In 1938, China's Battle of Songhu was filled with gunpowder smoke and flames. At the same time, in the United States on the other side of the ocean, an old Chinese man named Situ Meitang wore a long shirt and instructed the dock workers to pack boxes of guns and grenades into the ship.
These arms and medicines were raised by Situ Meitang and overseas Chinese to aid China's war of resistance against Japan. He specially instructed his subordinates to divide the materials into two parts, packing them separately and loading them on ships, and stressed that the delivery address must not be wrong.
Half a year later, these materials arrived by sea transport in the national control area and the red base areas of the ** Red Army. Situ Meitang is a well-known leader of the Chinese diaspora in the Americas, who has controlled the "Hongmen" of the Americas for half a century.
His life is legendary, from the acquittal of killing a white man with his bare hands in the United States at the age of 18, to being personally welcomed by Chiang Kai-shek when he returned to China during the Anti-Japanese War and landed at Chaotianmen in Chongqing, and then to being invited to carry the Tiananmen Tower at the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China in 1949.
Szeto Meitang's influence in the Chinese American community is far-reaching, his Zhi Gong Courts are located in 31 cities across the United States, and Franklin D. Roosevelt served as the legal counsel of Zhi Gong Tang before he entered the White House.
Born into a farming family in Guangdong Province, Situ Meitang showed excellent balance and martial arts talent from an early age, and he was also a hard-working child, insisting on studying in a private school and working part-time to support his family.
Growing up, he was exposed to a variety of different people and stories, and was deeply impressed by the prosperity and sophistication of the United States. By chance, he decided to go to the United States, and despite many difficulties, he persevered.
In the United States, he joins the Hommen and gets into a clash with a vexatious white man, Fat John, while working in a restaurant. With his courage and wisdom, Szeto Meitang successfully taught Fat John a lesson, and won respect and admiration in the Chinese community.
Situ Meitang accurately found Fat John's flaw, knocked him down with a kick of the old tree, and then rose into the air, using a big stone to crush the crab, and beat Fat John with Dongpo's elbow, making him dizzy.
Situ Meitang jumped onto Fat John, punched ** plus, left a smashing hand, right slap iron sand palm, south fist and north leg went into battle, happily venting all the dissatisfaction, making Fat John suffer.
Situ Meitang's heroic behavior instantly spread all over Chinatown and became a sensational event, and he became a hero in the hearts of the Chinese people and protected the rights and interests of the Chinese. However, in the United States, it is not uncommon to kill a Chinese person, and there is no heavy punishment, but when the roles are reversed, it causes an uproar.
Situ Meitang was arrested by the United States, and the next day, the court sentenced him to death by hanging. This news shook the Chinatown, and all the Chinese were dissatisfied, and Hongmen and well-known overseas Chinese sought assistance to redress or appeal for Situ Meitang.
The Chinese laborers launched a large-scale ** and strike, which caused great headaches for American businessmen, and in order to avoid losses, they also began to secretly help Situ Meitang or put pressure on **.
In the end, the court commuted Situ Meitang's hanging to 10 months in prison, and in fact, Situ Meitang was quickly released on bail, and the case of the Chinese beating a white man to death ended in Situ Meitang's victory.
His heroic deeds made him famous in the first war and became the spiritual pillar of the Chinese people. On the day he was released from prison, thousands of local Chinese went to the prison gate to greet him. With his unparalleled influence and support, Situ Meitang was quickly reused in Hongmen, and he lived up to expectations, leading the gang to storm the city and make great contributions in the competition with the Vietnamese gang, the Thai gang and the local gangs.
In 1905, Hongmen established the Zhi Gong Tang in Boston, and Situ Meitang was elected as the chairman, from which the titles of "Hongmen Boss" and "Hongmen Big Brother" came from.
Szeto's past taught him the importance of the law, and he understood that violence alone would not solve the problem, so one of his first steps after his presidency was to hire a legal adviser to provide full legal protection to the members of the Hung Men.
"We want everyone to know that Hongmen doesn't just solve problems with fists. And it was Roosevelt, who later became the United States, who provided legal aid to the Zhi Gong Court, when he was only a freshly graduated trainee lawyer.
However, he bravely accepted the challenge because he was willing to fight for justice, even though others were reluctant to serve in the court because of pressure or prejudice.
The friendship between Szeto Meitang and Roosevelt began by chance. During Roosevelt's campaign, Situ Meitang mobilized local overseas Chinese to wave the flag and shout for him, and Roosevelt was grateful.
During his tenure as **, Situ Meitang used his personal contacts to write a letter proposing the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act, which was eventually passed. Situ Meitang gave great support to the Chinese revolution, and he provided funds and help to oppose the imperial system and overthrow the Manchu Qing.
When Sun Yat-sen was propagating revolutionary ideas, Situ Meitang also joined in, and he personally served as Sun Yat-sen's bodyguard, accompanying him to eat, drink, and give speeches. Situ Meitang's righteous deeds made him a leader of overseas Chinese, and his deeds have been praised by people.
In 1911, the Huanghuagang Uprising failed, and the 72 martyrs were killed. Lin Juemin's words: "The Qing Dynasty wants my life, and I vow to fight it to the end!" ”
It stirred up the revolutionary enthusiasm of countless people. Huang Xing decided that this was a good time to restart the revolution and decided to act immediately, but the revolution would require 150,000 US dollars.
Sun Yat-sen did not have enough funds, and he was very anxious about it. However, after Situ Meitang found out, he did not hesitate to pawn out his four buildings in Toronto, Vancouver, and Victoria, Canada, and let Sun Yat-sen mail all the money back to China in exchange.
Sun Yat-sen was grateful for this and said: "Overseas Chinese are the mother of revolution!" At the end of 1911, the Xinhai Revolution broke out, and the Wuchang Uprising was successful. Due to the intertwined forces of various parties, Mr. Sun Yat-sen was invited to return to China to preside over the overall situation.
Situ Meitang personally sent Sun Yat-sen to the ship. Sun Yat-sen promised Situ Meitang: "You have made great contributions to the Chinese revolution, and if you have the opportunity, you will be rewarded!" Sure enough, after Sun Yat-sen took office as the **Great Governor of China**, he immediately called the United States to invite Situ Meitang to return to China to serve as the "** Government Supervisor and Seal Officer", with power like the head of the Manchu Dynasty.
Faced with the great opportunity to seal his wife and Yinzi admired by the Chinese, Situ Meitang refused: "I have been away from my homeland for many years, and I have no personal connections, not to mention that I have a specialization in the art industry, and my personality likes to go straight, I can't spare those people's flowers and intestines, not the material for officials." ”
Although Situ Meitang did not become an official, he still spared no effort to help Sun Yat-sen, after which Yuan Shikai stole the country, ** revolutionary, and it was Situ Meitang who once again extended a helping hand to invite Sun Yat-sen to take refuge in the United States.
It was not until Sun Yat-sen's death that Situ Meitang's relationship with the Kuomintang began to flatten, and he did not even have an intersection with Chiang Kai-shek......Why did Chiang Kai-shek personally greet Situ Meitang at Chaotianmen when he returned to China in 1941?
This starts with the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Situ Meitang immediately called on overseas Chinese in the United States to contribute money and make a strong contribution to help the people recover their lost territory.
He took the initiative to contact Chiang Kai-shek and the people** and provided huge financial support. During the eight-year Anti-Japanese War, Situ Meitang only called on overseas Chinese in New York to donate nearly $1,000 per capita, reaching a total of $14 million, and he himself gave it his all.
In the whole of the Americas, a total of more than 200,000 overseas Chinese donated money and purchased public bonds for the anti-Japanese resistance, and the total amount was as high as 4$800 million. 4What is the concept of $800 million?
This 4800 million to 60 million dollars per year. In 1938, the legal tender issued by the national **, 1 fiat currency was exchanged for 0$17. At this exchange rate, $60 million is equivalent to 3500 million legal currency, and in 1938, the annual treasury revenue of the national ** was only 12900 million, and the military expenditure is only 5900 million.
In 1939 it was even worse, with only 4700 million. It can be said that the donations of overseas Chinese account for more than half of the military expenditure, supporting the people's anti-Japanese funds, not to mention the direct donations of arms, medicines and other strategic materials, many of which cannot be bought with money.
In order to fully support China's resistance to the Japanese invaders, Situ Meitang resigned from all positions in the "Hongmen" and set up a special "Decoration Bureau" to raise funds for the country. Most of the materials he raised were withheld by Chiang Kai-shek and used to encircle and suppress the Red Army, but he still had a glimmer of illusion.
However, his return to China in 1941 completely caused Situ Meitang to abandon the Kuomintang and turn to the Chinese Communist Party.
Situ Meitang, a Hongmen boss, was 73 years old and was placed under house arrest by the Japanese army, and asked him to serve as the chairman of the maintenance committee, organize gangs, and maintain order in Hong Kong. When the Pacific War broke out, the Japanese army was tight, and they became polite to Situ Meitang, but Situ Meitang had a plan and connected with Liao Chengzhi, the head of the underground party, and decided to make a false appointment with the snake, and proposed to change the letter of appointment to employment.
That night, under the escort of the underground party, Situ Meitang disguised himself as a beggar, successfully escaped from the house arrest of the Japanese army, walked more than 300 miles, arrived at the Dongjiang anti-Japanese guerrilla area, and transferred to Chongqing.
Along the way, Situ Meitang saw the Kuomintang expropriating violently, the army arresting strong men, and the people were struggling to make a living. His investigation found that the remittances sent back by overseas Chinese were filled by the Kuomintang or deliberately delayed, resulting in people starving to death.
The resentment in Situ Meitang's heart grew deeper and deeper.
Situ Meitang refused the invitation of Chiang Kai-shek and his wife, participated in the construction of New China, and spoke out for the Communist Party of China. He resolutely rejected Chiang Kai-shek's appointment and did not dissociate himself from the Communists.
Stuart Leiden tried to persuade him not to participate in the Chinese civil war, but he firmly said that it was all Chinese who went to the **, and did not want Americans to mix in the affairs of the Chinese. In 1947, Situ Meitang returned to the United States and never donated to the Kuomintang again.
In 1948, he publicly issued a manifesto in support of the Communist Party and put forward a proposal for the formation of a people's democracy. In 1949, he returned to China to participate in the opening meeting of the New Political Consultative Conference and sat at the same table with ***.
When he learned that this overseas Chinese who had made great contributions to the Chinese nation's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression had returned, he said to him cordially: "Welcome back, I hope you can take care of your health." ”
Soon after, at the grand founding ceremony, Situ Meitang was invited to watch the ceremony from the tower of Tiananmen Square. Considering that he was too old to climb, the prime minister had a rattan chair remade and the staff carefully lifted him up to the Tiananmen Tower, so that he could witness this historic moment with his own eyes.
This overseas traveler wandered for nearly 70 years, and finally chose to return to China when the founding of New China. Since then, he has remained at home and has never set foot in the United States again. In 1955, Situ Meitang died of illness at the age of 87.
His funeral was presided over by ***, who also sent a wreath to express his condolences. Subsequently, Situ Meitang's ashes were buried in the Babaoshan Cemetery of the Martyrs' Cemetery, becoming the object of admiration for future generations.