heavy flavor not only caused a sensation in Shanghai at the time, but it is also very explosive when you look at it now. However, the concern for the "Jiang Yuan Nong Murder Case" not only had the meaning of changing life and death at that time, but is still very valuable 80 years later.
Text | Abu
Recently, the movie "Jiang Yuan Nong" has been officially announced to be filmed - this movie was planned to be filmed as early as 2016, directed by Peter Chan, and was called "Jiu Yuan Nong Killing Husband" at the time. In 2020, Chen Kexin announced his withdrawal. By the end of this year, things have turned around, and the director is still Peter Chan. It can be said that there have been twists and turns.
Teaser poster
As for how delicious the cake of "Jiang Yuan Nong" is, from Zhang Ziyi's first film after her divorce to Yang Mi and Zhao Liying's joining, every new related news has triggered a wave of heated discussions.
Even a section of the old Shanghai-style neighborhood located at the Bei Haining intersection of Zhapu Road, Hongkou, Shanghai, has become another popular photo-taking place in Shanghai because it may be used as a filming location for the movie "Jiang Yuan Lane".
Photography: Wang Zhe
Of course, the fact that this movie has attracted so much attention is also closely related to its own content - the Jiangyuan Nong murder case was a sensational murder that took place on March 20, 1945. The husband was killed and his body was dismembered. , blood seeping through the floor, public trial, death penalty, public opinion war, reversal... It combines a series of sensational elements of crime movies. The heavy-tasting crime process not only caused a sensation in Shanghai back then, but it is also very interesting to watch now. Explosive.
Let us first take a look at the whole story of the case from the perspective of a crime film:
On March 21, 1945, the "Declaration" published an announcement that "Xincheng Police Station solved the murder case of husband":
The content is: Regarding the fact that one day ago, Zhan Zhou, who lived at No. 85 Jiangyuan Lane (Xinchang Road), killed her husband Zhan Yunying and then dismembered his body.
Zhan Yunying and Zhan Zhou lived in Jiangyuan Lane, and the second landlord lived downstairs. That day, the second landlord, Wang Yanyang, suddenly felt water dripping in his room. He thought there was a leak upstairs, but when he looked up, he realized it was blood. The second landlord hurriedly went upstairs to check, and saw that Zhan Zhou had cut the body into multiple pieces after the murder, trying to put it into boxes and then destroy the body to eliminate traces.
Picture source: Documentary Channel "Archives" column
The second landlord immediately called the police, and Zhan Zhou was immediately arrested. From the time of the crime to the arrest, it only took one day. Zhan Zhou admitted that she killed her husband, and there seemed to be no doubt about the case.
This murder case with too many traffic elements quickly became the talk of the streets. Countless tabloids concocted various imaginary plots about it, but there were also interviews and investigations by real reporters. Through these investigations, the story behind this husband-murder case was revealed. Gradually it emerged -
It turned out that Zhan Zhou's surname was not Zhou, but Du. He was from Jiangsu. His parents died in his early years and he was adopted by relatives. When he was 9 years old, he was sold to Shanghai as a girl. From then on, he changed his surname to Zhou with his master. At the age of 21, she was promised to be married to Zhan Yunying, a pawnbroker in the pawn shop, and she was renamed Zhan Zhou.
Zhan Yunying was nicknamed "Big Guy". He had good features and a respectable job. However, he got into trouble and became addicted to pornography and gambling. He either went to prostitutes or gambled. He doesn't care if he makes someone else's girl's belly bigger outside, and asks Zhan Zhou to arrange for the child to be given away. In the end, his job was no longer guaranteed and he lost all his income. He even pawned all the family belongings to gamble, leaving his family completely destitute.
The miserable Zhan Zhou had no choice but to work in a factory to supplement her family's income. However, when she came back, she was severely beaten by Zhan Yunying. Firstly, she suspected that she was exposing herself as a woman and was embarrassing herself, and secondly, she was suspicious that she was having sex with a wild man outside. Rolling the concubine.
Desperate, Zhan Zhou thought of suicide. She committed suicide by taking poison, but was sent to the hospital by her neighbors to save her life. After she was able to survive, she discussed with her husband that she wanted to sell the few remaining pieces of furniture at home and use them to start a small business. Setting up a stall to sell pork ribs and rice cakes was also a way out:
But her husband replied to her: "I have the money. It's better to gamble!"
Zhan Zhou was desperate.According to her confession later, in the early morning of March 20, 1945, she woke up from her sleep and had hallucinations. She heard a voice saying to herself: Kill him. Only by killing him can you be reborn... She So he raised his kitchen knife and struck Zhan Yunying in his sleep.
found out that after killing her husband, she didn’t know how to dispose of the body, so she followed a trick that appeared in “Shaoxing Opera” and cut the body into eight pieces (later confirmed to be 16 pieces), put it into a gray box, and prepared to discard the body. Unexpectedly, the crime had already occurred before I could go out.
Killing your husband, in that era, was obviously a crime of one degree plus one. The sling of death has been hung high over Zhan Zhou's head, and what awaits her is social judgment - some people say that she must have an adulterer, and must be conspiring to murder her husband; the police also doubt how her height of 1.5 meters can be so close to The 200-pound "big guy" was killed and quartered alone - soon, Zhan Zhou was beaten into a crime and confessed that his neighbor "He Dazi" was his adulterer, and the two conspired to murder.
But after He Mazi arrived at the case, the first reversal occurred: He insisted that although he had a physical relationship with Zhan Zhou, he had never conspired to murder anyone - Zhan Zhou was suffering from a lack of food and clothing and had asked him for help. He Mazi He has also provided help many times. The physical relationship between the two may be more of an exchange than a concubine.
After He Mazi was cleared, Zhan Zhou confessed another adulterer - Zhan Yunying's friend "Xiao Ningbo", saying that she and Xiao Ningbo conspired to murder. But soon the second reversal came - Xiao Ningbo was not involved in the murder, but Zhan Zhou hated him for taking her husband to gamble, so she deliberately confessed him under torture.
After many twists and turns, the case went to trial on May 3, 1945. Not surprisingly, Zhan Zhou was sentenced to death: "Zhan Zhou killed someone and was sentenced to death. He was deprived of public rights for life and a kitchen knife was confiscated."
If the facts of the case Ending here, then this strange case of the Republic of China may only be filmed as an episode of "Starscream". Next, let us change the angle - remove the blood and violence, and look at it again on the social level. Reversal:
After the court hearing, the case did not end, but entered the "third type of court": the trial of public opinion. Su Qing, a famous female writer in Shanghai at the time, published an article in "Magazine" with a straightforward title: "Defending Husband Killers."
Picture source: The article
in the "Archives" column of the Documentary Channel pointedly pointed out: "This tragedy is caused by thousands of years of feudal ethics - especially the husband's guide to his wife - and is the path for women in the new era to strive for equality between men and women. A powerful struggle."
Afterwards, she wrote four articles in "Magazine" "Wu Dalang and Zhan Yunying", "Legal Theory and Human Relations", "I Think", "Zhan Zhou and Pan Jinlian", in order to defend Zhan Zhou argued why she should not be sentenced to death.
This public opinion war continued to attract people's attention to the case. Zhan Zhou was encouraged and began to actively appeal for herself. At that time, in order to rescue her, someone even arranged for a foreign nun to give perjury, falsely claiming that she was pregnant when she was arrested, and that the death penalty must wait until the child was born before being executed.
The changing times gave Zhan Zhou a chance to be reborn - in 1945, with the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the previous death sentence of the pseudo-court was invalidated. In 1946, Zhan Zhou's case entered the retrial process. Although he was still sentenced to death in the first trial, the sentence was changed to 15 years' imprisonment in the second trial-Zhan Zhou survived in this way.
After the verdict came into effect, she was reformed through labor at Dafeng Farm in northern Jiangsu. After she was released from prison, she also worked on the farm. In 1959, she remarried Yan Shaohua, who was a cook. At this time, she is no longer Zhan Zhou, her name is Zhou Huizhen.
It is said that Zhou Huizhen later lived until she was more than 90 years old. In the 1990s, a reporter from "Shanghai Beach" interviewed her at Dafeng Farm and learned that she had worked in a nursery and cooked for children.
Peter Chan is going to film the story of Jiang Yuan Nong who kills her husband. I think this angle is definitely more important than the crime itself. The English name of the movie is "The Murderer". In this case, the murderer is not just Zhan Zhou.
Some people may think that if you meet a scumbag, divorce is enough, why go to the step of killing someone - indeed, there were divorces in the 1940s - Su Qing herself has experienced divorce, and her two books He wrote his own marriage story in "Ten Years of Marriage". However, in an era when men are still superior to women, not every woman has the capital, knowledge, courage, and social support to complete the divorce.
tells a story I just heard a few days ago: A female friend suffered from domestic violence and wanted to file for divorce, but the other party did not agree. The relationship has been going on for half a year. She went to a lawyer to discuss the details and was afraid to go to the public because she had an affair with her husband. Violent behavior of pulling in the street - Even today, nearly 80 years later, in big cities, with men and women becoming increasingly equal, and with the help of professional lawyers, it is not as easy as imagined to get out of an unhappy marriage. . Therefore, the concern about the "Jiang Yuan Nong Murder Case" not only had the meaning of changing life and death at that time, but is still very valuable 80 years later.
What makes people dumbfounded is that for such a film with strong practical significance, it was the fans of the second female lead who were the most popular ones.
forced the film studio to not announce the cast when it was officially announced. Instead, they said: "Due to the large number of characters in this film, filming was not easy. It is still in the process of matching and assembling. In order to ensure that all the leading actors and creators in front of and behind the scenes give their best efforts." We will focus on filming now. We will wait for the lineup to be complete before choosing an opportunity to share more film information with you. The entire lineup will be officially announced. The leading actors will be ranked in the order of appearance of their characters."
At present, playing Zhan Zhou The ones who belong to the family and Zhan Yunying should be Zhang Ziyi and Lei Jiayin. As for which flower plays Su Qing, I really don’t care (because I feel like neither flower looks like Su Qing anyway).
It’s still a long time since the movie “Jiaoyuan Lane” is released. I hope everyone can really "go all out and focus on shooting" in the future.
(Source: Xinmin Weekly)
