Hefei: Former residence of Li Hongzhang, spittoon and others

(This is a subsection of "Going Self-Drive After 60 Years Old" I am writing)

It takes more than three hours to drive from Wuxi to Hefei.

In late August, the hottest dog days have passed, and the scorching heat is gradually receding. On non-holidays, there is not much traffic on the expressway. For self-drive travelers, this is a very easy journey.

Enter Hefei City, under the guidance of the navigator, go straight to the city center, and stay in a hotel booked online.

Living in the city center is to see an important scenic spot here, the former residence of Li Hongzhang.

This mansion, also known as "Li's Mansion", is located on the Huaihe Road Pedestrian Street in the center of Hefei. It is a typical Jianghuai residential building in the late Qing Dynasty. Its scale is very large. It is said that when it was built, the Shenzhai compound occupied half of the street in the center of the city, so it was called "Li's Mansion Half Street".

In modern Chinese history, Li Hongzhang is not a very glorious figure. He was despised by the Chinese people because he signed a series of treaties that humiliated the country, such as the "Treaty of Shimonoseki" and "Treaty of Xin Chou" on behalf of the Qing government.

Li Hongzhang is also a person with outstanding ability. Li Zhongtang, who was an official to the Third Division of the Eastern Palace, the Bachelor of Wenhuadian University, the Minister of Beiyang Commerce and Industry, and the Governor of Zhili, who was "under one man and above ten thousand people", was by no means an idler. According to historical records, Ito Hirobumi, then Prime Minister of Japan and Li Hongzhang's main negotiator in the "Treaty of Shimonoseki", once said that Li Hongzhang was "the only person in the Qing Empire who has the ability to compete with the world powers". However, now and then, what can he "compete" for?

It is said that at the Shimonoseki negotiation site, in order to express their contempt for the Qing government, Japan deliberately lowered the stools for the Chinese personnel so that they were half shorter than the Japanese when they sat down. At the beginning of the negotiation, Hirobumi Ito said to Li Hongzhang condescendingly: You can only say "yes" and "no" to the conditions offered this time. That momentum is very similar to the current Sino-US trade negotiations. In this situation, Li Hongzhang could only ask weakly: Is it not allowed to argue? Then there is nothing to say.

Liang Qichao once said: "I respect Li Hongzhang's talent, I cherish Li Hongzhang's knowledge, and I feel sorry for Li Hongzhang's encounter."

Li Hongzhang was born at the wrong time. It is conceivable that when the Qing Dynasty building was about to collapse, even as an important minister of the country, as a "peace" envoy of the defeated party, what else could he do besides "losing power and humiliating the country"?

The living room "Fu Shou Tang" in the Li Mansion is spacious and magnificent. Exquisite furniture and expensive furnishings show the noble status of the owner everywhere. Looking around this hall that once received countless princes and nobles, I suddenly thought of Deng Xiaoping and the spittoon.

Li Hongzhang and Deng Xiaoping have a common and world-famous "bad habit", that is, smoking and spitting in public in diplomatic negotiation venues, completely ignoring diplomatic etiquette. On various occasions where they meet with guests, they must see a dazzling object: the spittoon.

Chinese spitting everywhere has long been known to the world. It is said that the spittoon, a traditional Chinese object, once triggered a study by Western professionals on whether Chinese people are physiologically phlegm.

Mr. Lin Yutang once ridiculed spitting as "the quintessence of the country" in "My Country and My People". Compared with the formality of Peking Opera, he described it vividly: "The action of spitting generally has three beats. The first two beats are to prepare for the last one. The sound of coughing and sweeping the throat. The last spit was made with an urgent and strong voice, it was the urgent eye after the slow pace."

As for the bad habit of spitting everywhere, apart from my deep abhorrence, I never have the same interest as Mr. Lin Yutang to ridicule it. Embarrassingly, in Chinese officialdom, smoking and spitting seem to be an orderly culture.

Deng Xiaoping participated in the whole process of negotiations on the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States. According to a meeting record kept by the United States, Deng Xiaoping "spit into the spittoon 16 times" in total. There are even rumors that when she was negotiating with Mrs. Thatcher about the return of Hong Kong, Mrs. Thatcher felt offended and frightened by Deng Xiaoping's smoking and spitting, and fell down after going out. This incident is very dramatic. You can imagine the scene at that time: After listening to Mrs. Thatcher's statement, Deng Xiaoping took a puff of cigarette, slowly sprayed the smoke in the direction of Mrs. Thatcher, and then "snapped" With a bang, he spat out a mouthful of phlegm into the spittoon. When Mrs. Thatcher was confused and dumbfounded, Deng Xiaoping said calmly, slowly, and word by word: the issue of sovereignty cannot be discussed. Where did Mrs Thatcher see this? It makes sense to be frightened.

In the Chinese officialdom in the late Qing Dynasty, smoking and spitting were still a very ritual thing.

"Memoirs of Earl Witt" once described Li Hongzhang's smoking scene. He was served by a special person for smoking and spitting, and there were specific "rules" in the process. It is said that wherever Li Hongzhang went, the host would do what he liked and specially equip him with a spittoon in the reception place. Even in Shimonoseki, Japan (now Shimonoseki City, Yamaguchi Prefecture), where the notorious "Treaty of Shimonoseki" was signed, there was a special spittoon beside Li Hongzhang's seat on the side of the negotiating table in a fugu restaurant called "Shunfanlou" Impressively in sight.

The "Fushou Hall" in the living room of the Li Mansion is one of the most important highlights of the entire former residence.

According to the text, this is the largest existing private hall in the late Qing Dynasty in the Jianghuai area. On the pillars at the entrance of Fushou Hall, there is a famous couplet, which is said to be written by Li Hongzhang in his later years:

Enjoying the blessings is not about being an official, as long as you have money in your pocket, millet in your warehouse, and poetry and books in your stomach, you will be the prime minister in the mountains;

There is no need to take medicine in the year of praying for longevity. I hope that the body will be free from illness, the heart will be free from worries, and the family will have no creditors. That is to say, the gods on the ground.

Each grid door of Fushou Hall is carved with exquisite patterns, and the rosewood seats "made in the Soviet Union" are exquisite and magnificent. On the table directly in front of the middle hall, there are ancient clocks, vases, and mirrors, which are said to imply the residence's "lifelong peace". It is a pity that in this well-regulated and extravagantly ostentatious living room, there are no smoking utensils that are supposed to be presented, which must be eye-opening, nor a spittoon. This is obviously not in line with Li Hongzhang's living habits, and it also makes visitors less interesting to glimpse the details of the private life of the Zhongtang master. I don't know if this is an oversight of the former residence exhibition hall.

Hefei Pedestrian Street near "Li Mansion" is a place where gourmet food is concentrated.

Anhui cuisine is rich in color and taste, which is very different from local cuisine and Huaiyang cuisine. This is because Anhui cuisine is good at cooking, stewing, steaming, heavy oil, heavy color, and heavy fire.

When you come to Anhui, you must try Anhui cuisine.

In the evening, at a well-known restaurant in Hefei Pedestrian Street, I ordered some special Anhui dishes recommended by several stores. When the dishes are served on the table, the color and aroma are very attractive, and the quantity of the dishes is amazing. I happened to be hungry, so I raised my chopsticks happily and tasted it happily, not wanting to "take a bite of the food, and my expression will be grim". For me, these dishes are really too salty.

In fact, Anhui cuisine, like many local specialties, is constantly being improved to suit the tastes of the modern public. Anhui dishes tasted in Wuxi, Shanghai and Beijing are no longer as salty as they used to be. Perhaps we should be thankful that the restaurant we met in Hefei this time is probably a very traditional and authentic Anhui cuisine restaurant.