Zhu Zhixin went to Humen to mediate the conflict between the Guangxi clique army and the Dongguan militia. On September 21, 1920, he was unfortunately shot dead by stray bullets at the age of 35. Upon hearing the news, Sun Yat-sen traveled south from Shanghai and said with deep sorrow: “I once said that Zhang Jingjiang had literary talent but no military skill, while Chen Qimei had military skill but lacked literary refinement. Zhu Zhixin could be said to have both. Now, although the Guangxi clique has been driven out, gaining control of Guangdong is not enough to compensate for Zhu Zhixin’s death. The price we have paid is too high—how tragic!” On the day of Zhu Zhixin’s funeral, Sun Yat-sen personally attended the procession, shedding tears; Hu Hanmin and others were also overwhelmed with grief. White horses and plain hearses marked an occasion of great honor and mourning.
Sun Yat-sen personally attended the funeral procession
Hu Hanmin wrote a poem mourning Zhu Zhixin, which reads: “Not merely bound by friendship and mentorship, through hardships I came to know your true nature. Souls returning at autumn’s borderlands dim and bleak, we bade farewell clearly on the river bridge. Why do even thieves resent their masters—who is to blame? All mourn you, yet your death seems too light a price. Lamenting words can never fully capture your essence, nor can gold ever replicate your living form.”
Hu Hanmin joined the Chinese Revolutionary Alliance in Tokyo, Japan, in 1905, assisting Sun Yat-sen in revolutionary activities. For twenty-one years until Sun’s death in 1925, Hu followed Sun, participated in decision-making, and worked with unwavering loyalty. Many of Sun’s important writings were drafted by Hu Hanmin. The two forged a close bond through shared struggles in difficult times, a relationship that was both solid and enduring. Though Hu often displayed scholarly stubbornness and held strong personal opinions—even clashing with Sun Yat-sen on multiple occasions—he always deferred to Sun on major issues or stood firmly by his side. Sun once remarked to others: “When discussing matters with Hanmin, we often disagreed, but I followed his advice about eighty to ninety percent of the time, while he followed mine only ten to twenty percent.” Even in the later years of Sun’s life, despite differences in opinion on some important issues, Hu Hanmin continued to follow Sun faithfully, and Sun in turn trusted and valued him greatly.
On May 12, 1936, Hu Hanmin died of a cerebral hemorrhage at Chazhuang in Guangzhou at the age of 57. The Nationalist government in Nanjing composed the following elegiac couplet in his memory: “The upright spirit of heaven and earth, a founding hero of the party and nation, whose great achievements upheld the republic—thirty years of devotion stabilizing the nation’s future; with moral integrity and writings that served the times, his spirit stood apart among peers—the immortal soul watches over the central government from afar.”
One of the authors of *Sun Yat-sen’s Right- and Left-Hand Men: Zhu Zhixin and Hu Hanmin*, Wang Xiwen, was related to Zhu Zhixin as a cousin through their grandmothers. Zhu Zhixin’s mother was Wang Xiwen’s maternal aunt, and although Zhu was five years older than Wang, they studied together in the private school of Mr. Shen Xiaofen during their childhood, sharing a desk for many years. From childhood classmates to lifelong comrades-in-revolution, they worked together for over a decade, giving Wang deep insight into Zhu Zhixin. Wang Xiwen said: “Zhu Zhixin was two years younger than Mr. Jiawei [Wu Zhihui]. In terms of seniority, he was Wu’s nephew, but in age, they were like brothers.” Moreover, Wang Xiwen was also the nephew of Wang Jingwei, making this dual connection the perfect qualification for writing Zhu Zhixin’s biography. He remarked: “Although written entirely from memory, and pieced together somewhat roughly, every detail in the text is the most authentic historical material related to this revolutionary martyr.”
Wang Xiwen Drifted to Hong Kong
Wang Xiwen, also known as Zishen, was the son of Wang Zhaoyong and the full nephew of Wang Jingwei. Born on the sixth day of the ninth lunar month in the 16th year of the Guangxu reign (October 19, 1890), he was only seven years younger than Wang Jingwei.
A distinguished student of Ku Yingfen, one of the veteran leaders of the Kuomintang, Wang Xiwen served in 1917 during the Constitutional Protection Movement, when Sun Yat-sen declared himself Grand Marshal in Guangdong. He held the position of signing clerk in the Ministry of Internal Affairs (with Ju Zheng and Ye Xiasheng serving as minister and vice-minister, respectively).
Before the war, Wang Xiwen had only served as the magistrate of Panyu County in Guangdong. Later, he became a confidential secretary at the Ministry of Finance of the Nationalist government, and during the Wang puppet regime, he served as an administrative councilor, concurrently as a member of the Zhejiang Provincial Government, head of the Grain Bureau, then transferred to head the Social Welfare Bureau, and later appointed as the administrative inspector of the fourth district of Zhejiang, concurrently serving as the district security commander. His highest official rank was merely that of a second-level confidential secretary.
In his later years, Wang Xiwen drifted to Hong Kong. He was also a fortune teller, quite well-known in the divination circles of the time. In his twilight years, he had to sell his writings to make a living; despite his family heritage in poetry and calligraphy, he ended up like a fortune teller, and we can sense the loneliness and hardship of his final years, as well as the poverty and difficulty of his life. On February 15, 1960, he committed suicide by taking sleeping pills at the Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple in Sha Tin, Hong Kong.
The other author of *Sun Yat-sen’s Right- and Left-Hand Men: Zhu Zhixin and Hu Hanmin* was Zhang Shuchou. Zhang Shuchou (1897–1962) was from Panyu, Guangdong. His father, Zhang Deying, styled Caishan and also known as Qingyin Tang, achieved the status of a presented scholar in the 17th year of the Guangxu reign (1891). He excelled in poetry and painting, particularly in painting plum blossoms. He authored *Five Volumes of Gengyan Ci*, *Six Volumes of Ci Zheng*.
Zhang Deying was once Hu Hanmin’s teacher. Hu Hanmin wrote in the preface to *Gengyan Ci*: “When Hanmin was only eight years old, he studied under this teacher to learn punctuation and reading. Later, due to worldly constraints, he was no longer able to receive literary instruction from his teacher. Every time he opened these posthumous writings, he couldn’t help but feel regret.” Hu Hanmin was skilled in calligraphy and poetry, and authored *Poetry Collection from the Bu Kui Studio*.
Zhang Shuchou, along with Hu Hanmin and his elder brother Qingrui, were classmates. Zhang Shuchou was a poet of the 1930s and 1940s, having written numerous poems published in the *Lingya* supplement of the *Guangdong Daily* at the time, such as *In Response to the Master of the Bu Kui Studio* and *Plum Rain Season – Listening to the Rain*. He also frequently exchanged poems with Huang Yongyu, refining poetic skills together at literary gatherings.
In 1947, he gathered with Li Jipei, Zhang Yinting, Li Zeyi, Hu Suizhai, Liu Boduan, Xian Yuqing, Zhang Ruijing, and Zhang Renshi at Beiyuan for a poetry gathering. In the mid-winter of 1948, he composed lyrics and responded in kind with Huang Yongyu, Li Liuhe, Hu Boxiao, Zhu Yongzhai, Huang Yao?, Zhang Renshi, and Xu Juchu. Huang Yongyu wrote a *Moyuzi* poem praising kapok fluff. They also jointly composed *Plum Rain Season* lyrics. In 1957, after nine years apart, Huang Yongyu met Zhang Shuchou again. Hearing that Zhang planned to go to Southeast Asia, they bid farewell through poetry, composing matching verses with deep camaraderie.
Both authors, Wang Xiwen and Zhang Shuchou, wrote about Zhu Zhixin and Hu Hanmin from close personal observation, providing more valuable historical material than accounts by others. These lengthy essays were originally published only in the Hong Kong magazine *Chunqiu*. Wang Xiwen’s article *Remembering Mr. Hu Zhan Tang (Hanmin)* was published in the Hong Kong newspaper *Tianwentai*.
They were never compiled into a single volume, so few people knew of them. Recognizing the value of this material, the author retyped and proofread the texts, combining them into one book. Additionally, a new section, *Part Four: Reminiscences of Guangdong Affairs*, was added, containing four articles: *Reminiscence One: Chen Jiongming, Hu Hanmin, and Zhu Zhixin*; *Reminiscence Two: Chen Jiongming’s Campaign Against Yuan Shikai, Jiang Xiagong Caught in the Crossfire!*; *Reminiscence Three: How Long Jiguang Forced Chen Jiongming Out?*; and *Reminiscence Four: The Bizarre and Chaotic Guangdong Situation Before the Ninth Year of the Republic*. This provides a coherent narrative of events, aiding understanding of the broader historical context. (To be continued)