In San Francisco's Chinatown, He Binghuan, who is nearly 40 years old, received bad news from the Chinese workers under the company's name: The San Francisco city government ordered him to close down his medicinal herb company and related industries such as garments, tea, and grocery stores within a week on the grounds that the medicinal herb business he ran was potentially harmful.

He Binghuan is a native of Cotton Village, Nanhai County, Guangdong Province, and his ancestors have lived in Cotton Village for generations, working as a farmer for a living, working hard and hard.

He Binghuan's father went to Foshan Town, Guangdong Province to do business earlier, and the family was only well-off.

The Qing court's brutal political oppression and economic exploitation led to economic depression and business depression, and his family's business was on the verge of bankruptcy, and his family's financial situation became increasingly poor. In order to get out of the predicament, he asked his son He Binghuan to go to Hong Kong, which was not long after the establishment of the port, to visit his old friend Liao Jingchang, and to Liao's relationship and care, and opened a small grocery store in Hong Kong. The young He Zai was smart, capable, alert, and courageous, and his family's difficult situation hit him, but it also strengthened his determination to revitalize the family business. He painstakingly ran a small grocery store, took the initiative to contact the overseas business market, and constantly imported Western machinery and equipment that was still relatively trendy at that time, because of his vision and integrity, the capital accumulated in his name gradually increased, and slowly became a Chinese businessman from a small businessman.

Received a notice from the office of HSBC Bank in Hong Kong that it will be transferred to San Francisco, USA to assist in handling HSBC's business in the United States.

Liao Jingchang and Ho Binghuan's father were old friends, and the friendship between the two families continued, and Ho Binghuan, who was prominent in business, and Liao Zhubin, who received a Western-style education, also maintained close ties.

Before leaving, Liao Zhubin suggested that He Binghuan follow him to relocate to San Francisco, and use the assets and wealth he had accumulated over the years to do business in the United States.

Influenced by the Chinese workers who went to the United States in the seventies and eighties of the nineteenth century, Ho Binghuan believed that the Chinese workers in the United States were a market with huge potential economic benefits, and that if they did the business of medicinal herbs, tea, cloth, and garments in the United States, they would gain far more than they could in Hong Kong.

He Binghuan is a decisive person, and after analyzing the benefits, he took a family of more than ten people and followed Liao Zhubin to move his family to San Francisco, USA.

The vision of the vast majority of businessmen in the mainland has made He Binghuan's career rise to a new height.

From 1870 to 1881, the average Chinese worker in the United States generally earned about $26, which was less than half of the white man's salary, but he saved ten times the salary of the people under the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

Relying on grocery stores and medicinal herb stores set up in San Francisco and other Chinese-populated areas, Ho Binghuan's business grew larger and larger, and the number of Chinese employees under his name gradually grew to more than 200, and he himself quickly became a leading figure in the Chinese business community in the United States.

Seeing that the business under his name is becoming more and more prosperous, He Binghuan originally planned to bring his friend Liao Zhubin into the business development together, but unfortunately, the increasingly difficult situation of Chinese workers in the United States and the official promulgation of the "Chinese Exclusion Act" completely cut off the possibility of expanding business in the United States.

In recent months, newspapers have continued to publish news of the murder of Chinese people, and seeing the situation become more chaotic, even Ho Binghuan, who has experienced strong winds and waves, panicked for a moment.

"Daddy, Uncle Liao and Enbai are here and are waiting for you in the front hall."

A seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl walked in briskly and spoke.

"Let your eldest brother and third brother follow Uncle Anan to the pharmacy first, and if you encounter white people causing trouble, be more patient and try not to conflict with them."

He Binghuan stood up, temporarily put aside the executive order of the San Francisco government, and commanded.

"Okay, Dad, I'll go tell the eldest brother and the third brother."

The girl strode away, without the restraint and restraint of ordinary young ladies.

"Alas, the female eldest can't help her father, when she saw her daughter running to her side and crying and pleading, she softened her heart, and let her continue to bind her feet, but now that she has grown up, she has become a tomboy, with a few male students every day, and she doesn't look like everyone is beautiful at all, and I don't know if the decision made ten years ago was right or wrong."

Looking at his daughter who ran out, He Binghuan sighed and said.

Like ordinary wealthy families, the He family is a large grand garden-style family, with a thriving population and a large group of children. He Binghuan has a good wife of three aunts, twelve children, plus the Chinese who were invited to the nursing home, the hired male and female servants, and the bookkeeper who is responsible for business and property accounting, a total of no less than fifty or sixty people.

The girl He Peizhen who ran out in front of him was his fourth child and first daughter, and she had two brothers with the same mother. One brother and three younger sisters. and half-born children totally

Counting, she has twelve brothers and sisters (five brothers, seven sisters, that is, there are three elder brothers, two younger brothers, and six younger sisters, He Xiangning ranks fourth, so the servants and maids all call her Miss Four. The fourth lady, known as the "noble flower", is thin and small. On the surface, she looks like a petite and fragile little girl. However, her bright and lively talent and brave and strong personality are extraordinary.

When she was young, she had her own opinions and opinions, and had a competitive stubborn temper, often showing a willfulness that the elders could not control, and she could not pull back the three cows if she recognized it.

In the seventies and eighties of the nineteenth century, the mainland still retained the bad custom that women had to bind their feet

The upper classes of the society are bound with their little feet as usual.

Although Hong Kong was the first to communicate with overseas countries and was the first to lead the trend, the bad habit of foot binding still remains.

When Ho Pei-ching was five or six years old, her mother began to forcibly bind her feet, first scalding her with very hot water

Tender feet (said to soften bones). Then layer them with long strips of white cloth

Tightly wrapped in a layer, and then sewn tightly with needle and thread, it is not allowed to be opened until a certain number of days. The fourth lady did not want to suffer this pain, and she wept and made trouble during the day, and her tears rippled against this inhumane bad habit;

Late at night, when the toes of ten toes were swelling and unbearable, I couldn't bear the pain anymore, so I got up quietly. With enough courage, he secretly used scissors to cut the foot-wrapping cloth in the sewing, and threw the strips of white cloth under the bed, freeing his feet.

The next day, her mother first scolded and scolded her, then took away the scissors, and collected the scissors for the whole family, and then tied her feet again, sewing them tighter than the last time. But she didn't cry, she secretly bribed Xiaoyahuan to buy a pair of scissors, hid it under the big incense burner of an ancestral altar in the safest place, and waited until she got up quietly in the dead of night, and then cut off the footcloth angrily. Cut into flying butterflies, then crumpled into a ball and throw it under the bed.

Although her mother's beating and scolding became more and more severe, her crying and fighting never stopped. Wrap once, cut once,

This kind of heroic struggle probably went through dozens of rounds, and then wrapped and cut, and the cycle went on and on, constantly resisting, always unyielding, and the peculiar character began to emerge at a young age.

She was adamantly opposed to foot binding, not only because she didn't want to suffer from flesh and skin. And there are also their own opinions. The fourth lady in her childhood liked to listen to the stories of the "Long Hair" rebellion very much, and she admired and admired the female soldiers of the Taiping Army who fought bravely with a pair of heavenly feet. She had already bred the idea of taking them as an example in her young heart, and longed that she could grow up to be like these heroines, with a pair of heavenly feet to go all over the world, so she hated foot binding even more and became a "non-foot bindingist". Therefore, she made up her mind to resolutely resist foot binding to the end. The mother insisted on binding her feet, the daughter resisted stubbornly, did not back down from each other, and the matter got bigger and bigger, and finally, her strong and unyielding tenacity moved the father who doted on her, and he intervened in the matter. With the dignity of a parent, say, "Let her go!"

Under the protection of her father, her mother sighed and finally reluctantly agreed not to bind her feet again.

As he grew older, after moving to the United States, under the favor of his father and the relatively open social atmosphere of the West, He Peizhen was able to receive Western-style education, and in 1879, he entered the coeducational Hillhouse High School, Hillhouse High School once accepted the first batch of female students in the United States and Dongying, He Peizhen had contact with them when she first entered the school, Kwong Rongguang, Kwong Xianyu, Kwong Jingyang, Yang Zhaonan, Huang Jiliang, Lin Peiquan, Zhan Tianyou, and five Dongying young girls in the United States, The younger Shigeko Nagai (born in 1863), Yamakawa Samatsu (born in 1860), and Umeko Tsuda (born in 1864) were all her friends.

A group of young people full of ideals and in their prime gathered together to discuss the experience and influence of the fate of the country and the nation, especially the South American Chinese who were born as remnants of the Taiping Army, and the legend of building a new and vibrant Chinese country step by step, attracted her to read tirelessly for a long time.

The vivid images of the heroes of the Han Kingdom in South America who resisted the attack of foreign countries that have been discussed by everyone left a deep impression on her enthusiastic heart, and gradually developed the idea of learning from her admiration and admiration.

He Binghuan never imagined that his daughter, who had grown up since childhood, would become a famous female politician and leader of the women's liberation movement in the history of the Han Kingdom. And just when he was still worried about his daughter's personality problems,

In another living room, Liao Enbai said goodbye to his father and secretly came to the backyard to meet He Peizhen.

"Ah Zhen, the situation outside has been very chaotic recently, you better stay at home and don't go outside."

Liao Enbai found He Peizhen and said with concern.

"I heard that today is the day of Yamakawa Shematsu's graduation from university, why didn't you go to her to celebrate?"

He Peizhen ignored the relationship between the other party and asked rhetorically.

"The United States promulgated the Chinese Exclusion Act, and all Chinese people in the United States were panicking, so where was I in the mood to attend the graduation ceremony of Yamakawa Shematsu."

"Hmph, even if there is still a little bit of national pride, the foreigners in the United States deceive people too much, we, as sons and daughters of China, should set an example and call on compatriots in the United States to demonstrate and oppose the "Chinese Exclusion Act"!"

He Peizhen was emotional, looked at the other party seriously and said, "Liao Enbai, do you dare to go to Chinatown with me to call on everyone to demonstrate?" ”

"Ah Zhen, it's useless, the diplomatic embassy in the United States signed an agreement with the Americans, and the Americans offered to supply machinery and railroads to factories in the Westernization Movement in exchange for the Qing government's agreement to upgrade the Chinese Exclusion Act into an international treaty.

Two days ago, Chen Lanbin, minister to the United States, made it clear that he recognized the right of the United States to require Chinese people to register and wear "dog tags" identifying Chinese identities, and he also persuaded Chinese in the United States to abide by US laws and not to gather people for no reason. ”

After listening to Liao Enbai's explanation, the anger in He Peizhen's chest couldn't help but burn.

The matter could not be clearer at this point: the Qing Dynasty abandoned its people, and the fate of the Chinese stranded in the United States was completely exchanged by the Qing court for the hands of the American government.

"Overseas nationals were slaughtered and killed by foreigners, and the Qing government listened to it, what is the difference between the so-called Han people and Zhongxing kings and those invading foreigners!"

At this moment, He Peizhen completely lost hope in the Qing court, and all that was left in her heart was the sadness that went deep into the bone marrow.

"The Qing court has always been strict against the Han people, where will it care about the life and death of overseas Chinese, Ah Zhen, listen to my advice, the strength of the United States is second to none even in Western countries, even if we launch a demonstration of our compatriots and Chinese, it is also useless, rather than waiting for the foreigners to wake up to their conscience and stop the persecution of their compatriots, it is better to respond to the call of the Han in South America and organize the compatriots to evacuate South America."

"American foreigners are like an ungrateful hungry wolf, when the Indians were kind enough to take them in, what they were waiting for was the slaughter of the whites, and such a country would not stay!

Enbai, according to your meaning, let's discuss with Daddy and Uncle Liao, mobilize the staff and students of the two companies in the United States, and organize compatriots to evacuate the United States! ”

"Okay, let's go see my father and Uncle He now!" …………