yellow and had started falling. I was told the six went bravely. None of them spoke of regrets. Two of them had turned themselves in. Tan Shih-tung, the son of Hupeh's governor, had been given a chance to escape, but refused.
Yung Lu's men would have eventually captured Kang Yu-wei if he hadn't been aided in his escape by John Otway Percy Bland, the Shanghai correspondent of the London Times. The British consul general wired instructions to the consulates up and down the China coast to be on the lookout for Kang while Yung Lu's manhunt was on.
On September 27, in company with the warship Esk, British agents escorted a steamer with Kang Yu-wei on board into Hong Kong harbor. Meanwhile, the British consulate in Canton made arrangements for Kang's mother, his wife, his concubines, his daughters and his brother's family to flee. In Hong Kong, Kang was picked up by Miyazaki Torazo, the powerful Japanese sponsor of the Genyosha, and sailed directly to Tokyo.
The executions made Tan, the governor's son, immortal. The people's sympathy was with the underdogs. The Dowager Empress hates her adopted son, therefore she beheaded his friends—so went public opinion. A poem Tan recited before his death became so famous that it was taught in elementary schools for many years:
I am willing to shed my blood
If thereby my country may be saved.
But for everyone who perishes today
A thousand will rise up to carry on my task.
36
Chinese Emperor killed. May Have Been Tortured—Some Think He Was Poisoned by Conspirators." This came from the New York Times. It was Kang Yu-wei's version of reality. I had "murdered Emperor Guang-hsu by poison and strangulation." My son "was subjected to frightful torture, a red-hot iron being thrust through his bowels."
Kang Yu-wei "informed me," J.O.P. Bland wrote in the London Times, "that he left Peking in compliance with a secret message from the Emperor warning him of his danger. He further stated that the recent events were entirely due to the action of the Manchu party, headed by the Dowager Empress and Viceroy Yung Lu ... Kang Yu-wei urges that England has an opportunity to intervene and restore the Emperor to the throne ... Unless protection is afforded to the victims of the coup, it will be impossible henceforward for any native official to support British interests."
I had told Li Hung-chang to stop sending me the newspapers, but he pretended to be deaf. I couldn't blame him for trying to educate the Emperor. Li made sure two copies arrived at the same time, one for me and the other for His Majesty. I tried to stay calm, but whatever I read made me miserable. It was painful to remember that Guang-hsu had called Kang Yu-wei a genius, his "best friend" and his "like-mind."
Kang went on a worldwide tour. The newspapers quoted a speech he gave at a conference held in England: "Since the Emperor began to display an interest in affairs of state, the Dowager Empress has been scheming his deposition. She used to play cards with him, and gave him intoxicating drinks in order to prevent him from attending to state affairs. For the greater part of the last two years, the Emperor has been relegated to the role of figurehead against his own wishes."
Both my son and I were poisoned by our own remorse. It didn't matter how I tried to justify the situation; what remained was the undeniable fact that Guang-hsu had allowed a plot for my murder to be hatched.
Kang Yu-wei continued his traveling campaign: "You all know that the Dowager Empress is not educated, that she is very conservative ... that she has been very reluctant to give the Emperor any real power in managing the affairs of the empire. In the year 1887 it was decided