李叔蒙

李叔蒙 (Li Shumeng) was the daughter of a carpenter and a concubine.   We in the West would call her an illegitimate child today, even if it is a phrase best used for another time.   But China, even  circa 1914, still had concubines.   And to be the child of a concubine (not to be confused with whore or prostitute) was an all too common occurrence in pre-Communist China.   After all, concubines in China were not paid for sex per transaction, nor did they have other sexual partners.   And they also lived with their master.

As such I would struggle with folks thinking or believing that Ms. Li  was born into an impoverished household.

I give slavery in the American South as an example.  While most people believe every Southerner in America during the time of slavery owned a slave, far from it.  Rather only 5% of all Southerners and 25% of all households actually owned a slave.   So it was with owning a concubine in China. 

If concubines were so prevalent then why the need for brothels?

No.  Li Shumeng did not come from an impoverished family.    However, because she was the daughter of a concubine, her life was that more difficult, if only because she was not a male.      

Rather, like many people, her world really didn’t begin to fall apart until her parents split.  Again if a boy, she perhaps would have still been with her father.  But as a girl she went with her mother.    

Alas another name change (Li Yunhe) 李云鹤 followed by extended work in a factory, all led to the inability to grow up a typical, normal child with a father and mother in the household.   Sometimes she lived with her mom, and sometimes she did not.  

Li Yunhe grew up fast.  We in the West would say “too fast”, but if one looks back at the chaos quickly(not slowly) enveloping China in all fairness one would have to agree that growing up fast was the only way to survive, if not thrive.    Indeed, growing up “slow” as a child in early twentieth century China would have meant starving to death, or coming under brutal Japanese occupation.   

Perhaps having no livelihood and thus roaming the streets of Shanghai and any other big city.

Li Yunhe by 1929 had found her calling.   It was this chameleon lifestyle that made her perfect for the pictures.   Li Yunhe had spent her life trying to fit in, to assimilate.   Moving from place to place, putting a premium on fitting in and not angering anyone.   How could acting not be second nature to her?  

Li Yunhe’s success can be illustrated by one simple deed; in 1931 she married the son of a rich man.   Even then her husband could’ve married anyone he so desired.  Yet he chose to marry the daughter of a concubine.    Li was only 17.

Was this a reflection of her ability to be liked?  Or simply a reflection of her ability to ingratiate herself with someone?    Her husband surely did not know her background status.  But surely he knew compared to himself she came from nothing.  And still he married her.

One thing is for sure.  Acting and growing up away from home gave her confidence.  A sense of worldliness others did not have.   She lived in Beijing!

However, they soon divorced and again she found herself in “the city”, this time Qingdao, where in my view she met the love of her life, an extraordinary man named Yu Qiwei.  Readers must all learn this name, if only for whom he spawned afterwards.  

While Yu Qiwei would be no Mao, he would rise high enough in the Party apparatus to become mayor of Tianjin.   One wonders if Mao knew of him.  I think he probably did, but by 1949 his relationship with his wife had become so estranged he simply didn’t see the man as a threat.   And I seriously doubt they ever traded “notes”.

Yu Qiwei was in a sense, the man Li Yunhe kept coming back too.

His influence on Li Yunhe was profound.   Because of Yu, Li joined the Party while living in Qingdao.  She was only 19.   Soon after “her Man” was arrested.   As his lover how could she not herself become a target?  She fled to spy ridden Shanghai but was soon arrested in 1934, where she spent a few months in jail.

Upon her release she and her lover again reunited.

Now it’s time for a recap:

By 12 her father had died.

By 17 she was married.

By 18 divorced.

By 19 she was both living with another man and had become a member of the Party.

By 20 she was arrested and had spent time in jail.

How was she not a woman who had grown up quickly?

And in this very sense how was she not different from Cixi? 

By 16 Cixi was a concubine of the Emperor.

By 20 Cixi had become pregnant with the Emperor’s child.  Meanwhile Ms. Li at 20 was in jail.  Different paths, very different roads to nearly unchallenged and unequivocal power.    Both eventually having the power of holding a person’s literal fate in their hands.   To kill or not to kill was up to them.

She was far away more sexually experienced than other Chinese girls her age.   She had been to all the big cities.  And she obviously knew how to ingratiate herself with rich or powerful men.   Does this make her an opportunist?  Perhaps.  But these men all asked for her hand in marriage of their own free will.  Should we look down on her ability to grasp such an opportunity, or merely be jealous of her willingness to use such a talent?

Now I want to take a brief moment and talk about Yu Qiwei himself.  As I said above, in my view he was the love of her life, and they will meet again later in the story. 

Yu Qiwei was no Party lightweight.  He was a hardcore Chinese Patriot and like many stood up for China during its time of humiliation and Japanese domination.  He was an able Party Member with several children  two of which  we briefly want to talk about.  One rather infamous and another well known today.  The former was Yu Qiangsheng, a notorious spy that defected to America in the 80’s.  

His defection helped bring down one of the early Chinese spy rings in America.

The other only just retired from the top governing body of China’s Politburo.    This would have made him one of the 7 highest ranking men in China.   His name is Yu Zhengsheng.

Alas Yu Qiwei himself could not be saved and he was declared “a rightist” in 1958.  My only guess is that someone finally figured out neither his former lover nor Mao would save him.  He died under mysterious circumstances the same year.   Like so many, many others to follow.

Meanwhile Li Yunhe returned to Shanghai.  The year was 1935.  In 1936 she married(yet again) a 2^nd time.   Even when married she couldn’t keep away from Yu Qiwei, and I’m not sure why.   Was he in a way a fatherly figure?  The proverbial “older man”?   He was only three years older than the future Madame Mao.   Methinks not. 

Alas by the tender age of 23 Li Yunhe was yet again divorced.   This would of course be held against her, if only for the fact she was a woman.   Still many a Revolutionary would equal if not surpass her in this category.

Still I think it is fair to say that at such an early age Li Yunhe was showing somewhat of an amoral character.  To be married and divorced while so young  was still unheard of during this time in China.  To have the same situation TWICE! was surely looked down upon by Society at large.

The question to ponder is why?  Was it out of necessity?  Was this what it literally took to survive in China during the 1930’s?   If so, I believe she surely took things too far.   Was her inability to “stay still” a reflection of her life as a child?   An unconscious discomfort with happiness?

Her husband loved her so much he attempted suicide.  Why would she throw that away?  Maybe because one cannot simply appreciate something they never had as a child….love?

(Marriage to Tang Na in 1936 in Hangzhou.)


And now we come to Shanghai and the glorious thirties.  Paris had its 1920’s.  Los Angeles perhaps its 1950’s.  But the 30’s belonged to not just New York, but Shanghai.   Shanghai was a melting pot of self entitled French and British expats, fleeing Jews and Chinese Mafia galore.  Chiang Kai Shek’s spies battled with Zhou En Lai street by street for the soul of the city.  The Japanese on everyone’s mind.  Everyone waiting for the door to burst open and this damn house of debauchery to fall in. 

Which it did.

Enter Li Yunhe, with yet another name, this time 蓝苹。  Enter Shanghai.  In life symbolism is everything, and no less so than in China.  China’s eventual Party Elders were of course hypocritical in that it is ok for a Man to divorce multiple times but not necessarily for a Woman.   Yet what really put Lan Ping behind the eight ball was “she came from Shanghai!” and “she was an actress!”.  

Nevermind she was sent to prison, and Nevermind she was an actual Party Member (which I believe was correctly interpreted as more of a wish to fulfill a lover’s desire than any true passion for Communism).

But truth to the matter, I believe Lan Ping’s life came together in Shanghai, if only for a brief time.  America is full of many a girl going to the big city and being dazzled by the big lights.  Lan Ping met those bright lights of Shanghai with a simple “been there done that” shrug.  She was no star.   Nor was she a failure. 

One of the “What Ifs”(remember the series?) I will probably never put to paper is “what if” those despicable Japanese had never attacked and occupied Shanghai?

Would Lan Ping have fled?  I think like everyone else she probably would have stayed.  But History had bigger things for Lan Ping.  Good or bad it seems we all have our role to play.   The Japanese played  theirs and the rest is history.  Lan Ping fled Shanghai, along with many others.

In this situation many a Shanghai inhabitant with means would have fled to Hangzhou, perhaps even Hong Kong. ( Still safe for a few more years.)  A few would have stayed.  Many would have fled to their hometown, or to relatives.   Not Blue Apple.

Twice divorced, with no apparent family.  She simply reached back into her toolbox, and pulled out her Party Membership.   Good to have in times like these.

As for Li Yunhe, it was time for a new beginning.  New beginning's are nice.  Always nice.

Jiang Qing arrived in Yanan in 1937.  She was 23, though it seemed she had already lived a life time.  And she was more than a damn match for any of China’s Party Elders.  Indeed, Yanan had no one like her.