Du Yuesheng's life is full of legends and excitement. He is a powerful tycoon in Shanghai and is a powerful tycoon. But you may not know that decades after Du Yuesheng's death, the memorial arch inscribed by a celebrity in his mausoleum was arbitrarily demolished, adding to the sadness of the tomb. What is going on? What is so special about the archway in Du Yuesheng Cemetery?
Du Yuesheng was born in 1888, originally from Chuansha, Jiangsu (now Pudong New Area, Shanghai). He was an out-and-out poor boy from the bottom. Du Yuesheng's childhood was very miserable. Before he was four years old, both his parents died of illness, leaving only little Du Yuesheng to survive in his uncle's house. Due to the poor living environment, his uncle neglected to discipline Du Yuesheng, so the young Du Yuesheng got into the bad habit of gambling. After a bad gamble, Du Yuesheng secretly mortgaged his ancestral home, which made his family completely disappointed in him. They eventually sent him to Shanghai Shiliupu fruit shop as an apprentice, hoping to correct Du Yuesheng's bad habits.
However, Du Yuesheng was not born to be mediocre. When he was an apprentice in the fruit shop, he made friends with many people in Shanghai's world. By chance, Du Yuesheng was introduced by a friend to the sect of Shanghai tycoon Huang Jinrong, and officially became a member of the Youth Gang. From then on, he began his lifelong "road of rivers and lakes."
Under the intentional promotion of Huang Jinrong and Lin Guisheng, Du Yuesheng quickly became a prominent figure in the Youth Gang. He founded the "Sanxin Company" that specialized in selling illegal goods, and quickly accumulated a large amount of wealth, and then became a tycoon on par with Huang Jinrong. However, compared with Huang Huangrong and Zhang Xiaolin, who are both three tycoons, Du Yuesheng's way of dealing with people is quite smooth. He is easy to make friends with and does not have the overbearingness of a gangster tycoon. Instead, he looks like an elegant scholar. In terms of national justice, he devoted all his financial and human resources to contribute to the Anti-Japanese War.
In 1949, as Shanghai returned to the hands of the people, Du Yuesheng also knew that it was not suitable to stay here for a long time, so he hurriedly sold his property and organized his family to escape to the port by ship, never to be seen again. Returned to my hometown. Unfortunately, Du Yuesheng's body was already in a serious health crisis at this time. His asthma attacks became more and more severe. In the day-long melancholy and depression, he could only rely on oxygen to maintain his vital signs. He seemed to have become a A dying man.
Du Yuesheng’s life in Hong Kong is far worse than in the past. Dozens of members of the Du family can only squeeze into a one-story building. All their family’s industries are in Shanghai, and all their financial resources are also limited. The family moved and was cut off. In order to improve the situation of having nothing but nothing, Du Yuesheng once partnered with a friend from Sichuan to do a big business. However, due to the current situation, the capital was lost, which added another big worry to him.
On August 16, 1951, Du Yuesheng reluctantly closed his eyes in depression at the age of 63. Du Yuesheng's death shocked local celebrities and dignitaries. They came to express condolences for Du Yuesheng and wrote elegiac couplets to mourn this former friend. Although Du Yuesheng died in Hong Kong, in his last words, he expressed his wish to be buried back in Gaoqiao Town, Shanghai. However, due to the seriousness of the current situation, Du Yuesheng's coffin could not be sent back to Shanghai and could only temporarily reside in a funeral parlor in Hong Kong.
Du Yuesheng’s coffin was left unburied for more than a year because his family intended to bury him back in his hometown. However, as time passed, the Du family felt that the matter was hopeless, so at the decision of his wife, Du Yuesheng's coffin was moved to Taipei. On October 25, 1952, Du Yuesheng's coffin left Hong Kong and took the Shengjing Ship to Taipei, where he was greeted by many old friends.
Mrs. Du Yuesheng specially found a Feng Shui master and asked for his help in practicing Feng Shui, and finally decided to locate the mausoleum near the hillside of Xizhi Town, Taipei County. This place is not only surrounded by mountains and rivers, but also close to a primary school. It is a good place. At the same time, in order to be able to return to his hometown one day, Du Yuesheng's coffin was buried in a special floating house method, that is, two benches were placed under the coffin, which meant that he did not touch the soil of a foreign country and was just a guest here.
In addition, on the tombstone of Du Yuesheng's mausoleum, there is an inscription by Zhang Qun, a famous calligrapher at that time. What is even more eye-catching is that in Du Yuesheng's mausoleum, there is also an inscription by Jiang Zhongzheng himself, which reads "righteousness and loyalty are outstanding" "Four big characters.
It must be said that Du Yuesheng was brilliant during his lifetime and also after his death. The details of his burial were also highlighted by various media in Taipei at that time, and attracted widespread attention from all walks of life. However, a few decades later, Du Yuesheng's reputation was quickly wiped out because the proud "righteousness and honor" archway in his cemetery was quickly demolished by the local government in the name of expropriating land for road construction. , leaving only a pile of ruins, seemingly trying to interpret the inherent scenery that belonged to this tycoon. It has to be said that such a desolate scene in Du Yuesheng's cemetery is in stark contrast to the glory he had during his lifetime, and has become a naked irony.
"Life is as long as the grass and trees are in autumn." Du Yuesheng's experiences before and after his death remind us all the time that we must walk the right path and behave appropriately, just as a song says: Take responsibility during your lifetime. Only then can we leave a wonderful posthumous comment!