Tragic Story of China’s Famous Courtesan | An Unlikely Heroine, Sai Jinhua

Sai Jinghua was a prominent courtesan during the Qing Dynasty, known for her beauty and intelligence. She had relationships with high-ranking officials and foreign diplomats, but her fortune changed after the Boxer Rebellion. Sai Jinghua's original surname was Zhao, and she grew up in Suzhou. As she was a courtesan, in order to maintain her reputation, she did not want to reveal her real surname, so she changed it to Fu. She changed her name a few times afterwards, and it was when she was in Tianjin, she changed her name to Sai Jinghua. Sai Jinghua's family was in the business, and their financial situation was initially good. However, when she was in her teens, her father's business began to decline, and the family's financial situation worsened. At this time, Sai Jinghua had grown up to be beautiful and clever, who invited her to work as a qingguan on a flower boat. Flower boat is a decorated boat with exquisite decorations, where young ladies accompany guests to drink tea and chat. There were two types of courtesan. One was qingguan, who only sold her talent, not her body. From then on, Sai Jinghua began her career as a courtesan, and quickly became famous throughout Suzhou. Until she met the person who changed her life, Hongjun, a native of Suzhou and was the top scholar in the imperial examination. In 1868, during the reign of Tongzhi, Hongjun achieved the highest score in the imperial examination, making him the top scholar. In 1886, Hongjun returned to Suzhou to mourn his mother's death and met Sai Jinghua. He didn't go out much and only called for courtesans, including Sai Jinghua, to come to his residence and entertain him and his friends. He was captivated by Sai Jinghua's beauty at a point of false meeting. In the next year, Hongjun took her as his concubine and changed her name to Hong Mengnuan. Hongjun already had two wives at the time, so she became his third wife. Their relationship caused quite a stir at that time. Hongjun had a strong interest in history and geography. So in 1887, the Qing government dispatched him to Europe to serve as an envoy to Germany, Russia, the Netherlands, and Austria. He became the only scholar who was also a diplomat. Hongjun's two wives were said to be frequently ill and had to manage household affairs, so they could not accompany him on his travels. However, the real reason was that they were both traditional and had hardly ever traveled outside. They also found it difficult to accept the foreign customs of shaking hands and kissing. Finally, they ordered Sai Jinghua to accompany him on a trip, allowing her to go abroad as an ambassador's wife. They took a French cruise from Shanghai to Berlin in Germany and stayed at a Chinese embassy. Sai Jinghua accompanied Hongjun and traveled through four countries, mingling with high society. Hongjun hired four German maids and a female companion for her, and the companion also taught her some German. Some people say Sai Jinghua behaved promiscuously during her time in Europe. She especially became acquainted with Walter See, the commander-in-chief of the Ignatian Alliance. According to Sai Jinghua, she was received by German Emperor Wilhelm II and Empress Augusta Victoria during her stay. But most of the time, she just stayed at the Chinese embassy. In fact, she was a girl with bound feet, which made her mobility limited. Foot binding was a Chinese custom of breaking and tightly binding the feet of young girls in order to change their shape and size. Also, while living in Berlin, Sai Jinghua gave birth to a daughter and named her De Guan. De means Germany in Chinese. Three years later, Hongjun finished his term and returned to Beijing. He was appointed as a Left Vice Minister of War. After returning, Hongjun bought a large mansion and planned to build several western-style buildings inside, which made Sai Jinghua full of anticipation. Unfortunately, trouble soon came. In the 17th year of the Guangxu's reign, there was a dispute between China and Russia over the Pamir boundary issue. Russia openly invaded Pamir. Hongjun opposed the use of military force and advocated for a diplomatic solution, but there was no progress. He was impeached for this and accused of selling out his country for possessing and mobbing the favorite Russia. This was a major blow to him, and he died of illness at the age of 55 in 1893. Sai Jinghua's life as a top scholar's wife came to an end. She left Hong's family. There are two versions of this. One says she left willingly because she did not want to be a young widow. Another says Hong's family did not accept her because of her courtesan background. They only kept her daughter. Hongjun left 50,000 tales of silver for Sai Jinghua before he died, but the Hong's family did not hand it over to her. After Sai Jinghua left her family, she stayed in Shanghai. She rented a house, bought two girls and opened a brothel under the name Chao Menglan. She became famous with the reputation of being a former concubine of a top scholar and an employee's wife, earning the title of flowerless top scholar. Because of her high profile, Hong's family thought she ruined the name. In 1898, they collaborated with the Suzhou's top scholar and the Shanghai prefect to force Sai Jinghua to close her brothel and leave Shanghai. To avoid trouble, Sai Jinghua moved to Tianjin. She changed her name to Sai Jinghua and expanded her business operations. In the next year, Sai Jinghua moved to Beijing, where she opened another brothel. The customers who came were all high-ranking officials and nobles. Because of her association with the famous and wealthy merchant, she was also called Sai's second uncle. In 1900, the Eight Nations Alliance invaded Beijing, burning and looting the city. Prior to this, due to the Boxer Rebellion, the situation in Beijing and Tianjin was unstable. People were focused on self-preservation rather than going to entertainment venue. This made it difficult for Sai Jinghua to sustain her business. Legend has it that when the army broke into her house, she spoke to them in German, which surprised the soldiers. They subsequently brought her to the military camp, where she had contact with Wade C, the commander-in-chief of the Eight Nations Alliance. It was said that she advised him not to kill innocent civilians. On the next day, Wade C ordered to stop the killing. Her words saved the people in Beijing. During the Boxer Rebellion, the German minister to China, Clemens, was killed by the Chinese army on the street of Beijing. Germany was determined to retaliate by killing Empress Dowager Cixi. It was said that Sai Jinghua found Clemens' widow and persuaded her to build a memorial archway in memory of Clemens as a way to end the matter. This is the highest form of commemoration for an individual in China. The people of Beijing was grateful to Sai Jinghua and called her the peacemaker, but some people were also skeptical of her heroic action. According to Sai Jinghua's memoir, she sometimes denies knowing Wade C, sometimes claimed to be familiar with him, and sometimes claimed to have lived with him. So some believe her oral testimony is unreliable. After the signing of the Boxer Protocol, Beijing appeared to return to peace, but the later years of Sai Jinghua were unfortunate and pitiful. When her brothel reopened, one of the prostitutes could not bear the life of prostitution and committed suicide by opium overdose in 1903. Sai Jinghua was arrested and sent to the Ministry of Justice. In May, she was deported back to Suzhou, where she was later released from prison. After release, Sai Jinghua returned to Shanghai. Soon, she hoped to get married and live a peaceful life. In 1911, Sai Jinghua became a concubine to Chao Ruizhong, a railway inspector in the Shanghai-Nanjing railway section, but he died in the next year. In the following year, Sai Jinghua returned to prostitution. In 1913, she met Wei Sizhong, who had served as a senator and director of civil affairs. In 1918, they officially got married in Shanghai, and she changed her name to Wei Jiao Ningfei. Unfortunately, in 1921, her husband passed away due to illness. After his death, she was accused of being an ominous person. Sai Jinghua was devastated. In her old age, Sai Jinghua lived in poverty and received assistance from many people. In the following 10 years, few people in society mentioned her. In 1933, she once again drew attention because she requested the Beijing government to waive the rent for her room. Someone wrote a petition for her describing how she saved people during the Boxer Rebellion, and the petition was published in the newspaper. To their surprise, it caused a sensation in Beijing. Reporters came to interview her in droves. This once again sparked a craze and made her a news figure in the later years. Through the interviews, she also received some financial support. In 1936, Sai Jinghua passed away in Beijing at the age of 66. After her death, with the help of kind-hearted people, Sai Jinghua was hastily buried near the fragrant tomb in Taoranting.